1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,780 picture this. You finally drive into the office, fight traffic, find parking, walk to your 2 00:00:03,780 --> 00:00:07,560 floor, and then you look around to find half the desk's empty. Your teammates are all 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:12,400 working from home today, and nobody told you. That frustration is exactly what Microsoft 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,080 Place's solves. It connects your calendar to your actual office building, so you finally 5 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:20,880 know who's coming in. Without it, research shows the coordination tax. The time you spend 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,520 just figuring out who's showing up and where to sit costs about 30 minutes per day. That's 7 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,420 two and a half hours a week just guessing. So let's dive in. We'll break down the four parts 8 00:00:29,420 --> 00:00:33,580 of places and show you how they work together. By the end, you'll know exactly what this 9 00:00:33,580 --> 00:00:36,920 tool does and whether it's worth turning on at your company. 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,160 The hybrid work problem? Why you need places. Let's start with the problem because hybrid 11 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:45,140 work created a new headache that nobody really planned for. Think about how you coordinate 12 00:00:45,140 --> 00:00:49,180 office days today. Maybe you send a slack message, start an email poll or just show up hoping 13 00:00:49,180 --> 00:00:53,440 someone else is there. It's messy, it's inefficient, and it relies on everyone remembering 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,980 to update their status. Microsoft's own research confirms this. 48% of employees want more 15 00:00:58,980 --> 00:01:03,960 flexible schedules, but 43% feel disconnected from their company. Those two things are in direct 16 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,640 conflict. People want flexibility, but they also want connection. The current way of doing 17 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,600 hybrid work, hoping you overlap with your team, doesn't deliver either one well. Here's 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,240 the thing. The problem isn't the office itself. It's not that offices are bad. It's that 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,920 you have no information about who's coming in and when. You're flying blind, not knowing 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,560 if Tuesday is the day your whole team shows up or if it's a ghost town. So Microsoft looked 21 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:28,080 at this and thought, what if we build a solution that lives inside the tools you already use? 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,800 Not a separate app you have to remember to open, not another login, but something that sits 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,880 right inside Outlook in Teams where you already spend your day. That's Microsoft Places? 24 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:41,600 What Places actually is? A clear definition. So what exactly is Microsoft Places? Let's get 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,680 that clear. First, it's not a separate app you install. You don't go to a website, create 26 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:50,440 an account, or learn a new interface. Places lives inside Outlook in Teams, showing up 27 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,920 in your calendar and your chat. It's woven into the tools you already use every day. Think 28 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,320 of it as a digital reception desk for your office building. You know how a receptionist 29 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,740 knows who's in the building, which rooms are booked and where people are sitting. Places 30 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:05,840 does that for your entire organization and it does it automatically. Here are the core 31 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,540 components. First, the places directory. That's the database that knows your buildings, 32 00:02:09,540 --> 00:02:13,960 floors and desks. It's the map of your physical office. Then there are work plans letting 33 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:18,520 you tell people which days you plan to come in, then booking, reserving a specific desk 34 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:23,240 or room, then check in, confirming you actually showed up. And finally analytics, showing 35 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,860 your facilities team which spaces are actually being used. The key inside is this. Places 36 00:02:27,860 --> 00:02:32,440 connects your Teams calendar data, who's coming in, what meetings they have with physical 37 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,880 space data, which desks and rooms are free. It's the bridge between your digital schedule 38 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,400 and your physical building. Now let's start with the first feature you'll actually 39 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,760 use because that's where the real value begins. Setting your work plan, telling people 40 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,920 when you're in, here's the first feature you'll actually use and it's surprisingly simple. 41 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,200 It's called a work plan. A work plan is just a way to tell your colleagues, "Hey, I plan 42 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,520 to be in the office on these days." You set it up once and it repeats every week. One click 43 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,600 and you're done. You say, "I'm in office Tuesdays and Thursdays building three." That's 44 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:06,360 it. Once you set it, little icons appear in your calendar and your teammates can see them. 45 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,200 When they're planning their week, they see you're coming in on Thursday, so maybe they 46 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,040 decide to come in too. Suddenly you've got a real in office day without a single slack 47 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:18,160 message or email poll. Now I want to be clear about something important. This is completely optional. 48 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,520 Microsoft does not force you to share your location. You opt in and you decide whether your 49 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,560 work plan is visible to your organization. There's no way for an admin to turn this on for 50 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,120 everyone. It's your choice and that's by design. The whole point is to help you coordinate, 51 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,120 not to track you, so you've set your work plan and told people you're coming in on Thursday. 