Microsoft Teams Elevates External Collaboration with its New Feature Rollout

 Microsoft Teams is once again set to revolutionize business communication with a promising new feature for external collaboration. This update is geared towards providing organizations an effortless way to capture and manage external collaboration requests on shared channels. With a significant focus on inter-organization collaboration, this update underscores the importance of seamless communication in today's global business environment.

Set to rollout in early August, with completion expected by mid-August, the update will be available across the Teams admin center, Microsoft Teams Desktop, and Web versions. The feature is primarily designed to be a fail-safe mechanism when users attempt to add external members to a shared channel where a B2B direct connect cross-tenant trust has not been established between the two parties.

How this Impacts Your Organization

The integration of this new feature in your Microsoft Teams admin center will empower your organization to build a support or intake page. This page will prove invaluable for users trying to collaborate with external users, especially when a B2B direct connect cross-tenant trust isn't mutually configured.

The design of the page can be crafted to enlighten users on the intricacies of external collaboration via shared channels. Furthermore, it can also serve as an intake platform, collecting the necessary details regarding the external collaboration request. This information is crucial for the organization to make informed decisions about the request.

Configuring the New Feature

To utilize this feature, navigate to the Teams settings on your Microsoft Teams admin center. From there, go to the Shared channels section and enable the “Provide a link to my support request page” setting. After entering a valid URL, users who try to add an external user to a shared channel without an established B2B cross-tenant trust will see a message with a link stating, “Here’s what you can do.”

Clicking on the link will redirect users to the specified page in the Microsoft Teams admin center. Here, users can gain further insights about external collaboration or submit a request for the same.

Preparing for the Rollout

For organizations keen on capitalizing on this feature, it's crucial to develop a webpage to capture external collaboration requests. This could be a SharePoint or Microsoft Forms page. Ensure that all the necessary information required for your organization to make a decision on the collaboration request is captured.

With this Microsoft Teams update, external collaboration becomes even more streamlined and efficient, proving once again that Microsoft is dedicated to enhancing communication across organizations. Stay ahead of the curve by embracing this feature to optimize your business collaborations.