Need rental assistance? Check out these tenant assistance services

Need rental assistance? Check out these tenant assistance services

by | Aug 5, 2021 | Security

This article was originally posted by the FTC. See the original article here.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a temporary order to stop evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, this federal eviction moratorium has been extended several times, and on August 3, the CDC extended it again for counties where COVID cases are rapidly spreading. But renters in counties where the order does not apply now face the possibility of eviction if they still owe back rent. And on top of that, scammers can take advantage of the panic caused by this situation.

How might they do that? Scammers reach out to renters facing eviction, promising rental assistance and pretending to be with the government. When they contact renters, they ask for bank account and other personal information, saying that they need this information so they can transfer emergency rental assistance money directly into these accounts. But instead of depositing much-needed funds, they use the information to withdraw the little that’s left.

If you’re a renter facing eviction, there are several sites and services available to you:

  • Connect with state and local organizations that are distributing federal rental assistance in their communities by visiting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) new Rental Assistance Finder.
  • Check with your local court system for more details about the eviction process and your rights as a tenant. You may also qualify for free legal services through your local legal aid organization.

Remember, never give out financial or personal information to anyone who contacts you, even if they’re promising to help you. Federal aid for emergency rental assistance was distributed to states, territories, and other localities. If someone contacts you saying they’re from the federal government and they can help you with back rent, it’s a sign of a scam.

These government services aren’t just for tenants. If you’re a landlord facing a loss of rental income, the CFPB also has useful information on their Help for landlords page.

And if you spot a rental assistance scam or any other type of scam, tell your state attorney general’s office right away, and then report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

CISA Releases Security Advisory for InterNiche Products

by | Aug 5, 2021 | Security, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

CISA has released an Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisory detailing multiple vulnerabilities in InterNiche products. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the ICS Advisory ICSA-21-217-01 HCC Embedded InterNiche TCP/IP Stack NicheLite and apply the necessary updates and mitigations.

Deliver authentic customer service with Dynamics 365

Deliver authentic customer service with Dynamics 365

by | Aug 5, 2021 | Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Human interaction is at the cornerstone of every experience and today’s world has dramatically shifted what that means. Customers expect each touchpoint with businesses to be authentic, timely, and efficient, which has led to a rapid acceleration of customer engagement tools. Perhaps most important is customer service scenarios, where businesses must act on customer feedback to deliver in the moment. However, many businesses are falling short on this key activity, leading to more dissatisfaction and inefficiency.

61 percent of companies don’t close the loop with customers who gave feedback (Forrester)1

Customer service is paramount to the success and longevity of customer relationships. That’s why Dynamics 365 Customer Voice brings powerful data, sentiment, and satisfaction analysis to Dynamics 365 Customer Service. With easy-to-use tools, your team will be empowered with the right information at the right time. To learn more about how to get started using Dynamics 365 Customer Voice with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, read our free e-book, “The Power of Knowing Your Customers.”

Panduit boosts loyalty by automating surveys

Companies that emphasize customer service are at the forefront of delivering great experiences. They adapt their systems to meet customer demands while elevating how they operate in a digital environment.

Panduit, a global electrical and network infrastructure manufacturer, took this to heart as they rebuilt their customer service group into a broader customer experience organization. With Dynamics 365 Customer Voice and Customer Service, Panduit built a single platform to create a data-driven culture centered on the customer. They used survey results to track its Net Promoter Score as a strategic way to monitor overall customer sentiment and loyalty.

“For us, Dynamics 365 trumped its competitors because it’s such an easy platform to use. Now that [our customer service teams] get near real-time feedback in the voice of the customer, our advocates understand exactly what they need to change or continue doing” Jim Dillon, Director of Order Fulfillment, Panduit.

A connected service and voice of customer program doesn’t just impact the customer’s experience, it positively shifts how the company operations. Streamlined data and real-time insights into the customer make exceeding customer expectations simple, freeing up time for developers to work on other impactful projects. No longer can silo data be an effective form of understanding customers, and companies need to shift their systems into comprehensive platforms to provide the best customer experience.

Read more about how Panduit used Dynamics 365 to understand their customers.

