Microsoft is launching a new application called Places, which will offer employees and organizations balancing home and in-office work a better way to figure out who is where, and when.
You’ll probably immediately know if you or your team might be using Places, given that you’re already familiar with your company’s attitude towards remote work. It’s clear that some companies would like to convince their workers to return to the office, while some workers would rather avoid the stress and expense of a commute and work from home.
Places is designed to balance that tension, Microsoft said. First off, the app can be used as a standalone indicator of who will be in the office, and when. But it will also be integrated into both Outlook and Copilot, so you can visually see which team members will be where, or just ask Copilot to sum it all up. Copilot integration will take place during the second half of 2024, Microsoft said.
Microsoft outlined its Places plans in a blog post, with a surprising amount of graphics describing what Places will look like. We’ve reproduced a few here. Here’s what Places will offer:
- Location plans: You can set you location for a given period, and check to see whether your coworkers (or your boss) will be in too. A “peek card” sums your plans up.
Microsoft
- Suggestions: What days should you plan to come in? Places can make recommendations.
- Team guidance: If you do have to be in the office, a “guidance card” at the top of the daily Places stack will outline where your boss expects you, and why.
- Places finder: If you do come into the office and need to book a desk or meeting room, Places will allow you to do that. This basically takes a service like Tribeloo and integrates it into Teams. Place finder will also help you find suggested locations as well as juggle long-term “stays” and how to figure out where to work over the course of a few weeks.
Microsoft
Administrators will obviously be able to keep tabs on who’s where, which is the downside at organizations which are keying in-office presence to promotions or even retention. Correction: Users won’t be specifically tracked. Microsoft representatives say that “Users’ expanded presence will be contained to signals about in-office locations and will be aggregated and anonymized in reports about office occupation trends.”
Interestingly, Places won’t be a Microsoft 365 application. It will be licensed as part of Microsoft Teams Premium, perhaps as a consequence of the breakup of Teams and Office 365 in the wake of an European antitrust investigation. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft views this separation as an advantage, giving the company not one but two separate platforms, subscriptions — and revenue streams.
Corrected at 12:27 PM to note that users will not be individually tracked, according to Microsoft representatives.
