Last month Microsoft hosted their 2-day digital conference: Microsoft Built.
Microsoft Build is a conference aimed at software developers and web designers who use Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure. A lot of interesting things were announced. We spoke with TechQuarters, a Microsoft Gold Partner and Managed Service Provider. “We have provided best high-standard managed services to London-based businesses for some time now.” says TechQuarters. “Microsoft 365 makes up the core of our own digital infrastructure, and we’ve helped hundreds of businesses adopt it over the years.”
We asked TechQuarters what they felt were the biggest takeaways from the Microsoft Build conference.“Like most of us, Microsoft feel that hybrid working will be the next major disruptive trend in business,” says TechQuarters, “and they want their users to be able to customise their experience on to meet the demands of hybrid working.”
One of the ways in which Microsoft are doing this by introducing new toolkits and capabilities for building custom applications.“Referred to by Microsoft as collaborative apps, they harnessa wide array of tools.” These tools include the Power Platform, Azure, and Graph, among others.
So, how are Microsoft encouraging their users to develop apps. Firstly, they are making it very easy to develop applications via Microsoft Teams – Microsoft’s collaboration platform. “Everyone in our company uses Teams.” Says TechQuarters. “It is the primary channel of communication our IT engineers use when delivering London IT Support.”
Microsoft Teams enables you to chat, call, videoconference; and it integrates with just about every Microsoft applications out there. It makes a lot of sense that Microsoft is using it as a platform for developers to exercise their creativity. Some of the examples Microsoft themselves have given are the ability to design rich meeting experiences – such as introducing third-party tools into the meeting screen on Teams.
Another important thing to remember as well, is that applications built for Microsoft Teams will work across any version of Teams. “Providing the IT support in London means having a diverse customer base.” Says TechQuarters. “Our customers use Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, even Linux.” With traditional app development, a specific variation for each platformwould have to be released. Microsoft’s goal with this more simplified approach to app development is to reduce the learning curve associated with developing applications.
This is just one of the ways in which Microsoft are empowering software and web developers to develop what they call ‘the next wave of apps’. But if you’re interested in learning even more, there were many more exciting things announced at Microsoft Build.