Accelerate empathy and effectiveness of agents

Your customer service department is arguably the doorstep to your brand, products, and perception. From online chats to support agents, each avenue is a make-or-break moment for the customer and their relationship with your brand. These moments are built on two things: empathy and efficiency.

Dynamics 365 Customer Voice maximizes the effectiveness of the support you give customers, creating tailored interactions and cultivating longevity. Within Dynamics 365 Customer Service, chat agents can send surveys after a purchase or service, automatically capturing direct feedback. Additionally, surveys can be created as a feedback and customer service mechanism, giving businesses the opportunity to resolve complaints. Watch the video below to learn how to easily use surveys in Dynamics 365.

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Agents who have access to automatically analyzed feedback from Customer Voice can help customer service departments continually understand their customers. And, with automation tools, agents can gather satisfaction scores and utilize the data to create more effective and efficient service calls and support chats. True digital transformation of customer service departments starts with the customer and with quality data, but ends with authentic connections. The technologies of tomorrow can create unparalleled value for organizations as agents can continually learn about the customer, improve their own effectiveness, and elevate brands.

The future of connected customer service

Connectivity is essential in a digital-first world, not just with customers but within companies. While each department has its own responsibility, they can all interact with the same singular customer making it critical that everyone is aligned on who that customer is, what their satisfaction is, and how to deliver on their wants and needs. A connected environment increases the chances for a positive experience, even in situations where a response is needed quickly.

63 percent of companies don’t have a cadence of sharing in line with decision making (Forrester)1

Aligning technologies across the department, from voice of customer solutions to customer service solutions to your customer data platform, creates a wealth of unified data that all agents can tap into. This can create a level of consistency and proactiveness unmatched by competitors. Connecting technologies isn’t just about aligning on data, it’s also elevating the knowledge of agents and their understanding of customers. The future will demand tailored, consistent experiences, and creating a comprehensive solution that pulls all your data together for every scenario will leave a lasting impact on your valued customers.

Learn more

To learn more about listening to customers and aligning data across your organization, visit the Dynamics 365 Customer Voice website or start your free Dynamics 365 Customer Voice trial today.

To learn more about delivering great customer service, visit the Dynamics 365 Customer Service website or start your free Dynamics 365 Customer Service trial today.

Download our free infographic to learn more about Dynamics 365 Customer Voice.

1- The State Of CX Measurement And VoC Programs, 2020, Faith Adams, Forrester, May 3, 2021.

The post Deliver authentic customer service with Dynamics 365 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

Cisco Releases Security Updates 

Cisco Releases Security Updates 

by | Aug 5, 2021 | Security, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

SSL

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock (lock icon) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Experiencing Data Gaps issue in Application Insights – 08/04 – Investigating

by | Aug 4, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Initial Update: Wednesday, 04 August 2021 17:07 UTC

We are aware of issues within Application Insights data ingestion in the Korea Central and India West regions and are actively investigating. The issues began at 16:24 UTC. Some customers may experience delayed or missed Metric Alerts and metric data gaps.
  • Next Update: Before 08/04 18:30 UTC
We are working hard to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.
-Jack

Get Ready to Do More with Teams Meeting Recordings in Microsoft 365!

Get Ready to Do More with Teams Meeting Recordings in Microsoft 365!

by | Aug 4, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Since we first announced users could save Teams meetings recordings in Microsoft 365, we’ve clocked immense progress – with most users now saving their Teams meetings recordings by default on OneDrive and SharePoint than on Classic Stream. With this switch, users are enjoying many new benefits from meeting recordings being better integrated with Microsoft 365, including: easy share controls and external sharing capabilities, improved video management, advanced compliance and governance, and much more.


 


In line with the vision for Stream (built on SharePoint), and to bring these increased benefits to all our users, all new Teams meeting recordings will soon be saved to OneDrive and SharePoint – with rollout beginning incrementally from August 16, 2021. 


 


TMR in ODSP GIF_intro.gif


 


Major updates to transcript coverage and controlling downloads.


 


Central to the changes we’re making are our users’ needs. Thus, alongside our efforts to transition meeting recordings to Microsoft 365, we’ve been gathering your feedback – resulting in the following product updates and feature accelerations to ensure a more accessible and secure product:


 


Generating Teams live transcription for all meetings to ensure closed captions are available during playback in Microsoft 365:


 



  • Available today: Teams Live Transcription with speaker attribution has been expanded to all Office and Microsoft 365 license types. 

