Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Enhance and automate the way you communicate with your customers. Learn more about bot integration for Microsoft Teams.
Your customer service teams have a lot on their plate. Not only do they have to troubleshoot problems efficiently, they must also deal with upset or worried clients while they do so. And to add another challenge, they have the added pressure of knowing that a single misstep can potentially have devastating consequences for their business' finances and reputation.
Thankfully, digital transformation has equipped today's customer service teams with the technology they need to be better prepared for their next customer encounter. Now, artificial intelligence has enabled client-facing teams to come prepared with accurate data to better understand a customer's issue and solve it effectively.
Subscribe now to learn how you can utilize the advanced bot integration capabilities of Microsoft Teams to enable effective communication with your clients and create outstanding customer experiences.
Enable faster, more accurate decision-making for retail managers. Get started with Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions.
In the digital age, fast, accurate decision-making can make the difference between seizing a unique opportunity and remaining on the sidelines. To create a business that's truly more agile, managers and other decision-makers must be empowered with digital tools that enable them to process tasks more effectively and obtain a holistic view of their customers.
Subscribe now to learn how you can drive intelligent retail and get the most out of your customer- and employee-facing applications by using Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions.
Deliver fast, efficient product innovation with a best-in-class build for open source.
Deliver fast, efficient product innovation with a best-in-class build for open source.
Up-to-Date infographic
Azure SQL databases are always up-to-date. When you migrate SQL Server databases to the Azure cloud, you can adopt Azure SQL Database managed instance for evergreen SQL that never needs to be patched or upgraded along. At the same time, you gain end-to-end SQL Server Engine compatibility for migration without code changes.
Reduce time and costs by optimizing everyday tasks with intelligent automation
Optimize with intelligent automation. To learn more about agile business processes to enhance your operations, subscribe now.
View: Reduce time and costs by optimizing everyday tasks with intelligent automation
Increase oversight and control of farming operations. Get started with Microsoft Azure IoT.
No one can control the weather, but thanks to increased adoption of IoT devices, farmers can now measure and control nearly every aspect of their holdings. Further, by using advanced platforms like Microsoft Azure IoT, farmers can use their mobile devices to get information and to control their operations from virtually anywhere in the world.
Subscribe now to learn more about how devices can leverage the power of Microsoft Azure IoT to enable smart farming and ensure productive oversight.
View: Increase oversight and control of farming operations. Get started with Microsoft Azure IoT.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
GEICO turbocharges insurance innovation in the cloud
By adopting a DevOps development strategy and transitioning development to Microsoft Azure, GEICO is working to engage customers more personally and dynamically. With the help of partner Applied Information Sciences, GEICO is moving to the cloud with a focus on increased efficiency, greater application availability, and lower costs.
Reduce up to 80% in administration costs by offloading server/storage infrastructures
When you offload server/storage infrastructures to Azure, you can reduce up to 80% in administration costs.
View: Reduce up to 80% in administration costs by offloading server/storage infrastructures
Combi Terminal Twente accelerates shipping operations AI-trained AtBot in Teams
Customers are unforgiving, especially when their products and services are on the line. For businesses in the transportation industry, taking the time to carefully review every little detail is crucial to ensuring their customers get their goods when they need them, where they need them.Problem is, time is also money, and finding the sweet spot between efficient and quality customer service is an everyday challenge for global transport companies like Combi Terminal Twente (CTT).
In this video, you'll learn how CTT is leveraging the integration capabilities of Microsoft Teams to provide global customer support powered by AtBot and give clients the ability to track their goods anytime, anywhere.
Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Merchandise and customer service have traditionally been the main focus of the retail industry's portfolio. Digital transformation now allows retailers to expand on their main capabilities and develop innovative solutions that boost their bottom line, as well as that of their partners and clients. Digital is reshaping retail into a more diverse, tech-infused industry where innovation is king and disruption creates new collaboration opportunities.
Subscribe now to learn how to get the most from your existing retail applications by leveraging Microsoft technology to diversify your service portfolio.
Empowering managers
Retail managers have a lot on their plate, and ensuring that they make the best of the time they have available is imperative. One way to address this is to ensure that they have access to the business-critical information they need to obtain a holistic view of their customers and stores. This way, managers are empowered to make accurate decisions quickly based on the most-current data and focus on delivering innovative in-store experiences that increase revenue and improve customer loyalty.
In this video, you'll see how Kroger's Microsoft-powered Virtual Store Manager solution enables retail decision-makers to process their tasks electronically, allowing them to make more-effective decisions and create alluring in-store experiences.
Top 10 devices you need to secure in 2020
As IoT devices become increasingly more intertwined in our modern lives, we must come to terms with the fact that each device represents a potential risk for stolen or compromised data. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for new targets to exploit, and unprotected IoT devices are an especially vulnerable way for hackers to tap into our personal and business accounts and cause major damage. It's critical for organizations to minimize potential security breaches by leveraging enterprise-grade network security and protecting employee-owned devices through secure BYOD programs.
In this article, you'll learn about the top 10 devices that hackers can potentially use to compromise your business. You'll also get insights into how these devices can be shielded against prying eyes.
Financial tech company gains SQL Server performance and scalability on Linux
The dv01 financial reporting and analytics platform offers institutional investors transparency and insight into consumer lending markets. Based initially on PostgreSQL and Redshift data warehouse, the dv01 applications began to run slower as complexity increased. After exploring multiple solutions, dv01 eventually moved to Microsoft SQL Server 2016 running on Azure Virtual Machines. This move provided the scalability it needed to handle rapid growth, reduce query response time from 30 seconds to 1-2 seconds, and cut management time by 90 percent.
O2 drives into the insurance market with Microsoft Azure
O2 is one of the world's best-known brands with over 25 million customers. Yet as market competition increases, O2 sought to leverage its data to diversify revenue streams and delight its customers in new and innovative ways.
In this video, you'll learn about O2's story and how they entered the insurance market with Microsoft Azure to accurately assess the risk of a driver that determines a fair priced insurance premium.
Dr. Martens "Joins the Revolution" with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dr. Martens is an iconic British footwear brand, loved the world over for its signature style that unapologetically represents freedom, self-expression, and authenticity.
Formed in 1947, Dr. Martens made headway as a wholesale business and now has more than 100 stores globally, with ambitious plans for retail and e-commerce growth. Recognizing the need to evolve to suit the needs of the twenty-first century consumer, the brand embarked on "Project Reboot: Join the Revolution" to replace all its legacy applications with Microsoft Dynamics 365.
In this video, you'll learn how the Dr Martens brand is thriving with its new solution, with benefits being realised across all areas of the business.
A multilayered approach to data protection
For businesses in the digital age, cloud technology has become a key enabler of growth and innovation. But no great opportunity is without risk, and moving to the cloud also means having to secure enterprise data as it travels into and out of organizations. Today's leading enterprise cloud platforms provide organizations with the compliance and security they need to protect their data, regardless of scale or region.
In this infographic, you'll learn how Microsoft 365 E5 uses a multilayered approach to protecting sensitive information and provides the insights you need to optimize your organization's security.
Monday, December 21, 2020
Tivoli Gardens delights guests with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world and the most beloved in Europe, continues its long tradition of imagination and innovation with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. With more than 4.5 million guests each year, Tivoli Gardens prioritizes and continually looks for ways to improve the customer experience. In this video see how Microsoft tools help them achieve this goal.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Secure Infographic
Companies choose Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server because of its unmatched security. Azure delivers multiple layers of security, including the secure foundation of physical datacenters, operational best practices, and engineering processes that follow industry-standard guidelines.
Power Platform
This infographic shows how to build custom Teams solutions with low code tools that can save money, install efficiency, and engineer innovation. Develop apps, automate workflows, and dashboards with Power Platform and use them in Microsoft Teams for businesses big and small.
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Not long ago, the main way that major research institutes obtained the computing power they needed for new or ongoing projects was to invest in computing infrastructure, which required significant upfront investments and led to ongoing IT costs to keep the research going.
By switching to cloud computing, research organizations have discovered that they can increase their computing performance without investing in new physical servers or on-site infrastructure. The benefits of the transition are obvious: faster publication times, substantially faster data analysis, significantly lower IT spending, and increased collaboration among researchers, all thanks to improved data sharing and security.