52 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,880 Now you need a place to sit because showing up and hunting for an empty desk is almost as 53 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:44,080 bad as showing up to an empty office. Desk booking, reserve your spot. Places really shines when 54 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,480 it comes to booking a specific desk, not just checking in. In most companies today, desk booking 55 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:53,760 works one of three ways. First come, first served. Hot desk, where you grab whatever's open. 56 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,840 Or you just sit in the same spot every time and hope nobody takes it. None of these are great. 57 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,840 Places gives you a map-based interface. When you open it, you see the floor plan of your building 58 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,800 with every desk marked. Green means available. Grey means taken. You can even see who's sitting 59 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,360 where. If your colleague Sally is at desk 7, her name and photo show up on the map. It's like having 60 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,280 a visual directory of your entire office. You can zoom in and out, check different floors, 61 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:20,000 and see which amenities are nearby. Now here's where the AI kicks in. Places look at your Microsoft 62 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,040 graph data, who you collaborate with most, who you email, who you meet with, and recommend the desk 63 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,440 near those people. It even checks your calendar to see who you're meeting with that day. So if you 64 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,680 work closely with Sally and she's coming in on Thursday, places might say, "Hey, there's a desk 65 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:38,800 open right next to her." One click and your book. Places doesn't just show you where desks are. 66 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,840 It helps you sit near the people you work with most. You can also filter by features. Need an 67 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:48,480 accessible desk? A quiet zone? A desk near a window? Just filter for those. And instead of repeating 68 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:53,600 the process every morning, you can book multiple days at once. Here's a smart feature. If you book a 69 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:58,240 desk but don't show up, places automatically releases it after a set time. That means someone else 70 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,960 can grab it. No more reserved but empty desks wasting space. But desks aren't the only spaces you 71 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,520 need. Sometimes you need a room for a meeting. And that's where the next piece comes in. Room 72 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:12,400 booking. Find the right meeting space. You might think booking a meeting room is straightforward. 73 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,520 Open Outlook. Click the room field. Pick from a list. But that list is just names. Conference room A. 74 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,080 Meeting room three. You have no idea what that room actually looks like. Is it big enough for your team? 75 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,400 Does it have a screen? Is it near your desk or on the other side of the building? The places find 76 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,600 a fix is that. Instead of a plain text list, you get photos of each room. You see the actual space, 77 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,240 the capacity, the equipment and where it sits on the floor plan. The photos are real, not stock images 78 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,480 so you know exactly what you're getting. You can see if the room has a whiteboard, a large screen 79 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:45,440 or even a window. You can filter by floor, by size, by what technologies in the room. So when you're 80 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:51,040 booking a meeting, you're not guessing. You're choosing. And if you have co-pilot, it gets even smoother. 81 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:55,920 Just say book a room for my four-person team meeting and co-pilot picks the best one. It looks at 82 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,000 how many people are attending, checks which rooms are available and even considers where those 83 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,320 attendees are sitting in the building. If most of your team is on the third floor, it'll find a room 84 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,880 near them. No more scrolling through lists or playing schedule Tetris. Co-pilot acts like a personal 85 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,040 assistant who knows the building layout. It can even suggest a room based on the type of meeting 86 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:17,520 like a brainstorming session or a client presentation so you can see which rooms are near your desk. 87 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,200 You can see who else is in the building. You're not just booking a room, you're booking the 88 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,360 right room in the right place for the right people, but booking is only half the story. The real 89 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,720 magic is knowing who's actually there. Nearby and check in, finding people in the building. Here's 90 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,040 the thing about work plans and desk bookings. They tell you what people intend to do, but intentions 91 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,440 don't always match reality. Someone says they're coming in on Thursday, but their kid gets sick. 92 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,680 Or they decide to work from home that morning. Your work plan says they're in, but they're not. 93 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,040 That's where check-in comes in. Places can detect when you actually arrive at the office, 94 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,800 and it happens automatically. When you plug your laptop into a monitor at your desk, it knows 95 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,640 you're there. When you connect to the corporate Wi-Fi, it knows you're in the building. No scanning 96 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:59,520 a QR code, no tapping a badge, it just works. Once you're checked in, your colleagues can see you. 97 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,080 In Teams, a green dot appears on your profile, letting people know you're physically in the office, 98 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:08,080 not just online. And there's a feature called nearby that makes this even more useful. 99 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:12,880 In any Teams chat, you can type "ash" nearby, and it shows who else in that chat is in the same 100 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:17,600 building right now. It's a quick way to spot, "Hey, Sarah's here too. Let's grab coffee." 