microsoft teams case study

The future of productivity

• Call for Change
• When Tech Meets Human Ingenuity
• A Valuable Difference
• Meet the Team
• Related Capabilities

Call for change

Accenture has already deployed Microsoft Teams as our leading communications and collaboration platform. Now, our vision is to establish Teams as the digital hub for all collaboration and productivity tools and applications.

Accenture employees spend more than half of their daily working hours in Teams. Our 569,000 users share around 589 million chat messages a month, 1.2 billion audio minutes per month and 141 million video minutes a month on the platform.

But with a tool as versatile as Teams, we are always looking for ways to extend its capabilities, so that we can bring common business tools and services together to the place where people are collaborating. We want to maximize Teams to harness the power of the platform and evolve new ways of working. And we want to realize real productivity improvements and value.

Teams is far more than a means to exchange information and ideas. Its platform extensions are evolving our people’s experience with natural connections to where work is generated.

By integrating how people collaborate with where they work, we can reduce response-based activities and navigate across dimensions to unleash powerful new levels of productivity.

“Microsoft Teams helps our people to get work done faster—ultimately, it’s a platform for teamwork and a springboard to business value.” — Jason Warnke , Senior Managing Director – Global IT, Global Digital Experiences Lead

When tech meets human ingenuity

Working without barriers is part of our organization’s DNA. Our global IT team wants to bring the right tools to where our people work, rather than expecting them to search out multiple, disparate tools to be effective and productive. And we recognize that having a powerful change and adoption strategy is a vital ingredient in making that happen.

As early as 2017, we decided to migrate to Teams , a chat-centered business collaboration platform that brings together people, content and tools to get things done.

But there is far more to Teams than simply a communications and messaging capability. When used as a platform, Teams has a variety of options that can help to build business applications and tailor the platform to meet people’s individual needs. Examples include:

Personal apps

Embedded Web experience within Teams, personalized to an individual user.

Apps added as a tab within a targeted Team, channel, or group chat providing embedded experiences for all members.

Chatbots providing text-based interactions to either individuals or within a Team or channel.

Messaging extensions

Shortcuts to insert content or take actions on Instant Message (IM) messages without leaving Teams chat.

Meeting extensions

Apps tied to individual Teams meetings.

Using such capabilities helps us to move from disconnected work experiences to integrated app experiences. So, for instance, today in Teams people can get technology support, connect to common business applications, manage approvals and even access apps focused on mental wellness, such as the Thrive Reset app.

More than 60 apps are available and Teams supports 100,000 support chats and 150,000 support enquiries. In particular, an enterprise bot known as Ask @Accenture is embedded in Teams offering services and advice on areas as diverse as career information, time report submission, mobile device setup, country holiday information and much more. There’s been a 25% increase in usage in this bot when made available in Teams compared to usage on our company portal. With this solution, our employees can get their questions answered up to 70% faster.

Platform roadmap

As we go forward, we continue to employ change management to progress how Teams is being used. To help our people get the most value from Teams, we guide them to work in a new way and this ongoing approach to adoption is fundamental to our success.

We are planning to introduce more third-party apps and services that bring common tools and services directly to the Teams interface. Building on our strong, established relationships with ServiceNow , Salesforce and Workday , we expect to introduce apps and functions that extend the use of those enterprise platforms.

Also, the pipeline will introduce Power Apps—some built by citizen developers —and other custom productivity enablers, such as a unified, cross-enterprise approvals experience. And we continue to partner with Microsoft as it brings new innovative collaboration offerings, like the employee experience platform, Microsoft Viva. We have already taken advantage of Viva Insights to help our employees gain insights to balance their productivity and wellbeing. With Viva Topics, Viva Connections and Viva Learning, we plan to surface knowledge, expertise, company news and training tailored to the needs of our people within the flow of their day to day work.

A valuable difference

By integrating where people collaborate with where they work, we are able to not only help people get work done faster, but also unleash a new wave of productivity.

We have seen a 20% reduction in the time spent on response-based activities (such as surveys, e-mails and employee actions) and people are spending 35% less time navigating across multiple destinations.

Here are some of the key elements of our journey to enhanced productivity:

• Use case prioritization: We’ve focused on strategic platforms, such as ServiceNow, Salesforce and Workday and prioritized unified experiences.
• IT operating model: We’ve used a DevSecOps model to enable strategic transformation and identified an implementation partner to scale up faster.
• Change and adoption: We’ve focused investment on transformation change efforts.
• Governance and environmental management: We’re enabling compliance at scale by creating a standard baseline. We’ve defined governance for app deployment.
• Talent development: We’ve enhanced talent by cross-skilling platform architects and developers and use Microsoft certifications to skill up quickly.

Today, the Teams platform is familiar and flexible enough to be used an engagement medium, just like mobiles or the Web. And our people have access to the data, insights and apps they need to work on their best day, every day.

Meet the team

Jason Warnke

Karen Odegaard

Grant Gengelbach

Ryan Harvill

Related capabilities, how accenture does it, accenture runs on microsoft.

Microsoft Teams to improve collaboration

European consultancy firm adopted Microsoft Teams to improve team collaborations across multiple touchpoints

Client business description.

Our client is a leading management consultancy firm located in Germany. With a huge workforce of around 2500 employees, the client’s advisory services develop go-to-market strategies, solve operational and resource issues, and enhance digital transformation and migration-related requirements.

The client was using multiple methods for internal and external collaboration and file sharing. For large files, they used tools like Dropbox. For chatting, they used separate chat platforms like Skype or Slack. The system was inefficient because employees needed to switch platforms depending on what they were sharing with their team.

The lack of a common collaboration hub leads to the following challenges:

• Employee wasting productive hours searching for the right information
• Issues related to data sprawling and unstructured data
• Unable to track tasks’ progress in a common thread
• Possible unsecured data due to lack of uniform governance policies
• Investing in several platform licenses costs more

Our Solution

We reviewed the clients’ collaboration needs. They were already using the Microsoft 365 services, so it was easy for us to help them leverage Microsoft Teams. Teams is a Microsoft’s communication and collaboration hub. The Teams’ implementation helped the client’s employees complete tasks quickly and efficiently. We helped them add the following features and services with their MS Team deployment.

Custom app development - Employee Directory for Teams

The client was already using our Employee Directory on their SharePoint site but wanted to use it with Teams. We custom developed the add-in for Teams and deployed them into their Teams’ environment. This was convenient for the staff because they could quickly look at other members’ profiles and contact details without leaving the Teams platform.

Setting up Teams Governance

We helped the client set up their governance policy that included rules for creating and sharing content within various Teams and Channels. This also included setting up permissions for third-party users who need to access or share documents in specific channels.

User adoption

With our phased MS Teams' adoption approach, we helped the client develop a change management plan for their cultural transformation. We developed awareness campaigns for their teams to drive enthusiasm for adopting the platform. The campaign was shared with the clients’ IT team, stakeholders, and key influencers to help the rest of the team gain confidence with the new collaboration hub.

Training to admins and sub-users

We developed a streamlined and simple MS Teams training schedule for the client which is specifically for administrator and for generic Teams’ users. Apart from “training the trainer” sessions, we also held out group sessions on how to set up Teams and join existing teams. Sessions also covered basic knowledge on how to organize your team’s interface and engage in conversations.

Project task tracking

We also helped the client set up the Task planner within Teams so different project groups could find an easy way of collaborating on ongoing tasks. The task planner was helpful for this type of project and helped everyone update their dependencies and completed tasks in the planner.

Direct Routing using Teams

With the Direct Routing feature of MS Teams, we helped the client migrate from the legacy desk phone system. Teams made their conferencing easier and more efficient. We also provided them a full mobile integration so their team could no longer wait to get into the office to start working. This helped the client solve collaboration issues for remote working teams.

After the client’s MS Teams deployment, they showed some notable improvement in Team collaboration and communication like:

• Employees got a unified collaboration and communication platform.
• The mobile application of Teams helped their staff to access Teams on any device and from anywhere.
• They have a secure platform where external vendors can connect with their teams when required.
• Co-working on a single document was extremely handy. This helped them speed up the work and other deliverables which helped them close more deals.
• The MS Teams' deployment also helped them resolve any negative situations that were a result of remote working conditions . File sharing, chatting and conference calls worked seamlessly together for all the employees who worked from home.
• They saved money that they were paying to keep multiple licenses for chat, conference, file sharing, and individual calling.

