Today, we unveiled new features and upgrades for the next generation of our Microsoft-certified BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams! With increased support for today’s hybrid workforce, the latest updates to the BlueJeans Gateway are designed to help organizations plan their back-to-office strategies with minimal IT investment and without disrupting the workflow patterns users have grown to appreciate while working from home (WFH). Today's updates include:

  • Large Event Support: Organizations can now use their existing standards-based room systems to join Teams Live Events.
  • Localized Interactive Voice Response (IVR): The BlueJeans Gateway now uses the location of the call to automatically serve up appropriate in-language content for Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, and French-speaking regions.
  • *7x7 Gallery View: In-room participants will be able to see up to 49 attendees on the VTC monitor at one time.
  • *Enhanced Management: Improved analytics in Command Center for Teams Meetings and Teams Live Events, as well as infrastructure upgrades to enhance call quality and resiliency for Teams Gateway users, will provide better admin and moderator support.
  • Improved Visibility: The BlueJeans Gateway will present in-room attendees with clear notifications when meeting recording and transcription are enabled.
  • Simplified Deployment: Microsoft 365 admins can now visit the BlueJeans Gateway eCommerce store to procure their license and deploy the solution in 4 easy steps—entirely online.

Furthermore, we've seen significant customer adoption of the BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams, which has now been deployed globally to more than 400 organizations, including AECOM, JLG Architects, Pernod Ricard, Fives Group, and Telit. For organizations using Teams and who plan to return to the office, the BlueJeans Gateway provides the ability to use existing conference room systems to join Teams quickly while minimizing the need for additional IT resources. Here's what our customer Pernod Ricard had to say:

“When we decided to roll out Microsoft Teams across our organization, the last thing we wanted was to rip and replace our existing conference rooms systems. The BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams enabled us to not only optimize the ROI on our existing hardware, but it allowed us to accelerate our Teams rollout so our teams can book conference rooms and join Teams meetings with a single touch. Considering not all of our employees will be in the office at the same time, this will ensure our teams are able to enjoy the same easy-to-join Meetings experience regardless of their device, room or location.” — Antonio Eguizabal, Head of Core Services Delivery at Pernod Ricard.

The simplicity and ease-of-deployment of the BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams helps ensure that employees have the same unified Teams meeting experience while safely dispersed—working from home, remotely, or in the office. As organizations begin planning the transition back-to-office for some of their workforce, this will be crucial. These product updates are also consistent with a recent report from Verizon Business in conjunction with Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, which found that 86 percent of global companies surveyed believe the digital workplace will coexist with the physical workspace post COVID-19.

According to Ira M. Weinstein, founder and managing partner at Recon Research, “Providing multiple touchpoints for user collaboration is at the heart of digital transformation. Today’s distributed workforce has to be productive and efficient, regardless of each worker’s location, role or access method. The BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams is easy to test, easy to deploy, and easy to use. This combination of benefits makes Teams meetings easily accessible to mobile, desktop, and conference room users."

To learn more about the BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams, take a Gateway Test Drive or download your free trial of BlueJeans Gateway today.

*7x7 Gallery View with Together mode and the Enhanced Management features are scheduled to be released later this year. For more information on updates and availability, visit bluejeans.com/products/integrations/microsoft-gateway