No Jitter Roll: Microsoft Teams Offers, Video Enhancements

This week we bring you news on discounts for Microsoft Teams, a new Teams Direct Routing service, two-factor authentication for Zoom, additional video conferencing enhancements, an employee engagement and UCaaS ecosystem, and an omnichannel customer engagement hub.

 

In a blog post, Microsoft this week announced new discounts and offers for Microsoft Teams, including:

 

Eligible customers can sign up for all three services, with no user limit, Microsoft said.

 

Telecom services provider Peerless Network this week released its Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams service. With Peerless Direct Routing, enterprises can connect their SIP trunks to Teams, allowing them to use Teams for voice calling, Peerless Network said. With the voice connectivity, users will be able to make, receive and transfer calls, as well as access voicemail, Peerless Network said.

 

Zoom this week revealed in a blog post that it’ll support two-factor authentication (2FA) for its video conferencing platform. With 2FA, users will need to present two credentials, such as password and fingerprint, to verify their identities, Zoom said. Users will have the option to use authentication apps like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, and FreeOTP or have Zoom send a code via SMS or phone call, for the second factor of account authentication, Zoom said.

 

In addition to 2FA, Zoom supports SAML, OAuth, and/or password-based authentication, Zoom said. Admins can configure authentication methods by accessing the "Security" option under the "Advanced" setting via the dashboard, Zoom said.

 

Enterprise communications provider Lifesize this week revealed a slew of features and enhancements focused around meeting logins, the meeting experience, and admin controls.

 

First, to make scheduling meetings easier, Lifesize has revamped its login experience for both paid and guest users and updated its Microsoft Outlook and Google G Suite add-ons for scheduling. From a new "Call Me" link in the Lifesize dashboard, users can share their direct video extension for meetings, Lifesize said. Additionally, new configurability options are available for meeting visibility in internal directories, Lifesize said.

 

Second, Lifesize has enhanced the meeting experience with new layouts and features. Users will soon have the choice between gallery, panel, and active speaker views (availability TBA), Lifesize said. And users can now “raise their hand” in meetings and use a digital whiteboard application within a meeting, made possible by the recent Kaptivo acquisition, Lifesize said.

 

Lastly, Lifesize has added a host of security and admin capabilities, including:

 

UCaaS provider Dialpad, which last week announced its acquisition of videoconferencing service provider Highfive, has added Prodoscore, an employee tracking software company, to its partner ecosystem. Joint customers will be able to tap into Prodoscore’s employee productivity tracking tool from within Dialpad to support their remote and work-from-anywhere workforces and take the guesswork out of managing those teams, Dialpad CEO Craig Walker said in a prepared statement.

 

Cloud communications provider Infobip this week launched Moments, an omnichannel customer engagement hub. Via Moments, brands will be able to deliver personalized messages through channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and many others, Infobip said. Other capabilities of this offering include cross-channel campaign management, unified data, audience segmentation, marketing automation, and analytics, the company said.