Subscribe now to learn more about how the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and the off-premises data management capabilities of Microsoft Azure are empowering organizations—research and otherwise—across the world.
How We Saved Our Culture of Collaboration: Tech Was the Means for Easing the Pain of Rapid Growth
What qualifies as a successful collaboration tool? The short (and kind of obvious) answer is: one that gets people to use it. In other words, your large investment in a new platform may have proven useless unless that platform resonates with your workforce. This is why today's leading platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Workplace by Facebook have put customization and convenience at the top of their to-do list. And it's paying off immensely, with the industry expected to reach a value of $60 billion by 2023.
So what's the secret sauce behind the success and massive adoption of these platforms? Read this article to gain spot-on insights into how modern collaboration software has evolved to earn its place in the hearts—and devices—of today's millennial workforce.
Why smart data strategies will drive the evolution of retail
When e-commerce and online retail first appeared, many people—including some experts—speculated that it signaled the beginning of the end of brick-and-mortar retailers. For a moment, there was near agreement that physical stores were a thing of the past, but this was a misconception.
As with other overblown predictions, the so-called end of retail stores didn't happen. Instead, the industry was taken over by a new breed of tech-savvy retailers that harnessed the power of digital transformation and analytics to create unified, alluring experiences for today's consumers. Retailers are still adapting to this new, digitally driven business model, but most are already reaping the benefits that the new digital ecosystem offers.
In this article, you'll learn about the challenges that retailers can face in analyzing their business performance, and what they can do to improve on their data-driven initiatives.
Inspire and empower employees with cloud-based collaboration. Get started with Microsoft 365.
Today's organizations need flexible, secure, and intuitive digital tools that allow employees to perform their jobs from virtually anywhere. Organizations also require seamless collaboration capabilities that foster innovative ideas and allow them to mature into high-impact initiatives. Thankfully, getting the most out of the industry's leading productivity applications has never been easier.
Subscribe now to learn how you can transform your business into a modern, cloud-based workplace with the help of Microsoft 365.
View: Inspire and empower employees with cloud-based collaboration. Get started with Microsoft 365.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Windows and SQL Server: The Best of Azure
Windows Server and SQL Server are best on Azure. This flyer highlights Azure's unmatched intelligent security, seamless hybrid capabilities, unparalleled innovation capabilities, and unique cost savings options.
Amplify your apps with Microsoft Teams Developer Platform
Collaboration software is evolving. These days, just having chat-based capabilities is simply not enough, as anyone who's ever received nefarious "check your email" messages can relate. That's why leading enterprises are constantly striving for integration and convenience. After all, using multiple logins, juggling a dozen passwords, and getting bombarded with useless DMs is no one's idea of an efficient workspace.
Today, our collaboration tools have become increasingly integrated with each other. Chat-based applications can now send files, serve as online storage for critical project management, and function as digital meeting rooms. This not only saves time, but also enables valuable reporting and management capabilities that are crucial for today's global businesses.
In this infographic, you'll get familiarized with the Microsoft Teams Developer Platform and how it can be leveraged to extend the effectiveness of your existing apps as well as create new ones that maximize your teams' efforts.
View: Amplify your apps with Microsoft Teams Developer Platform
Deliver a modern customer journey with Microsoft
In a retail industry increasingly dominated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices, digital transformation, and review-based shopping, modern consumers are never short of options for evaluating and purchasing their favorite products and services. While these tools foster remarkable shopping experiences, they also challenge retailers, who must become increasingly innovative in their approaches to consumer-facing solutions and strategies for process optimization.
In this infographic, you'll see how Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions can be employed during each of these stages to increase employee satisfaction and create revenue-generating experiences.
Retail in the 2020s: The death of consumerism?
Thanks to new technologies and rising customer expectations, retailers have become experience hubs for millions of shoppers around the world. It's no secret that retail has fully embraced digital transformation, leading many experts to speculate about where the industry is heading next and what to expect from retail experiences going forward.
In this article, you'll learn about the six main forces that will play key roles in determining this decade's retail technology.
Security with Azure SQL Database in Azure Government
This video highlights the types of security features customers have been asking for and how Azure SQL Database wraps these features into a unified package of intelligent security capabilities. You'll also learn about the three major pillars of this advanced data security: data classification, vulnerability assessments, and threat detection.
Where Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt Next
With so many possible artificial intelligence (AI) applications, predicting trends can be challenging, especially in an age when innovation reigns supreme and new breakthroughs occur every day. So, in an effort to gain further insights into the future of AI, researchers from Stanford University and the Brookings Institution analyzed keywords in patents to identify where the technology will have its greatest impact on jobs and companies in the years ahead.
Read this article to learn about their predictions about the future of AI and gain insights into what industries will be most impacted by artificial intelligence and its applications.
Omnichannel Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Omnichannel for Customer Service provides a modern, customizable, high-productivity app that lets agents help customers across different channels via a unified interface. It lets organizations choose the channel that suits their business needs. In this video, get clarity around the current functionality available in one of our newest offerings, Omnichannel for Customer Service, as well as a roadmap of functionality coming soon.
The challenges faced by today's retail stakeholders
As digital transformation touches every aspect of the retail industry, it's in retailers' best interest to embrace innovative applications that add customer value and improve operations. This is easier said than done, though, because the specific needs of individual retail stakeholders must be taken into consideration in planning and executing every digital initiative.
In this infographic, we'll take a look at the needs of the industry's main stakeholders and how customer-facing solutions can help them meet the main challenges of their various roles.
A step forward in the age of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way, especially in recent times. In the past five years, adoption of AI-driven technology has significantly increased among the world's enterprises, leading to smarter machines and a validation of AI's role in these organizations. As more businesses adopt AI, it becomes more important as a potentiator of human talent. Businesses also gain increasing access to unparalleled levels of innovation.
In this infographic, you'll get a glimpse into how Microsoft-powered AI features have been making businesses around the world smarter and more efficient.
City of Houston: Collaborative tools
One of the defining aspects of modern productivity and collaboration tools is their ability to unify an entire organization in a single hub where ideas can be proposed and shared. This capability is crucial for keeping information from being siloed and ensuring that stakeholders have the highest possible visibility into their projects.
Collaboration tools also play a key role in fostering innovation and mobility. They allow team members to instantly propose ways that ideas and processes can be improved, and do so from virtually any device or location in the world.
In this video, you'll see how the city of Houston, Texas, is using digital transformation to increase efficiency by empowering its employees via the collaboration capabilities of Microsoft 365.
Monday, December 14, 2020
ANU Large data sets and small budgets
Large upfront costs can severely limit the scope and scalability of important projects. With major research institutes that work on projects where substantial volumes of data need to be analyzed, the investment in computing infrastructure for data processing can be a major concern. They need a solution that can ensure the proper scalability of research projects and eliminate the inefficiencies of having to constantly update, upgrade, or downscale on-site servers to address the data needs of specific projects. Fortunately, cloud computing is having an enormous impact on how research is done across the globe.
Watch this video to learn how the elasticity and scalability of Microsoft Azure has allowed genome researchers at Australian National University to access only the computational resources they need while delivering results faster than ever before.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Enrich your customer, manager, and employee experiences. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Effective retail solutions provide stakeholders with relevant information and insights. Whether you're building shelves that help shoppers find curated offers, apps that give insights into business performance, or work tools that empower employees to do more with less, you must also provide the data that each user needs to make better-informed decisions.
Subscribe now to learn more about how you can create high-impact solutions that elevate customers' shopping experiences through the power of Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Cloud lessons learned: four companies that migrated their Windows Server and SQL Server workloads to Azure
Read the success stories of companies that increased workload performance and cut costs by moving Windows Server and SQL Server to Azure. Download this eBook to learn about the different cloud migration paths that Allscripts, Carlsberg Group, Epos Now, and TraXall France used. See how Azure helps to smoothly migrate legacy data and keep pace with innovation, among other features.
Collaborate more securely
Microsoft takes a comprehensive approach to delivering an enterprise-grade communication and collaboration experience. Learn more about privacy, security, and compliance in Microsoft Teams with this infographic.
Use machine learning to analyze candidate information and recruit the best talent. Learn more about Microsoft Teams.