Thinking about Microsoft Teams deployment in your organization?

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True SharePoint Experts!

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Beedle case study

Beedle makes remote learning easier by enhancing microsoft teams, remote learning is challenging for everyone involved.

Many schools are using Microsoft Teams to enable remote learning – Beedle wanted to help teachers achieve more by adding capabilities.

Adding new functionality to Microsoft Teams with Beedle

Beedle is an app within Microsoft Teams that adds education-specific modules, benefiting teachers, students, and parents alike.

Increased productivity and collaboration in the virtual classroom

Beedle customers say that Beedle and Microsoft Teams streamline key processes and promote collaboration.

If the COVID-19 lockdowns have taught us anything, it’s that some things are easier to do from home than others. For example, ordering groceries online and catching up with loved ones virtually has become routine, but finding a way to balance work while helping their children with online schooling remains a challenge for parents around the globe.

Remote schooling is hard for everyone involved. Just like the balancing act is hard for parents, it’s hard for students to stay focused and engaged, and it’s hard for teachers to do their job effectively from behind a computer screen. This is a serious challenge, and one that’s likely to stick around for some time.

Beedle , a software company based in Iceland, knew that there had to be a better way to enable remote learning. The idea behind Beedle began back in 2019 when the team was part of a different learning management system. It offered many different integrations with third party platforms and collaboration solutions, and then the idea struck: What if we just built all this functionality directly into these collaboration solutions rather than requiring complex integrations? This would make it even easier for teachers, students, and parents to access their suite of classroom tools.

Beedle then had to decide which collaboration software to focus on. After assessing the market and comparing top collaboration solutions side-by-side, Beedle decided to partner with Microsoft and make Microsoft Teams its focus. There were a number of reasons for this decision—including the industry-leading security and growing popularity of Microsoft Teams—but Beedle says that the deciding factor was the opportunity to become part of the Microsoft partner ecosystem.

According to Guðmundur Axelsson, Beedle’s CTO, their relationship with Microsoft has been incredibly beneficial: “Throughout the whole process, we have had great support in many ways from Microsoft, both on the technical and commercial side. Microsoft helped us develop our product and land key customers.”

Landing key customers like Kinsale

As mentioned by Axelsson, Microsoft has helped Beedle significantly from a go-to-market perspective, helping them identify new potential customers.

One such customer, Kinsale Community School in Ireland, approached Beedle hoping to add new functionality to their Microsoft Teams solution. “The goal was to enable Kinsale teachers to do all of their daily work directly in Microsoft Teams rather than forcing them to use multiple different tools,” explains Melanie Schneider, Head of Pedagogical Development at Beedle. “We considered how Beedle could offer enhanced functionality to Microsoft Teams and, at the same time, integrate our modules seamlessly within Teams, giving the school everything they need in one, familiar environment. We are working closely with Kinsale teachers and administrators to identify what new functionality would be beneficial, then we are extending our roadmap with these requirements.”

“At Kinsale Community School, we have an ambitious educational culture. We have invested significantly in digital technology and we are proud to be a Microsoft Showcase School. Microsoft Teams has increased productivity and promoted collaboration in our school. It provides students and teachers with a platform for conversation, online meetings, shared files – and all in one single and user-friendly app. Integration of Beedle means that teachers can replace their traditional teacher diary with their Teams app. The Beedle Planning module is an innovative tool as it allows teachers to create and share live documents, streamlining how all our subject departments collaborate.”

—ger hogan, deputy principal, kinsale community school.

This dedication to improving remote learning is reflected in Beedle’s mantra: “built by teachers, for teachers”. When asked what this means to Beedle, CEO Niclas Walter explained, “It’s about hearing and understanding the teacher’s perspective from lots of different angles. We have always been an LMS, so we know what type of functionality teachers need, but it’s changing with remote schooling. That’s why its so important that we have ex-teachers like Melanie Schneider within Beedle, that we continue to gather customer feedback, and that we work closely with education experts within Microsoft.” Schneider added, “We strive for frequent contact with our customers, constantly gathering feedback on their painpoints. Because Microsoft Teams is relatively new for remote learning, it’s vital for us to understand any painpoints so we can address them.”

Adding new classroom functionality to Microsoft Teams

Beedle is a Microsoft Teams app that offers various education-centered modules. It is available directly within Microsoft Teams, and in the Microsoft commercial marketplace through Microsoft AppSource and Microsoft Azure Marketplace It currently includes seven modules:

• Diary: this enables teachers to make quick comments about students and tag them with a customized category. Comments can be made private or shared with other teachers, the student, or their parents. Comments in a class or per student can be filtered and exported.
• Assessment: this empowers teachers to assess the class against their own mark schemes, in number and text format. Teachers can apply calculations to cells and columns, as well as add assessments against their custom learning objectives.
• Planning: this enables teachers to store their lesson resources in Microsoft Teams and organize them in a way that suits them. The tool provides the teacher with an overview of all stored documents and allows them to link each plan to their class calendar.
• Class List: this provides teachers with an overview of all students in their class which they can export to Excel or Word. The class list includes functionality for the teachers to randomly pick a student and to split the class into random groups.
• Attendance: this empowers teachers to register and manage all aspects of student attendance. Teachers can bulk mark attendance, add comments, schedule future absences, and view attendance history.
• Guardian app: this is a separate app that grants parents and guardians access to Beedle without them needing Microsoft Teams. This allows teachers to communicate directly with guardians and gives them insight into their student’s behavior and performance.
• Curriculum: this module enables teachers to define success criteria, learning goals, and curriculum statements for their class. They can create hierarchies to match their curriculum, link their objectives to Beedle planning, and record assessments against these objectives in Beedle Assessment.

This is just the beginning for Beedle – they plan on enhancing these seven modules and adding new ones.

“What makes Beedle a compelling solution for Microsoft Teams is how Beedle Class List allows teachers to track, manage and record student behavior in the form of a digital diary. This gives teachers the option to share comments with students which creates a transparent approach to progress monitoring and record writing. Beedle is far more than just a digital repository of content for teaching and learning, this is an iterative space for critical thinking and reflection, that encourages the development of technological, pedagogical content knowledge during each stage of lesson planning.”

—adrian o’connor, teacher / practitioner researcher, kinsale community school, securing beedle.

Because Beedle was designed for education, security is a top priority. When asked how Beedle is secured, Axelsson explained, “We use many of the built-in security features of Microsoft Teams to secure Beedle. Things like the Microsoft single sign-on make the Beedle authentication process seamless and secure for our customers.” He added, “We host everything in Microsoft Azure, one of the most secure clouds in the world. Microsoft’s robust security didn’t solidify our decision to build on Microsoft Teams by itself, but it definitely didn’t hurt to know that Microsoft was so committed to security.”

Adding new education modules in the future

Beedle is already seeing their solution add value for schools like Kinsale, but they’re far from finished. They have detailed plans to continue building upon their existing modules and develop new ones in lockstep with Microsoft. Axelsson summarized Beedle’s partnership with Microsoft nicely, “We’re very open with the Microsoft technical team about what we are building… We don’t want to double anything up or compete with each other – it’s all about complementing each other’s functionality to make the biggest impact possible for teachers and students.”

Remote learning is still tough, there are no two ways around it, but with innovative offerings like Beedle, paired with powerful collaboration solutions like Microsoft Teams, teachers can help students keep their education on track and make the most of a challenging situation.

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Valto case study

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Home / Case Studies / Avanade

Microsoft Viva Topics simplifies knowledge sharing at Avanade

Published on November 3, 2021

Avanade is a leading provider of innovative digital and cloud-enabled services, business solutions, and design-led experiences, and it relies heavily on the power of people. Avanade believes in taking advantage of the knowledge and experiences held by each individual to build and provide the best offerings and services for its customers. Because of this, sharing expertise, project or deliverable examples, templates, and other knowledge among one another is key to the company’s success and the success of the businesses it serves. Looking for a solution that would enable Avanade employees to quickly find the exact expert, example or template required to provide businesses with the right digital offerings, Avanade deployed Microsoft Viva Topics.

