Coming Soon – Microsoft Loop!
In November 2021, Microsoft revealed a new application for its ecosystem. Scheduled for release this summer, Microsoft Loop will add a collaboration interface to any of the Microsoft suite of products.
Microsoft Loop will allow your team to organize everything needed for a project into one single workplace and track the progress made through notifications, status labels, highlighted changes, and task lists.
What can you do with Microsoft Loop?
Microsoft Loop is split into three main features:
Workspaces: These are spaces that allow you and your team to group things in a project. It allows you to track what everyone is doing in real time, making tracking progress very accurate.
Pages: These are “canvases” for you to organize components and pull in links, files, or data for a project. They are entirely flexible, and can grow and shrink as you add and remove components.
Components: In Microsoft’s words, a Component is an “atomic unit of productivity that allows you to collaborate” on a page or in a chat, email, meeting, or document. This is already available to some, in Microsoft Teams.
Loop Components in Teams Chat
Components are the building blocks for collaboration. They range from simple lists, notes, and tables to more complex components such as those found in Dynamics 365. There’s also a status tracker component, a dynamic table in which team members can enter facts about the current status of what they are working on for simple tracking.
Loop Components in Teams Chat is simple in appearance, giving you the ability to create powerful productive combos that will keep your entire organization successfully ‘in the loop.’
Other programs can then include the Components in their workspaces – in Microsoft chats, documents, and meetings. This means you can utilize its functionalities without having to open another app or page.
Microsoft know how essential communication and collaboration is. Their tools continue to revolutionize our workplace, and Microsoft Loop is anticipated to be an important addition to our already capable tech arsenal.
Pricing and Availability
Microsoft Loop was announced in their November 2, 2021 update posts, and the company detailed what to expect from it. The launch date will remain in the summer of 2022, with Loop components becoming available across all Microsoft Office applications. Microsoft Loop will initially be available in Outlook, Teams, and OneNote – but the specific date on which a complete Loop application will be available is unknown. It is yet to be determined whether Loop will be included in the regular Microsoft 365 subscription package or one of the higher-tier options when the product is revealed in its entirety.
Putting Microsoft to Work
Microsoft has amazing tools to help your business in many ways – but how do you set it up, get employees onboard, and how do you manage it and get the support you need? Just contact mPowered IT at 678-389-6200.