Michael Johnson

Will You Be Ready When 5G Finally Gets Here?

5G Network Technology seems to be overdue in America. We now have so many smart homes, smart cars and smartphones just crying out for a better network. Add to that the huge advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, and you can see how critical a 5G network really is.

Mobile Phone Usage

According to a 2014 Business Insider report[1], 50 million people now stream video on their mobile phones. That usage number has been climbing dramatically over the last five years. Today, 40 percent of the traffic on Youtube comes from mobile phone users- even Netflix has been affected. About 23 percent of all subscribers say that they’ve watched a movie on their phone. As phones and mobile technology advance, those numbers will increase.

Up to now, the only thing missing was a better, faster network. Ultra-fast 5G networks will support mobile video while providing more dazzling HD screens. Whether you want to stream video on your Kindle device or watch a favorite YouTube video on your phone, speed and quality will always reign supreme. Consumers just aren’t happy with weak video and sound quality anymore. They’ve been spoiled by mobile phone manufacturers like Samsung and Apple, who push the envelope every year to offer even more innovative services.

The Future Will Require Blazing Fast Speeds

However, 5G is not just about upgrading your wireless service. Though all carriers are excited about the faster network heading our way, there’s a lot more at stake nowadays. People are starting to get more comfortable with smart cars. Manufacturers are looking to the future to see what new gadgets and devices they can add to the smart car. Some of these include:

• Augmented display across the windshield
• Thin, pliable batteries
• Communication between vehicles
• Self-healing paint
• Full smartphone integration

The one thing these futuristic technologies have in common is the need for a stronger, more secure network. The 5G network promises that and much more.

Industry Leaders Believe This is Just the Beginning

Ana Tavares Lattibeaudiere, head of the industry advocate for mobile operators known as GSMA, commented that “We’re very excited that all the US operators are really taking seriously the path to 5G. Many have announced that they will bring it to market by the end of the year. Some of them have announced pilot cities, but the excitement is there. We believe that there will be commercial deployment by the end of 2018, which is amazing”.

She went on to say that though 5G networks have seemed like they were a long time coming, their invention came much sooner than similar advancements of the past. She believes that this is due to the faster-than-expected adoption of “smart” technology. Amazon’s Alexa can be found in millions of homes across Canada and the U.S. It began as a novelty item, but now most people say they love their Alexa and couldn’t live without it. The stories about smart homes and smart cars are similar. These began as novelties that had good potential and now people love having the technology so much that they’d probably not be willing to give it up.

New Smart Technology Runs Better on 5G

As 5G networks become the norm, this will fuel invention in every field, including robotics. Your new robot housekeeper could potentially speak 17 languages, answer questions about almost anything and interact with appliances. They could actually be programmed to make dinner, then clean up the mess and load the dishwasher. If the dishwasher breaks down, it has on-board technology built-in that enables them to repair simple errors.

Lattibeaudiere added, “Artificial intelligence is coming – home assistants, smart homes, smart cities, all of those things are becoming real. We used to be talking about it in the past and now you’re seeing it day to day. The connected cars I mentioned, driverless cars, that’s something that with low latency will become possible. All of those applications will definitely be disruptive”.

Samsung rolled out its 5G home routers at the 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. These routers reached speeds of up to 4 gigabits per second. In more understandable terms, a consumer would be able to download a 100 GB 4K movie in about four minutes or a 50GB game in two minutes. Developers believe that 5G will be easier to implement and distribute than older wired internet formats. 5G millimeter waves will be delivered wirelessly through the air the same way that a mobile network is delivered. That means no expensive infrastructure to build.

How Does 5G Work?

The Samsung 5G Home Router will be installed outside a window in your home and connected to a WiFi router in your home. Special antennas will be able to pick up wireless signals transmitted from “millimeter wave” cell towers. 5G will be the fifth generation broadband cellular network with applications that provide users with faster technology for games, TV, IP telephony, mobile web access, video conferencing, and high-def mobile television viewing.

The Cost of 5G for Users

The one drawback to technology like this is often the cost. Right at the beginning of any new advancement, service providers often raise prices because they know certain people will pay more just to have the clearest, fastest signal in the world. That’s why industry experts expect the initial price of 5G networks to be higher. However, as with all technology, competition will eventually drive the price down. In addition, providers will not have to build any new infrastructure as mentioned above, so eventually, 5G internet should be cheaper.

