Microsoft announces a truly game changing messaging update for Microsoft Teams

Microsoft has recently revealed a new messaging update for Microsoft Teams that will allow users to chat with people outside of their business. Previously, you could only chat with other commercial users from other businesses. However, this truly game changing update now makes it easier for commercial users to message individuals outside of a business even if that person is using a personal Teams account. 

How do I start using this feature? 

In order to take advantage of this new feature, all you have to do is type in an email address or phone number for the person in question to be able to start a chat with them. Furthermore, Microsoft has stated that you do not need to switch between tenants to be able to send these messages which should make the process relatively straightforward to do so. In the situation where the person you are trying to connect with doesn’t have a Teams account, they will get a notification asking them to sign up. 

Defining ‘personal’ Teams Accounts 

Even though Microsoft make use of the word ‘personal’ in ‘Teams personal accounts’, you will find that the vast majority of small and medium sized businesses have these types of accounts for communicating internally and externally. By having this new feature in place will help to open the doors for professional users to connect with a whole host of different people and organisations that are making use of Teams for business purposes.  

Your IT team will control the rights for external access within your business. You will find that the admin centre holds the key options for Teams accounts that are not managed by a business which you can find out below: 

• Outbound chat: enable/disable users in the organization to initiate a chat with external Teams personal accounts users (e.g. users who are not invited guests through Azure AD B2B collaboration). (Enabled by default) 
• Inbound chat: enable/disable external users with Teams accounts not managed by an organization to initiate a chat with your users. (Enabled by default 

Next Steps? 

If you are a business that doesn’t yet have Microsoft Teams and are looking to get Microsoft Teams implemented in your business then please contact us today to discuss your specific requirements. 

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