As an organization whose services are built on and around Microsoft technologies, Avanade’s workforce of 50,000 professionals are experienced, heavy users of collaboration solutions like Yammer and Microsoft Teams. But even with top-notch approaches to collaboration, finding the right people, the best examples of deliverables, or the best templates often required some digging and building what some employees refer to as a “chain of experts.” Many knowledge experts are familiar with this concept, in which an employee starts a conversation with one expert and is then handed off down a chain of people until the correct team member is identified.

As requests for innovative digital workplace solutions surged, Avanade employees wanted a solution that eliminated the need for extensive email threads or cumbersome searches and aligned with their “Teams as the experience platform” approach. They wanted a solution to quickly provide businesses with the right digital offerings and remove the need to sift through emails, Yammer communities, or Teams sites and chats to find the exact expert, example, or template they required.

Microsoft launched a preview program in January 2020, which was limited to approximately 60 customers around the globe, to test out and provide feedback on powerful new AI-driven knowledge solutions prior to their release. As program participants, Avanade team members were able to attend product demonstrations, get exclusive updates to the roadmap, test products as they were developed and provide feedback, and give key insights on how they felt the solutions would be best utilized.

In testing the capabilities of Microsoft Viva Topics, which uses AI to automatically reason over an organization’s data and then identify, process, and organize it to make knowledge easier to discover and use, Avanade found the tool it needed to help reduce its discovery challenges. “The value of Viva Topics is really about placing information that people need in the places they’re hanging out,” says Marci Jenkins, Workplace IT Executive at Avanade.

Unlike most organizations where new technologies are gradually rolled out from one department to another, Avanade chose to offer Viva Topics to the entire company, enabling all employees to contribute to the curation around topics. “The power of Viva Topics is in bringing together AI and the smartness and experience of our people,” says Jenkins. Crawling the documents in SharePoint, Viva Topics has begun identifying thousands of topics across the company’s Microsoft tenant, including Avanade offerings, Microsoft solutions, industries, customers, and even strategic initiatives.

The value of Viva Topics is really about placing information that people need in the places they’re hanging out…. It’s a way for the user to learn and start to explore in the moment—the moment that matters.

Rather than broadcasting pleas for help on a Yammer site or initiating a chain of experts through Outlook, employees can search in SharePoint or see topics they’re interested in highlighted on the SharePoint page they’re already viewing. And they can quickly find experts or assets for their projects or subject areas without being bombarded with pages of search results.

“I’ve started going to SharePoint and searching on some of the questions that I have or the type of asset that I’m looking for across the organization, and it’s really cool to see what pops up in my search results,” says Hannemann. “Not only is the topic page suggested to me if there’s a match, but it will also present different documents and highlight the presence of the keyword that I’m searching for.”

Over the next few years, Avanade looks forward to the generation of topics for the more than 600 customers it’s worked with. Each will highlight the key account team members as experts and document successful proofs of concept as tagged content, which will further help the company provide the best offerings and services to its customers.

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Top 10 Microsoft Teams Scenarios and Use Cases

Alexandre cipriani.

• January 3, 2022

Microsoft Teams allows organizations to translate any collaborative scenario into a virtual workspace where your team can apply various use cases. This is where they can work together to achieve their objectives. Teams has taken collaboration to a whole new level, making it the perfect solution for restructuring traditional work models and converting them into a more efficient and productive form. 

In this article we will walk you through 10 different scenarios and corresponding use cases for Microsoft Teams that you can apply for your internal processes.

You can learn more about how to define Microsoft Teams scenarios and use cases in this blog post .

Use cases for department-wide collaboration 

Use cases for crisis management, use cases for product launch  , use cases for marketing and pr campaigns  , use cases for onboarding, use cases for recruitment , use cases for construction/renovation management , use cases for procurement , use cases for consulting , use cases for account management  .

Employees working in the same department have to communicate every day about various tasks and projects assigned to them individually or together as a team. The more projects they have, the more files and data they will generate. And while they could be in the same office, they might also be in different geographic locations. Microsoft Teams provides a department-wide collaboration platform allowing team members to interact efficiently towards their goals. For instance, you want to have a team for each department in your healthcare organization. Here are the Microsoft Teams use cases for this scenario:

• Create separate channels for each segment, like industry insights, research, announcements, corporate news, etc.
• Collaborate and communicate through instant chats and channel conversations .
• Arrange department-wide meetings, consulting sessions and live events.
• Upload all the documentation needed and share it with all employees: suggestions, reports, guidelines, and updates.
• Generate proposals, allow co-editing for faster results, and get official approvals.  

When something critical happens, multiple departments and stakeholders within a company become involved to respond quickly. In these cases, communication level rises while all the stakeholders analyze the situation, suggest solutions, get approvals, and keep everyone informed. 

Microsoft Teams helps coordinate all the efforts and saves lots of communication time. Instead of making calls, exchanging emails, and transferring files, everyone can collaborate under one platform. For instance, a power supply for a telecommunication provider went out of service, causing the service to shut down in a central region of the city. Here are some use cases for Crisis Management scenario in Microsoft Teams:

• Create a team dedicated to the crisis and invite all corresponding members. That can be engineering, logistics, procurement, and technical managers, and their team members.
• Create different channels for each team based on their role in solving the issue. For example, channels for buying a new generator, communicating with clients, replacing the broken power supply.
• Channel allow to have focused discussions, find solutions, invite external professionals (for shared channels), share files and valuable information.
• Hold online meetings with the onsite team to ensure the process is going as planned and get instant updates.
• Sign approvals, confirm purchase orders and keep a record of all documents and invoices involved in this crisis.

→Download: Catalog of Microsoft Teams Use Cases

The sensitivity of launching a product relies on the high volume of internal and external communication and coordination before the official launch. Everyone has to get involved, and all stakeholders must approve their assigned parts. Furthermore, this is usually a cross-departmental process that requires coordinated actions from different teams. Microsoft Teams offers all the necessary tools to keep everything running smoothly under one collaboration platform. The company can create a new team for each product launch and add respective channels. Channels can represent departments or main role: production, marketing, sales, legal, and quality departments. 

For instance, a software company wants to release a new mobile application. Here is what they can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a new team for the product launch and add corresponding channels.
• Add the right people to the team and assign tasks for everyone in Planner .
• Collaborate with your team on the design, campaign preparation, communicate on the promotion strategy and send approvals to the top management through Approvals app.
• Communications, files, polls, and other valuable information will be saved and documented without human admin work.

Digital and social media exposure made marketing and PR campaigns more complex than ever. Starting a campaign requires coordinating with many external parties to ensure enough media coverage and reach. Let’s see what use cases you can address with Microsoft Teams for marketing scenario.

Say a fashion brand is about to release their winter collection, and they need to start a nationwide marketing campaign. Here is what they can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a new team for the campaign and add channels for each collaborative topic. That can be budget, planning, promotion plan, customer analysis, and others,
• Invite account managers and marketers to communicate around the campaign.
• Invite media representatives like celebrities’ managers, influencers, and website admins to the team or shared channels as guests.
• Share all required documentation, collaborate on the campaign planning, prepare presentations, assign tasks in Planner, etc.
• Hold online meetings, conversations, share expectations and receive quotes.
• Get the quotes signed by management and communicate with the financial department to issue money transfers.

The onboarding process contributes to considerable expenses in every company. Leading new hires through the different stages of the process and the amount of redundancy could all be organized and templatized using Microsoft teams and its integrated features.

Here are some use cases for the onboarding scenario in Microsoft Teams:

• Create an onboarding team and add channels for different stages of the onboarding process. Then invite the new hire, their manager, and the HR to follow up with the new employee.
• Prepare onboarding tasks in Planner so that they know immediately where to start,
• Upload all the necessary documentation they should get acquainted with.
• Add training materials and resources as files, attached links or videos in Microsoft Stream.
• Hold regular 1-1 and team meetings, and share feedback on their progress.

You can also create a pre-built workspace through Collaboration Templates that you can then replicate to create ready-to-go teams with all the necessary tools and content already included.

