Health insurance scams can cost you big

Health insurance scams can cost you big

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Security

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

In 2018, we told you about Simple Health, a group of companies that the FTC says tricked people into signing up for what the companies told them was comprehensive health coverage that met Affordable Care Act standards. Instead, people wound up with premiums as high as hundreds of dollars a month for coverage the FTC says was nowhere near the full, ACA-qualified coverage Simple Health promised. And as some of its customers were stuck with thousands of dollars in medical bills, Simple Health collected more than $195 million because of its deception, according to the case.

Today, the FTC announced a proposed settlement with Simple Health’s Chief Compliance Officer that, among other things, would ban her from advertising, marketing or selling any healthcare-related products. The settlement includes a monetary judgment of $195.5 million, which is suspended due to the defendant’s inability to pay. The FTC’s litigation against the other defendants is ongoing.

Before you sign up and pay for health coverage, protect yourself by finding out what you’re really getting versus what the plan advertises. That’s info you can use in the Special Enrollment Period for health care coverage, open from February 15 – May 15, 2021, which we just told you about earlier today. And if you find out about dishonest marketing practices, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.FTC.gov.

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

AI and Gaming Research Summit

AI and Gaming Research Summit

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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

AIGaming.JPG


 


Engage, Learn and Share at the Microsoft AI and Gaming Research Summit 2021


Region: Worldwide


Date: February 23, 2021 – February 24, 2021


Location: Virtual
Agenda: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/event/aiandgaming2020/#!agenda 



Save your virtual seat and register for the upcoming summit:

Register Now 


This virtual research summit brings together researchers and innovators from academia, creators from the gaming industry, Microsoft Research (MSR), and Gaming teams at Microsoft, to share ideas and discuss how AI and machine learning is transforming the landscape of gaming. The event is focused around four themes.



  • AI Agents for gameplay and game testing

  • Responsible Gaming, including ethics, safety, and inclusivity

  • Computational creativity and content generation

  • Understanding Players, player engagement and analytics


This exciting new Microsoft Research event aims to facilitate open discussion and critical dialogue by bringing together academia and industry to better understand each other’s perspectives at the intersection of AI and gaming research.


Plenary speakers include:



  • Catherine Varner (Director, Strategy and Monetization, Dreamhaven)


  • Kareem Choudhry (Corporate Vice President, Gaming Cloud, Microsoft)


  • Katja Hofmann (Game Intelligence Lead, Microsoft Research) 

  • Mark Riedl (Director, Entertainment Intelligence Lab, Georgia Tech) 

  • Peter Lee (Corporate Vice-President, Research and Incubations, Microsoft) 

  • Phil Spencer (Executive Vice President, Gaming, Microsoft)


More details:
AI and Gaming Research Summit – Microsoft Research

The top frauds of 2020

The top frauds of 2020

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Security

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

2020 was a tough year. Between the pandemic and the economic crisis, we all had our hands full. And scammers didn’t take any time off either — 2020 was a busy year for fraud. In 2020, the FTC got more than 2.2 million reports about fraud, with people telling us they lost nearly $3.3 billion.

Here’s what we heard from you in 2020:

  • The top fraud of 2020 was imposter scams. Scammers showed up wearing many different hats — from that of a government official, to a known business, to a dear family member or friend. The FTC got nearly 500,000 reports of imposter scams, and people reported losing a lot of money to these scammers: $1.2 billion, with a median loss of $850. Government and business imposter scams were also among the top categories of COVID-19 and stimulus related reports, proving once again, that scammers follow the headlines.
  • Online shopping and negative reviews was the second most reported fraud category of 2020. With the pandemic came an increase in online shopping, and then a wave of reports about sellers failing to deliver on promises — or just failing to deliver, period. The FTC got more than 350,000 reports, with people telling us lost a total of more than $245 million, with a median loss of about $100.
  • The phone is still the top way that scammers are reaching us — both through phone calls and text messages. In fact, there was a sharp increase in the number of reports saying that scammers contacted them by text message. And, not surprisingly, many of these text messages were related to the pandemic. We heard about text message scams luring people to click on links with promises of stimulus relief, economic relief or loans for small businesses, or “waiting packages.”