Recruiting has evolved. Fueled by machine learning and AI, today's top recruiters are implementing a host of digital tools to not only help them locate the best talent, but also statistically identify which candidate is the best for each role. And with the expanding reach and integration available within digital collaboration software like Microsoft Teams, the odds of choosing the wrong person for an important role are fading into obscurity.
Stay subscribed to learn more about Modern Workplace trends and how you can empower your recruiting teams with Microsoft.
Carlsberg Group follows a recipe for success with Microsoft Azure, SAP, and a cloud-first strategy
Discover how the Carlsberg Group has successfully migrated SAP to Microsoft Azure. Migrating their environment to the cloud has helped them drive business performance and achieve digital transformation by streamlining their IT infrastructure.
Increase yields with smart, solar-powered farming solutions. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.
Optimizing resources is a top priority in the farming industry. As farmable land gets more utilized and population increases, the need to do more with less becomes a crucial competitive advantage. Luckily, today's farmers have various digital tools at their disposal such as automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence that allow them to increase yields while lowering their water and electricity consumptions levels.
Subscribe now to learn how independent farmers around the world are leveraging Microsoft technology powered by solar energy to increase and stabilize their income, and how you, too, can get started with Azure AI.
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Improve remote productivity by integrating apps
Integrate apps, automate workflows—and never miss a post. Subscribe now for more insights into building agile business processes to transform your organization.
The AI Revolution Is Here - A Podcast And Interview With Nate Yohannes
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the catalyst for the fourth industrial revolution, the most significant technological advancement thus far. AI has the potential to solve incredible challenges for all of humanity, including climate change, education, design, customer experiences, governance, and food. That said, among the biggest concerns regarding AI is the potential for unexpected and unintended consequences in building and deploying AI products.
According to Nate Yohannes, Principal Program Manager for Mixed Reality and AI Engineering at Microsoft, having appropriate representation at decision-making tables when building AI products is critical to help prevent these unfortunate scenarios. From his perspective, representation will go a long way toward preventing the unexpected consequences of AI products, and it will also guarantee that the products that are created will have the widest consumer base possible: everyone.
Listen to this podcast for an inspiring conversation about how to make the possible a reality by approaching AI with a new mindset that takes into consideration its full potential for improving the lives of everyone.
Microsoft Talentsoft Dior Partner Story
Few things are more challenging than having a co-worker or boss who isn't prepared for their current position. To be fair, though, recruiters have a lot resting on their shoulders and they're well aware of the importance of their role. Placing the wrong resource within a critical project can have long-lasting implications for the entire business, not to mention the investment that must be made in finding and training that person's replacement.
Today, modern recruiting techniques and methods provide multiple filters to ensure a person's the right fit for a role, but they aren't always failproof. This is why leading recruiters such as Talentsoft have decided to go one step ahead and leverage digital transformation, machine learning, and cloud technology to help their clients always obtain the profile they're looking for.
In this video, you'll learn how Talentsoft uses all of these technologies integrated into Microsoft Teams to help fashion industry giant Dior reach and employ the best creative talent in the world.
Complement your in-store experiences with interactive customer applications. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Not long ago, retailers feared online stores would render their businesses obsolete. Thankfully, the industry quickly adapted to living in an online, mobile world, and consumers have proven they can't get enough of the unique experiences provided by innovative retailers. That being said, the industry is moving at an unprecedented speed, and always-on digital solutions are no longer the exception, but the norm within the retail industry.
Subscribe now to learn how you can use digital transformation to increase sales, ensure returning customers, and secure your business with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Vision of innovation
Among the objectives of digital transformation is making information more accessible to those who need it, whether they're consumers, decision-makers, or employees. The retail industry is no exception, and businesses have taken advantage of many innovative solutions to enrich their stakeholders' experiences by using customer-facing applications and digital workplace tools. Retailers now have better insights into how their customers perceive their brands, and these businesses are able to make more-informed decisions.
In this video, you'll discover how industry leader Kroger is using Microsoft technology to empower its consumers, employees, and CPG providers with unique digital solutions.
The Benefits Of SaaS For Managing Cloud Security Threats
As business become more digitalized, they must learn to contend with the increasing number of cloud security threats and incidents. Therefore, investing in the tools that can give them the ability to deal with and overcome these issues is quickly becoming every modern organization's primary concern. These tools, however, must ensure the security of enterprises' data while allowing them to remain flexible, productive, and efficient. In this regard, software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become the top choice for today's leading organizations thanks to its ability to safeguard information while reducing costs and providing employees with intuitive applications.
In this article, you'll learn how SaaS models like Microsoft 365 have become key in helping businesses' IT departments keep information secure in today's highly connected world.
3 ways Microsoft Teams streamlines business collaboration
Microsoft Teams is a best-in-class hub for team collaboration. The cloud service has been designed to create streamlined and efficient remote teamwork. Teams makes interaction between team members working in different locations as productive as possible. Check out this article from FutureComputers that features three ways Microsoft Teams makes collaboration better, like easily accessible corporate resources, and more. Read on!
Helping animals find their forever homes with Reverse Matching
The team at Battersea re-home dogs and cats from all walks of life. Whether they are a stray, or whether they're brought in by their owners, very rarely it's because of something the animal has done. "We're here for each and every one of those animals," says Rob Young, Head of Centre Operations. "And reducing the length of stay is one of the key objectives for our re-homing teams."
"Historically, we're very dependent on customers contacting us." explains Tom Roberts, Digital Manager. "And it's been at that point we start to match them with one of our animals. Now, using machine learning and AI, as soon as an animal is ready for re-homing, we're able to 'Reverse Match' them to customers that machine learning believes is going to be the best match for that animal."
In this video, you'll learn about Battersea's story and how, thanks AI, they are now able to help more animals find their forever homes.
Kroger: Next-gen mobile shopping
Regardless of how skilled you are at creating shopping lists or how well you know your local supermarket's floor layout, you'll most likely be revisiting the same aisles in search of items you missed. In other words, shopping for groceries is far from becoming the most time-efficient activity on people's to-do lists—or at least that's how it was until digital transformation came along. Now, thanks to the IoT and cloud technology, grocery retailers are discovering innovative ways to streamline their customers' shopping experiences and increase revenue by providing relevant offers based on their unique profile.
In this video, you'll learn how Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain, is using its Scan, Bag, Go solution to help consumers navigate its retail stores in the most efficient way possible. You'll also watch how IoT devices and Microsoft technology integrate seamlessly to enable convenient features such as self-checkout, a real-time subtotal count, and personalized advertising within the store's digital shelves.
A modern focus on enterprise protection
Moving to the cloud is crucial for today's businesses to get the most out of digital transformation. However, the increased integration of mobile and cloud technologies creates a higher risk for data to be stolen or compromised. This at first led enterprises to dedicate an increasing number of resources to IT security in an effort to keep their organization safe from evolving threats, which led to over-sized departments and snowballing IT maintenance costs. Thankfully, the cloud has evolved to become businesses' greatest tool for reducing cyberattacks and has allowed them to enable more agile IT departments while keeping their information more secure than ever.
In this infographic, you'll learn about Microsoft 365 E5's comprehensive approach to security and how it empowers organizations by giving them complete control and oversight of their enterprise data.
Monday, December 7, 2020
3 reasons to modernize your data estate
Organizations that modernize their data estate can reap major benefits, including enhanced security and compliance, significant cost savings, and the ability to empower employees via business insights and advanced analytics capabilities. Organizations that don't, on the other hand, risk putting themselves behind the curve by missing out on game-changing cost benefits, leaving their businesses open to potential vulnerabilities, and by not taking advantage of modern analytics capabilities.
Read this infographic to learn how businesses are taking advantage of the latest technologies by modernizing their datasets to create transformational benefits throughout their organizations, and discover how they're doing so by leveraging Microsoft Azure.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Reduce Costs Infographic
While innovation has supplanted cost savings as the primary driver of cloud migration for many businesses, moving to the cloud needs to make sense for your bottom line. Learn about the unbeatable costs offers and benefits of migration to Azure cloud.
Mobile solutions for retailers: Off the shelf or private label?
As mobile devices became more user-friendly, media-focused, and accessible, consumers gain always-on access to the benefits of digital transformation. Such devices also provide retail businesses with the tools to create more-personalized experiences tailored to each user's unique preferences and shopping habits. But the benefits don't stop there. Retailers have realized that digital technology can be as useful for customer-facing applications as it is for internal processes, and they've started employing it to help their workers provide immediate solutions to customer issues.
