The 2020 pandemic’s impacts have subsided, but the tendency toward working remotely doesn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. Virtual meetings are becoming more common for individuals to interact and manage relationships in this virtual era as remote learning and remote work becomes the order of the day. To back up that point, according to a report by Zippia, it’s predicted that by 2025, 36.2 million Americans will have become remote workers.
Microsoft Teams is a typical example of a tool for remote work. That said, Microsoft Teams is introducing a new application – Virtual Appointments. This new application will serve as a central point for administrators and professionals to plan and manage fixed and on-demand meetings using Microsoft Teams. Additionally, they can view appointment statistics and insights, email appointments and statistics, and receive real-time status updates.
This Virtual Appointments tool improves the Microsoft Teams’ scheduling process for business-to-consumer meetings. Businesses can use the Virtual Appointments feature to ensure that the individual they’re meeting with enjoys a satisfying experience with the virtual meeting from beginning to end without needing to learn or install additional tools when meeting with a client or someone from another country.
This article will cover all the information you need about the new Microsoft Teams Virtual Appointments, its main features, its benefits, and some helpful meeting and planning advice.
Virtual Appointments – Overview
The complex scheduling requirements of any company are simple to manage with the help of the MS Teams’ Virtual Appointments application. From a singular interface, schedulers can control the calendars of numerous departments and staff members and communicate with external and internal attendees.
These Virtual Appointments take place via Microsoft Teams, which have advanced video conferencing features. For instance, a doctor can show their client their screen while reviewing their test results. Alternatively, a banking expert can close deals remotely by asking for electronic signatures on paperwork. You receive a customized experience for your field.
You can use the fundamental Virtual Appointments features, which make it simple to plan and attend business meetings, with any of Microsoft’s 365 licenses. For instance, without installing Teams, you can plan meetings, and external attendees will join via another browser using the Bookings calendar.
Virtual Appointments Key Features
Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments app is a vital tool for organizations and institutions with many useful features. Among its most notable features is the availability to plan and attend meetings anywhere and anytime.
No matter where the participants are, scheduling a meeting and sending out invitations is simple with Microsoft Teams. That removes the necessity for travel and enables real-time collaboration, making it particularly helpful for companies with staff or clients worldwide.
Virtual meetings with Microsoft Teams have many key features enhanced for improved participation, organization, and communication. For example, you can instantly use the live chat tool to contact another user, even while giving a presentation.
The platform enables users to plan follow-up meetings, record meetings, have a virtual reception-like area, and take notes. Sensitive business data is secure when you communicate using Microsoft Teams because every session has end-to-end encryption availability.
Virtual Appointments Meeting Template
Your employees can plan virtual meetings with prospective customers, clients, and people beyond your company’s jurisdiction using the Virtual Appointments template, which is a primary meeting format in MS Teams. You can input values in the template for conference settings that conference hosts usually manage. Use that to enforce preferences and apply preferences.
Using this template, you can assist in ensuring compliance standards and facilitate a standardized experience for virtual appointments booked directly inside Teams across your company.
The Benefits of Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments
The main benefit of Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments is that it enables businesses with booking-based scheduling to establish a digital calendar and let users schedule events there. Other benefits include but are not limited to the following:
- Customization of a virtual reception-like area using logos and themes
- Chatting options with meeting attendees in the reception-like area
- Analytics regarding meetings and appointments
- Management of scheduled activities in the queue
- Sending SMS notices to participants
- Managing on-demand meetings in the queue
- Swift follow-up notifications after each appointment
Valuable Hints and Techniques for Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments
You can use several tricks and techniques to make the best of Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments. To make the most of your experience, keep the following things in mind in addition to using the chat feature to easily exchange reports and the screen-sharing function to present necessary slides:
- For excellent video and audio quality:
- Ensure you and your team uses a microphone and headset for higher audio quality
- Ensure the microphone and camera are tested before joining the meeting
- To boost your presence and professionalism:
- Stay in a well-lit space
- Arrive at the meeting before the scheduled time and be respectful
- Dress appropriately and be professional
- To ease booking conflicts:
- Block off break and lunch times
- Ensure to block out any additional offline appointments that aren’t scheduled on your calendar
- Schedule your meetings with a break period in between them, so you have time to relax if one takes longer than expected
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Microsoft Teams’ Virtual Appointments can support businesses and institutions to improve communication and engagement in a virtual environment.
Contact us today to learn more.