We can only fight scammers with your help. When you report to the FTC, your report is instantly available to more than 3,000 federal, state, and local law enforcers across the country who are looking to fight fraud. If you’ve spotted a scam, tell us at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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

Testing App Cloud Readiness for Failover Resiliency with SQL Managed Instance | Data Exposed

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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

In this episode with Dani Ljepava, we will show you how to manually trigger a planned failover on SQL Managed Instance to test your applications for fault tolerance and will talk about best practices for your applications to achieve tolerance to transient faults typical for the cloud environments. Transient faults in the cloud (for example software patching, security updates, failover, and similar) include a momentary loss of network connectivity, temporary unavailability of a service, or timeouts when service is busy. These faults are often self-correcting due to which your applications need to be able to handle such occurrences with the appropriate retry logic. While migrating legacy apps to the cloud or developing new cloud-born apps, it is strongly advised to ensure that your applications follow the best practices disclosed in this episode helping you build cloud-ready apps.


 


Watch on Data Exposed


 


Resources:


User-initiated manual failover on SQL Managed Instance blog



View/share our latest episodes on Channel 9 and YouTube!

Basic Authentication and Exchange Online – February 2021 Update

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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

We previously announced we would begin to disable Basic Auth for five Exchange Online protocols in the second half of 2021. Due to the pandemic and the effect it has on priorities and work patterns, we are announcing some important changes to our plan to disable Basic Auth in Exchange Online. Please read this post carefully, as there’s a lot of detail.


The first change is that until further notice, we will not be disabling Basic Auth for any protocols that your tenant is using. When we resume this program, we will provide a minimum of twelve months notice before we block the use of Basic Auth on any protocol being used in your tenant.


We will continue with our plan to disable Basic Auth for protocols that your tenant is not using. Many customers don’t know that unneeded legacy protocols remain enabled in their tenant (Security Defaults takes care of this for newly created tenants now). We plan to disable Basic Auth for these unused protocols to prevent potential mis-use. We will do this based on examining recorded usage of these protocols by your tenant, and we will send Message Center posts providing 30 days notice of the change to your tenant. This work will begin in a few months.


The next change to the previously announced plan is that we are adding MAPI, RPC, and Offline Address Book (OAB) to the protocols included in this effort to further enhance data protection.


As clarified in previous blogs, Outlook depends upon Exchange Web Services (EWS) for core features; therefore, tenants using Basic Auth with Outlook must enable Modern Auth before Basic Auth for EWS is disabled. Outlook uses only one type of authentication for all connections to a mailbox, so including these protocols should not adversely affect you. If EWS has Basic Auth disabled, Outlook won’t use Basic Auth for any of the other protocols or endpoints it needs to access.


At this time, we are not including AutoDiscover, another protocol and endpoint used by Outlook. There are two reasons for this. First, AutoDiscover doesn’t provide access to user data; it only provides a pointer to the endpoint that the client should use to access data. Second, as long as a tenant has some EWS or Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) usage, AutoDiscover is necessary for client configuration. Once Basic Auth is disabled for the vast majority of tenants, we’ll consider disabling Basic Auth for AutoDiscover.


Finally, we are aligning our plans with those for SMTP AUTH. We had previously announced that we would begin to disable SMTP AUTH for newly created tenants (and have already done so), and that we would expand this to disable SMTP AUTH for tenants who do not use it. We are continuing to do that, but we will include SMTP AUTH in all future communications and Message Center posts to make it easier for you to track the overall plan.


In summary, we have postponed disabling Basic Auth for protocols in active use by your tenant until further notice, but we will continue to disable Basic Auth for any protocols you are not currently using. The overall scope of this change now covers EWS, EAS, POP, IMAP, Remote PowerShell, MAPI, RPC, SMTP AUTH and OAB.


How Will I Know When My Tenant Is Affected?


We will publish a major change Message Center post to your tenant 30 days prior to disabling Basic Auth for any protocols in your tenant. Major changes also trigger email notifications. We will also publish a Message Center post when we have made the actual change.


What If My Tenant is Using One of These Protocols?


If your tenant is using any of these protocols in the 30 days prior to us randomly selecting your tenant for potential inclusion, we won’t disable them. Should you find a Message Center post to the contrary, please let us know (details on how to let us know will be in the Message Center post) and we’ll exclude you from the change. You’ll be able to do this right up until we disable these protocols for good (at a future date).


How Do I Know if My Tenant is Currently Using One of the Impacted Protocols?


If you aren’t sure if you are using Basic Auth with any of the impacted protocols you can use the Azure AD Sign-In Logs to look at usage in your tenant. Read more about that here.


What Happens If I Missed the Message Center Post and Need These Protocols Re-Enabled?


We are building the capability to allow you to re-enable the protocols yourself via Support Central in the Microsoft 365 admin center. If you find yourself in this situation, you’ll be able to request help in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and we’ll allow you to re-enable these protocols until we disable them in the future.


How Does This Change Affect Authentication Policies?


