Microsoft upgrades Teams mobile app to woo frontline workers

Microsoft intends to draw in ‘first-line’ staffers with location sharing, a camera module and audio-message sharing functions added to the team collaboration app. Microsoft has added some updates to its Teams collaboration tool in order to attract “first-line” workers such as retail, healthcare and service staffers. The additions include new mobile app functions, integrations with third-party scheduling apps and an employee “praise” tool.

Microsoft claims there are more than two billion frontline staff globally – a segment of workers that has received less attention than knowledge workers, who have access to a variety of digital tools to support workplace communications and productivity.

“First-line workers are a massive segment of workers around the world that are currently pretty drastically underserved by technology,” said Emma Williams, corporate vice president of Modern Workplace Verticals at Microsoft. “What we are delivering today is a customisable experience that really focuses on a mobile-first worker based on their role.”

The additions to the Teams mobile app include location sharing, the ability to record and share audio messages, and a camera module with image annotation that can help protect sensitive data within an organisation. “In healthcare, sending images is one of the primary forms of communication with clinicians sharing x-rays back and forth or pictures of a patient's injuries." Williams said. A lot of this is happening in unsanctioned consumer chat apps, with is no security awareness, no compliance, and photos get automatically stored on someone's personal mobile phone or cloud account. The secure camera app ensures you take the photo within Teams and it only gets shared within Teams.

Role-based policy templates can be set up in the mobile app of Teams. IT admins can enable or restrict certain functions such as calendars, calling or private chats, for instance, depending on user needs. Employees can also customise the app themselves, with the ability to pin frequently used modules to the app's navigation bar.

Integration with workforce management systems is another update. This relies on the launch of Shifts – a lightweight schedule management feature available in Teams and announced at Microsoft Ignite in September. The Graph API for Shifts hooks Teams into enterprise scheduling systems like Kronos, allowing workers and managers to view information around attendance or payroll and benefits, for example, within the mobile app.

Finally, a new “praise” feature lets managers and executives recognise the work carried out by staff - a factor that can help in industries with high rates of staff churn, such as retail. The new features are available to all Teams users, in all SKUs, except for Teams Free, Microsoft said.