Recruiters can also use Microsoft teams to organize multi-stage recruitment and ensure a smooth experience that saves everyone’s time across the process. For instance, a company hires a new accountant for the financial department. Here is what they can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a recruitment workspace where all recruitment processes will take place.
• Create a channel for the financial department and invite the financial manager.
• Work together on the job description, discuss hiring needs and screening process, upload and review applications and schedule interviews.
• Send an approval request to the financial manager with the CV, and first meeting notes.
• When the financial manager approves the request, a new meeting can be arranged within Microsoft Teams for the new candidate with the financial manager for the final decision.
• Upon the interview, the HR officer and the financial manager can have private conversations about the status and decisions or share them in an Excel spreadsheet. They can co-edit to add a rating, reviews, and final decision.

Working on a construction or renovation site requires coordinated actions from multiple stakeholders such as first-line workers, engineers, contractors, suppliers, management, the client, and others.

 Microsoft Teams provides a perfect collaboration platform that will keep everyone under the same roof to communicate and collaborate smoothly and productively. Its chat, channel and online meeting features and the ability to use the app from mobile devices make it easy to use for on-site managers and front-line workers. Additionally, you can integrate a Walkie-Talkie app that will make onsite communication far easier. 

Let’s consider building a new hotel as an example. Here is what you can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a workspace for the new construction site, and invite the project manager, engineers, contractors, construction workers, the client and other stakeholders involved in the process.
• Add channels that will correspond to the collaboration topics for completing the construction site: planning, budget, legal, sustainability, security, quality, etc.
• Schedule regular online meetings for a constant update.
• Share all the required legal, project and training documentation. Upload safety instructions, guidelines and other files required for the construction project.
• Integrate the necessary task management tools (Planner, Asana, Trello, etc.), and other apps that your team uses daily (Walkie-Talkie, Lists, Shifts, Yammer, and others)
• Send projects, budgets, contracts, and other documents that require signatures and approval through the Approvals app.

In the procurement department, both managers and procurement officials seek a way to keep proof of spending, invoices, and conversations with different suppliers. Microsoft Teams offers a comprehensive file management capability with its built-in SharePoint features. For instance, a computer hardware company buys various parts from the local and international markets. Here are the Microsoft Teams use cases for this scenario:

• Create a workspace for the procurement process.
• Create such channels as: assessment, vendors, negotiation, order.
• Share lists of requested items and receive price quotes.
• Keep all conversations inside channels.
• Invite accountants at any moment to review a price offer and approve issuing the invoice .

Professional consultancy providers deal with different types of clients, and each client is a unique case that requires a unique approach. Microsoft Teams can help organize this process with its security features and its integration with other service providers like ServiceNow. It forms a pool of knowledge that can be referenced with future clients to find out more about previous experience.

For example, a commercial consultancy agency that works with all SME retail businesses wants to organize their work digitally. Here is what they can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a team for each case or deal and assign corresponding consultants to follow up with clients.
• Develop forms and have the latest client fill out all the information about the business needs and requirements.
• Share proposals, lists of goals, contracts, and other related documents.
• Keep all conversations in one place and invite any 3 rd party professional who might need to complete the work as a guest.
• Share all helpful information in the pool of knowledge created by ServiceNow for the whole workspace to use later with new clients.

Dealing with different clients about similar issues could be a bit confusing. The more clients, the more complicated it gets, and the account manager should follow up with everyone about their requirements and preferences. For instance, a digital marketing agency assigns an account manager to each client. Here is what they can do with Microsoft Teams:

• Create a team for each account and invite account managers as well as members of product, sales, marketing, customer support and other teams that can be involved in the process.
• Collaborate internally on account’s issues and requests.
• Share the roadmap, event planner, and potential targets with the client.
• Share instruction files and add client-personalized notes instantly.

No matter what kind of business you have or what type of issues your team faces in their everyday activities, you can always rely on Microsoft Teams to provide a solid collaboration experience that would push their work to the limits and ensure better results.

Explore our list of 30+ use cases for Microsoft Teams.

Spend less time managing Teams and more time collaborating

Read related blog posts, how to use microsoft teams for client communication and management, how to use microsoft teams for customer onboarding  , how real estate agents can use microsoft teams, how to set up a smooth sales-to-customer-success handoff with microsoft teams, top 5 sales scenarios you can handle in microsoft teams, how to use microsoft teams for conducting effective interviews.

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UI/UX Case Study : Microsoft Teams

Anisha Nath

When the doors to go out are closed due to COVID-19, it is mostly the Windows on our laptops which are open to experience the outside world.

The UI/UX case study analyses the interface of Microsoft Teams and how user friendly it is. We have tried to understand Teams and designed an enhanced version of it while still sticking to their main goal. This is our attempt at making Microsoft Teams a more interactive and intuitive platform.

This was a team effort along with my classmates Mukare Aditi and Divya Sureka .

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a universal communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. Having an excellent team space is key to being able to make creative decisions and communicate with one another. Shared workspace software makes this much easier to achieve, especially if a particular team is based in a very large company, has many remote employees, or is made up of a significant number of team members.

Vision of Microsoft Teams

“With Microsoft Teams, we aspire to create a more open, digital environment that makes work visible, integrated and accessible — across the team — so everyone can stay in the know.’’

Mission of Microsoft Teams

“ Helping people and organisations achieve more — and reinventing productivity for the cloud and mobile world is core to our ambition. We built Microsoft Teams because we see both tremendous opportunity and change in how people and teams get work done. Teams are now more agile and organisational structures are flatter to keep communications and information flowing.’’

Who are the stakeholders and what are their needs?

After researching and analysing, we have identified the following stakeholders of Microsoft Teams and their needs.

Competitor analysis

We researched and found out that most of the competitors have similar features and uses. However, the interface of every company was different. Microsoft Teams has a more structured interface compared to Slack, but Slack is more user friendly and easy to navigate. Users feel that it is hard to navigate Teams at first, but once you become familiar with the platform it’s easy. This is the part where users prefer Slack as it is more casual and intuitive.

SWOT Analysis of Microsoft Teams

• Productive and good communication — MS teams increases productivity by collaborating chats, online meetings, shared files, tasks, etc., and making them available in one single app and interface (Microsoft office apps in one place). Teams also has a wide range of 3rd party apps that integrate into Teams, so that users can work efficiently. Integration of all the tools in a single place.
• Better focus on work-related topics — it can be time consuming, going through an inbox with a lot of messages related to different things. Teams compartmentalises information into channels and puts your information in context. The channel only contains conversations, meetings, and documents related to the topic of that specific channel.
• No additional cost for Microsoft 365 users. If premium features are not required, you can still use the free version of ms teams.
• Transparency — Easier to keep everyone in the loop, so that they are aware of what’s going on. Also, in your channel, when you post something, you can mention the person you want to get notified (@name). The person will be notified and the other member will also be able to view it.
• Before joining a meeting, you can select your audio and video settings, and also customise your background.
• When you speak into the microphone, a notification pops up on your screen to remind you that your mic is on.
• User-friendly features like — GIFs, stickers, emoticons, etc. Users can react during meetings using emojis, supplementing non-verbal cues that can be difficult to notice in online meetings.
• Translation — If you work in a multilingual team, you can translate a comment into your primary language.
• If you missed a meeting you can easily tune in to the part of the meeting that is of interest to you by searching for particular words that were said in the video recording of the meeting.
• Storage — Files are stored in the cloud. Even after deleting a channel, you can still retrieve the files.
• Together mode — Microsoft Teams has a new meeting experience that uses AI segmentation technology to digitally place participants in a shared background, making it feel like they are in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class. The mode makes meetings more engaging and helps users pick up on non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction.
• Chat bubbles — The Chat feature has become a lively space for idea sharing without interrupting meeting flow. Chat bubbles allow all chats sent during a Microsoft Teams meeting to appear on the screens of all meeting participants, making the chat more central to the conversation.
• A lot of similar tools — With the plethora of options, people are still very confused about which tool to use in which situation. It’s up to Microsoft to educate their users about their tools.
• Lack of notifications when creating a team — If you try to make a new team with a name that already exists, you don’t get any heads up on it, so you could end up with two or more teams with identical names which can be confusing. Even though you can search for the name in the search bar and find out all the existing teams, it would be more convenient if there was a pop-up warning.
• Limited flexibility — You can’t move channels between teams and hence, you need to replicate a channel manually which is time consuming.
• Confusing file structure — Although you can search for a file in Microsoft Teams, the way the files are stored in this application can be confusing. Every channel has a root folder where all files uploaded to the conversations are stored. Links from the Teams conversation to the file can break as the folders in this root file are moved around and organised.
• Teams requires constant internet connectivity. Unlike outlook or other native email applications (which caches information), Teams requires a constant Internet connection to start. Users who frequently travel or live in a remote place with limited Internet connectivity may face some problems with this.
• Can’t pin important messages in post channel.
• Not intuitive — new users especially, find it hard to navigate and figure out Teams as there are a lot of features.