When Will 5G Arrive?

The searing question for most consumers is, “When will 5G become a reality?” Both Verizon and AT&T claim that they will be rolling out 5G networks in the latter part of 2018. Expect to see smartphones and other devices that support 5G around the same time. Although manufacturers are ready to move forward, this is one of those situations where both the technology and devices that support it will be released around the same time.

Final Thoughts

As 5G technology is incorporated into everyday life, expect to see more applications that use machine learning and artificial intelligence. With faster, better connectivity, new opportunities will open up for products and services. For instance, games and videos that feature more virtual and augmented reality could become the norm. Cars with a wide range of sensors to help drivers make better split-second decisions could save lives. And lastly, watching a great movie on your phone should become a much more enjoyable experience.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-video-statistics-and-growth-2013-12

My family loves our local football team. We’ve been die-hard fans since we were children.  And as season ticket holders, we rarely miss any home games.  However, the last game was a nightmare for me.  Not because my team played poorly, but because my phone got hacked.

I used the public Wi-Fi at the stadium to purchase a tee shirt for my granddaughter.  Of course, I had to key in my credit card number like I always do. But, because I was using public Wi-Fi, my card number was revealed and stolen.  I didn’t find out until my statement came through with charges for items I never purchased.  Luckily, I was able to file a claim with VISA, so I didn’t have to pay for the false charges. They canceled my card and issued me a new one.  However, now I wonder what else the hacker found.

I learned my lesson.  I’ll never use public Wi-Fi for shopping or anything else that could jeopardize my privacy. I also did some research about using public Wi-Fi.  This is what I learned.

When using public Wi-Fi, you should only send information to websites that are fully encrypted. Most Public Wi-Fi hotspots don’t encrypt the information you send over the Internet and aren’t secure. A secure wireless network encrypts all of the data you send over that network.  Public Wi-Fi doesn’t.  Encryption keeps your personal information secure when you’re online. It scrambles the data you send over the Internet into a code so others can’t view it. Don’t send you confidential information over public Wi-Fi unless the website you’re visiting is encrypted. An encrypted website protects the information you send to and from that site.

Whenever you send an email, share photos and videos, or use social networks over unsecured public Wi-Fi your information can be exposed.  Wow, I didn’t know this, did you?  I upload photos to Facebook all the time using public Wi-Fi. And emails too!  I’ll be very careful now to only do this over a secure Wi-Fi network.

The way to know that a website is encrypted is the https at the beginning of the web address. Sites with HTTP aren’t encrypted.  Most banking sites use encryption to protect your information as it travels from your computer to their server. However, it’s important to know that some websites only use encryption on the sign-in page and not the rest of their web pages. If you provide confidential information on a page that isn’t encrypted your account can get hacked.  So, make sure every webpage has https at the start of the web address.

Mobile apps don’t have an indicator like https, so you know that a website is secure. Another “Wow.” I never thought of this when accessing websites from my smartphone. I check for https when using my computer, but not when using my phone. Many mobile apps don’t encrypt information properly, so you shouldn’t use your mobile apps on unsecured Wi-Fi. If you want to use a mobile app to send confidential information, make sure you use a secure wireless network. You can also use your phone provider’s 3G or 4G data network.

If you use an unsecured network to log in to an unencrypted site other people using the same network can see what you’re entering.  They can even “hijack” your session and log in as you! Evidently, the hackers have access to free tools to do this.  They don’t need to be “computer geeks” to do this. They use these free tools to steal login credentials, personal information and even documents you send via email or messaging. Even worse, the hacker can use your accounts to scam other people on your contact lists. What a nightmare! I’ve emailed everyone I know to warn them that this might happen.

Remember to use two-factor authentication. This requires two pieces of information (a private password and code) before you can log in to your account.  The best websites and services support two-factor authentication. This way, even if a hacker gets your password due to a security gap in public Wi-Fi, they still won’t be able to log into your account.

Make sure the public Wi-Fi name is legitimate. Hackers set up fake ones to trick you into signing onto their fraudulent site. The name will look similar to the real one. So, scrutinize the name and make sure you’re not signing onto a malicious network.  If you do, your device is literally in the hands of the hacker. When I’m in a coffee shop or doctor’s office, I always double check with an employee to make sure I’m signing onto the right network.