  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription will always be generated when a user clicks ‘Start recording’ on desktop client.  

  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription will be available across all meeting types, including channel meetings and ad-hoc meetings.  

  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription and live captions will be available for 15 additional spoken languages. 


Downloading and editing a transcript file: 


 



  • Available today: Users can download the transcript file from the Teams meeting ‘Transcripts’ tab, where users can edit and share the file manually with others.    

  • Under development: Improvements to the above flow by allowing users to download the transcript file from the video player itself, make changes locally, and upload the file to the player so that the changes are reflected in the closed captions.  

  • Other immediate options to edit transcripts within the video player: users can download recordings from ODSP and upload to Classic Stream, where a transcript will be generated on-demand and users can edit the transcript within the video itself. 

  • If you have questions about this or other features, please contact support through your M365 Admin Center or your account manager. 


Blocking the downloads of meeting recordings is now available for all users in ODSP:


 



  • Available today: Block downloads for non-channel meeting recordings has been rolled out and turned on by default for all recordings.  

  • Available today: Block downloads for channel meeting recordings has been rolled out and admins may enable this feature through a new Teams policy setting. 


To learn more about these updates, admins can see Message Center post 222640. Microsoft is excited about these updates that will bring higher quality and more accurate transcription to more people and languages than ever before. 


 


What else is happening with Teams meeting recordings stored in Microsoft 365? 


 


The changes above fall within the broader context of the work we’re doing with Stream (on SharePoint). Several other features have begun lighting up for Teams meeting recordings stored in Microsoft 365 including: 


 



  • Now available: Auto-recording – Meeting owners can set meetings to automatically start recording. 

  • Now available: Stream start page – Search and manage meeting recordings from the new Stream start page (stream.office.com) 

  • Rolling out: Stream video player – Watch recordings from the new Stream web player.  

  • Under development: Auto-expiration of meeting recordings – learn more about this feature.  


To learn more about these, and other upcoming features for Stream (on SharePoint), click here. 


 


In a nutshell, be ready for new experiences with Teams meeting recordings in Microsoft 365. 


 


Phishing scheme targets unemployment insurance benefits and PII

Phishing scheme targets unemployment insurance benefits and PII

by | Aug 4, 2021 | Security

This article was originally posted by the FTC. See the original article here.

Have you gotten an alarming text message about your unemployment insurance benefits from what seems to be your state workforce agency? You’re not alone. Identity thieves are targeting millions of people nationwide with scam phishing texts aimed at stealing personal information, unemployment benefits, or both.

The phishing texts try to dupe you to click a link to “make necessary corrections” to your unemployment insurance (UI) claim, “verify” your personal information, or “reactivate” your UI benefits account. The link takes you to a fake state workforce agency (SWA) website that may look very real. There, you’re asked to input your website credentials and personal information, like your Social Security number. Fraudsters can use the information to file fraudulent UI benefits claims or for other identity theft.

Here are examples of some of the phishing texts. (Click image to enlarge.)

Image of various phishing text messages associated with this scam.

Protect yourself. Know that state agencies do not send text messages asking for personal information. If you get an unsolicited text or email message that looks like it’s from an SWA, don’t reply or click any link. If you’re not sure, contact the SWA directly using the State Directory for Reporting Unemployment Identity Theft at the bottom of this United States Department of Labor webpage.

If you think you may have entered your personal information into a fraudulent website, visit IdentityTheft.gov to find out how to make it harder for an identity thief to misuse your information.

You can report a suspicious text message or email claiming to be from an SWA to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) by completing an NCDF Complaint Form or by calling (866) 720-5721. Tell us too at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. And, tell a friend. By sharing your experience and knowledge about the fraud, you can help someone else avoid the trap.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

CISA Releases Security Advisory for Swisslog Healthcare

by | Aug 3, 2021 | Security, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

CISA has released an Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisory detailing multiple vulnerabilities in Swisslog Healthcare Translogic Pneumatic Tube Systems (PTS). An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the ICS Medical Advisory ICSMA-21-215-01 Swisslog Translogic PTS and apply the necessary updates and mitigations.