While mobile solutions have become crucial tools for employees, they pose a new challenge for retailers: Should they choose private-label or off-the-shelf devices? In this article, you'll learn about the pros and cons of each to help you decide which works best for your business.
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Not so long ago, the drawbacks of storing databases in the cloud were so great that most businesses gave it little thought. Today, the benefits far outweigh the shortcomings, with an incredible array of additional services and solutions now available that provide organizations with unparalleled efficiency and growth potential. Not only is the price-to-performance ratio of cloud software much better than that of on-site servers, but an array of additional services and solutions can also now be integrated in cloud applications.
Subscribe now to learn more about how cloud migration can provide you organization with the scalability and flexibility it needs to support its digital transformation roadmap, as well as how you can reap the benefits of industry-leading capabilities by using Microsoft Azure.
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
5 Things to Avoid While Using a Team Messenger
Team messenger apps are a great addition to the workplace, especially in today's environment where working from home and flexible work schedules are the norm. However, it's easy to forget that just like unbulleted emails and leaving used Tupperware in the company fridge, there are some behaviors that are frowned upon when using office communication tools.
In this article, you'll review 5 basic rules that professionals must be mindful of when using a team messenger application in the office or remotely. Always keep them in mind to avoid awkward situations and the office blacklist.
Protect your data with secure and resilient productivity applications. Get started with Microsoft 365.
Whether public or private, today's organizations must adapt to an online and mobile-first world. This means investing in scalable solutions that guarantee ROI by increasing productivity and achieving widespread adoption. Furthermore, it also involves ensuring that all their applications are flexible enough to integrate new features or updates, and that their data remains secure across every touchpoint.
Subscribe now to learn how you can leverage the productivity and security features of Microsoft 365 to create a more resilient, cloud-first business.
10 reasons to use Azure SQL in your next project
There are many new features that developers don't know exist with Microsoft Azure SQL. Learn why Azure SQL is a post-relational, cloud-native database with these ten simple points, including complete storage control, complete monitorability, and full insights.
Forget the ROI: With artificial intelligence, decision-making will never be the same
The benefits of AI are undeniable, yet the technology itself is still not widely seen as a surefire investment by a large percentage of today's decision makers. As a matter of fact, a recent study revealed that only 40 percent out of 1,500 executives have stated that they're currently executing one AI initiative, or are in the process of doing so. There are multiple reasons for this— among them, a shortage of AI professionals, plus challenges when calculating profitability —but the real silver lining is that the fight for greater inclusion of AI-driven projects starts by bringing solid arguments to the boardroom.
In this article, you'll read about four evidence-based and time-proven cases you can use to push forward the execution of your artificial intelligence initiatives.
Family food business spices up operations, reduces new device implementation time by 50 percent
Garner Foods is a fourth-generation family-owned-and-operated business based in North Carolina. With global sales, four locations, and a mobile workforce, see how Garner uses Microsoft 365 Business to connect it all. Watch the video story for more.
6 retail tech trends to watch for that go beyond competing with Amazon
It's been made clear that focusing on their customers' experiences is every retailer's top priority. However, part of the reason why this challenge is so complex is due to the logistics of running a retail business. Backend logistics, manual tasks, paper-intensive procedures, and item return processes are just some of the factors that decision makers and employees must manage daily, which takes away time from strategy or innovation.
Thankfully, emerging technologies are enabling businesses to automate the least creative aspects of their daily operations. This, in turn, empowers their workforce to truly focus their attention on what really matters: their customers. In this article, you'll learn about the 6 most defining and value-adding tech trends available for retailers at the turn of this decade.
Empower your entire organization with Microsoft Teams
You've just arrived at the office, booted up your computer or laptop, and filled your first cup of coffee. You sit back down, take a sip, and what do you see? Chances are it's a login screen. Hastily, you type in your username and password and get on with a productive day. At least that was the idea, until you remember you forgot to send Karen from HR your vacation request form. You try to reach her by email but to no avail, so you boot up the informal messenger that everyone in the office uses because the legacy messenger set up years ago crashes when you send so much as an emoji. But of course, you once again need to type in your login info, only to see that Janice is not online. So ultimately you end up making two trips to HR (on the first trip, you forgot to staple your vacation balance because the document is stored in a separate internal SharePoint) to finally get your vacation approved.
Ready to throw your computer out a window yet? We don't blame you. This scenario may seem comical, but it's a reality that thousands of employees must endure thanks to the lack of a single, unified digital workspace. Preferably one that can be implemented across your entire organization and serve as a hub for all documents and teams to collaborate, within and across projects.
After reading this infographic, you'll learn how each department within your business can utilize Microsoft Teams to become more efficient, store documents securely, and collaborate seamlessly with any peer or colleague.
Begin your artificial intelligence journey with Microsoft
Today, artificial intelligence is becoming essential to the daily operations of the world's leading enterprises. This integration has allowed subsequent breakthroughs in AI to trickle down into other industries and smaller-sized businesses, allowing them to reap the benefits of technological advancement and automation. Thanks to this snowball effect, artificial intelligence is no longer the work of science fiction, but a relevant and necessary tool that can help you achieve previously unattainable business opportunities and increase efficiency like never before.
In this infographic, you'll learn more about the history of Microsoft's AI breakthroughs to gain a better perspective on how your current initiatives can be complemented or enhanced by Azure AI.
View: Begin your artificial intelligence journey with Microsoft
The virtuous cycle of retail
In business, a virtuous cycle is a set of recurring processes in which the objective of each is to increase the beneficial effect on the next. Not so long ago, the typical purchase pattern was linear. Further, it involved very few steps from the time consumers first learned about a product or service to the time they purchased it. With the arrival of digital transformation, though, both online and brick-and-mortar retailers are adapting to a new virtuous cycle, one in which personalized experiences are the norm and digital customer service tools play crucial roles in making or breaking a purchase every step of the way.
In this infographic, you'll learn how digital technology has driven retail's virtuous cycle and get insights into how you can improve your customers' experiences via Microsoft Retail Solutions.
The retail industry is evolving
It's no secret that the retail industry has evolved significantly since the turn of the century. Heavily influenced by the digital business revolution that took every industry by storm, retailers have seen perhaps one of the most drastic changes in their customer base than any other type of business. So, what are the defining factors that have driven change in the way the retail industry operates? Find out by reading this infographic.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Microsoft wants you to work less
Updates within the Microsoft MyAnalytics platform, in conjunction with a new feature in Outlook are aimed at helping you work less. The new features allow users to better manage their time and information, with less time in meetings and more time spent accomplishing tasks. One tool enables users to allocate focus time—and alert coworkers when you are trying to get things done. Read more about working less in this article from TechCrunch.
Real world skills in challenging times and beyond
Situated in the heart of the beautiful and historic city of Lincoln, the University of Lincoln has established an international reputation for the quality of its teaching and research. Cloud computing plays an important role in the University's highly ranked Computer Science programme, but when COVID-19 struck, Microsoft cloud solutions began to play an even more important role for all of the students at the University.
In this video, you'll gain insights into the University of Lincoln overcame a number of challenges due to COVID-19 with Microsoft Cloud.
ANU: Collaborative research and data sharing
Data-sharing is an immense enabler of scientific advancements. When researchers choose to make their data publicly available, they are allowing their work to contribute far beyond the original findings. Making research data more accessible also fosters transparency and trust in their work, enables other researchers to reproduce and validate their findings, and ultimately, contributes to the pace of scientific discovery by allowing others to reuse and build on top of the data. Fortunately, cloud technology has made it easier than ever to share data across major research institutions. Empowered by tools that include Microsoft Azure, researchers are relying more and more on digital collaboration and open source software to drive scientific breakthroughs.
Watch this video to learn how researchers at Australian National University (ANU) are using Azure to build on each other's findings and avoid a siloed approach to data that leads to slower research pipelines.
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Transform your business from local to global with digital collaboration. Get started with Microsoft Teams.
How do you increase the scale of your business without compromising your teams' work structure and methodologies? Truth be told, there is no single answer to this question, but there is one solution that has been proven to yield outstanding results for today's leading enterprises: digital collaboration. However, the real challenge lies in choosing the correct platform on which to build your modern workplace—one that provides the flexibility, efficiency, and customizability that complements your work methodologies and empowers your employees.