The US Government’s Federal Trade Commission has some great info on how to protect your information when using public Wi-Fi.  Here’s what they say you should know:

• When using a hotspot, login or send personal information only to websites you know are fully encrypted. To be secure, your entire visit to each site should be encrypted – from the time you log in to the site until you log out. If you think you’re logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
• Don’t stay permanently signed into accounts. When you’ve finished using an account, log out.
• Do not use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one of your accounts access to many of your accounts.
• Many web browsers alert users who try to visit fraudulent websites or download malicious programs. Pay attention to these warnings and keep your browser and security software up-to-date.
• Consider changing the settings on your mobile device so it doesn’t automatically connect to nearby Wi-Fi. That way, you have more control over when and how your device uses public Wi-Fi.
• If you regularly access online accounts through Wi-Fi hotspots, use a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs encrypt traffic between your computer and the internet, even on unsecured networks. You can get a personal VPN account from a VPN service provider. In addition, some organizations create VPNs to provide secure, remote access for their employees. What’s more, VPN options are available for mobile devices; they can encrypt information you send through mobile apps.
• Some Wi-Fi networks use encryption: WEP and WPA are common, but they might not protect you against all hacking programs. WPA2 is the strongest.
• Installing browser add-ons or plug-ins can help. For example, Force-TLS and HTTPS-Everywhere are free Firefox add-ons that force the browser to use encryption on popular websites that usually aren’t encrypted. They don’t protect you on all websites — look for https in the URL to know a site is secure.

I learned my lesson about using public Wi-Fi the hard way. I hope this information helps to keep you safe when online.

Amazon’s virtual assistant is designed to support home and office automation, maximize efficiency and save user time and money. Can Alexa’s automation of professional processes translate into profit – and conquer the business world?

It’s no surprise to most consumers that Amazon loves integration and automation. After a successful “dabble” in a shipping membership, its Amazon Prime service now estimates 80 million users and generates $6.4 billion in annual revenue. After test markets proved successful with both Amazon Prime Now, expediting delivery on specific Amazon Prime products to within a two-hour window, and Amazon Fresh, a home delivery grocery service, Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods seemed a logical next step to offer consumers a one-stop shop for most purchases.

Simultaneously, the expanding Amazon Echo product line-up aims to help consumers with artificial intelligence-based home automation solutions.

“Alexa, order more laundry detergent…”

“Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes…”

“Alexa, what is the weather supposed to be like today…”

Alexa is happy to call another Echo product by looking through your contacts to find who has an Alexa-enabled device, or to command your Roomba to start a clean cycle. A whole-house Sonos audio system will set you back a few thousand dollars, but a couple of Amazon Echo devices will cost you a few hundred dollars by comparison and can be linked together to play the same music with comparable sound quality. Amazon Echo products and the voice-activated Alexa smart assistant are becoming more commonplace in homes but isn’t seen as a valuable option for a virtual assistant in the workplace – yet. Consumers tend to feel a bit overwhelmed by the vast options for how users can take full advantage of Alexa’s capabilities. Amazon does send a weekly email with the latest tips on how to make the most off Alexa, but we’re betting you didn’t know you can enable the Chat Bot skill to have Alexa assist in posting to your Slack account in a specific channel.

• Enable the “Alexa Things to Try” skill and Alexa will deliver a quick tip-filled brief every day on how she can help you.

Yes, Alexa can help you post to a Slack channel. Let that sink in. Did you know Alexa can also integrate with Salesforce tools? Through Amazon Web Services (AWS), developers can design innovative voice-enabled technologies to build an Alexa skill, much like the Chat Bot skill mentioned above. Alexa can fetch various reports, like expense reports and professional status reports, with a simple voice command. Voice-activated automation of simple and repetitive tasks increase both efficiency and productivity and are far more cost-efficient.

Those are the buzzwords of the day: efficiency and productivity. What can you do to increase each, and improve overall cost-efficiency for your company? Think about what tasks your business can automate. That is the initial goal.

• Did you know Amazon allows developers to create skills through the Alexa Skills Set on the Alexa developer site? Whether only for your company’s use or if you choose to publish the skill to be used by others, this is a fantastic resource with all the tools for experienced developers.

