Tuesday, June 30, 2020
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With today's increasingly global business environment comes the need for increasingly global collaboration tools. Microsoft 365, with Teams at the heart of communications, provides the tools and capabilities today's organizations and businesses need to not only collaborate with colleagues and peers across the world, but equally important, to also take that first critical step toward transforming their traditional workspaces into modern digital workplaces. Subscribe now to stay informed on how Teams at the center of Microsoft 365 can help elevate and transform communication, collaboration, and teamwork throughout your entire organization.
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Businesses are amassing enormous amounts of data, more than they know what to do with. Most are just using it to put together dense periodic reports explaining "what" happened too long after the fact to be of much use. Modernizing your digital workplace by moving to Azure and utilizing its AI technology can help you get a handle on your data and graduate from "what" happened to "how" it happened and, finally, to what "will" happen to inform what you should do all within a relevant period of time.
Data analyst and "oldest nerd in Guatemala" with ALS types with his eyes to modernize his clients' businesses
Can you teach an old nerd new tricks? For Otto Knoke, the self-proclaimed "oldest nerd in Guatemala" who has suffered from ALS for 20 years, the answer is a resounding yes. An admitted (and proud) workaholic, the 60-year-old data analyst is a well known fixture of the Guatemalan business community, having helped modernize the banking industry by introducing ATMs into the country 20 years ago. Sadly, right around that same time, Knoke was diagnosed with ALS (better known as Lou Gehrig's disease), and was told he only had two years to live. But rather than give in to the disease, Knoke relentlessly researched ways in which technology could help him overcome his condition and thrive--a determination and drive which has paid off. Today, some two decades later, Knoke has become the first person in Guatemala to use Microsoft's new eye-tracking software for Windows 10, called Eye Control, enabling him to literally type with his eyes and use Microsoft Power BI to analyze his clients' business data. For Knoke, who has always been a tech early adopter, this revolutionary Microsoft technology has not only helped his business continue to boom, but more important, it's enabled him to communicate more meaningfully with his loved ones and strengthen those relationships. Watch this truly fascinating and inspiring video to learn Otto Knoke's full story.
Microsoft Teams delivers healthy, real-time global collaboration for Heart Research Institute (HRI) in Australia
Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death, a statistic that Australia-based Heart Research Institute (HRI) is working diligently to change. Dedicated to saving lives and minimizing the impact of heart-related illnesses on patients globally, HRI is involved with over 150 international research projects each year which require frequent collaboration with other researchers from around the world--a necessity often hampered in the past by the institute's outdated, unsecure, and largely underused collaboration tools. All that changed when Microsoft partner Dimension Data deployed Microsoft 365 across HRI, with Teams at the heart of the organization's communications.
With Microsoft 365 and Teams, HRI can now compare results, share data, and collaborate on documents in real time with researchers in different countries and hemispheres, representing a critical first step for HRI toward realizing the promise of the modern workplace. Watch and share this short video to learn how Microsoft 365 and Teams are enabling cutting-edge communication for a cutting-edge research facility.
SitePro Part 1
SitePro gained a competitive advantage by combining onsite sensors and data collection with online data processing and management using Microsoft Azure. As a result, they were able to provide faster and more effective service to their customers, which in turn strengthened the offerings of their customers. It's a win for everyone.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Stitch Fix's radical data-driven way to sell clothes is reinventing retail
When you think of AI powerhouses, a fashion house may not be what first comes to mind. But capsule wardrobe company Stitch Fix is perfecting the art. In this article in Fast Company, learn how Stitch Fix relies on algorithms to drive all aspects of the business from selecting clothes for clients to running the warehouse. Their innovative Style Shuffle allows clients to rate clothing images each day, feeding the algorithm and refining the clothes offered to that customer. Customer comments after they've received a Fix give valuable feedback to clothing manufacturers on the minutiae of fit as well as style--a level of feedback they never get from retail.
This is the kind of pooling of data you get with the modern business intelligence of Power Bi and Azure. You can build and innovate with choice and flexibility. And you have visual drag and drop data exploration and interactive reporting right at your fingertips.
Stitch Fix's radical data-driven way to sell clothes is reinventing retail
When you think of AI powerhouses, a fashion house may not be what first comes to mind. But capsule wardrobe company Stitch Fix is perfecting the art. In this article in Fast Company, learn how Stitch Fix relies on algorithms to drive all aspects of the business from selecting clothes for clients to running the warehouse. Their innovative Style Shuffle allows clients to rate clothing images each day, feeding the algorithm and refining the clothes offered to that customer. Customer comments after they've received a Fix give valuable feedback to clothing manufacturers on the minutiae of fit as well as style--a level of feedback they never get from retail.