Thankfully, one such platform exists, and is currently being utilized by today's industry leaders to complete fascinating, intricate projects around the world. Subscribe now to learn how Microsoft Teams can become the best tool for your workforce to reach its full potential, and how your business can go from local to global with Microsoft cloud.
Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Merchandise and customer service have traditionally been the main focus of the retail industry's portfolio. Digital transformation now allows retailers to expand on their main capabilities and develop innovative solutions that boost their bottom line, as well as that of their partners and clients. Digital is reshaping retail into a more diverse, tech-infused industry where innovation is king and disruption creates new collaboration opportunities.
Subscribe now to learn how to get the most from your existing retail applications by leveraging Microsoft technology to diversify your service portfolio.
Benefits of using Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure
This whitepaper highlights why Azure makes sense for applications that rely on SQL Server or Windows Server, based on four themes: security, innovation, hybridity, and cost.
View: Benefits of using Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure
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Tuesday, November 24, 2020
How AI is finding patterns and anomalies in your data
From autonomous vehicles, predictive analytics applications, and facial recognition, to chatbots, virtual assistants, cognitive automation, and fraud detection, the use cases for AI span dozens of industries. Regardless of the AI application, though, these use cases all have a common aspect. After implementing thousands of AI projects, experts have come to realize that despite all of the diversity in applications, AI use cases fall into one or more of seven common patterns. One of them—the pattern-matching pattern—has allowed machines to digest large amounts of data to identify patterns, anomalies, and outliers in the data, so organizations can unearth previously undiscovered insights in their datasets.
In this article, you'll learn how pattern-matching is being put to use in today's organizations to prevent fraud, find the best job candidates, manage inventories in times of crisis, and empower data scientists with new perspectives on how to improve critical processes.
Create a smarter farm powered by sustainable energy and artificial intelligence. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.
When it comes to digital transformation, becoming more efficient has always been a top priority, especially with regard to natural resources. Here, smart farming has allowed the industry to evolve in an exponentially more sustainable way while also delivering innovative solutions to issues such as population growth, climate change, and livestock nurturing.
Subscribe now to get the latest news on how you can start creating a smarter farm, fueled by sustainable energy sources and powered by the intelligence of Microsoft Azure AI.
American Red Cross - Power Platform and Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Ignite 2019
The American Red Cross deploys a suite of Microsoft products to streamline operations, allowing them to focus on their core mission of alleviating human suffering. From sharing information and organizing work in Teams, to coordinating with other relief agencies through Microsoft Power BI during a disaster, watch this video for the full story.
Enable machine learning, video analytics, and the cloud to create alluring in-store experiences. Learn more about Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Insights are digital transformation's best friend. With accurate insights, you obtain a deep understanding of your environment as well as what your customers want and expect from your business. In other words, they're a key enabler for all your digital initiatives and are crucial in the development of new business opportunities.
Subscribe now to stay updated on how you can leverage data-rich sources, advanced analytics, and Microsoft to improve your retail environment and enhance your customers' experiences.
J Walter Thompson Unlocking creativity with Microsoft Teams
Creativity is like a living organism. It requires the right conditions to appear, careful nurturing to become more capable, and a diverse ecosystem to thrive. However, just like any organism, it can disappear in an instant if its environment doesn't provide the conditions it needs to grow and reach its full potential.
Ironically, nothing generates the mass extinction of creative ideas faster than alienating cubicles. So organizations quickly began to change from the inside to create environments that foster innovation and dynamic work methodologies. With the advent of digital, they realized that not only did physical spaces need to change, but also their digital counterparts. Let's face it—when was the last time you read a company-wide email reply and thought it was a good thing?
In this video, you'll learn the inspiring example of how J. Walter Thompson—one of the largest communication agencies in the world—has mastered the art of digital collaboration thanks to Microsoft Teams. From collaborating with the world's leading experts in prosthetics to give a veteran the ability to once again swim with his family, to simply networking and having fun, you'll see how Teams is much more than a work tool—it's a hub for inspiration and creativity.
62% of enterprises sacrifice mobile security for speed
According to Verizon's Mobile Security Index (MSI) 2020, 39 percent of organizations admitted that they've experienced a security compromise involving a mobile device. This becomes much more concerning when you consider that the average loss from a successful business-email compromise attack is nearly $130,000. However, despite the risk and huge losses, only 13 percent of enterprises have adopted regular security screening, data encryption, need-to-know access, and no default passwords corporate wide.
So why are companies actively putting themselves at such risk, and what solutions are currently available to protect them from the latest security threats? Learn the answer to these questions and obtain greater insights into today's mobile cybersecurity landscape in this article.
Retail as a service
Innovative solutions that increase revenue and generate industrywide disruption are the Holy Grail of digital transformation. Developing such solutions isn't simple, though. It requires accurate insights, significant research and development (R&D), and a stable, accessible platform that can make the solution easily available to partners and clients. The effort can be well worth it, as groundbreaking applications can open up new revenue streams, enable complementary capabilities, and foster long-lasting partnerships that can elevate a business to new heights.
In this video, you'll learn how the Kroger Co. technology division is leading the industry by leveraging Microsoft tools to provide its own innovations as a new offering: retail as a service.
SunCulture: Helping to weather the dry seasons
Sometimes, having access to the right data at the right time can enable life-saving decisions. If you don't believe so, just ask Monica, a Kenyan farmer who has to leverage water from a well in her back yard to irrigate her crops as well as provide her family with drinkable water. Due to climate change, rainy seasons have become more and more scarce, forcing her to carefully manage her water output depending on the weather patterns in her region.
Watch this video to learn how solar-powered digital transformation and Microsoft Azure are empowering farmers like Monica with easily accessible, accurate data that allows them to effectively predict rainfall, control their irrigation systems, and increase yields.
Law firm runs better with server on Azure
Why run Windows Server on Azure? Ellen Kirby, senior manager of Technical Operations and senior enterprise architect at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, talks about the benefits of running the law firm's Windows Servers on Azure and about leveraging Windows Admin Center for better management and automation.
Kroger: Video analytics for action
Customizability in the retail industry can prove quite challenging. It requires tons of data, the capacity to accurately analyze said data, and the creativity to innovate based upon the results obtained. All of this must be executed while ensuring an intuitive shopping experience that maximizes available space and avoids over-saturation, both visually and physically. If this sounds complex, that's because it is—but when done properly, it can unlock a myriad of opportunities to provide your shoppers with tailor-made experiences.
In this video, you'll watch how Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S., is utilizing video analytics to improve operations and create revenue-generating customer experiences.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Move and modernize your Microsoft workloads with Azure
Hand in hand with digital transformation, cloud technology has seen outstanding growth. Because of the rapid pace of adoption, it has overtaken traditional on-premises hardware. Given the cloud's huge potential across industries, verticals such as manufacturing, railways, banking, retail, education, and healthcare are switching to cloud services to optimize their reach and performance and increase their flexibility. But moving to the cloud is a strategic move, and it requires organizations to make careful internal analysis in choosing the features that will allow them to get the most out of their cloud migration.
By reading this infographic, you'll learn more about the most important benefits and features of Microsoft Azure. You'll also discover how the Microsoft cloud is helping businesses enjoy unparalleled cost savings, easily plan migrations, avoid the complexity of multivendor support, and modernize existing cloud applications.
View: Move and modernize your Microsoft workloads with Azure
The four pillars of Microsoft 365 enterprise security
In the era of cloud-first and mobile-first technology, productivity and security go hand in hand. This means that when utilizing digital tools, the fact that your data remains secure, encrypted, and in the right hands is just as important—if not more so—than the increase in productivity obtained by using them. Therefore, choosing the correct applications involves a careful understanding of their features so you can avoid leaving your business unprotected or putting a strain on productivity with secure but stiff software.
With this infographic, you'll gain a better understanding of how Microsoft 365 not only empowers your employees with tried-and-true productivity features, but also delivers on four key security pillars that ensure enterprise-wide security.