What skills would help your business run more efficiently? Here are a few existing Alexa skills that you can already implement:

• Quick Events
  • Alexa can help you keep organized and on time with this skill that can add items to your Google calendar and check for conflicting events on your schedule.
• Complete Tasks
  • This skill requires users to also have the accompanying Complete mobile app on their smartphone or tablet and allows users to add tasks by voice command.
• Kayak Explore
  • For users with a Kayak account, Kayak Explore will check flight status, track prices, allow you to set up travel plans and more with the ever-expanding skill.
• Translated
  • Given the global nature of agreements and transactions in modern business arrangements, the Translate skill helps users by translating short sentences into 36 languages. The best part of this particular skill is since the nature of Alexa is voice-activated, this skill includes pronunciation!
• Chineasy
  • Going one step further than Translated, Alexa users with the Chineasy skill can learn Mandarin Chinese in an easy-to-remember process with one sentence a day. The unique features of this skill also share interesting stories of Chinese history and culture with users.
• Notion
  • Alexa will read your emails to you and also delete them, but what makes this skill a must-have is that Notion will prioritize your emails based on importance.
• AstroBot
  • Like Notion, AstroBot is your new intelligent email assistant for your Gmail or Office 365 email from an Alexa-enabled device.
• UPS
  • This skill works much like the UPS.com website or the UPS app. You can find a location, track packages, or get a shipping quote with this Alexa skill, once it’s linked to your UPS My Choice account.

Did you know that with Skill Finder, Alexa will also tell you a “Skill of the Day” to showcase one featured skill? This is aside from the “Alexa Things to Try” skill, which means Alexa really wants to help you learn what it has to offer!

In the last decade, every major organization needed to develop a website to stay competitive, but in the last few years, the requirement has become the mobile app. Organizations that wasted time, money and resources on a mobile app that didn’t add value for users found themselves removed from smartphone screen real estate and declining metrics via their mobile app dashboard. Consumers feel the same way about Alexa skills that are published to the Alexa Skill storefront. More importantly, allocate resources to developing an Alexa skill that just doesn’t offer much improvement in productivity for your organization will be even more frustrating.

How can you run your day-to-day operations more efficiently? What processes can you automate? Sure, you already automate many tasks using software programs, but Alexa is different. You can tell Alexa what you need it to do while you’re performing another function.

Between Notion and Quick Events, the next day your human assistant takes the day off, try an Alexa skill to see how Alexa can help you run your business and dominate your industry by saving you time and making you money!

Do What Professional Sports Teams Do—Use Analytics.

To win in any sport, coaches used to rely solely on their knowledge, experience and “gut.”  Today, they have another source to rely on–analytics. And those who don’t take advantage of it will fall behind their competition.

Analytics are used in many industries, but today it’s helping team managers and coaches “score points.”  It’s being used to influence coaching decisions, boost performance, help with contract negotiations, prevent injuries and even gain insight into fan preferences.

Fans and sports enthusiasts can now visit websites where they can see breakdowns of their favorite player’s performance. According to John Forese, senior vice president and general manager of LiveAnalytics, a LiveNation data, analytics, and research company:

“It’s about knowing when a fan is interested in an opposing team coming to town or whether a 4 p.m. game is not too late for them. It’s about hitting them with that communication when they are in the decision mindset and giving season ticket holders more incentive to keep coming and retain their tickets.”

Analytics has been used in businesses for years. Only recently has it been applied to professional sports. And why not? It’s a source of information to help us make better decisions.  If you don’t use it in your business, you’re leaving a lot of information on the table that could help you succeed. And, those who don’t will be at a competitive disadvantage.

This is the premise of what MIT lecturer Ben Shields tells businesses—That managers and coaches can learn so much about analytical decision-making from the progress that sports teams have made in recent years. This is no different than what many businesses do today. They rely on software solutions like Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence) to transform data and create interactive reports to help them analyze data to reach their goals.

Teams now benefit from the use of wearable technologies that provide real-time data to track players’ movements. Every major professional sports team today has a department or team of data analytics experts.  They use data-driven decision-making to ensure their teams and players are at the “top of their game.”

As you know, professional sports teams have scouts. These scouts visit prospective players and take copious notes.  They send these notes to data developers. Then, the data is forwarded to skilled mathematicians who crunch the numbers to help a team’s general manager create overall profiles of players. They use these profiles to decide if a particular player should be signed on as a free agent or is worth drafting or acquiring in a trade for another player.

