We are going to try to explain vision of where Microsoft is heading with Microsoft Places. When spaces have meaning and purpose, they become places. That comes from people gathering, bonding, and sharing an experience together. It’s what makes a house a home—and an office worth coming into.
What is Microsoft Places?
Microsoft Places is an AI-powered workplace app for flexible work. Places helps organizations modernize how employees connect so that everyone makes the most of in-office days. Microsoft Places also supports individual desk booking.
- Plan where work happens: Empower workplace flexibility and schedule coordination. Microsoft Places works across your everyday apps, such as Microsoft Teams and Outlook, to help you stay in the flow of work.
- Schedule in-person events: Plan face-to-face collaboration by sending an in-person meeting invite, and let attendees RSVP as in-person or remote.
- Book the right spaces: Reserve the right rooms, desks, or work areas to meet your needs using Places finder, or ask Copilot to manage your bookings.
- Know when to come in with Copilot: Access Microsoft Places from your calendar in Teams and Outlook, and get recommendations on the best days to come into the office based on your collaborators and meetings.
- Explore where you work: View the people and experiences at a specific location—or across your workplace.
- Access occupancy and utilization data: Better manage your workplace by comparing your planned versus actual attendance with organizational-level space data. Incorporate data from Teams Rooms and Devices for additional insights.
- Make data-driven decisions: Gain insights on the desks and rooms that are used most, empowering strategic decisions for your workplace.
- Improve operations with Copilot: Get proactive insights and recommendations about your organization to manage your space more effectively.
Does it work with Microsoft Teams Rooms?
Yes!
Microsoft Teams is the team collaboration software we all know and love.
A Microsoft Teams Room is a physical space that encompasses MS Teams and suitable hardware to enhance team collaboration (audio visual).
Microsoft Places is a team management application designed to work seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Microsoft Places has yet to be fully unveiled by the Microsoft team. Once this solution is introduced, it’s intended to be more of a platform than a standalone app. Ideally, Microsoft wants Places to become the core virtual workspace for the age of hybrid work.
License requirements
Microsoft Places includes core, enhanced, and AI-driven features.
- Customers with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription have access to core features, which include setting up and updating work plans, viewing collaborators’ work plans, accessing the Places card experiences in calendar, scheduling in-person meetings, managing hybrid RSVP, and workplace presence related capabilities.
- Customers with a Teams Premium license have access to enhanced features such as Places finder, intelligent suggestions, Places explorer, team guidance, space analytics, and auto-release policies.
- Customers with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license have access to additional AI-driven features such as managed booking and recommended in-office days.
Qualifying M365 Subscriptions
Core Features are already included in:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard & Premium
- Microsoft 365 or Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3 & E5
- Microsoft 365 or Office 365 for Education A1, A3 & A5
- Microsoft 365 for frontline workers F1 & F3
Release Date
Microsoft Places will be generally available in the UK by the end of 2024. The app will be accessible via the web, Teams, Outlook, and the Microsoft 365 app.
If you manage lots of flexible spaces, and flexible workers, Microsoft Places could be a game changer for you!
