Microsoft recently released updates aimed at companies that are using Office 365 - High GCC to comply with existing and incoming government regulations. These new updates provide more of the favourite features from the standard commercial Office 365 that previously have not been available for users of the GCC High version of the software.

Landon Futch, owner of Baton Rouge IT consulting company shares insights into Microsoft Office 365 and GCC High.

Foster your Employee's Collaboration with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the go-to collaboration tool for many businesses using the standard commercial version of Office 365. Now companies using the GCC High edition are finally getting new upgrades that will significantly improve functionality and increase productivity.

Changes to the Microsoft Teams for GCC High users include:

• Presence. This simple yet, highly useful feature allows the user to set his current status. Statuses are initially set by the user but are then automatically updated depending on which application is open or what events appear on the calendar. In order for Presence to function, companies must have a cloud-hosted Skype for Business account.

• Chats and Team Calls. Until now, chatting or Teams calling people offsite wasn't allowed. With the release of this new update, users now can communicate with people other than coworkers. Administrators do have the option to restrict who employees can talk with by allowing or denying connections with certain web domains.

Add Third-Party VoIP Integration

After many requests, Microsoft has finally added the option to use third-party VoIP providers to handle telecommunication within the Office 365 GCC High environment. This capability gives companies much more control over the quality of Team Calls, but the additional freedom comes with some pretty hefty restrictions. To maintain compliance, third-party business VoIP providers must use approved session border controller connectivity to Microsoft, something which most venders don't currently offer. Hopefully, vendors will work quickly to meet this new requirement.

Improve Security to Meet New Requirements

The new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) will complicate cybersecurity measures companies already have in place. Microsoft focused on releasing updates to the GCC High version of Office 365 to make it easier to comply with these new regulations. The most meaningful one is the introduction of Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). ATP helps companies safeguard their data while online and provides tools for IT experts to monitor threat levels. Like other recent updates, using ATP in the CCG High environment is not as flexible as the standard commercial version of Office 365. Still, it is a step in the right direction.

Safely Ramp Up Employee Productivity

Microsoft added Flow and PowerApps to the Office 365 High GCC environment to help save your employees time and increase their productivity. Flow automates common and repetitive tasks such as automatically creating To-Do lists from an email or syncing scheduled meetings between apps. PowerApps allows non-technical users to create custom apps to meet the unique needs of your business.

Although the GCC High version of Office 365 is not yet on par with the commercial version in terms of functionality, these new updates, along with what Microsoft has planned for the future, prove Microsoft is dedicated to the future of the environment.