This sounds easy, right? It’s not.

It can be difficult to decide what data is valuable and what isn’t. Unless the team decides in advance what criteria an evaluation should be based on, all this work is for not.  It’s the same in any business.  You must first prioritize what your goals are before analyzing data. Otherwise the volume of data you accumulate can be overwhelming.

When asked how to integrate analytics into the decision-making process, Shields replied:

“We start with encouraging executives to clearly articulate their organizational goals and prioritize which goals may benefit from an analytics approach. Some organizations start with the data and the technology. We say start with the goals.”

Ever since Billy Beane, (the most progressive and talented baseball executive) first started utilizing statistical predictors over ten years ago, every MLB team has adopted analytics, as have teams in the NFL and NBA.  Vivek Ranadive, the Sacramento Kings’ owner believes that data analysis has changed the game of basketball forever. For example, Pitchf/x technology from Sportvision has been installed in all 30 Major League Baseball Stadiums. It tracks all the pitches that occur during games. Sportvision also provides data-capturing technologies for football and car-racing sports.

Basketball is one of the best examples of how analytics has changed the way sports are played and player performance is measured. They use “Player Tracking” to analyze the efficiency of a team of players by tracking their movement on the court.  SportVU put six cameras in all the NBA arenas to capture the movements of players and basketballs. It does this at a rate of 25x per second. Another company called Zebra Technologies makes RFID tags, which attach to equipment, balls, and players to track movement, distance, and speed. The RFID tags blink at a rate of 25 times per second and deliver data in 120 milliseconds.

This technology provides a team’s analysts a multitude of data such as player speed and ball possession. It shows them how fast a team player moves and how far he’s traveled throughout the game, as well as how many times he touched the ball, how many rebounds attempts he made, and more.

As mentioned above it can be difficult to determine how to use all this data and apply it to attain a competitive advantage. Coaches and team executives must know how to prioritize the volumes of data, how to prioritize it, decide what factors to apply in decision making and how to track the decisions they made. Just like departments in your business such as purchasing and sales, sports teams have both offense and defense coaches. They must consider the objectives for both before developing a mechanism for analyzing data. Then they must track the decisions they’ve made to ensure the team’s goals are met.  There’s no one formula for this.  Each team will do this differently.

According to Shields, even the players see value in data analytics:

“End users have become advocates, and by end users, I mean athletes. A growing number are starting to understand the value of analytics insights as they relate to their performance. This doesn’t mean the athletes are running their own models in Python; it means the information about how his or her performance can improve is being communicated in the right way and with the right emphasis on how that athlete can benefit. And, as a result, the athlete becomes more of a believer and more of an advocate for this type of information.”

Analytics in both business and sports organizations is a “game changer.” It’s an evolving field, and as it improves, more will depend on it for decision making.

Integrate and Collaborate Seamlessly Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams has become the go-to chat-based workspace in Office 365. It’s more than just a hub for teamwork. It’s even customizable for each type of team.

Microsoft Teams is perfect for one-on-one conversations, open group discussions or even public meetings. It has many modern features that make meetings more fun and productive. For instance, there are cool GIFs, stickers, and emojis available so team members can show a little personality. The program integrates well with Outlook email and it’s easy to switch between teams. Add to that the ability to use video calling on Android that includes mobile voice and you’ve got an excellent business resource.

The Microsoft Teams app provides users with all the tools necessary to facilitate meetings for corporate America as well as freelancers and even educational institutions. With so many people now taking online classes, the Teams app can give a tutor and student the perfect place to discuss Algebra or learn a new language. The app is fairly intuitive and most users pick up all the fine points of how to use it very quickly.

How Microsoft Teams Sets Itself Apart

With so many meeting apps available now, organizations want to know why Microsoft Teams is better. That’s a good question and it does have a good answer: because this app is included in Office 365, it seamlessly integrates with all the programs that today’s business professionals are already using. Within the Teams app, users can access all files and any Office programs such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and OneNote. In addition, the app features integration with Power Bl, SharePoint and Planner Intelligence using Microsoft Graph.