The switch we use to disable Basic Auth for unused protocols is not available to tenant admins. You won’t see any changes or additions to your existing authentication policies (if you have any) and our change will take precedence over any policies you might have. We understand this might be a bit confusing, so we wanted to note it here.


 


We hope this change is good news for those of you who needed more time to complete a transition from Basic Auth.


 


The Exchange Team

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 112

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 112

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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











We continue to expand the Azure Marketplace ecosystem. For this volume, 93 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live. See details of the new offers below:































































































































































































































































































































































































Applications
3TP Digital Experience Platform.png

3TP Digital Experience Platform: Tiresias Theatre Technology Platform (3TP) is a multi-tier platform consisting of many technology engines carefully nurtured and connected to minimize the coding efforts required to accelerate business change.
ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager.png

ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager: A state-of-the-art cloud solution that integrates energy and asset management in a single intuitive dashboard, ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager provides insights that help you minimize cost and risk while maximizing performance and safety across your operations.
Accern AI Platform.png

Accern AI Platform: Designed for business analysts, data scientists, and developers in financial services organizations, Accern accelerates AI workflows for enterprises with a no-code development platform. Identify and monitor investment opportunities, uncover risks and early warning signals, and more.
Airsonic 10.6.2 Alpine 3.9 Container Image.png

Airsonic 10.6.2 Alpine 3.9 Container Image: Tidal Media offers this ready-to-run container image of Airsonic 10.6.2 on Alpine Linux 3.9. Airsonic is a media server and self-hosted web-based media streamer that provides ubiquitous access to your music to make it easy to share with friends or listen to while at work.
Apache HTTP Server on CentOS 8.2.png

Apache HTTP Server on CentOS 8.2: Apache HTTP Server is among the most popular web servers on the internet. Cloud Maven Solutions’ image of Apache HTTP Server on CentOS 8.2 includes modules that add more functions, such as MPM or mod_ssl for enabling SSL v3 and TLS support.
Apache Subversion (SVN) Server on Debian 10.png

Apache Subversion (SVN) Server on Debian 10: This pre-configured image of Apache Subversion (SVN) Server on Debian 10 from Tidal Media enables globally distributed software development teams to efficiently version and share source code with low administrative overhead.
Apache SVN Client on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.png

Apache SVN Client on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS: Tidal Media offers this pre-configured image of Apache SVN Client on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Subversion (SVN) is a free, centralized version control system. Used by many open-source communities, SVN implements and builds on the basic features of Concurrent Versions System.
CentOS 7 with LVM.png

CentOS 7 with LVM: ProComputers.com offers this pre-configured image of CentOS 7 Minimal with a Logical Volume Manager (LVM)-managed OS disk. Built using the CentOS 7 minimal install group of packages, the image allows the use of OS disks larger than 2 TB and comes with SELinux enabled.
Cloud Payment HSM - Card & Mobile Issuing.png

Cloud Payment HSM – Card & Mobile Issuing: VirtuCrypt, Futurex’s cloud hardware security module (HSM) platform, performs cryptographic operations required for card and mobile issuing, including PIN and offset generation, EMV key generation and derivation, and more.
Cloud Payment HSM - Transaction Acquiring.png

Cloud Payment HSM – Transaction Acquiring: VirtuCrypt, Futurex’s cloud hardware security module (HSM) platform, performs cryptographic operations required for transaction acquiring, including functions related to PIN translation and verification, EMV card validation, and more.
CloudMoyo Rail Contract Management (CRCM).png

CloudMoyo Rail Contract Management (CRCM): CloudMoyo Rail Contract Management (CRCM) is a Microsoft Azure-based SaaS platform that empowers modern railroads to digitally transform their contractual relationships with customers, partners, suppliers, labor unions, and regulatory bodies.
Cognni Information Intelligence for M365.png

Cognni Information Intelligence for M365: Available from Shieldox, Information Intelligence for Microsoft 365 provides zero-effort information intelligence to help companies distinguish between legitimate and risky sharing activities. Cognni understands complex business situations and can catch potential risks within minutes.
Debian 10 Minimal.png

Debian 10 Minimal: Optimized for use at scale, Tidal Media’s pre-configured image of Debian 10 Minimal requires fewer security updates over time because it has fewer packages installed. Debian is an operating system and one of the most popular Linux distributions for personal computers and network servers.
DeviceOn CommBridge Yocto.png

DeviceOn CommBridge Yocto: As a member of Advantech’s IoT software solutions, DeviceOn/CommBridge is an industrial application for device networking and edge computing. It provides functions such as data acquisition, protocol conversion, device control, and data storage to help customers drive digital transformation.
DeviceOn ePaper Manager.png