Opportunities

• The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a large number of people to use platforms like Teams for their online studies, work-from-home jobs, cultivating hobbies, etc.
• Due to the development of technology in AI and cloud computing, it is expected that slowly offline teaching will migrate to more online teaching.
• The files and wiki tabs that have been added to Teams has become a great opportunity to the users as they can now access all the files and links posted in one place and not have to worry about losing it or misplacing it.
• Availability of online contents makes learning management systems like Microsoft Teams more useful.
• Competitors like Slack and Cisco Webex are very close in terms of services provided. They could catch up to Microsoft Teams in the near future.
• There is a small barrier between one product to the other, so the pricing will be a key factor in deciding which company is better.

Customer Analysis

Demographic.

• Students affiliated to any educational institution conducting their teaching online can make use of Microsoft teams.
• Students have an advantage of open and distance learning (ODL), by using Microsoft Teams.

2. Working class

• Individual businesses and multinational companies use Microsoft teams for various purposes ranging from conferencing, scheduling meeting, planning events and all work from home related activities.

3. Family and friends

• Since this is a versatile platform it can be used for casual purposes such as calling a friend, or virtually meeting a distant family member online.

There are broadly two types of users classified based on age

• Children who usually need assistance from their parents or guardians. They fall into the 5–10 years age group.
• The elderly might need some assistance too. They would fall into the 60 years and above age group.
• People who are physically challenged would also need assistance.

2. Independent

• They are capable enough to navigate and use the platform on their own.
• Their age group is between 11 to 59 years.

Socio-Economic Background

• Considering the social economic status, this software can be used by anyone able to operate a compatible device. Microsoft teams specifically targeted to the upper middle class income management class who might be more comfortable with using the software given their higher digital exposure. Ultimately it is user friendly and can be easily accessible regardless of your economic background.

Geographic Scope

• A major advantage of Microsoft Teams is the vast coverage it offers across the globe. Ease of accessibility regardless of location and geographical barriers increases digital reach and contributes in making the world a ‘global village’. Regardless of the location of the participants, be it international or local, each of them can conveniently connect with the others. The only mandatory requirement is a stable network connection in addition to a device which supports the latest version of the software.

Customer Reviews

Information hierarchy, navigation flow, what changes we made.

• Teams has a well planned structure, however new users often find it very hard to navigate this platform as there are a lot of features and movement is slightly constricted. We decided to show a tutorial when you open the application to educate the users on the different services provided by Teams. We took inspiration from the adobe tutorials they provide us with when we open the application.
• When you create a new team, you don’t get a heads up on a team name that is already taken unless you type in the team name in the search bar. This creates confusion and you end up with teams sharing the same name. We planned to add a pop-up notification if a team name is repeated while creating a new one.
• Teams doesn’t allow you to add an existing channel into another team. So, if you want a similar structured channel in another team, you will have to repeat the entire process which is unnecessary and time consuming. We have added a feature where you have the option to add an existing channel from another team.
• Another issue we addressed was the inability to work on Teams without internet connection. Our ideology here was to allow the users to work on Teams without having to be online and being able to save their work in their local device. Once they connect to the internet, their data will be synced automatically to the cloud. This operation will be seamless and transparent to the user. This is only applicable if the user is already signed in.
• Multitasking is something we all tend to do when we have a lot of work. When one is in the flow of working, it’s inconvenient to keep switching from one screen to another. To resolve this, we have introduced a split-screen feature where you can work on two things side by side. So you could have a channel open on one half of the screen and a chat open on the other half or anything you would want to work on.
• In Teams, messages are often lost in the posts channel and you would have to search for what you are looking for in the search bar. Sometimes you don’t even realise when something important has been posted and you miss out on things. Teams claims to keep people in the loop but this is a a problem some users often encounter. Even though there is an option to save a message, what do you do if you missed out on an important assignment your teacher has spoken about? The only way for you to find out is when your friend talks to you about the due date. We have added the option to pin messages so that they are always on the top and you can’t miss it.
• As technology advances, companies have been incorporating AI into their products. Siri and Cortana are some of the most popular bots we know today. Apple and Microsoft have come up with some fun interactions between the bots and the users. Imagine having a bot to help you adopting MS Teams, schedule your meeting or post an important message in Teams and much more. This is the feature we have added. The bots we are currently familiar with are capable of only a few things. What if we had Cortana handle everything for us? She could do everything you’ve instructed her to do or even using her artificial intelligence does more smart things for you. Cortana could learn from you and other users using machine learning capability and will have a personalised communication with you.

Style guide

After studying the interface of Teams and working on the solutions to the existing problems, we started designing the user interface of Teams. Here, we focused on the style guide and the wireframes. Redesigning this was really challenging as Microsoft Teams is a huge application with a lot of features and compartments. The navigation flow and the information hierarchy proved to be very useful guides in planning out our wireframes.

Video of the prototype

This project was an interesting one. I was a little skeptical about whether I would like this initially, but it turned out to be something I really enjoyed working on. It was not an easy assignment but I can definitely say that I’ve learnt a lot from it. There are multiple phases need to go through before you arrive at your final output. In our case, we were really lost even after researching and interacting with the users. We even downloaded all the versions available onto our devices and tried to come up with something to present. Honestly, until the navigation flow part, we had no idea where we were going. But things started to fall into place eventually. We recognised a few problems in the interface and also suggested a couple of features that would make the entire experience much better. I’m looking forward to experimenting and learning more.

Written by Anisha Nath

Text to speech

Cisco Talos Blog

How multiple vulnerabilities in microsoft apps for macos pave the way to stealing permissions.

• Cisco Talos has identified eight vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications for the macOS operating system.
• An adversary could exploit these vulnerabilities by injecting malicious libraries into Microsoft's applications to gain their entitlements and user-granted permissions.
• Permissions regulate whether an app can access resources such as the microphone, camera, folders, screen recording, user input and more. So if an adversary were to gain access to these, they could potentially leak sensitive information or, in the worst case, escalate privileges.
• This post also provides an overview of the macOS security model and illustrates how vulnerabilities within macOS applications could be exploited by adversaries to steal app permissions.

Cisco Talos recently conducted an analysis of macOS applications and the exploitability of the platform's permission-based security model, which centers on the Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) framework.

We identified eight vulnerabilities in various Microsoft applications for macOS, through which an attacker could bypass the operating system’s permission model by using existing app permissions without prompting the user for any additional verification. If successful, the adversary could gain any privileges already granted to the affected Microsoft applications. For example, the attacker could send emails from the user account without the user noticing, record audio clips, take pictures or record videos without any user interaction. Microsoft considers these issues low risk, and some of their applications, they claim, need to allow loading of unsigned libraries to support plugins and have declined to fix the issues. Here is the list of vulnerabilities Talos discovered with their Talos IDs and corresponding CVEs:

Before delving into the details of our findings, it is crucial to comprehend Apple's macOS permission security model. We will concentrate on the different components associated with the research campaign we executed and use the Microsoft vulnerabilities as a case study.

Understanding Apple's macOS permission security model

The security policy of most operating systems is, by default, based on Discretionary Access Control (DAC). This provides only minimal protection against exploited software or malware that runs with user or root privileges.

Apple's macOS is designed to safeguard users against malicious software and breaches of privacy. Beyond the standard DAC policy, access to certain resources is further secured by TCC, which governs how applications can access sensitive user data and system resources.

Below is an indicative, though not exhaustive, list of the capabilities of the consent-based permission model utilized by macOS.

TCC and data protection

TCC enforces a policy that requires applications to obtain explicit user consent before they can access protected resources such as contacts, calendars, photos and location, ensuring that users maintain direct control over their personal information and the accessibility of their data to applications.

TCC operates in conjunction with entitlements, which are a set of capabilities required for an app's functionality. Developers choose these entitlements from a selection provided by Apple, and although only a subset of all possible entitlements is available for general use, the most powerful ones are reserved exclusively for Apple's own applications and system binaries.

