M365 Roundup, July 2021: Lighthouse Opens to Every CSP Partner
TL;DR
- Microsoft 365 Lighthouse entered public preview in July 2021 at no extra cost for CSP partners managing Business Premium customers, with multi-tenant views and recommended SMB security baselines.
- Starting late August 2021, all meetings created in Outlook default to online Teams meetings unless an admin disables the setting in PowerShell.
- As of July 31, 2021, Conditional Access can require an Intune app protection policy before Teams gets access to Microsoft 365 services, rolling out default off.
- Five new Teams meeting recommendations land in Secure Score in late August 2021, covering lobbies, anonymous users, dial-in bypass, and external participant control.
- Teams gains Fluid live components in chat, pinned chat messages, variable playback speed for recordings, and two new presenter modes through August and September 2021.
July 2021 is the month multi-tenant management stopped being a third-party-only game: Microsoft 365 Lighthouse hit public preview, free for CSP partners. Beyond that headline, Outlook meetings are about to go online by default, Teams picked up a long list of features, and Secure Score is adding Teams meeting checks. Everything relevant to MSPs from July is below, grouped by product.
Admin: Lighthouse is the news
Microsoft 365 Lighthouse public preview (available now)
Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is an admin portal built for MSPs to secure and manage devices, data, and users at scale for small and medium-sized business customers running Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Lighthouse simplifies onboarding of Business Premium tenants by recommending security configuration baselines tailored to SMB customers, and it provides multi-tenant views across all customer environments. The pitch: scale customer management, find and investigate risks quickly, and take action to get customers to a healthy, secure state.
No additional costs are associated with using Lighthouse to manage Microsoft 365 services and connected devices. As of July 2021 it is in preview, available to MSPs enrolled in the Cloud Solution Provider program serving SMB customers with a Business Premium subscription.
There is a demo video here (opens in new tab) if you want to see it in motion.
Five new Teams recommendations in Secure Score (security enhancement)
Microsoft is adding five Teams meeting recommendations to Secure Score:
- Restrict dial-in users from bypassing a meeting lobby.
- Limit external participants from having control in a Teams meeting.
- Restrict anonymous users from starting Teams meetings.
- Require lobbies to be set up for Teams meetings.
- Configure which users are allowed to be present in Teams meetings.
Rollout: late August 2021.
Exchange: every Outlook meeting becomes a Teams meeting
Online meetings by default (configuration change)
Once this rolls out, all meetings created in Outlook will be set as online meetings by default. Take no action, and users enabled for Teams or Skype for Business Online get every meeting created online.
- Applies only when a user is enabled for Teams or Skype for Business Online. Support for third-party online meeting add-ins is planned for a future update with no timeline yet.
- Applies to meetings with at least one attendee other than the organizer and a duration under 24 hours.
Rollout: late August 2021, completing by late November.
To prepare: if you want all meetings online by default, do nothing beyond notifying users and updating documentation. If you do not, disable the feature using PowerShell. Checking current settings returns the organization's effective value; the default, if never explicitly configured, is $false, so running the cmdlet today shows $false unless someone already changed it to $true.
Teams: eight changes worth knowing
Fluid live components in chat (new feature)
Fluid components let users send a message containing a table, action items, or a list that everyone in the chat can co-author and edit inline; in the future these will be shareable across Office applications like Outlook. The intent is fewer meetings and shorter chat threads, with quick alignment through copy-pasting components across Teams chats.
Rollout: mid-August 2021, completing late August.
Pin a chat message (new feature)
Any member of a chat can pin or unpin a specific message to the top of the chat header for all members to see, and clicking the pinned message jumps to the original in the thread. Only a single message can be pinned at a time for now.
Rollout: mid-August 2021, completing late August.
Variable playback speed for meeting recordings (new feature)
An icon in the bottom right corner of Teams meeting recordings opens a Playback speed menu: 0.5x, 1x, 1.2x, 1.5x, 1.8x, and 2.0x. The chosen setting persists for the browser session and can be changed at any time.
Rollout: early August 2021, fully rolled out by approximately early September.