5 ways to lead effective meetings with your remote team
In a world where remote work is more and more common, virtual meetings have become the norm. But technical problems, audio delays, and lack of personal interaction can dampen spirits and halt innovation. How can leaders better connect with their teams across a digital distance? Check out these five tips from Entrepreneur.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
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One of the main challenges that modern researchers encounter centers on the size of their datasets. As research projects become increasingly more digital, the vast volumes of data that research generates demands enormous raw computing power, for both storage and computational capacity, which most organizations simply didn't have access to. Cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI) address this need, allowing researchers to free themselves from the constraints of their physical hardware. Cloud-based approaches can also boost the speed and efficiency of publishing, increasing the impact of research publications.
Subscribe now to learn more about the data management and automation capabilities of the Microsoft cloud and how they're enabling breakthrough research projects around the world.
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One of the main challenges that modern researchers encounter centers on the size of their datasets. As research projects become increasingly more digital, the vast volumes of data that research generates demands enormous raw computing power, for both storage and computational capacity, which most organizations simply didn't have access to. Cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI) address this need, allowing researchers to free themselves from the constraints of their physical hardware. Cloud-based approaches can also boost the speed and efficiency of publishing, increasing the impact of research publications.
Subscribe now to learn more about the data management and automation capabilities of the Microsoft cloud and how they're enabling breakthrough research projects around the world.
The Future of Productivity: Teamwork and Collaboration
Long gone are the days when the bulk of office communication was made via lengthy, often incomprehensible email threads. Also going extinct—thankfully— are the colossal company-wide emails that were often responded to by recipients using the "reply all" button.
Today's corporate communication is evolving—not to the Orwellian, drone-like future portrayed in the movies, but toward a more multimedia-focused and casual approach. Nowadays, boring project management software is losing traction to intuitive digital tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams which enable communication and collaboration to happen from a single platform.
In this article, you'll learn about the major trends that are transforming office communications around the world. You'll also gain insight into how several industry leaders envision the future of collaboration, and what tools they're using within their organizations to push forward projects worldwide.
Retail in the 2020s: The death of consumerism?
Thanks to new technologies and rising customer expectations, retailers have become experience hubs for millions of shoppers around the world. It's no secret that retail has fully embraced digital transformation, leading many experts to speculate about where the industry is heading next and what to expect from retail experiences going forward.
In this article, you'll learn about the six main forces that will play key roles in determining this decade's retail technology.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
HP uses artificial intelligence to transform its customer support experience
HP Inc. handles 600 million technical support contacts each year and they want to make each one a satisfying experience for the customer. They built a virtual agent using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI solution for customer service to streamline the process. This video explains how.
HP uses artificial intelligence to transform its customer support experience
HP Inc. handles 600 million technical support contacts each year and they want to make each one a satisfying experience for the customer. They built a virtual agent using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI solution for customer service to streamline the process. This video explains how.
Empower employees and citizens with connected mobile experiences. Get started with Microsoft for Government.
In an interconnected, constantly moving world, reaching thousands—or even millions—of citizens requires governments to go above and beyond traditional media outlets. Providing access to services through mobile applications is therefore essential to guarantee the availability of public services and ensure that citizens have an open channel to communicate their needs and concerns. Furthermore, supporting public employees with flexible mobile tools can empower them to do increasingly more effective field work and become more efficient with their time.
Subscribe now to learn more about how you can transform your organization into a modern digital workplace with Microsoft for Government.
The 7-step partner mini-guide to onboarding customers
Organizations don't make the jump to digital collaborations overnight. It takes months—or even years, depending on their size—of careful planning and strategy to come up with a transition plan that doesn't compromise operations while everybody gets onboarded.
It's our job, then, to guide our clients and partners as to the best way they can make their digital plans happen. Of course, this isn't always easy—some organizations have highly rigid and complex structures that can take a while to adapt and integrate new technologies, while others may have multiple stakeholders who need to be consulted during each stage of the process. Either way, a clear and well-established roadmap goes a long way toward ensuring the process goes as smoothly as possible.
That's why we've created this infographic—to provide you with 7 time-tested steps that can make your customers' Microsoft Teams adoption as seamless as possible. Use it as a handy cheat sheet for yourself or your sales teams, or bring it along to executive meetings for a visually impactful way of presenting a solid implementation strategy that's recommended by Microsoft.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, throw away that tired old tech rulebook
Emerging technologies always demand new approaches to risks and opportunities. They often force us to rethink and modify our existing methodologies in favor of more integrated and interconnected processes.
In this regard, artificial intelligence is definitely no exception. However, there's still a lot of mysticism around what implications AI might have for today's businesses and what measures organizations must take to ensure the successful execution of their AI initiatives.
In this article, you'll learn about four ways in which ways AI is poised to turn the enterprise landscape on its head and how your business can better prepare for its ventures into artificial intelligence.
The challenges faced by today's retail stakeholders
As digital transformation touches every aspect of the retail industry, it's in retailers' best interest to embrace innovative applications that add customer value and improve operations. This is easier said than done, though, because the specific needs of individual retail stakeholders must be taken into consideration in planning and executing every digital initiative.
In this infographic, we'll take a look at the needs of the industry's main stakeholders and how customer-facing solutions can help them meet the main challenges of their various roles.
Kroger's smart shelves ditch the paper, drop the lights, and delight the shoppers
Successful digital transformation initiatives are all about efficiency, customization, and complementing human ingenuity. They also strive to create more sustainable businesses, and their impact usually has disruptive, long-lasting effects that cascade across multiple industries, especially those in which processes were hard to update because of technological limitations.
In the supermarket industry, for example, paper price tags, coupons, and pamphlets with weekly offers were the norm for decades. Because of this, the shopping experience was pretty much the same—until now.
In this article, you'll gain insights into Kroger's Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment (EDGE) and how it leverages Microsoft Azure and IoT sensors to create a unique, personalized shopping experience for consumers—all while saving more than 1.7 billion kilowatt hours since its implementation.
Systems Imagination uses SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters to deliver cutting-edge medical insights
Systems Imagination uses big data to discover new tiers of medical insights unobtainable through conventional means. In order to gain the distributed computing power it needed, the company adopted Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. Now, it delivers results based on petabytes of data to its customers within hours while simultaneously keeping operating costs low.
Systems Imagination uses SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters to deliver cutting-edge medical insights
Systems Imagination uses big data to discover new tiers of medical insights unobtainable through conventional means. In order to gain the distributed computing power it needed, the company adopted Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. Now, it delivers results based on petabytes of data to its customers within hours while simultaneously keeping operating costs low.
3 reasons to invest in Microsoft Azure AI
Digital transformation enabled businesses to obtain data from places they never thought possible and to monitor every aspect of customer interactions to gain a holistic view of their customers. Companies soon realized, though, that an overabundance of unstructured data was not only wasteful, but could also become counter-productive, and that some automation was needed to identify the data that could be acted upon to generate real value. However, as the influx of data grew more and more massive, it became clear that more advanced methods of automation were needed to keep up with the scale of commercial IoT and digital operations. Enter artificial intelligence.
In this infographic, you'll learn why capitalizing on AI has become crucial for today's leading enterprises, and how investing in Microsoft Azure AI can help you create a smarter, faster-growing business.
ANU: Storing the human genome
Thanks to cloud technology, researchers can take advantage of faster, more advanced and more scalable resources that enable them to perform tasks that they can't manage using in-house resources. The cloud also enables scientists to quickly run tests across a variety of platforms and virtual machines with different specifications, which can aid rapid prototyping, interoperability testing, and performance testing. A cloud solution can also provide researchers with ways to augment their existing resources by handling peaks in demand and reducing competition for local resources, when multiple teams are working toward an upcoming deadline. By reducing dependence on on-site computing, research projects can increase efficiency and scalability, and deliver greater results faster.
Watch this video to learn how Australian National University (ANU) is using Microsoft Azure to help decode more than 7 billion base pairs of DNA in the human genome and take its research further than ever before.
Take advantage of three emerging technologies driving change in retail
Now, more than ever, consumers expect convenience when it comes to buying products and obtaining services. For retail businesses, this means accurately predicting what customers want before they even set foot in the store, and delivering it in a way that requires the least amount of effort on their part. Thankfully, digital has empowered retail stores with innovative tools that can deliver relevant offers while creating memorable experiences that generate great customer reviews.
In this infographic, you'll learn about three emerging technologies available within Microsoft Dynamics 365 that are driving the evolution of retail experiences.