101 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,600 You can also search for someone on the floor map, say you want to sit near your teammate Mateo. 102 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,000 You type his name and places shows you exactly where he is. One click and you can book a desk right next 103 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,480 to him. And again, privacy is built in. You decide if your presence is visible, nobody can see where 104 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:35,360 you are unless you opt in. It's your choice. All this data who's coming in, who's checked in, which 105 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,560 spaces are used is useful for more than just finding people. It helps make smarter decisions about 106 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:46,400 the office itself. Analytics and admin, making smarter office decisions. Now everything we've 107 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,800 talked about so far helps you as an employee. But places also gives your facilities Teams something 108 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,680 they've never had before. Actual data about how the office is being used. Here's the thing. Most 109 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:00,000 companies have no idea how much of their office space is actually being used. They know how many 110 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,600 desks they have. They know how many people are employed. But they don't know if those desks are 111 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,080 sitting empty half the week. That's expensive. Real estate is one of the biggest costs a company has. 112 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:12,240 And without data, you're just guessing. Places gives facilities, Teams reports on desk and room 113 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,400 utilization. They can see which floors are busy and which are empty. They can see which rooms get 114 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:21,440 booked but never used. And here's the key metric. The difference between booked and actually used. 115 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,840 A desk can be reserved but stay empty all day. That's a wasted reservation. Places shows you that 116 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,320 gap. That's where auto-release policies come in. If someone books a desk but doesn't check in within 117 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,520 a certain time, say 30 minutes, places automatically releases it. Someone else can grab it. No more walking 118 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,560 past rows of empty desks that all say reserved. The system frees up wasted space without anyone having 119 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:45,360 to think about it. On the admin side, Microsoft also built a proper management portal. Before if 120 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,240 you needed to add a building or change a floor plan, you had to use PowerShell scripts. It was technical, 121 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,720 slow and required specific IT skills. Now, there's a web portal where you can manage buildings, 122 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:59,120 floors and desks directly. You can take a desk offline for maintenance. You can assign permanent 123 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:03,680 seats. You can set booking policies. It's all in one place. And it's designed for facilities teams, 124 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:08,000 not just IT admins. And that's where the most powerful part comes in. Because when you connect all 125 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:13,440 this data, work plans, check-ins, booking utilization, you get something much bigger than a booking tool. 126 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:18,160 How it all connects, the AI-powered workplace. When you step back and look at the big picture, 127 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,080 places isn't just a collection of features. It's a data layer that feeds directly into 128 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,560 co-pilot and the Microsoft Graph. Think about what that means for a moment. Co-pilot already knows 129 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:31,120 your calendar, your meetings and who you work with. Now, with places, it also knows your physical 130 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:35,680 office, which building you're in, which desk you're at, which rooms are available. And it can use 131 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:40,320 all that information to help you make better decisions. You can ask co-pilot, which days should I 132 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:46,640 come in this week to maximize collaboration? It will look at your team's work plans, check who's 133 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,920 checked in and give you an answer. Choose day looks best. Four of your five teammates are in the office 134 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,560 that day. That's not guessing. That's real data from places. The integration also extends to 135 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,960 teams rooms. If your company has meeting rooms with teams room systems, they connect directly to places. 136 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:06,000 When you book a room, the system knows its capabilities. Whether it has a camera, a whiteboard, 137 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,960 a large screen, and it can recommend the right room for the right meeting automatically. Here's the 138 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:15,520 thing, places is not a booking tool. It's a coordination platform. It connects your calendar, your 139 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,400 building and your colleagues into one system. It tells you when to come in, where to sit, 140 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,480 who's nearby and whether that space is worth keeping. That's fundamentally different from just 141 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,440 reserving a desk. So what should you do with this information? Places solves the, where is everyone? 142 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,320 Problem by connecting your calendar, your office space and your people into one system. If your 143 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:39,920 company uses Microsoft 365, check if places is already enabled. Start with a work plan. Just set your 144 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:43,920 recurring days and see who else is coming in. That single step changes how your office works. I'm 145 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:49,280 Mirko Peters from M365FM. If this knowledge nugget helped, subscribe on your favorite podcast 146 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,360 platform and share it with your facilities team. They need to know about this.