Bookings is an application within Microsoft 365 that helps with the efficient management of calendars. It integrates with Outlook and with Microsoft Teams, and helps managers to organise staff calendars and manage day to day scheduling.
It is also an application that can be shared externally – for example enabling your customers to select time slots to meet with you (either in person or virtually via Teams calls).
Bookings can be accessed in a variety of ways – through Outlook, through Teams or via a Web version. However, there have been some differences in the features available, depending on which route you access Bookings through, and this has led to some dissatisfaction amongst users.
Microsoft has now responded to this issue by confirming that it will be rolling out some changes over the next month, that will bring consistency of features whichever way people access Bookings.
However, users of
- Forms integration
- Queuing
- SMS reminders for appointments
will only be able to access these through the new Virtual Appointments app on Teams, and so should transition to that app as soon as possible. A banner on the Bookings Teams app will provide guidance on how to do this.
The Virtual Appointments app also includes some advanced features such as
- Real time meeting state update
- Chat with attendees in waiting room lobby
- Analytics to shows virtual appointment usage trends including no-shows.
If you have any questions about Bookings or any other Microsoft applications for businesses, please give us a call or enter your contact details here.