This is the kind of pooling of data you get with the modern business intelligence of Power Bi and Azure. You can build and innovate with choice and flexibility. And you have visual drag and drop data exploration and interactive reporting right at your fingertips.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
5 Ways to Inspire Creativity and Innovation in Your Employees
Scott Duffy, entrepreneur and author of the book "Breakthrough," let us in on how to foster creative teamwork by breaking your staff out of the office mindset. In this Entrepreneur Magazine article, he shares tips to help you build experimentation in your team and create comfort around risk. Read on to learn how to foster inspiration and innovation!
5 Ways to Inspire Creativity and Innovation in Your Employees
Scott Duffy, entrepreneur and author of the book "Breakthrough," let us in on how to foster creative teamwork by breaking your staff out of the office mindset. In this Entrepreneur Magazine article, he shares tips to help you build experimentation in your team and create comfort around risk. Read on to learn how to foster inspiration and innovation!
Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17% in 2020
According to Gartner, Inc., the world's leading research and advisory company, the worldwide public cloud services is forecast to grow 17% in 2020. This is significant projected growth and a good indicator that the cloud is reliable, trustworthy—and necessary.
Have a look at this report, which also forecasts infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to grow 24%--the highest growth rate across all market segments. The report attributes the growth to "the demands of modern applications and workloads, which require infrastructure that traditional data centers cannot meet."
Read the press release and summarized findings here.
5 reasons to choose Microsoft Power BI over Tableau
How do Microsoft's Power BI and Tableau compare? And how do you choose? Check out these five factors to consider as you evaluate the best solution for your data needs.
Day in the life - IT project manager
Join Jamal, IT project manager, as he navigates his day with the help of Microsoft Teams. With the mobile app, he joins the daily stand up meeting and reviews the daily activity feed. He reviews status and trends in the dashboard and tasks by owner in the planner. With the cloud-based meeting app. he can review past meetings and he tracks finances in another tab. Check out how Microsoft Teams makes his planning so much smoother with a secure location that brings together everything teams needs to be productive.
Learn how to modernize your apps and data on Azure
Break down the cloud journey with four stages of the process—starting with a pre-migration assessment and then looking at migration, post-migration, and optimization. Microsoft Azure has you covered with tools created specifically for you.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
A day in the life - Marketing
Meet Pam, a marketer who's planning an event while running the rest of her marketing operation. She can check her activity feed at home before leaving for work to see the priorities for the day. She can join a status meeting remotely using Microsoft Teams and using OneDrive-lined documents she can share documents, co-edit files in PowerPoint, Excel and access outside apps like Adobe Creative Cloud, Hootsuite and much more.
Take a look and explore how Microsoft Teams can bring together everything a team needs to be productive!
A day in the life - Marketing
Meet Pam, a marketer who's planning an event while running the rest of her marketing operation. She can check her activity feed at home before leaving for work to see the priorities for the day. She can join a status meeting remotely using Microsoft Teams and using OneDrive-lined documents she can share documents, co-edit files in PowerPoint, Excel and access outside apps like Adobe Creative Cloud, Hootsuite and much more.
Take a look and explore how Microsoft Teams can bring together everything a team needs to be productive!
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Microsoft Power BI Premium
If you're trying to find the best solution for your data analysis needs, read this white paper to get the inside details on what Power BI offers. Dedicated capacity, ability to work within your firewall with an on-premises server, the ability to build and distribute solutions broadly, higher dataset refresh rates and much more, including a peek at future feature sets.
Microsoft Power BI Premium
If you're trying to find the best solution for your data analysis needs, read this white paper to get the inside details on what Power BI offers. Dedicated capacity, ability to work within your firewall with an on-premises server, the ability to build and distribute solutions broadly, higher dataset refresh rates and much more, including a peek at future feature sets.
Why Migrate with Azure?
With Microsoft Azure Migration Program (AMP), customers receive prescriptive guidance for a step-by-step approach for a path to the cloud from start to finish.
The program delivers technical skill building to ensure your organization can successfully adopt Azure; best practices for a step-to-step approach from start to finish; Azure engineering support for data and infrastructure foundations; expert guidance from specialized migration partners; free Azure tools to help you efficiently execute migrations; and cost effective offers to help you save money before, during, and after migration. All of this, available to all Azure customers, scaled through specialized migration partners.
