The Developer Platform launched alongside Microsoft Teams in preview. Since then, Microsoft has announced features such as Tabs, Bots, and Connectors. By using the Microsoft Teams Developer Platform, customers have a number of tools to integrate with Teams. The developer preview is a place to build apps and test them before distributing them in an organization. With the new expansion, Microsoft has added the following new capabilities to the Developer Platform: “Surface bots in team conversations within channels – giving your bot maximum exposure and usage. At preview, these bots could be surfaced in a 1:1 chat experience. Now, these bots can also be surfaced in a conversation within a Teams channel. Once a user adds a bot to the team, it can be invoked from any channel to respond to an existing thread or create a new thread. Deep link to items within a tab – allowing users in conversations to link to a specific work item in a tab, keeping them connected and in the flow of work, without having to manually find the referenced item. For users, the ability to use a deep link to reference a specific work item in your tab means they can stay connected, remain in the flow of work and keep on top of tasks.”
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft launched the Teams platform last November, although the service is still in preview. The platform is a workplace chat solution that is a direct competitor to Slack. While Teams borrows a lot from Slack, it is a platform that can tap into Microsoft tens of millions of Office 365 customers. This potential means Teams is likely to grow and help make Microsoft a formidable name in enterprise chat. Indeed, a study by Spiceworks recently showed that Teams will surpass Slack and Google Hangouts in the coming years. Coupled with Skype for Business, the platform will help Microsoft dominate the workspace chat market.
