[Available for iOS only, Android support coming soon]

If you already have a Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Guides, and/or Dynamics 365 Remote Assist license, you can access the new remote assistance capabilities in your mobile Teams app automatically upon release at no additional cost.

Previously, Remote Assist capabilities required a standalone mobile app or a HoloLens 2 device. Now frontline workers can benefit from using the Spatial Annotations feature inside their Teams mobile app.  

Turn any mobile device into a mixed reality collaboration platform

Today, frontline workers use Teams within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides applications to collaborate with spatial annotations. The Remote Assist mobile app is a popular choice for workers on the go because it’s fast and easy to get anyone on a call, show the task in front of you, and ink your space.

Now, those same workers can quickly access this core functionality directly from the Teams mobile app as long you have Dynamics 365 Field Service license. For workers who are often on the move, having all their core collaboration capabilities in a single app makes the job easier. It eliminates the need to switch apps, while making sure all your collaboration capabilities from Teams are at your fingertips.

No more context switching—stay within the flow of work 

Using this feature is as straightforward as joining a Teams meeting or making a call. With the front-facing camera, users can share their view with remote participants. This allows real-time collaboration relying on 3D annotations overlayed on physical objects to enhance comprehension.

Just like with the Remote Assist app, users can move and change angles without losing track of annotations anchored to their environment. This advanced level of interaction empowers Teams mobile users to share insights and reduce miscommunications that could lead to rework.

Reduce app sprawl by eliminating the need to manage another app

If your company already leverages Teams to facilitate communication and collaboration, why not make it cover more collaborative use cases for frontline workers too? IT administrators don’t need to manage another app to enable remote assistance capabilities for their mobile workforce. 

Bringing Spatial Annotations to the Teams mobile app means fewer apps for IT teams to provision, update, and audit. Companies can benefit from Teams’ ability to support end-to-end encryption, data loss prevention, and compliance certifications, adding additional security measures protecting against unauthorized access to confidential company information. 

How can I access Spatial Annotations on my mobile Teams app? 

The public preview for iOS users is currently rolling out, with public preview for Android users coming later this summer. General availability will come later in 2024.   

Infusing mixed reality capabilities into apps workers are already using, on devices they already have in their pockets, is just one way we’re working to bring mixed reality to frontline workers. We’re excited with this next step democratizing mixed reality and bringing leading-edge mixed reality solutions to more people across industries. 

Copyright © 2024 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 

The post Enable Spatial annotations for your frontline technicians using Dynamics 365 Field Service & Teams appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Microsoft aims to make mixed reality accessible and intuitive for frontline workers everywhere. With Dynamics 365 Guides, deskless workers use step-by-step holographic instructions to ensure process compliance, improve efficiency, and learn on the job. In 2022, new Microsoft Teams capabilities in Guides combined anyone, anywhere, seamless collaboration with the “see what I see” magic of HoloLens 2. In real-time, participants on a call could see what the HoloLens user saw, annotate their colleague’s three-dimensional space, and share files easily. We’ve just released another set of features in Guides to make this new experience even more intuitive and reliable.

Draw anywhere with digital 3D annotations

Imagine being able to draw on any object, any surface, or in thin air. With our recent annotation improvements, you can. Previously, a HoloLens user could only draw on a flat or semi-flat surface some way off in the distance. Now HoloLens users can draw 3D images anywhere using digital ink—and in Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist, an expert working on a PC or mobile device on the other side of the world can draw in your world in 3D.

These drawings stick where they’re placed in the space and remain still. Users can walk around them and view them from different angles. On surfaces, the digital ink stays where intended, regardless of whether the user changes location or position. With HoloLens, the entire world is inkable, allowing you to annotate and share in real time.

Join mixed reality Teams calls more securely

In Dynamics 365 Guides, HoloLens users now have more options when joining a Teams call. Before entering the call, you can turn video on or off and join muted or not. As before, you can also change these settings once you’re in the meeting. In spaces where confidentiality is core, this allows frontline workers to use HoloLens as their main calling device—without compromising on security.

Further driving our efforts to help you keep your company and your information secure, we also recently added restricted mode features that enable your admin to restrict who can log on to the device and make calls.

Link to Guides from inside a Guide

Navigating through the steps of a guide is as intuitive as paging through a document or scrolling through a file. What about jumping from one file to another? You can do that now, too. We’ve added the ability to navigate directly from one guide to another by linking the second guide in an action step. Navigating between different sets of training materials or guides is as easy as jumping to a new web page from a hyperlink.

What’s next?

Learn the details of all our recent additions in the Dynamics 365 Guides release notes.

Stay tuned for more updates coming soon as we continue to build on the intuitive and frontline worker-focused features in Dynamics 365 Guides!

Not yet a Dynamics 365 customer? Take a tour and get a free trial.

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