Contact us for more information or assistance in migrating.
The Adecco Group connects a global workforce through innovative and collaborative technologies
As a global leader in professional staffing, career transition, and talent mobility, the Adecco Group has been transforming the world of work. They help customers embrace the changing employment landscape and develop new ways of working. With 34,000 team members across the globe, they needed more effective ways to collaborate in real time and a better way to access data for driving good decisions.
Microsoft 365 equips HR leaders with the people data needed to drive business and cultural transformation. Now these leaders can tap into the idea of working out loud and stimulating employee creativity with Microsoft Teams. And with Power BI, they've unlocked data so they can get the analysis they need, right on the spot!
Check out how Adecco is creating the future of work in these two brief videos!
Lowe's moves to the cloud to empower employees and personalize customer service
Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement company in the world and is headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. With a purpose of "helping people love where they live," the company wanted to create a modern workplace for employees and provide cloud-based productivity tools. Lowe's decided to deploy Microsoft Office 365, giving employees anytime access to productivity tools from any device. Now employees can find the information they need faster, work together more easily, and develop more attentive, personalized customer relationships.
Lizo | Digital transformation in the oil & gas industry: seamless scaling and automatic updating
Our final video in the Lizo series shows how a business can push the boundaries of what's possible for a data-driven company. To do this, they needed to be as agile and informed as possible. See how companies can move to Azure to enjoy the freedom and possibilities of the cloud.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together
More frequently than ever, consumers are utilizing apps for news, food, information, social networking and more. Of course, the cloud forms the core of the app economy and small to medium businesses need service providers that support their financial needs and requirements.
In his article, "Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together," Prabhakar Jayakumar writes that 90% of all data used over the last two years was created using an optimized data management tool. For digitization to progress, modern app development requires efficient data management and processing. The app must engage users and generate content, "and then process the data generated to garner insights, which can enhance the performance of the app or brand," writes Jayakumar. He adds that this is where cloud service providers can be of great help, in setting up databases to be quick and fail-proof.
In short, Jayakumar sees service providers can help SMBs deploy applications quickly and cost-effectively: "Less coding, limitless scalability, exceedingly fast deployments, and fool-proof security are the pillars of tomorrow's app economy, powered by the cloud."
Read Jayakumar's entire article and contact us for cloud migration support.
Guide to Creating a BYOD Policy for Small Business
Allowing employees to access company data from personal devices can be essential to creating work-life balance, but employee-owned devices can also pose security threats. Check out this article for an overview of the risks and benefits of implementing a bring-your-own-device policy.
Contact us for more information on how to help your company secure company data accessed from personal devices.
Creating World-Class Collaboration In A Global Team
Teams in today's modern workplace are often multi-office or even multi-continent affairs. As a result, team cohesion can challenge the best managers. In this Forbes article, "Creating world-class collaboration in a global team," learn how Kim DeLine, the COO for Elevate K-12, engages a distributed workforce in her role at the leading live streaming company in the education field.
With Microsoft Teams, you can connect across geographical and organization boundaries, run status updates and team building with remote workers via a cloud-based meeting solution, and foster a culture of knowledge sharing.
See how important it is to explain the "why" with a multi-cultural office and encourage an understanding of purpose during times of change.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Good Decision Making Requires Good Data
In our data centric times, it's easy to equate lots of data with good data. Catch this article, "Good Decision Making Requires Good Data" in Entrepreneur Magazine. Author George Deeb of Red Rocket Ventures gives personal examples of thinking he had the data thing down and then realizing the need to continue to refine their AI efforts to have accurate and meaningful data. With Microsoft's AI Builder layered onto the Power Platform, you can ensure it will be easy to build dashboards, apps, and workflows. Get the information you need to run your business, whatever your field.
A day in the life - sales with Microsoft Teams
April, a sales rep, is looking to grow her company's Midwest customer base. See how she starts her day finding a lead in Microsoft Teams and then uses Dynamics and Power BI to dig out connections that turn that lead into an opportunity. By 5pm she now has a new resource to amp up more sales opportunities in the region.
Check out this infographic to see what deal building looks like with Microsoft Teams!
Microsoft Cortana unlocks data's full potential
Modern business is being transformed by three major trends: Big data, the cloud and intelligence. The winners will master all three. Learn how Microsoft Cortana can get you there by unlocking the full potential of your data. Remove the divide between IT and the business side of your operation and empower your whole workforce to access data and drive better decisions. Transform data into intelligent action with Power BI and Microsoft Azure.