When an application with specific entitlements initially asks for the use of a specific capability, a permission pop-up appears.

The image above shows an example of such a permission prompt: “Malevolent App” would like to access the camera. The user must decide whether to allow camera access or to deny it. This decision is then logged in the TCC database.

Once the user has made their choice, any future camera-related request from the “Malevolent App” will be governed by the recorded decision in the database. This system effectively enables users to control and be informed of the privacy-sensitive actions an application intends to carry out. The necessary user interaction is what enables users to prevent malicious applications from performing sensitive actions such as recording a video or taking pictures.

A user can later verify this permission within the “Privacy & Security” section of the macOS “System Settings.” There, a list of permissions can be found, including Camera, Microphone and Location Services.

For example, following the user's decision regarding the previously mentioned pop-up, the Camera permission category under the “Privacy & Security” settings would show the “Malevolent app” listed among the applications that have been granted camera access. Here, the user also has the option to enable or disable permissions.

Code injection

Apple's macOS includes security measures to guard against code injection, a tactic often employed by malware, in which an attacker seeks to insert malicious code into legitimate processes to access protected resources.

To counter this risk, sandboxing is required for apps distributed through the Mac App Store. Sandboxing is designed to restrict access to resources and data; a sandboxed app can only access the resources it has explicitly requested through entitlements, and access to some of those resources is further protected by a user consent pop-up similar to the one previously shown.

For example, a sandboxed app will prompt the user for camera access only if it has the com.apple.security.device.camera entitlement set to true . If this entitlement is not present, the app won't be allowed camera access, and consequently, the permission pop-up won't even appear.

A closer look - reading the entitlements

You can obtain general information about an application or a binary's entitlements by running the following command:

For a notarized app—a designation indicating that the app has been checked by Apple's automated service for malicious components, even if it is not present in the App Store—it is required to enable hardened runtime.

While the sandbox is designed to limit potential impacts from a resource and data perspective, the hardened runtime is focused on making the application more resistant to exploitation. For instance, it includes by default a series of protections that aim to prevent various classes of attacks, particularly those related to code injection. Under the hardened runtime, applications performing higher-risk actions such as just-in-time (JIT) compilation or loading untrusted libraries must explicitly declare these capabilities through entitlements.

In fact, the hardened runtime enables library validation by default, which restricts the loading of libraries to those signed by the application's developer or Apple. If an application needs to disable this behavior, typically to import plug-ins, the developer must explicitly set the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement to true.

The sandbox and the hardened runtime features can work together to provide enhanced protection. This approach can sometimes lead to what may appear like duplication of entitlements. For instance, consider a sandboxed application that also utilizes the hardened runtime and needs microphone access; in this case, you'll find two separate entitlements for the microphone – one for the sandbox and another for the hardened runtime:

A closer look - hardened runtime and library validation disabled

The output above shows the codesign output for the Microsoft Teams app at the time of our reporting. This app is sandboxed, as indicated by the com.apple.security.app-sandbox entitlement, and it has also hardened runtime enabled, evident from the flags=0x10000(runtime) in the line that begins with “CodeDirectory.” Despite the application being both sandboxed and utilizing the hardened runtime, the presence of the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement indicates that the application is permitted to load third-party libraries without performing signature validation.

Library injection

The research campaign conducted is primarily focused on the ability to inject a library and exploit the permissions or entitlements of other applications. Library injection, also known as Dylib Hijacking in the context of macOS, is a technique whereby code is inserted into the running process of an application. macOS counters this threat with features such as hardened runtime, which reduce the likelihood of an attacker executing arbitrary code through the process of another app. However, should an attacker manage to inject a library into the process space of a running application, that library could use all the permissions already granted to the process, effectively operating on behalf of the application itself.

The graphics above illustrate what we have explained. Essentially, the bad actor possesses a set of capabilities on their own. By opening a more privileged app and injecting a malicious library, the bad actor gains the capabilities of the exploited application. The attacker then accesses these new capabilities through the exploited app.

Least privilege principle

Within the context of a sandboxed app or an app with hardened runtime enabled, even simply requesting permission to access one of the “privileged” resources (such as the camera, microphone, or location) requires the app to possess specific entitlements. Many entitlements are linked to resources, indicating the application's intention to use a particular resource.

The following snippet is an example of entitlements from the “Microsoft Teams” application. These three entitlements authorize the application to request permission to use the camera and the microphone:

Entitlements also facilitate the implementation of the principle of least privilege. Apps are only granted access to the resources that are necessary for their proper function, which reduces the potential impact of a compromised app. This approach narrows the attack surface and limits what an attacker can achieve if they manage to exploit an app. In addition, some entitlements enable various security features by default. If needed, developers must deliberately opt out of these features by adding specific entitlements, as was previously shown with the hardened runtime and the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement.

The implications of Apple’s permission model

Apple's macOS features a layered security model, including TCC and entitlements, aimed at protecting users' privacy and maintaining system security. TCC manages application access to personal data and system privileges, requiring explicit user approval before granting access.

Despite its strength, the macOS security model isn't foolproof. Elevated permissions given to applications could be hijacked, potentially turning these apps into conduits for unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

The effectiveness of TCC depends on applications responsibly handling the permissions they receive . If a trusted application is compromised, it might be manipulated to abuse its permissions, allowing attackers to perform actions without user knowledge. For instance, if a video chat app with camera and microphone access is exploited, it could be forced to record without alerting the user.

This situation points to a key aspect: macOS trusts applications to self-police their permissions . A failure in this responsibility leads to a breach of the entire permission model, with applications inadvertently acting as proxies for unauthorized actions, circumventing TCC and compromising the system's security model. This highlights the importance for applications to implement robust security measures to avoid becoming vectors for exploitation.

Case study: Microsoft applications for macOS

During our research, we discovered that many of Microsoft's macOS applications employ hardened runtime, a feature that enhances security. However, they also have the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement active, which can be potentially risky.

Even though hardened runtime guards against library injection attacks and the sandbox secures user data and system resources, a malware might still find ways to exploit certain applications under specific conditions. If successful, this would allow the attacker to assume the application's entitlements and permissions. It's important to note that not all sandboxed applications are equally susceptible. Typically, a combination of specific entitlements or vulnerabilities is required for an app to become a viable attack vector.

The vulnerabilities we're addressing are relevant when an application loads libraries from locations an attacker could potentially manipulate. If the application has the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement, it allows an attacker to inject any library and run arbitrary code within the compromised application. As a result, the attacker could exploit the application's full set of permissions and entitlements.

The flowchart above, even though not exhaustive, describes a simple schema to check if an app is potentially vulnerable to library injection. Many cases are not caught by this flowchart.

We are going to examine two groups of apps: One that exhibits numerous similarities in terms of their vulnerabilities and another that possesses unique characteristics, partly because two of the apps are helper apps, among other specific features.

The first group is “Microsoft Office apps”:

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft OneNote
• Microsoft PowerPoint

The second group is “Microsoft Teams apps”:

• Microsoft Teams (work or school) the main app
• Microsoft Teams (work or school) WebView.app
• Microsoft Teams (work or school) com.microsoft.teams2.modulehost.app

For each group, we are going to show why the apps are vulnerable and describe the implications.

Microsoft Office apps

Although the Office apps are distinct from one another, they share a common characteristic: They are all hardened runtime apps that include the following entitlement:

This effectively indicates that the security protection provided by the hardened runtime, which guards against the hijacking of dynamically linked libraries, is disabled. As a result, all the office apps permit the loading of unsigned dynamic libraries. This poses a security concern because a malware could exploit the apps' permissions without proper authorization.

For example, consider the entitlements for Microsoft Outlook at the time we reported its vulnerability:

$ codesign -dv --entitlements - "/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app"

The other Office apps are different, but they all share both the hardened runtime feature and the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement, which is set to true .

If an attacker manages to inject a malicious library, they could utilize all the entitlements and permissions of the apps.