View: Take advantage of three emerging technologies driving change in retail
Monday, November 16, 2020
Integrate
This infographic shows how your business can operate with more agility by using Teams. Think about the tools, files, and dashboards you already use. Many of them can be added right into Teams and can be found right in the Teams app store. Bring the apps and services you love into Teams to save time and increase efficiency.
City of Houston: Enabling a mobile workforce
Population growth is an inevitable aspect of modern cities, and with it comes the need for better infrastructure, more accessible services, and innovative communications channels that provide two-way communication between the government and its citizens. A bigger population also requires more public employees that serve as the eyes and ears of government institutions, and help ensure that critical services are provided to their city's most vulnerable populations.
In this video, you'll watch how the City of Houston, Texas is using digital transformation to actively prepare for an increase of three million people during the next twelve to fifteen years. You'll also learn how the city is using Microsoft technology to provide its 22,000 employees with mobile solutions they can use to communicate effectively in both the field and the office.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Complement your in-store experiences with interactive customer applications. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Not long ago, retailers feared online stores would render their businesses obsolete. Thankfully, the industry quickly adapted to living in an online, mobile world, and consumers have proven they can't get enough of the unique experiences provided by innovative retailers. That being said, the industry is moving at an unprecedented speed, and always-on digital solutions are no longer the exception, but the norm within the retail industry.
Subscribe now to learn how you can use digital transformation to increase sales, ensure returning customers, and secure your business with Microsoft Retail Solutions.
eBook: The ultimate guide to Windows Server 2019
Take full advantage of your on-premises investments with Windows Server 2019. Learn how to extend your on-premises environments to the cloud with the Windows Server 2019 advanced hybrid capabilities. Additionally, learn how to add additional security layers and update your applications and infrastructure when you connect to the cloud.
A single digital workspace that connects ideas, projects, and people. Subscribe to learn more about Microsoft Teams.
As the world becomes increasingly connected, continuous product innovation in the Modern Workplace provides growing opportunities for today's organizations to deliver customized business solutions to their customers.
In this digital landscape, the demand for unified solutions is stronger than ever, with 88 percent of Microsoft customers agreeing that having all their solutions together in one place saves them time. These same companies also estimate that they've saved nearly $5 million over three years from not having to switch back and forth between apps.
So how exactly are organizations adapting to these trends? Subscribe now to get the answer to this question and many others regarding Modern Workplace, digital collaboration, and Microsoft solutions.
City of Houston: optimizing business processes
Optimizing business processes to meet challenges is a driver for digital transformation in Houston. For the city, security, reliability, and resiliency are key. They need to ensure their systems and data are reliable so they can quickly recover from unexpected events. Microsoft solutions can help. Learn how in this video:
How AI will change the way we work in 2020
Thanks to AI, business applications will soon be able to answer complex questions, help users navigate interfaces, and enable cloud vendors to reduce support from personnel to manage their loads. AI is also being used in various software applications to help decision-makers identify and automate repetitive tasks, improving employee productivity. Increased understanding of how to better implement AI in business applications likely will lead to the emergence of new features, such as natural-language processing (NLP), that can help managers interact in more-intuitive ways with AI-powered apps.
In this article, you'll learn about the innovative features powered by AI and machine learning (ML) that you can expect to see in business applications in the next five years.
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Here is how file sharing keeps this small business running at top speed
Oiselle needed to modernize and adapt their business processes to survive. This interview with Megan Murray, Director of Marketing, explores the ways Oiselle benefited from an agile, adaptable calendar and file-sharing system from Microsoft.
Harness the power of affordable, clean, and sustainable energy. Learn more about Microsoft Azure.
Digital hasn't only made things more comfortable for us, it's also made them better for those without access to basic health or basic services around the world. One example of this is, by creating an interconnected world, we gain a better understanding of how technology can be used to control our natural resources more efficiently and accessibly. While these use cases may be employed in the First World to make existing services self-sustainable and cleaner, in more remote parts of the globe they can be used to create new services that make life better for everyone.
Subscribe now to learn more about how you can utilize Microsoft Azure to make your clean energy solutions a reality.
HRI uses Microsoft Teams to streamline research
Medical researchers have one of the most critical jobs in the world. It's imperative, therefore, that every second of their workday is dedicated to discovering new ways to improve human health. Likewise, enabling researchers to effortlessly share their work with colleagues around the world can make a huge the difference.
Watch this video to learn how Health Research Institute (HRI) is using Microsoft Teams to enable its researchers to seamlessly communicate, collaborate, and help each other in over 150 international projects per year.
HRI uses Microsoft Teams to streamline research
Medical researchers have one of the most critical jobs in the world. It's imperative, therefore, that every second of their workday is dedicated to discovering new ways to improve human health. Likewise, enabling researchers to effortlessly share their work with colleagues around the world can make a huge the difference.
Watch this video to learn how Health Research Institute (HRI) is using Microsoft Teams to enable its researchers to seamlessly communicate, collaborate, and help each other in over 150 international projects per year.
HRI uses Microsoft Teams to streamline research
Medical researchers have one of the most critical jobs in the world. It's imperative, therefore, that every second of their workday is dedicated to discovering new ways to improve human health. Likewise, enabling researchers to effortlessly share their work with colleagues around the world can make a huge the difference.
Watch this video to learn how Health Research Institute (HRI) is using Microsoft Teams to enable its researchers to seamlessly communicate, collaborate, and help each other in over 150 international projects per year.
Use digital transformation to deliver outstanding retail experiences. Learn more about Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions.
It's no secret that modern consumers are unforgiving. But then again, never before have businesses been armed with so many options for creating exceptional experiences, and becoming more efficient organizations.
Digital transformation has become the great equalizer between large and small to medium-sized retailers, and thanks to tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365, turning revenue-increasing initiatives into reality is easier than ever.
Subscribe now to learn more about the digitalization of retail and how you can get started re-envisioning your business with Microsoft.
Kroger: Next-gen mobile shopping
Regardless of how skilled you are at creating shopping lists or how well you know your local supermarket's floor layout, you'll most likely be revisiting the same aisles in search of items you missed. In other words, shopping for groceries is far from becoming the most time-efficient activity on people's to-do lists—or at least that's how it was until digital transformation came along. Now, thanks to the IoT and cloud technology, grocery retailers are discovering innovative ways to streamline their customers' shopping experiences and increase revenue by providing relevant offers based on their unique profile.
In this video, you'll learn how Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain, is using its Scan, Bag, Go solution to help consumers navigate its retail stores in the most efficient way possible. You'll also watch how IoT devices and Microsoft technology integrate seamlessly to enable convenient features such as self-checkout, a real-time subtotal count, and personalized advertising within the store's digital shelves.
Three important information security predictions for 2020
As digital transformation evolves with each passing year, so too does the information security landscape. For organizations that leverage cloud technology, this means staying updated on new ways to prevent and counter cybersecurity threats while relying on trustworthy sources of information for insights into future potential security developments and circumstances.
In this article, you'll learn about three critical cybersecurity predictions for 2020, the impact each may have on the digital business landscape, and how your business can act to avoid being affected.
Cloud migration essentials
In recent years, the global business landscape has witnessed a significant increase in cloud adoption. This has created significant value over traditional datacenters via greater scalability, cost-efficiency, and other performance improvements. Yet cloud migration requires careful planning. For a migration to be successful, it's important for the business to come up with a strategy that also covers the end cloud environment, training, and—most importantly—the readiness of workloads and applications.
In this eBook, you'll discover the key preliminary steps to consider in evaluating a cloud migration, as well as the various approaches for rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, and rebuilding your workloads for the cloud. You'll also learn about some useful tools that you can use to accelerate your migration project and get tips to help you ensure post-migration success by using Microsoft Azure.
NHS Blood and Transplant build new electronic Donorpath record system on Azure
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHS BT) is the authority responsible for managing organ donation and transplant services, as well as blood and blood product donation services, in the UK's national health service.
With a massive administrative burden on its staff, NHS BT decided to implement a new electronic record system on Azure.
Watch this video to learn how NHS BT is using Azure to give as much as forty percent of time back to its nurses.
Solution overview video
Learn about the features and benefits of migrating to Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure. This video discusses key aspects such as preventing the loss of valuable data and getting the lowest cost of ownership.