Side-by-side and Reporter presenter modes (new feature)
Presenters using the Teams desktop app already have Standout mode while screen sharing; this release adds two more options.
Side-by-side: participants see the presenter's video feed and content overlaid on a background image.
Reporter: the presenter's video feed sits superimposed over the background with the content over their shoulder, placed diagonally.
Rollout: mid-August 2021, completing mid-September.
Require app protection policy as a Conditional Access grant (security enhancement)
App protection policy based Conditional Access in Teams ensures only users with an Intune app protection policy can access Microsoft 365 services from Teams, protecting organizational data on employee devices.
This rolls out default off; nothing changes unless you enable the require app protection policy grant in your Conditional Access policies. Enable it, and Teams access is restricted to users who have app protection policies applied on their account.
Rollout: July 31, 2021.
PSTN Service Desk email support transition (admin impact)
Beginning July 22, 2021, there is a new process for PSTN service desk requests covering phone number porting and ordering support. Tickets can be opened, viewed, and tracked in the new Phone Number Service Center portal, integrated with the Teams Admin Center.
Choose a default for opening Office files (new feature)
Users can set a default of browser, desktop, or Teams for opening Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) shared in Teams. The setting lives under the profile picture at Settings > General, scrolled to the Files section, with a dropdown for Teams, Desktop app, and Browser. Teams is the default. The Desktop app option appears only in the Teams desktop app for Windows or macOS and applies only to that device; on the web, the choice is Teams or Browser. A file can also be opened elsewhere ad hoc via More options > Open in, without changing the default.
Rollout: mid-August 2021, completing by late September.
Music mode (new feature)
Teams gains the option to transmit high fidelity music, automatically adjusting the audio bit rate to available bandwidth and going down to 48 kbps while still delivering good music quality. Users can also turn off echo cancellation, noise suppression, and gain control when needed.
- Professional microphones and headphones or high-quality external loudspeakers are ideal; Bluetooth headsets are not.
- Built-in microphones and speakers on laptops like the Surface Book also deliver a good experience.
Enable it under Teams Settings > Device Settings by turning on high fidelity music mode. With high quality closed-back headphones, echo cancellation can be turned off; with a professional microphone that has external gain adjustment, the auto-adjust mic sensitivity setting can be disabled.
Rollout: late July 2021, completing late September.
Frequently asked questions
Does Microsoft 365 Lighthouse cost anything?
No. As of the July 2021 public preview there are no additional costs for using Lighthouse to manage Microsoft 365 services and connected devices. It is available to MSPs enrolled in the CSP program serving SMB customers with Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
How do you stop Outlook from making every meeting a Teams meeting?
Disable the feature with PowerShell. The organization's effective setting defaults to $false until the rollout; once the change lands, take action only if you do not want all meetings online by default.
Does the Teams app protection Conditional Access grant affect tenants automatically?
No. It rolls out default off. Nothing changes unless you enable the require app protection policy grant in your Conditional Access policies, after which only users with an Intune app protection policy can access Microsoft 365 services from Teams.
Microsoft ships monthly. Your baselines have to keep up.
Every rollout above moves a default somewhere. CloudCapsule rechecks 250+ controls across every tenant you manage in about 60 seconds each, so July's changes never surface as next quarter's findings.
Run a free scan
Written by
Nick Ross
CEO · Microsoft MVP · Founder, T-Minus 365
Nick is not just a CEO, he's a respected thought leader and influencer in the MSP space. Tens of thousands of MSPs learn through his YouTube channel, T-Minus365. Nick has been honored as a three-time Microsoft MVP for his educational content; his expertise and influence are the backbone of our mission, ensuring that you are in the best hands when it comes to security.
Nick joined Pax8 in 2017, where he would ultimately oversee product management for PSA and Microsoft integrations. Following his tenure at Pax8, Nick has continued to demonstrate his leadership prowess as an executive at various MSPs, culminating in his most recent role at Sourcepass.
Nick holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Florida State University, as well as a Minor Degree in Entrepreneurship. In his free time, Nick is an avid hiker, reader, and fitness-junkie.
