DIGITAL
WORKPLACE of the Future of the Future
Sign up for a Microsoft Teams training session
Goodbye Webex, hello Microsoft Teams. As part of the Modern Desktop Foundations project, Microsoft Teams will be rolled out to all Alberta Blue Cross team members in mid-October. To ensure a smooth transition, optional training sessions will be made available from September 26 to October 7. These 90-minute online workshops with an experienced facilitator will showcase all the features and functionalities of Microsoft Teams such as chat, meetings and calling, as well as how to troubleshoot when booking and starting meetings with external clients who may not have the Microsoft Teams software downloaded on their devices.
Register here for one of the training sessions. Can’t make it to a training session? No problem. Detailed instructions with screenshots on how to access and use the functionalities of Microsoft Teams are available on the Digital Workplace of the Future hub. Targeted and customized versions of the general training have also been created to support teams who will be impacted more heavily by the move to Microsoft Teams or who have major scheduling concerns. Please connect with your leaders to find out if they have scheduled any sessions for your team. After the Microsoft Teams roll-out, online practice sessions will give team members a chance to practice the functionalities with a facilitator. More details will follow. If you have any questions, reach out to the Digital Workplace support team.
DIGITAL
WORKPLACE of the Future
Using Outlook and Microsoft Teams on your personal device We’ve had some questions regarding if team members can link their corporate Outlook and Microsoft Teams accounts to their personal device. The short answer is no, but we wanted to provide more context surrounding why. As we move towards a more digital working environment, there are enhanced risks associated with a distributed workforce. With employees working from home or other remote locations, cybercriminals can more easily extract credentials without anyone knowing they even tried. Our Outlook and Microsoft Teams applications are stored on the Microsoft cloud and can be accessed from anywhere in the world as it is not confined within our physical building. To help keep our information secure, one of the measures we have taken as an organization is to implement multi-factor authentication. The second measure we have taken is to only allow our Alberta Blue Cross email addresses to be accessed through Alberta Blue Cross-issued workstations and/or mobile devices. Each of the Alberta Blue Cross-issued devices has a security mechanism that allows us to protect the information stored on that device, meaning we can wipe all information stored on the device if it becomes lost or stolen.
What does this mean? Team members can download the Outlook and Microsoft Teams applications on their personal devices; however, they will be unable to link their Alberta Blue Cross email address to the application.
Questions? We thank you for your understanding and cooperation in keeping our information safe and secure. Please do not hesitate to contact Service Desk should you have any additional comments, questions or concerns.
DIGITAL
WORKPLACE of the Future
MODERN DESKTOP FOUNDATIONS:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT 2022 brought about many exciting changes in our software and technology. Last summer and fall, we enhanced our cyber security by introducing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and we bade farewell to Skype and Webex and welcomed Microsoft Teams instead. Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey in December and shared their experience using Teams. From the survey, we found a few unique ways team members are using the platform to enhance virtual collaboration: • Together mode: a fun, interactive view that groups all participants together onto one shared virtual background so it looks like you’re sitting in a room together. • Presenter mode: engage your audience in presentations by appearing directly on the shared screen for a better presentation experience. • Speaker coach: get real-time, private, personalized feedback on your speaking skills during a meeting. • Reply to a specific message in a chat: directly reply to a specific message in a chat thread so that your conversation doesn’t get missed. Your feedback also helped identify opportunities for additional support which we will continue to explore in 2023. Additional resources will be placed on the Digital Workplace of the Future hub as they are developed, such as • audio connection—how to join meetings using computer audio and how to set up personal Bluetooth devices. • breakout rooms—stay tuned for a BLUniversity session in the spring. We are excited to hear your stories on how team members are collaborating in new and effective ways. We anticipate collaboration will be enhanced as we approach future phases of the Modern Desktop initiative. Keep an eye on future editions of News to Use for updates.
Questions? Contact the Digital Workplace support team.