Though you can open these files using other meeting apps, they are seamlessly integrated into the Microsoft Teams app, limiting the additional steps that users must perform. Many of the exciting features are available with just a single tap. Regardless of what type of business you’re in, the Microsoft Team’s app can be customized to work the way you need it to. That’s one of the big reasons why people in so many different industries choose Team. The app works just as well for a few people or a dozen. It works nicely for business pros, teachers and students. The app is easy to set up and takes very little instruction to get started. With custom memes and tailored channels, most people quickly become expert Teams users.

Beyond the Basics

After using Microsoft Teams for a while, most people start looking around at some of the more advanced features, of which there are many. Do you need to integrate some common cloud services into your meeting? It’s a simple process.

Partner integration is available for Trello and SAP but Microsoft will be adding new partners in the future. The individual channels contain Bots that can be working in the background on important tasks. In addition to those great features, the Teams App is served from the Microsoft global hyperscale cloud. That makes it available from anywhere in the world, so if you need to meet with people Japan, in Taiwan, someone in Quebec and a group in India, it’s a simple matter to do so. Team players can share their documents, show a PowerPoint, go over an Excel spreadsheet and work on many other tasks like these. There are virtually a limitless number of tasks that can be done and without the help of an IT specialist.

Ideal for the Medical Field

Since the Teams app is compliant with HIPAA, ISO27001, and others, it’s perfect for use in a medical facility of any type or size. However, the app could also work well in telemedicine. Though live face-to-face meeting software is included in most programs for the telemedicine industry, Teams could be used in numerous instances. Say you were on the go and needed to use the app from your mobile phone. It’s not only quick and easy but remember that it is compliant with most HIPAA guidelines. Talk to a colleague or patient. Sometimes you just need a quick face-to-face with someone and that’s it.

Excellent Built-In Security

The Teams app is big on security as well. With so many thousands of cyber-theft events taking place each year around the world, you just can’t be too careful. Sometimes a team might be talking about their favorite flavor of ice cream and sometimes they might be discussing a new hyperdrive for America’s next rocket ship. Multi-factor authentication and built-in data protection are just two ways Microsoft ensures that your meeting will remain confidential.

Use Teams to Enhance Customer Service

Though this is being done in some organizations, in the future there may be a great number of businesses that contact their customers using apps like Teams, to let customers know about some problem with an order. Perhaps you just sold hardwood flooring to a residential customer for their whole house but now you’ve learned that the flooring is back-ordered for six months. Wouldn’t it be better to speak to this customer face-to-face when you break the news to them? Customers may be less upset when they realize that the store cared enough to have a manager call them and speak to them in person about the problem. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to retail sales.

In the sales world, it’s very common to have angry customers whose brand-new refrigerator/stove/television/computer just stopped working. Mitigating customer problems is a great way to use Microsoft Teams.

Working Together

Microsoft Teams encourages people to work together. You can bring up the new budget from Excel and let everyone go over it, make comments, and suggest changes. You can open the new marketing plan in Word so that a whole room full of execs hear about the latest marketing campaign. They need to become familiar enough with it to pass on the information to employees in their department. Since most people have Office 365 already on their computer, there’s nothing new to install.

How to Set Up a Team

Simply go to the Office interface and click on the Teams App. At the bottom left corner of the screen, select “Create Team”, then type a name and short description. Next, add people to your new team. Using Microsoft Outlook, you can add an entire group. Now click “Done” and create a general channel. Other channels may be added later as needed. Name and describe this channel, click “Add” and it’s all set up. Within just a few minutes you can have a specific meeting place set up where you can meet each week with co-workers, students, your doctor, unhappy customers and much more.

Miscellaneous Features

Adding and removing team members is simple and only takes a few moments. A tutor who is working with five different students throughout the day could easily change the student’s name quickly in between each lesson. You might start with a private chat, just between the teacher and student. However, what if you wanted to add a second teacher or several more students? It’s easy to do that. Just list the name(s) of the people you want to attend, then compose a new message in Outlook to invite them to attend. While in a chat, you can make a video or audio call by selecting the icon for it. Chats can be renamed, which is good for those that get transferred to a different department. You can continue using the same chat room; just add or remove people as needed.

Microsoft Team has so many more features that make life and work much simpler. It is quickly becoming the favorite virtual chat room for business people in every industry. If you’re still feeling you need some help with setting up a chat room, Microsoft offers a great range of informative YouTube videos with step-by-step instructions for how to do just about anything.