DeviceOn ePaper Manager: As a member of Advantech’s IoT software solutions, DeviceOn ePaper Manager focuses on IoT signage application for meeting rooms, warehouses, factories, hospitals, and transportation providers. It provides remote device monitoring, device management, and EPD image generation.
DeviceOn-SQ Manager.png

DeviceOn/SQ Manager: Advantech’s DeviceOn/SQ Manager includes utilities to monitor the real-time status of SQFlash and SQRAM products locally and remotely and to manage the security features of SQFlash products. Enable system admins to easily access device information and deliver necessary actions to devices remotely.
egob express.png

egob express: Developed by Blue Ocean Technologies, egob express is a comprehensive digital platform that promotes sustainable public management, modernization, systematization, and digitization of processes and services along with transparency and accountability.
Emerson Connected Services for Control Valves.png

Emerson Connected Services for Control Valves: Emerson Electric’s Valve Condition Monitoring solution delivers detailed insights into the condition of your control valves, enabling you to focus on your strategic priorities rather than spending scarce or valuable resources developing in-house analytic expertise.
Emerson Connected Services for Corrosion & Erosion.png

Emerson Connected Services for Corrosion & Erosion: Gain deep insights into the impact of corrosion and erosion in your facility with Connected Services for Corrosion & Erosion from Emerson Electric. The solution helps you plan and execute preventative and reactive maintenance tasks.
Enterprise Manager Assistant.png

Enterprise Manager Assistant: The Wholemeaning enterprise manager assistant uses artificial intelligence to read, prioritize, and filter messages in your sales and customer service consultants’ inboxes, enabling the automation of case creation, response, and referral management.
Ephesoft Semantik for Invoices.png

Ephesoft Semantik for Invoices: Automate your organization’s accounts payable processes with Semantik for Invoices. Ephesoft’s solution exposes Webhook invoice APIs that allow integration with Microsoft Power Automate as well as many other workflow and iPaaS tools.
Ephesoft Transact for Digital Mailrooms.png

Ephesoft Transact for Digital Mailrooms: Ephesoft’s Transact for Digital Mailrooms is an intelligent document processing solution that leverages the power of OCR and artificial intelligence to reproduce mailroom workers’ tasks, reduce sorting time, and automate mail routing.
Firebird 3.0.7 Container on Linux Debian 8.png

Firebird 3.0.7 Container on Linux Debian 8: Tidal Media’s ready-to-run image of Firebird 3.0.7 Container on Linux Debian 8 facilitates the development of interoperable applications. Firebird is a lightweight SQL relational database management system featuring support for stored procedures and triggers, ACID-compliant transactions, and more.
Getting started with Lens by Bouvet.png

Getting started with Lens by Bouvet: Lens by Bouvet is a communication platform made for Microsoft HoloLens and designed to help organizations reduce travel time, conduct remote inspections, and collaborate across borders.
Gluu's Business Process Management Platform.png

Gluu’s Business Process Management Platform: Gluu integrates with Microsoft Teams, Dynamics 365, and Office 365 to cover all the moving parts of business process management, including process maps, instructions, organizational roles, task execution, logging, and communications.
HAC-1 -- Visibility, Control and Mitigation.png

HAC-1 -> Visibility, Control and Mitigation: Sepio Systems’ HAC-1 is a hardware access control (HAC) solution for managing your hardware assets and protecting your organization from hardware-based attacks and threats. HAC-1 provides security teams with full visibility into hardware assets and their behavior in real time.
Hive Analytics & Optimization Bundle.png

Hive Analytics & Optimization Bundle: The Hive Analytics & Optimization Bundle captures the data required to build health reports of your video events. Gain detailed insights into the impact Hive Streaming’s solution has on your company’s overall quality of experience for each event.
Hive Video Insights.png

Hive Core Video Analytics: Hive Core Video Analytics helps you understand the effectiveness of your company’s video communication and capture key video consumption data to further your video streaming adoption objectives.
ICRON OP - Order Promising.png

ICRON OP | Order Promising: Manufacturers know that designing delivery schedules and quoting due dates accordingly is a balancing act that requires delicate deliberations. ICRON OP enables manufacturing companies to align their competitive positioning and operational strategies with their customer engagement policies in the market.
IIS On Windows Server 2016.png

IIS On Windows Server 2016: Cloud Maven Solutions offers this pre-configured image of Internet Information Services (IIS) on Windows Server 2016. Supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NNTP, IIS is an extensible web server created by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family.
Intelligent Data Services for ICI.png

Intelligent Data Services for ICI:  CloudMoyo’s Intelligent Data Services for the Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform enables enterprises to leverage an integrated view of data from ICI and enterprise systems to extract breakthrough insights and accelerate vision to value.
Knowledge Lens - iLens Industry 4.0 Solution.png

