Microsoft Teams hits 44M daily active users, spiking 37% in one week amid remote work surge
.jpg)
Microsoft Teams is seeing massive user growth as remote work becomes the norm amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The chat, collaboration and video conferencing app saw its daily active user count rise more than 37 percent over the past week, from 32 million to 44 million users around the world. During that time, Microsoft also signed up six additional large business customers with more than 100,000 users each.
“COVID-19 has impacted the lives of people around the world,” said Jared Spataro, Microsoft 365 corporate vice president. “We believe it will be a turning point for the way people will work and learn.”
Software that enables remote collaboration has become essential as companies implement work-from-home mandates to help slow the outbreak of novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. Video conferencing company Zoom, for example, has seen shares rise more than 70 percent this year as other tech stocks tumble.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he’s been pretty much “living on Teams” for the past few weeks since the Redmond, Wash-based tech giant asked Seattle-area employees to work remotely.
The technology has “really been just an amazing boon in a time like this,” Nadella said during a virtual press briefing this week. He predicted that there will be “a fundamental structural change in how we transcend some of these geographic boundaries.”
Spataro called it an “inflection point.”
“We’re going to look back and realize that this is when it all changed,” he said. “We’re never going to go back to working the way we did.”
Teams competes head-to-head with Slack in the market for work chat and collaboration. Slack this week said it added 7,000 customers over the past seven weeks and unveiled a new redesign. Tech giants Google and Facebook also offer workplace chat and collaboration tools, and the lines are blurring between different segments of the market as many apps combine chat and video conferencing.
Microsoft revealed the new user milestone, as well as several new Microsoft Teams features, as part of the product’s third anniversary. Microsoft Teams debuted in 2017 and reached 20 million users this past November. Since its launch, Teams has expanded beyond chat to include virtual meetings, calls and other collaboration features.
New features coming later this year include a real-time noise suppression tool that uses artificial intelligence to minimize background noise. The technology can filter out noise such as a crinkling bag of chips while someone talks.
There is also a “raise hand” feature that lets users send visual signals when they want to speak; a new integration with industrial headset devices made by Vancouver, Wash.-based RealWear; offline and low-bandwidth support for chat messages; a pop-out chat function; Microsoft 365 Business Voice, which turns Teams into a business phone system; and the first collaboration bar certified for Teams, a device called the Yealink VC210 with speakers, microphone and camera.
Microsoft this month began offering a six-month free trial to the premium version of Teams.
Teams has also been through some rough patches recently, as the service suffered an outage that lasted several hours in Europe earlier this week. Teams also went down last month.
A survey from RBC showed that Microsoft businesses such as Azure, Skype for Business, and Microsoft Teams could help the company weather the impact from COVID-19. Shares of Microsoft are down 25 percent this month amid the broader stock market slump. The company said in February that it will miss revenue guidance for its “More Personal Computing” business segment, which includes Windows, due to the outbreak.
Slack’s shares fell last week after its fourth-quarter earnings report. Slack did not reveal its updated daily active user numbers but said it has 110,000 paid customers, up 25 percent year-over-year. Slack said in October that it had more than 12 million daily users, a 37 percent increase over the prior year.
source geekwire
Industry: Unified Communications
Latest Jobs
-
- Public Sector Cyber Security Sales | UK
- England
- N/A
-
Public Sector Cyber Security Sales | UK UK | Remote / Hybrid A cyber security provider is seeking a Public Sector Sales professional to drive growth across UK government and public sector organisations. Must have current Cyber Security sales experience. Responsibilities Generate new business selling cyber security solutions into UK public sector Build relationships with CIO, CISO and senior technology stakeholders Manage the full sales cycle from opportunity to contract close Develop pipeline across central government, local government and public sector bodies Support bids, tenders and framework opportunities Experience Proven cyber security sales experience in the UK Track record selling into public sector organisations Familiarity with CCS, G Cloud or other government frameworks Strong stakeholder engagement and deal management skills Location UK based Security Requirements Eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance
-
- Security Architect | MoD - Security Cleared. OUTSIDE IR35 | Hampshire
- N/A
- Outside IR35
-
Security Architect | MOD | Security Cleared | Outside IR35 | Hampshire Commutable The successful candidate must be willing to undergo DV Clearance, ideally already holding active clearance. You will produce high and low level security architecture documentation, guiding and validating designs for systems deployed within sensitive environments. The role requires providing specialist security input into solution design, service transition and change initiatives, working closely with engineering, operations, client and third party stakeholders. You must have current hands on architectural experience, including VMware secure platform design and virtualisation architecture, alongside AWS expertise. This is an outside IR35 contract- 6 month rolling. Part of a longer term MoD project
-
- Active Directory | RBA engineer | UK Remote | SC Clearable
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Technical Active Directory (AD) and RBA specialist needed to play a key part in complex, enterprise scale Active Directory and access transformation programmes. You will work alongside senior team, helping reshape access models, modernise legacy directory structures and strengthen security posture across secure environments. This is hands on delivery within high impact projects where your work directly improves access control, compliance and operational resilience. Active UK Security Clearance required. This is a remote role with client travel. Implementation of Role Based Access Control across large AD estates Restructuring complex permission models, security groups and delegated access Supporting domain controller upgrades and core directory improvements Applying security hardening standards and remediating audit findings Enhancing authentication, policy and access governance frameworks Troubleshooting and resolving technical AD challenges within live environments Producing robust technical documentation and identifying project risks You must have the following technical experience Enterprise Active Directory administration Role Based Access and permission remediation OU design and governance Group Policy management Security group delegation models DNS and DHCP services Kerberos authentication / NTLM PowerShell scripting and automation Azure AD | Entra ID Hybrid identity environments Identity Governance PAM
-
- Identity and Access Management Consultant (Saviynt & Microsoft Entra) | UK
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Role summary Technical IAM consultant delivering identity governance and cloud identity solutions to enterprise clients. What you will do Implement / Configure / Deploy Saviynt IGA / Microsoft Entra solutions: Lead technical workshops, gather requirements and translate into solution designs. Troubleshoot complex issues, support testing and deployments. Produce technical artefacts and configuration guides. Key skills Hands-on Saviynt IGA experience (workflow, connectors, access governance). Strong practical knowledge of Microsoft Entra ID / Azure AD identity and access controls. Understanding of identity protocols (SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect) and hybrid identity. Experience with APIs / REST for integrations and automation. What we are looking for Proven delivery experience in IAM / IGA projects, preferably in consulting. Confident communicator with client-facing delivery exposure.