Kroger: Digital shelves entice customers
Some would argue that grocery shopping, price tags, and offers go hand in hand. However, traditional paper coupons and price tags are extremely inefficient. First and foremost, they're the opposite of environmentally friendly and most of them end up as unrecycled waste. Then there's the issue of production costs, which not only include the production of thousands of assets, but also the logistics of their storage and distribution. Lastly, there's the manual effort involved in changing, including, or updating hundreds of price tags across retail stores.
Thankfully, digital transformation has allowed for creative and effective ways for grocery stores to leave paper behind forever. In this video, you'll learn how retail industry giant Kroger is leading the way to more efficient, impactful, and eco-friendly supermarket experiences.
Monday, November 9, 2020
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It's crucial for your organization to build agile processes to keep up with change. Make sure you are ready with tips, updates, and insights from Microsoft.
6 risks and opportunities of the intelligent, connected cloud
No technology is a hundred percent failproof, and as businesses get more and more digitalized, they're also unwillingly increasing the risk of someone stealing their data or compromising their credibility. Therefore, before taking their business to the cloud, organizations must carefully choose the platforms that ensure the safety and compliance of their data while enabling them to seize the opportunities available to them.
In this infographic, you'll catch a glimpse of both sides of cloud technology: on one hand, the immense opportunities it provides in terms of innovation and mobility; and on the other, the risks that businesses must be aware of to safeguard the continuity of their operations in the digital world.
View: 6 risks and opportunities of the intelligent, connected cloud
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
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For modern organizations to truly take advantage of digital transformation, they need to be able to obtain, process, and extract insights from as much data as possible. This often puts a strain on businesses' IT departments as they struggle to update legacy software and equipment to better handle the massive amounts of information available. Fortunately, the cloud has allowed businesses to move away from outdated technology and opened new opportunities for innovation.
Subscribe now to learn how the cloud, AI, and the data management capabilities of Microsoft Azure are driving increased efficiency at today's leading businesses and organizations.
Innovate Infographic
Moving Windows Server and SQL workloads to Azure provides flexible, scalable, and highly available cloud infrastructure. It also supports rapid innovation and digital transformation, freeing you to innovate. This infographic presents the benefits of running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure.
Build Agile Business Processes Solution Overview
An organization's ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances has never been more critical. You need to ensure that your team stays productive and efficient through twists and turns. Building agile businesses from Microsoft can help. Learn how in this brief overview video.
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Why Remote Work Trumps Being in the Office
It's no secret that when implemented with the right vision and control mechanisms, remote collaboration provides outstanding benefits for both employees and organizations. Workers enjoy greater flexibility plus the satisfaction of better work-life balance, while organizations obtain unparalleled scalability and increased efficiency across projects.
In this article, we'll put you in the shoes of a passionate work-from-home advocate to discover the main reasons why this benefit is sought after by professionals in every industry. You'll also learn why, in these digital times, remote collaboration is not only an option, but THE best option for companies that wish to empower and motivate today's diverse and inclusive workforce.
The 4 defining characteristics of effective digital workspaces
Not so long ago, it was believed that for teams to be productive, they required long hours confined in a physical office space with constant face-to-face interaction. To be fair, given the primitive state of digital collaboration tools at the time—which was pretty much limited to emails—there wasn't really a solid alternative to this scheme, so companies worked with what they had.
Today, digitalization has made it possible for several people to seamlessly work together while being halfway across the world from each other. Exponential advancements in virtual workspaces have not only enabled teams to work as well as they did when they spent all day in the office, but have also proven that people are actually more productive the less they have to deal with alienating cubicles and two-way trips along traffic-congested highways.
Not all digital workspaces have been equally effective, however. Yet decades of iterating and optimizing have finally given us a solid idea of the most important characteristics these spaces must have to reach their full potential. So what are they? Read this infographic to find out.
View: The 4 defining characteristics of effective digital workspaces
6 retail tech trends to watch for that go beyond competing with Amazon
It's been made clear that focusing on their customers' experiences is every retailer's top priority. However, part of the reason why this challenge is so complex is due to the logistics of running a retail business. Backend logistics, manual tasks, paper-intensive procedures, and item return processes are just some of the factors that decision makers and employees must manage daily, which takes away time from strategy or innovation.
Thankfully, emerging technologies are enabling businesses to automate the least creative aspects of their daily operations. This, in turn, empowers their workforce to truly focus their attention on what really matters: their customers. In this article, you'll learn about the 6 most defining and value-adding tech trends available for retailers at the turn of this decade.
The retail industry is evolving
It's no secret that the retail industry has evolved significantly since the turn of the century. Heavily influenced by the digital business revolution that took every industry by storm, retailers have seen perhaps one of the most drastic changes in their customer base than any other type of business. So, what are the defining factors that have driven change in the way the retail industry operates? Find out by reading this infographic.
Drive security and compliance across the entirety of your business. Learn more about Microsoft 365.
Regardless of the nature of your organization, keeping your data secure and ensuring compliance are two of the most demanding priorities. After all, what good is creativity, efficiency, and talent if they can get easily stolen, copied, or shut down because of outdated technology?
The good news is that even though these requirements are as crucial as they've ever been, never before have businesses been vested with so many alternatives to customize the way they do business. In fact, the cloud has allowed organizations to shift their manpower from security and compliance to increasing productivity and innovation.
Subscribe now to learn about digital transformation success stories and how you can ensure your business remains secure and compliant with Microsoft.
Australian National University: The DNA of data and AI
Data is vital to scientific research. Without the ability to quickly process and analyze large amounts of data, breakthroughs and publications take longer. This increases administrative tasks and can even lead to projects going over budget. To avoid these pitfalls, modern researchers have begun turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based technology, which enable the researchers to avoid the time and expense of setting up and configuring servers, leaving them to focus on their scientific goals.
In this video, you'll see how researchers at Australian National University (ANU) conduct cutting-edge genome research by using Microsoft Azure to commission a data science virtual machine that allows them to instantly process large amounts of data. You'll also learn how, thanks to the data management capabilities of Azure, ANU is now able to use unprecedented volumes of data and new analytical frameworks to decrease admin time and maximize the university's research capabilities.
SunCulture success story
If you're reading this, then chances are that getting easy access to clean, running water isn't an issue for you. But for around 43 percent of the world's total population, this simply is not the case. For them, obtaining the drinkable water they need to sustain their families requires hard work and commitment.
To make matters even more critical, most of them live in rural areas in which farming is their main source of income. This means that any available water must be carefully distributed between their crops and family, an exhausting situation that can take all day just to keep a small patch of land in farmable condition.
Such is the case for Monica, a Kenyan farmer who every day must assume the roles of mother of four, farmer, merchant, and housekeeper just to make ends meet. In this video, you'll learn how she managed her dwindling water supply to keep her farm yielding, family fed, and trade at the local market—a situation that was soon to improve dramatically thanks to modern technology.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
A digital workspace that transforms ideas into revenue. Subscribe now to learn more about Microsoft Teams.
Innovative ideas are an organization's greatest asset. Yet these assets need the appropriate space to grow, evolve, and transform into revenue-generating initiatives. Whether digital or physical, today's workplaces need to harness the synergy of everybody involved and empower them to share and collaborate in an environment that fosters productivity. These workplaces also need to adapt to everybody's needs and remain intuitive for the entire team, regardless of age, background, or gender.
Subscribe now to stay current on the latest digital workplace trends, and discover how you can foster inclusion and innovation across your business with the help of Microsoft.
Enable machine learning, video analytics, and the cloud to create alluring in-store experiences. Learn more about Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Insights are digital transformation's best friend. With accurate insights, you obtain a deep understanding of your environment as well as what your customers want and expect from your business. In other words, they're a key enabler for all your digital initiatives and are crucial in the development of new business opportunities.
Subscribe now to stay updated on how you can leverage data-rich sources, advanced analytics, and Microsoft to improve your retail environment and enhance your customers' experiences.
Enable machine learning, video analytics, and the cloud to create alluring in-store experiences. Learn more about Microsoft Retail Solutions.
Insights are digital transformation's best friend. With accurate insights, you obtain a deep understanding of your environment as well as what your customers want and expect from your business. In other words, they're a key enabler for all your digital initiatives and are crucial in the development of new business opportunities.
Subscribe now to stay updated on how you can leverage data-rich sources, advanced analytics, and Microsoft to improve your retail environment and enhance your customers' experiences.
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