Knowledge Lens – iLens_Industry 4.0 Solution: Knowledge Lens’ iLens is an AI-powered Industry 4.0 solution that connects machines, operators, and manufacturing process to drive digital transformation across your organization.
Magnitude Noetix.png

Magnitude Noetix: Noetix’s powerful data model; library of pre-built, no-code business reports; and powerful process analytics engine help businesses running Oracle Applications unlock the power of enterprise data and gain actionable insights to act with decisiveness in a quickly changing world.
MariaDB 10.2 Container for Ubuntu 18.04.png

MariaDB 10.2 Container for Ubuntu 18.04: Deployed in minutes for transactional, analytical, or hybrid use cases, Tidal Media’s pre-configured MariaDB 10.2 Container for Ubuntu 18.04 delivers operational agility without sacrificing key enterprise features. MariaDB is a leading enterprise database with an extensive feature set.
Mediawiki on CentOS 8.2.png

MediaWiki on CentOS 8.2: Cloud Maven Solutions offers this image of MediaWiki 1.34.2 on CentOS 8.2. MediaWiki is an open-source wiki software package written in PHP. Originally for use on Wikipedia, MediaWiki is now used by many other wikis and several projects of the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation.
Migrate File Data to Azure with DobiMigrate.png

Migrate File Data to Azure with DobiMigrate: DobiMigrate is an enterprise solution that moves your file and object data to Microsoft Azure safely, quickly, and cost effectively. Realize storage cost savings, run workloads in the cloud, and reduce storage management and cost overhead.
Moodle.png

Moodle: Readymind offers this certified image of Moodle, a widely used online learning platform. Available only in Spanish, this distribution is intended for any online school and is based on best practices, enabling users to quickly set up their environment with security guidelines implemented from day one.
Octopus Learning Management System.png

Octopus Learning Management System: The Octopus Learning Management System enables organizations to generate modules and programs to train, test, and certify employees on various proficiencies. The system comes with an organizational web portal enabling employees to complete online lessons and tests from a browser.
Octopus Visitor's Management.png

Octopus Visitor’s Management: The Octopus Visitor’s Management System enables organizations to manage a unified database of visitors for all their sites and locations. Enforce your visitor enrollment, entrance policies, and work processes.
Patrol Management System.png

Patrol Management System: The Octopus Patrol Management System can be installed on Android and iOS devices with GPS sensors. The solution is used by first responders with mobile phones or fixed on security vehicles, enabling the real-time tracking of first responders, security patrols, and company fleet vehicles.
PHP 7.3 on CentOS 8.2.png

PHP 7.3 on CentOS 8.2: Cloud Maven Solutions offers a pre-configured image of PHP 7.3.24 on CentOS 8.2. Powering everything from simple blogs to some of the most popular websites around the world, PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development.
Playwright Browser Automation on Headless Ubuntu.png

Playwright Browser Automation on Headless Ubuntu: Noricum Cloud Solutions offers this pre-configured image of Microsoft’s Playwright browser automation framework on Headless Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. The image comes with detailed documentation, sample code snippets, and email support.
Playwright Browser Automation on Windows.png

Playwright Browser Automation on Windows: Noricum Cloud Solutions offers this pre-configured image of Microsoft’s Playwright browser automation framework on Windows Server 2019. The image comes with detailed documentation, sample code snippets, and email support.
Porini 365 Event.png

Porini 365 Event: Based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Apps, Porini 365 Event enables marketing teams to organize events. Easily create an event showcase, engage potential participants via simplified invitation management, track registrations and attendance, and more.
Prisma.png

Prisma: Prisma is a SaaS platform that analyzes, predicts, and suggests actions that enable retailers to increase profits by optimizing prices, promotions, inventory, and more. Prisma analyzes millions of data points from different sources to help retailers quickly identify opportunities and monitor their execution.
Prisma Assortment Module - SaaS.png

Prisma Assortment Module – SaaS: Part of the Prisma SaaS retail platform, the Prisma Assortment Planning module uses artificial intelligence and your business rules to help you display the products customers want in your stores and boost customer experience.
Prisma Pricing Saas Module.png

Prisma Pricing SaaS Module: Part of the Prisma SaaS retail platform, the Prisma Pricing module uses artificial intelligence to optimize your revenue and profit. Achieve your desired competitive positioning to make your prices attractive while taking care of your margin and resources.
Prisma Promotions Module - Saas.png

