In late March 2023, Microsoft will begin a public preview of their new collaboration app – Loop.
This follows the initial period of private preview (which began in November 2022) and offers organisations the chance to explore, test and give feedback on its features.
The Loop app, which is being marketed as a productivity tool, is particularly relevant to organisations conducting hybrid working, and consists of three main parts: Loop components, Loop pages, and Loop workspaces.
Its main benefit, in comparison to rival apps such as Notion, is the way in which these elements are integrated across all the other Microsoft products, which many organisations already use in their daily working practices.
For example, Loop components allows you to send content in a chat in Microsoft Teams for your colleagues to add their ideas and feedback to directly. Everyone can edit inline and see instant changes, which are then saved automatically to OneDrive.
Additionally, Loop pages allows users to share and collaborate on multiple Loop components, whilst Loop workspaces track and organise your pages into different groups or sections. This is particularly helpful for large projects, with multiple users able to work on pages and workspaces at once.
Microsoft envisages that, once it becomes generally available, Loop will help organisations to work together more efficiently in co-authoring, brainstorming, compiling data, and managing projects.
If you have a Microsoft subscription and would like to test Loop during the preview period, please contact us. Alternatively, for more information about purchasing Microsoft products, take a look at our list of Microsoft apps and services here.