Typically, the only replaceable libraries are the ones with relative import. Below is a portion of the imports from the Microsoft Outlook app:

The @rpath entries attempt to use all the paths defined as LC_RPATH in the binary's load commands:

For instance, in the case of Microsoft Outlook , there is only one LC_RPATH that uses @loader_path/../Frameworks . The LC_RPATH specifies the search paths for dynamic libraries and can potentially be:

• @executable_path: This refers to the path containing the executable
• @loader_path: When used in a binary, this behaves the same as @executable_path, but when used in a dynamic library (dylib), it refers to the directory where that library is located.

Therefore, in this case, for an executable, the path is relative to the executable itself. The other Office apps have similar relative imports.

To modify an application, already executed once, located in /Applications, a specific entitlement is required. However, it is possible to circumvent this requirement by copying and modifying the application in another folder, such as /tmp.

Given that there are some relative imports and the entitlement to disable library validation is present, all the Microsoft Office apps are vulnerable to library injection attacks.

All Microsoft Office apps share several common features, but their entitlements differ. This means that the impact of injecting a library into one of the apps varies depending on which specific app is compromised. Generally speaking, if an app has already been granted certain permissions, an attacker exploiting the app could access restricted resources without any further user interaction.

For example:

All apps, except for Outlook, can send an Apple event to Microsoft Outlook to dispatch an email without any user prompt. Essentially, the attacker is capable of sending emails without user interaction.

All apps, except for Excel, have the ability to record audio, some can even access the camera.

The attacker can extract keychain entries belonging to the UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.identity.universalstorage access group using any of the apps.

Microsoft Teams apps

The Microsoft Teams (for work or school) app is similar to Microsoft Office apps in its vulnerability to library injection. However, what sets it apart is that within the app, there are helper applications that are also susceptible to this vulnerability. Nonetheless, one of these helper applications does not have any relative imported libraries.

Similar to the Microsoft Office suite, these three apps are vulnerable to library injection attacks. This is because, despite having hardened runtime enabled, all three possess the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement, which is set to true .

Microsoft Teams (work or school)

Microsoft Teams (for work or school), hereafter referred to simply as Teams, has numerous entitlements. The entitlements for the Teams app at the time of this report were as follows:

$ codesign -dv --entitlements - "/Applications/Microsoft Teams (work or school).app"

Similar to other Microsoft Office apps, Teams possesses several entitlements and relative imported libraries. However, the main difference from the other apps is that if a user has installed Teams, it is likely that the app has already been used, which means that camera and microphone permissions have probably already been granted. An attacker capable of injecting a library into Teams would almost certainly be able to access the camera and microphone without triggering any pop-up notifications using Teams as its proxy.

com.microsoft.teams2.modulehost.app

One of the helper apps for Microsoft Teams, previously known as com.microsoft.teams2.modulehost.app , has been renamed to “Microsoft Teams ModuleHost.app” in the latest release. This module had the following entitlements:

$ codesign -dv --entitlements - "/Applications/Microsoft Teams (work or school).app/Contents/Helpers/com.microsoft.teams2.modulehost.app"

This app has multiple relative imports. Although it only has three entitlements, the helper app can utilize some entitlements of the main app. This could potentially enable an attacker to take photos, record audio, exfiltrate data and perform other unauthorized actions.

WebView.app

WebView.app, one of the helper apps for Teams, had the following entitlements at the time we reported the issue:

$ codesign -dv --entitlements - "/Applications/Microsoft Teams (work or school).app/Contents/Helpers/Microsoft Teams WebView.app"

Similar to the previous helper app, this app had only three entitlements. Despite this, the helper app can still request audio recording permission, as it inherits some entitlements from the main app.

A distinctive feature of this helper app is that it does not use relative imports:

This creates a problem from the perspective of an attacker. Indeed, by following the flowchart above concerning the assessment of whether an app is vulnerable to library injection attacks, we would conclude that it is “Likely not vulnerable.” However, the relative imports used by the app are not the only means to load a library. In fact, the app itself utilizes dlopen with a relative path. This is not revealed in the app's static dependencies. Here is a snippet of the app's code:

The code above essentially constructs the <WebView executable path>/../Frameworks/Microsoft Edge Framework.framework/Versions/122.0.2365.103/Microsoft Edge Framework path and utilizes dlopen to load the Microsoft Edge Framework library, subsequently calling the ChromeMain function. Since the application is dynamically loading a library, the behavior closely resembles that of loading a library through a relative import, which makes this app vulnerable to library injection.

Conclusions

The macOS security model offers enhanced protection that goes beyond the capabilities of standard DAC policy systems. It notifies users whenever an application attempts to access sensitive data or privacy-related resources. Moreover, macOS includes specific features that prevent dynamic library injection, thereby effectively neutralizing an entire category of vulnerabilities. Although no system is without flaws and new vulnerabilities may arise, this framework plays a significant role in reducing them and heightening user awareness of application behavior.

Our research centered on applications vulnerable to library injection, a scenario enabling a malware to exploit the entitlements and permissions already granted to a vulnerable app.

We used Microsoft apps as a case study. Each of these applications had hardened runtime enabled, together with the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement. Microsoft considers these issues low risk. Nevertheless, of the eight applications we reported, the following four were updated by Microsoft and no longer possess the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement and are therefore no longer vulnerable to the scenario we described:

• Microsoft Teams (work or school) com.microsoft.teams2.modulehost.app, now renamed Microsoft Teams ModuleHost.app

However, the remaining four applications remain vulnerable:

The vulnerable apps leave the door open for adversaries to exploit all of the apps' entitlements and, without any user prompts, reuse all the permissions already granted to the app, effectively serving as a permission broker for the attacker.

Microsoft appears to use the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement for certain apps to support some kind of “plug-ins.” According to Apple, this entitlement allows the loading of plug-ins signed by third-party developers. Yet, as far as we know, the only “plug-ins” available to Microsoft's macOS apps are web-based and known as “Office add-ins.”

If this understanding is correct, it raises questions about the necessity of disabling library validation, especially if no additional libraries are expected to be loaded. By using this entitlement, Microsoft is circumventing the safeguards offered by the hardened runtime, potentially exposing its users to unnecessary risks.

It's also important to mention that it’s unclear how to securely handle such plug-ins within macOS' current framework. Notarization of third-party plug-ins is an option, albeit a complex one, and it would require Microsoft or Apple to sign third-party modules after verifying their security.

MacOS could also introduce a user prompt, akin to the resource permissions in TCC, enabling users to decide whether to load a specific third-party plug-in. This would provide a more controlled means of granting access without broadly compromising security.

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Related content, the vulnerabilities we uncovered by fuzzing µc/os protocol stacks.

Fuzzing has long been one of our favorite ways to search for security issues or vulnerabilities in software, but when it comes to fuzzing popular systems used in ICS environments, it traditionally involved a custom hardware setup to fuzz the code in its native environment.

Fuzzing µCOS protocol stacks, Part 2: Handling multiple requests per test case

This time, I’ll discuss why this approach is more challenging than simply substituting a socket file descriptor with a typical file descriptor.

Fuzzing µC/OS protocol stacks, Part 1: HTTP server fuzzing

Any vulnerability in an RTOS has the potential to affect many devices across multiple industries.

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• AI in education
• Published Aug 27, 2024

5 ways Microsoft Azure can reimagine student experiences and streamline operations

• Content type
• Customer stories
• Education trends
• Higher education
• Education decision makers
• IT professionals

In today’s rapidly evolving world, education is facing unprecedented challenges that require transformation. Microsoft plays a pivotal role in providing the tools and resources schools need to create a more inclusive, equitable, and effective education environment. With AI-powered, secure, and flexible solutions, Microsoft Azure enables educational institutions to adapt to new realities, streamline operations, and protect student and faculty information from cyber threats.

By leveraging Azure’s powerful tools, you can tackle today’s challenges and prepare for future success. Learn how Azure can help your IT team modernize confidently, prepare for future growth, and embrace AI integration within your educational institution.

Empower innovation with a highly secure cloud foundation

Azure helps educational institutions modernize and grow with scalable cloud solutions. With a $20 billion investment in cybersecurity, Microsoft provides robust protection, including customized hardware, integrated controls, and defenses against threats like DDoS. Supported by a global team of over 3,500 cybersecurity experts, these measures ensure that student data is secure. This allows institutions to focus on strategic goals and student success.

enable equitable education for all

Azure enables efficient resource management and creates a secure, agile, and AI-ready foundation, so educators can prioritize delivering equitable learning experiences for all. Here are five ways Azure can help you transform student experiences at your educational institution and streamline operations.