Prisma Promotions Module – SaaS: Part of the Prisma SaaS retail platform, the Prisma Promotions module uses artificial intelligence to optimize your promotional programs. Design amazing promotions, create memorable campaigns, check for overlaps, and measure results.
Prisma Smart Supply Module - SaaS.png

Prisma Smart Supply Module – SaaS: Part of the Prisma SaaS retail platform, the Prisma Smart Supply module uses artificial intelligence to help you reduce stock-outs, ingest and analyze data from multiple sources, design your supply chain, and define your optimal distribution.
Prisma Space Planning Module.png

Prisma Space Planning Module: Part of the Prisma SaaS retail platform, the Prisma Space Planning module uses artificial intelligence to help you position your products in a cost-effective, optimized, and visually appealing way. Create an ideal layout and design customer traffic flow for each store.
Process and Schedule Management System for Electrician Businesses.png

Process and Schedule Management System for Electrician Businesses: Designed for electricians and available only in Japanese, this solution helps improve utilization rates by managing construction processes at partner companies. Get in-depth personnel data along with construction estimates, costs, and sales information.
Process Control System for Waterworks Business.png

Process Control System for Waterworks Businesses: Available only in Japanese, this process control solution helps waterworks businesses focus on sales and reduce costs. Easily coordinate with managers and field personnel using real-time data to drive informed decision-making.
Protect File Data in Azure with DobiProtect.png

Protect File Data in Azure with DobiProtect: DobiProtect enables organizations to keep a copy of their business-critical network attached storage (NAS) data on Microsoft Azure to help protect against cyberthreats, ransomware, accidental deletions, and software vulnerabilities.
Puppeteer Browser Automation on Headless Ubuntu.png

Puppeteer Browser Automation on Headless Ubuntu: Noricum Cloud Solutions offers this virtual machine (VM) with the Puppeteer cloud service for automating Chrome and Chromium on Headless Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. This VM comes with detailed documentation, sample code snippets, and email support.
Puppeteer Browser Automation on Windows.png

Puppeteer Browser Automation on Windows: Noricum Cloud Solutions offers this virtual machine (VM) with the Puppeteer cloud service for automating Chrome and Chromium on Windows Server 2019. This VM comes with detailed documentation, sample code snippets, and email support.
Redis 5.0.9 Container on Linux Alpine 3.12.png

Redis 5.0.9 Container on Linux Alpine 3.12: Tidal Media’s pre-configured image of Redis 5.0.9 Container on Linux Alpine 3.12 enables you to store huge amounts of data without the limitations of a relational database. Redis is a flexible, in-memory data structure store used as a database, cache, and message broker.
ResourceLook.png

ResourceLook: Available only in Japanese, ResourceLook manages your organization’s reservations for meeting rooms and simplifies the reception of visitors. Improve operational efficiency and facilitate unmanned reception using Microsoft Teams chatbots.
secure ai store lab.png

Secure AI Store Lab: AI Store Lab uses artificial intelligence to enable stores to operate with a minimum number of people. Save labor costs on cash register operations, out-of-office customer service, and more. This application is available only in Japanese.
Security Operations for Azure in a ServiceNow DC.png

Security Operations for Azure in a ServiceNow DC: AI Store Lab uses artificial intelligence to enable stores to operate with a minimum number of people. Save labor costs on cash register operations, out-of-office customer service, and more. This application is available only in Japanese.
SENSE.png

SENSE: SENSE is a clinical algorithm engine that provides AI-powered real-time clinical management support. It uses advanced neural network technology to process large quantities of clinical variables simultaneously, providing personalized predictions with quantifiable certainty levels for each patient.
Sensei Empower PPM.png

Sensei Empower PPM: Suitable for medium to enterprise-size businesses, Sensei Empower PPM is an easy-to-use project, portfolio, and work management solution. It delivers visibility and trustworthy data across organizations and features deep reporting capabilities.
Solupym ERP for SMEs.png

Solupyme ERP for SMEs: Facilitate data-driven decision-making and increase productivity across your organization with Solupyme ERP for SMEs. Available in Spanish, the platform delivers access to the business information you need reliably and accurately.
The Octopus Performance & Monitoring system.png

The Octopus Performance & Monitoring system: The Octopus performance and monitoring system enables organization to create tasks, assessments, regulations, and inspections of key performance indicators. Monitor your organization’s performance and enterprise risk level, and ensure you reliably achieve your objectives.
TURN CLOUD SaaS.png

Turn Cloud SaaS: Available in Traditional Chinese and English, the Turn Cloud SaaS platform combines payment applications with cloud financial services for a complete financial services project and management solution.
TxtSync - SMS Text Messaging made simple.png