Customer story: Garner Foods
Although Garner Foods is based in South Carolina, they sell hot sauce and Green Mountain Gringo brand products all over the world. With digital tools, their projects are easily managed remotely, and team members can work from anywhere.
Garner Foods chose to partner with Microsoft 365 Business to easily onboard new employees and to secure company data stored on countless devices. With employees and sales representatives traveling all over the United States, being able to securely work and collaborate from any device has played a huge role in the company's ongoing success.
Discover the benefits of modernization and save with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Check out the ways in which Azure SQL Database Managed Instance is designed to provide you with exactly what your business needs so you can save money without missing a beat.
View: Discover the benefits of modernization and save with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
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Data locked in silos prevents your teams from fully accessing all the info they need to remain competitive. Microsoft Power BI and Azure give your team the ability to leverage a secure, simple-to-manage infrastructure to analyze data and view reports when and where they're needed --across any device, online and offline.
Make collaboration and data sharing easier and more engaging across teams with stunning visuals; plus, simple data discovery and reporting. Discover how Power BI can transform analytics with business intelligence like you've never seen before.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
A Day in the Life of a Construction Pro with Microsoft Teams
Sofia is a construction company superintendent who works at multiple sites and uses Teams to keep her schedule and projects all in one place. View this infographic to get a glimpse of a day in Sofia's life -- and how she uses productivity, collaboration, BI and enterprise mobility tools in Teams to stay on track.
View: A Day in the Life of a Construction Pro with Microsoft Teams
Protect your business: Recognize the top three security threats, plus one you may not know about
This report gives detailed information on how to safeguard your customers' data from viruses, phishing, and ransomware, plus a common security threat you may have overlooked.
The global average cost of a cyberattack is $3.6 million. But awareness is the first step in security and prevention. Check out this e-book and contact our team to learn more about how to defend your company against cyberattacks.
Lizo | Digital transformation in the oil & gas industry: improving on-site safety
Safety is a priority for companies, especially those working in industries where a few seconds can mean a significant deficit for thousands of customers.
This time we show how companies such as Lizo partner their apps with Microsoft Azure for instant status updates of facilities and equipment that are vital for site operators to maintain safety around the globe. Their customers funnel real-time data from multiple sources into a single platform. Their facility oversight is improved, their operations are more efficient, and the workplace safety is right where it should be—at the top.
Watch this video to see how other data-driven companies could partner with Microsoft Azure to offer cloud-based software solutions to customers who need real-time response.
Employee empowerment bears fruit
Early adopters of Office 365, Fruit of the Loom uses Microsoft Teams to combine tools that allow 30,000 associates to collaborate across locations and countries around the world.
The video in this episode tells the Fruit of the Loom story -- showing that no company is too established to transform. Watch it to discover how Microsoft Teams empowers employees to effectively express ideas and unlock creativity by bringing together chat, meeting, calling, Office 365 apps and third-party tools -- all in one place. In a world where enterprise-grade security and compliance are non-negotiable, Microsoft Teams gives Fruit of the Loom the protection it needs to create a secure culture of knowledge sharing and creativity.
Virgin Atlantic improves internal customer service with Power BI and PowerApps
At Virgin Atlantic, Manuela Pichler and the Business Systems Development team is focused on being the world's most-loved airline -- a goal that requires creating quick wins and tactical development solutions. To achieve this goal, Manuela adopted Microsoft PowerApps to simplify and accelerate app development by connecting business data with Power BI.
Watch this video to discover what Manuela and her team are able to achieve by using Microsoft Modern BI to simplify collaboration and data sharing and get quick access to data insights anytime and anywhere. From improving customer service to ensuring safety and compliance to sparking innovation -- Microsoft PowerApps and Dynamics 365 give Virgin Atlantic everything it needs to help business and field workers excel while bringing more love to the travel experience.
Monday, June 1, 2020
Prevent data leaks
The global average cost of a data breach is $3.6 million. Is your company prepared to deal with the aftermath of a cyberattack?
Many businesses struggle with preventive measures that block the sharing of sensitive information or prevent unauthorized users from viewing sensitive documents. It's no wonder that protecting against data leaks is a daunting task.
With the rich security features available in Microsoft 365 Business, you can easily protect your company's sensitive data. Check out this infographic for a quick overview of industry trends, business pains, proof points, and more on how you can prevent data leaks.
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