1. Create personalized education experiences with AI

Azure OpenAI Service helps you transform educational experiences with AI tailored to the unique needs of your students, educators, faculty, and staff. With access to the latest AI models, like GPT-4, you can create private AI interactions for a wide range of applications like curriculum design, helpdesk efficiency, programs for advising students, and automating routine tasks.

Reimagine student experiences and streamline administrative tasks

AI can help you create intelligent experiences across your educational institution. Run Azure OpenAI Service on your data to gain insights and apply conversational AI to a variety of use cases to help your educators, faculty, and staff save time and work more efficiently. Building your own copilots allows you to chat with your data using natural language, generate and summarize content, and surface information from vast amounts of data. Specifically, you can: 

• Personalize experiences: Tailor academic content, support, or services to individual learners based on their behavior, preferences, and needs.
• Offer service and support assistants: Improve service interactions and administrative processes with quick assistance through self-service portals.
• Automate information discovery: Use AI to extract valuable insights and knowledge from large volumes of data, summarize results and insights, and generate content. 

Learn more about how educational institutions worldwide are using Azure OpenAI Service to transform experiences for students, educators, faculty, and staff.

The University of South Florida (USF) leveraged Microsoft AI solutions and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline their IT ticket classification process enabling rapid, automated ticket handling, faster response times, and satisfaction. This integration led to the swift development of AI-powered Help Desk chatbots, reducing workloads and improving efficiency.

National Taiwan Normal University utilized Azure OpenAI’s Davinci and ChatGPT to create 10 “CoolE” bots for the Cool English platform, each with a distinct personality tailored to different ages and proficiency levels. These bots engage students in scenarios like solving mysteries or exploring career insights, providing personalized learning experiences based on individual preferences and needs. This innovative approach enhances student engagement and personalizes learning experiences

IU International University of Applied Sciences leveraged the scalability, availability, and speed of the cloud to build Syntea, powered by Azure OpenAI Service. Syntea provides students with personalized, round-the-clock learning assistance that integrates seamlessly with platforms like myCampus and Microsoft Teams , delivering instant answers and personalized feedback. This AI study tool enhances learning efficiency, reducing course completion times by 27%, and exemplifies IU’s commitment to improving educational outcomes with advanced AI.

The South Australia Department for Education, in collaboration with Microsoft, used Azure AI Content Safety to secure EdChat, an educational chatbot, ensuring a safe digital learning environment by blocking harmful content. This integration allowed for a successful trial with 1,500 students and 150 teachers, demonstrating EdChat’s effectiveness in enhancing research and learning. The robust safety features enabled rapid deployment and increased student engagement, providing confidence for broader implementation.

2. Maximize the value of your data

Data is only as powerful as your educators’ and staff’s ability to use it. Azure’s modernized data analytics centralizes and manages data services, integrating disparate sources and breaking down departmental silos. This ensures secure, compliant, and accessible insights, enabling informed decision-making. Azure’s scalable solutions also alleviate the IT burden, empowering faculty and staff to focus on education and innovation.

The next generation in analytics

With solutions like Microsoft Fabric, which centralize and manage data on a single, open governed foundation, you can unlock and share actionable insights across your institution. With data seamlessly flowing from Fabric, you simply describe what you need—including reports, summaries, and calculations—using conventional language, and Copilot in Fabric does the rest. You can also fuel your own tailor-made generative AI experiences in Azure AI Studio with curated data from Fabric.

USF uses Microsoft solutions to accelerate data-driven decision-making by empowering its teams to access information and enriched business insights through a self-service approach. USF freed its teams from repetitive manual tasks by connecting its information sources using Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft Power BI to reduce administrative work and produce reports in minutes.

3. Scalability and flexibility

Azure cloud solutions provide the scalability and flexibility schools need to accommodate growth while optimizing costs and operational efficiency. This helps IT professionals stay ahead of technological advancements and manage resources across datacenters, the edge, and multiple clouds. With this adaptability, institutions can prepare for future demands while managing costs.

Colorado State University (CSU) showcases the scalability and flexibility of Azure in modernizing their IT infrastructure. By migrating to Azure Stack HCI, CSU’s College of Business consolidated its on-premises environments into a unified ecosystem, improving the performance of SQL servers, printing systems, and remote desktop services. With Azure Stack HCI, primary and secondary (K12), and higher education institutions can easily streamline their operations, enhance efficiency, and ensure a scalable, flexible environment for students and staff.

4. Operational efficiency

With Azure, IT professionals can create reliable and secure systems that are performant with cloud and AI investments and leverage enablement support to help achieve operational efficiency. We know no two schools are alike, so whether you’re a small educational institution or a large university with many campuses, you can get customized support in three distinct ways:

• Comprehensive resources: Get easy access to cloud workload best practices , Microsoft Cloud adoption guidance , and Azure Migrate .
• Direct access to experts: Simplify your cloud journey with help from Microsoft experts and partners .
• Extensive coverage across scenarios: Find comprehensive coverage for cloud and AI adoption stages and workload scenarios to support your unique needs.

Using Azure services, Torrens University has leveraged generative AI to enhance its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources. They have seen first-hand how Azure empowers educational institutions to achieve operational excellence and drive innovation.

5. Deliver secure access to services for students and staff, wherever they are

Cloud-based IT infrastructure, like Azure, ensures seamless access to educational resources through virtual desktops, while providing continuity and cyber resilience with backup and disaster recovery. These measures quickly restore normal operations, safeguard critical data, and maintain school operations during disruptions, protecting against data exposure, high recovery costs, and reputational damage. Azure solutions also support remote learning and work , enabling students and staff to access necessary tools from virtually anywhere, ensuring uninterrupted education.

Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands uses Azure Virtual Desktop for remote exams, saving €150,000 annually and enhancing accessibility for all students and staff. Azure Virtual Desktop provides access to applications and resources in any environment with flexibility and control in a familiar computing experience that can be securely accessed on any device.

Take the next step

Azure is a key partner in educational transformation, offering tools and services to tackle today’s challenges and build a strong future. By leveraging Azure, educational institutions can drive innovation, improve efficiency, and ensure success for future generations.

Explore these resources to get started and learn how Azure can help shape the future of your educational institution. 

• Training for Azure | Microsoft Learn
• Fundamentals of Azure OpenAI Service – Training | Microsoft Learn
• Develop Generative AI solutions with Azure OpenAI Service – Training | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Learn for Educators Program  
• Student Developer Resources – Microsoft Azure
• Microsoft AI Bootcamp for Educators – Azure AI Fundamentals  
• Prepare to teach AI-900 Microsoft Azure AI fundamentals in academic programs

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Contoso case study: Teams upgrade plan

• 4 contributors
• Applies to: Microsoft Teams

In the decision to migrate from Skype for Business to Teams, Contoso wanted to provide an easy transition experience for end users. Instead of switching everyone to Teams at the same time, they decided to set up hybrid connectivity, and use the overlapping capabilities method to move users to Teams. This allowed users in Teams and Skype for Business on-premises to share presence and communicate. As users entered the pilot for Phone System, they were moved to Teams Only mode.

To understand fundamental concepts about upgrade, methods, and modes, Contoso read the following articles:

• Getting started with your Microsoft Teams upgrade
• Upgrade strategies for IT administrators
• Migration and interoperability guidance

Contoso also attended the Ignite 2019 session Designing your path from Skype for Business to Teams . Contoso learned about:

Fundamental concepts such as interoperability, federation, and upgrade behavior

Coexistence modes and management based on TeamsUpgradePolicy

End user experience for:

Chat and Calling

Meeting scheduling

Availability of collaboration functionality in Teams clients

To plan and configure hybrid connectivity, the first step in moving their on-premises environment to the cloud, Contoso read Plan hybrid connectivity and Configure hybrid connectivity to understand how to:

Configure their on-premises environment service to federate with Office 365.

Configure their on-premises environment to trust Office 365 and enable shared SIP address space with Office 365

Enable shared SIP address space in their Office 365 tenant.

Use Islands mode during the technical pilot.

Switch users to TeamsOnly mode once the user is enabled for Phone System. TeamsOnly mode is required for Calling Plan and Direct Routing.

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