Another month has gone by, which means it's time for Microsoft to recap all the changes made to its Microsoft 365 products in August. This month's updates are mostly focused on small and medium business customers, but there's something for everyone as well.
For starters, Microsoft is bringing Stream - its video sharing service for businesses - to Microsoft 365 Business, Office 365 Business, and Office 365 Business Essentials plans, which should make it more reachable for customers. Stream was officially launched last year, offering a number of security features as well as speech-to-text transcriptions which users can search through and speaker recognition powered by artificial intelligence. This wider rollout will take place sometime this quarter, though a set date wasn't given.
Microsoft is also adding the ability for business users to require upfront payments from customers when they book an appointment with Microsoft Bookings. And because the company loves integrations, you can now link customers to Microsoft Pay when generating invoices with Microsoft Invoicing. Additionally, MileIQ - a mileage tracking app - will now integrate with Xero and AutoReimbursement.com, making it easier to manage vehicle expenses and get reimbursements. All these new features will begin rolling out in the coming weeks to small and medium businesses in the United States.
Rounding out the updates focused exclusively on businesses, Microsoft will soon be offering eligible businesses $50 off their first post on LinkedIn Jobs. The offer will be available for customers using Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 Business Premium, Business, and Business essentials plans who use the pay-per-click pricing model in LinkedIn Jobs. Eligible businesses will be e-mailed with more details over the coming weeks.
But there's a little more in the updates for this month. The three main Office apps - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - now support @Mentions in the comments. This should make it easier to get the attention of a specific coworker to any given portion of a document. Users who are mentioned in comments will receive an e-mail so they know where their help is needed.
Microsoft has also enabled co-management of Windows 10 devices with FastTrack, so you can manage a device using Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune at the same time. This allows users to take remote actions, such as a factory reset, on Windows 10 devices. You learn more on the Fast Track website.
Other updates have already been announced separately by Microsoft, such as the upcoming changes to Office 365 Home and Personal plans, as well as new AI capabilities for SharePoint and OneDrive. Microsoft also introduced live events to Microsoft 365 users earlier this month, and the Office Lens app received support for ink and text annotations.
