Microsoft Excel Live: Why Vendors Should Think About the Hybrid Workplace

Hybrid work setups and remote work are here to stay. As a result, software vendors are introducing new features that align with the future of work. These include Microsoft with the new Excel Live feature for Microsoft Teams.

The company announced the new feature on its Microsoft 365 blog. With Excel Live, collaborators on a Teams meeting would now be able to edit a spreadsheet in real-time. Currently, sharing spreadsheets within Teams has been one-sided. The presenter pulls up a file while everyone else passively watches during editing.

Microsoft aims to help users increase efficiency in team collaboration with the new feature. Working on files in real-time during a Teams meeting could accomplish tasks faster, provide more clarity, and save teams an extra meeting on their schedule.

With Excel Live, users no longer need to leave the meeting screen. They can edit and discuss changes right on the file, so there’s no need to shift to another app. Members who are in the meeting don’t even have to have Excel running on their devices to collaborate on a spreadsheet.

Microsoft highlights other advantages of using Excel Live. It can simplify collaboration in a hybrid work setup since everything happens in one location. It can also save time after a meeting trying to capture and consolidate content. Plus, the new feature encourages members to contribute and drive productivity for the team.

Microsoft also revealed feedback from its demo participants. Particularly, participants noted how Excel Live would be useful to groups who want to co-create, revise, and review workbooks together. Collaborating in real-time would get rid of file swapping and long email threads after the meeting.

Improving Digital Tools for Hybrid, Collaborative Work

The Excel Live feature is one of the newest additions to the Live Share functionality in Microsoft Teams. The company released PowerPoint Live in 2021 and introduced Live Share (interactive app experiences) during Microsoft Build 2022.

Excel Live will launch sometime in August. It will join two new features in Teams—collaborative annotations and video clips. The former allows users to highlight, doodle, or place Post-it notes on a file, while the latter is a video voicemail. Anyone can record short video clips and send them to a Teams chat.

These improvements in Microsoft Teams demonstrate how software vendors must offer innovative digital tools that cater to remote workers and distributed teams. Collaboration software trends indicate that 82% of business executives plan to permanently adopt working remotely.

Immersive Technology for Collaboration

Moreover, workplace collaboration is moving toward new levels. Soon it will not just be about real-time collaboration on a meeting screen. Trends also point to the use of immersive technology—augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)—in team collaboration, especially for industries that need to work on complex projects that involve 3D data. Without being physically present, for instance, VR and AR can provide realistic settings for working on automotive designs, safety training, and learning development, just to name a few.

While we’re yet to see how these immersive technologies will be implemented in the mainstream workplace, we do know that little improvements could make a huge difference. For example, Google Workspace recently launched an eSignature feature within Google Docs. With eSignature, users can collaborate on documents, add custom fields on forms, and easily add signatures without downloading the document.

eSignature seems like a simple update; but it has the potential to attract more users to the app. Adding or updating current software features to aid collaboration in a hybrid workplace can help software vendors remain relevant in their industry.