TxtSync – SMS Text Messaging made simple: TxtSync integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI to make SMS easier, more reliable, and more affordable. Send and receive messages all around the world in seconds, launch SMS marketing campaigns, and more.
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop Ready to use.png

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop Ready to use: Cloud Maven Solutions offers this pre-configured, ready-to-use image of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop with LXDE, a lightweight desktop alternative to Unity, GNOME, and KDE. LXDE contains the basic features for a stripped-down yet approachable desktop environment.
Ultrasound AI-ML diagnosis (FDA 510(k) Cleared).png

Ultrasound AI/ML diagnosis): MEDO ARIA (Automated Real-time Intelligent Assistant) HIP reads newborn babies’ hip ultrasound scans, processes them, and provides diagnostic information that radiologists can view, change, and approve.
Upsolver.png

Upsolver: An SQL-based tool that aggregates and transforms streaming and batch data, Upsolver significantly reduces data pipeline effort by providing out-of-the-box features such as schema-on-read, metadata management, idempotent stream processing, compaction, in-memory compression, and more.
ViciBMS - Comprehensive Board Management Software.png

ViciBMS – Comprehensive Board Management Software: ViciBMS enables you to provide the board of directors with the right information at the right time and facilitate board governance and proper control of your business. Schedule, conduct, and track statutory and optional board meetings; securely share meeting documents; and more.
VTD Scale.png

VTD Scale: The VTD Scale environment is used to perform massive studies (>1,000 parallel runs) for development, verification, and validation of advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles using Hexagon’s VIRES Virtual Test Drive (VTD) as the simulation platform.
WordFinder Unlimited.png

WordFinder Unlimited: WordFinder Unlimited is a subscription-based dictionary service that includes more than 500 dictionaries in 26 languages. Easily integrated with Office 365, WordFinder Unlimited enables users to search dictionaries online or offline to help them communicate in a foreign language.
Workspot App Cloud - Virtual Apps (VDI) on Azure.png

Workspot App Cloud – Virtual Apps (VDI) on Azure: Workspot App Cloud is a turnkey, enterprise-ready cloud PC service that deploys Windows 10 virtual desktops on Microsoft Azure. Modernize your app delivery solution with a cloud-native, highly scalable service that can be deployed in as little as one day.
Workspot Desktop Cloud - VDI on Azure.png

Workspot Desktop Cloud – VDI on Azure: Workspot Desktop Cloud is a turnkey, enterprise-ready cloud PC service that deploys Windows 10 virtual desktops on Microsoft Azure. Modernize your desktop delivery solution with a cloud-native, highly scalable service that can be deployed in as little as one day.
Workspot Workstation Cloud - GPU-VDI on Azure.png

Workspot Workstation Cloud – GPU/VDI on Azure: Workspot Workstation Cloud is a turnkey, enterprise-ready cloud PC service that deploys high-performance GPU cloud workstations to any device. Modernize your workstation delivery solution with a cloud-native, highly scalable service that can be deployed in as little as one day.

Consulting services
AI Immersion 1-day Workshop.png

AI Immersion: 1-Day Workshop: Learn how to funnel your AI opportunities from idea to execution with Brillio’s free AI Immersion workshop. Brillio will demonstrate the benefits of a structured approach to defining your AI strategy by sharing examples of how the company has unlocked the potential of Microsoft Azure for its customers.
Azure & Oracle Multicloud 3-Wks Implementation.png

Azure & Oracle Multicloud: 3-Week Implementation: In this three-week engagement tailored to your organization’s needs, Lingaro will implement a new solution (or integrate or transition an existing one) in a multicloud architecture, enabling you to take advantage of Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud features.
Azure assessment and migration - 1 hour briefing.png

Azure assessment and migration – 1-Hour Briefing: In this free one-hour briefing, Nordcloud will walk you through the assessment and migration process as well as the Microsoft programs that can be used to support your journey to Microsoft Azure.
Azure DevOps Best Practices - 12 hrs Workshop.png

Azure DevOps Best Practices – 12-Hour Workshop: Available only in Spanish, readymind’s Azure DevOps workshop promotes best-practice methodologies for continuous development and integration across your organization.
Azure DevOps Enablement - 1 hour briefing.png

Azure DevOps Enablement – 1-Hour Briefing: Designed to help your organization deploy more quickly, increase productivity, and improve service quality, Nordcloud’s Azure DevOps Enablement briefing covers cloud automation, CI/CD tools and processes, containers and container orchestration, microservices and serverless architecture, and more.
Azure Managed Cloud - 1 hour briefing.png

Azure Managed Cloud – 1-Hour Briefing: Learn about Nordcloud’s Managed Cloud offer and how it can help your organization maintain application environments in Microsoft Azure in this free one-hour briefing.
Azure Migration Program (AMP) 1 Day Assessment.png

