Microsoft Teams is increasing in demand as remote work increases. According to Microsoft, in half a year, the number of active users per day increased by 50% to over 115 million. Considering the number of active users as of July 2019, it is a huge leap forward.
In July 2019, Microsoft Teams had 13 million active users per day. It was announced that it surpassed 75 million in April and over 115 million in the first quarter of 2021 earnings report held on October 27th. This is an increase of more than 50% from 6 months ago.
Microsoft CEO Satia Nadella said he has been collaborating more than 30 billion minutes a day this quarter, saying he is seeing an increase in the use of Microsoft Teams for collaboration or learning in communication and collaboration work.
Meanwhile, not only Microsoft Teams, but also the same communication tools are showing great growth. It means that Microsoft wasn’t the only one who made good records. For example, as of April 2020, Google Meet had 3 million daily users and more than 100 million users, and Zoom reached 300 million active users a day.
With the increase in remote work due to the corona 19 effect, Microsoft is saying that this situation is not temporary. Therefore, Microsoft Teams has implemented more than 100 new features over the past six months and has been focusing on enhancing features. Meeting organizers divide meeting participants into small groups, add virtual breakout rooms, gimmicks, etc., expand the number of participants to 20,000, solve problems such as time and distance, and people prefer well-being in the working flow It explains that it has provided a way to do it.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s first quarter announced on October 27th (local time), that is, Microsoft’s fiscal year is from July to June of the following year, and the first quarter of 2021 announced its results for July to September this year. According to this, net profit increased by 30% compared to the same period last year.
With the surge in remote work and online classes caused by Corona 19, the intelligent cloud business showed good performance, increasing sales by 20% to $13 billion, and Azure-related revenues increased by 48%. In addition, personal computing business including Xbox and Windows showed a slight increase of $11.8 billion, up 6% from the same period last year. Looking at the breakdown, while Windows OEM and ad revenue declined, Xbox-related revenue increased 30% and Surface-related revenue increased 37%.
The reason for Xbox can be seen is that the number of hours used for games increased as home time increased. Similarly, Surface is the result of an increasing number of consumers buying new PCs for remote work and online classes. Business group businesses, including offices, also increased by 11%, indicating that office-related demand is high.
As the holiday season enters in 2Q, revenues related to Surface and Xbox are expected to increase. Although many companies are in trouble due to Corona 19, the increase in cloud service use and increase in home time can be said to be a good wind for Microsoft.
In addition, as people’s behavior changed due to Corona 19, the use of cloud services increased, which led to increased sales of Surface and Xbox, and Microsoft said in a financial report that revenue increased. Revenue was 37.2 billion dollars, net profit was 13.9 billion dollars, sales increased 12% and net profit increased 30% year-on-year. Related information can be found here .