Azure Migration Program (AMP): 1-Day Assessment: HMB’s free Azure Migration Program (AMP) assessment helps accelerate Azure migrations through cloud adoption discovery and AMP eligibility discussions. If you have on-premises .NET apps or are considering migrating workloads to Azure, HMB can help unlock AMP funding to subsidize your cost.
Azure Migration Program (AMP) 4 Week Assessment.png

Azure Migration Program (AMP): 4-Week Assessment: HMB’s Azure Migration Program (AMP) offering helps accelerate Azure migrations. This four-week assessment includes a digital estate inventory, cloud architecture review, .NET gap analysis, and recommended next steps.
Azure Migration Program (AMP)10-Wk Implementation.png

Azure Migration Program (AMP): 10-Week Implementation: HMB’s 10-week implementation is focused on migrating Azure Migration Program (AMP)-approved .NET and SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure based on a custom Cloud Adoption Framework and focused on an iterative, repeatable process.
Azure Synapse Modern DW 2-week Assessment.png

Azure Synapse Modern DW: 2-Week Assessment: Learn how to take your data to the cloud and scale with Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft’s platform for the modern data warehouse, in Wintellect’s two-week assessment. Wintellect will help you design and implement a hybrid architecture to support cloud-based and on-premises apps and data.
Brillio Data Lake on Azure 1-day Workshop UK.png

Brillio Data Lake on Azure: 1-Day Workshop UK: Join Brillio’s technology experts for an interactive discussion about data lakes on Microsoft Azure. The workshop will cover business and technical considerations for a seamless and cost-efficient cloud migration, risks and challenges and how to mitigate them, and more.
Cloud Native Enablement - 1 hour briefing.png

Cloud Native Enablement – 1-Hour Briefing: Learn about building, migrating, and managing cloud-native applications, such as Azure Kubernetes Service and Red Hat OpenShift in Nordcloud’s free one-hour briefing.
Datacenter to Azure - 6 days Proof of Concept.png

Datacenter to Azure – 6-Day Proof of Concept: Learn about the benefits of migrating your datacenter to Microsoft Azure in readymind’s six-day proof of concept. Topics include Microsoft licensing requirements, infrastructure total cost of ownership, and more.
Global Brands-Managed Services.png

Global Brands-Managed Services: Global Brands provides IT services designed to reduce the burden of your day-to-day IT operations by monitoring and managing your organization’s servers, desktops, devices, and more.
Introduction to SAP DR on Azure 2 Hrs Briefing.png

Introduction to SAP DR on Azure: 2-Hour Briefing: Learn about the benefits of SAP disaster recovery on Microsoft Azure in InfoFab’s free two-hour briefing, including how systems deployed on Azure can be easily adjusted to minimize your recovery time objective and recovery point objective when a disaster occurs.
Introduction to SAP on Azure 2 Hrs Briefing.png

Introduction to SAP on Azure: 2-Hour Briefing: Learn about the benefits of deploying S/4HANA on Microsoft Azure in InfoFab’s free two-hour briefing. Topics include Azure services, security features, and how systems deployed on Azure can scale easily with the growth of your enterprise.
PROGEAZURETEAMSCONNECT - 3week implementation.png

ProgeAzureTeamsConnect – 3-Week Implementation: In this three-week implementation, Proge-Software’s experts will implement the ProgeAzureTeamsConnect solution, which integrates Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Teams to help educational institutions deliver remote learning to students.
SAP On Azure - 2 days kickstart workshop.png

SAP on Azure – 2-Day Kickstart Workshop: Running SAP on Microsoft Azure can provide greater flexibility and agility while enabling new development scenarios leveraging data and AI services. Nordcloud’s two-day workshop includes identifying your organization’s high-level objectives for Azure on SAP, a roadmap, and next steps.
Shelf Scanner 1-day Workshop.png

Shelf Scanner: 1-Day Workshop: This one-day workshop from Brillio serves as a guide to accelerate enterprise adoption of Microsoft Azure artificial intelligence and machine learning services in decision management to enable personalized delivery of insights and improved visibility.

Hitachi Solutions helps Dr. Martens reboot their business

Hitachi Solutions helps Dr. Martens reboot their business

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, Technology

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

While the move to e-commerce in the retail industry has been underway for years, the onset of the pandemic last year accelerated the transition as retailers needed to quickly pivot to optimize for online sales in order to adapt. With the help of Microsoft partners, many retail customers around the world were able to make the shift to digital sales using Microsoft Dynamics 365.

While their decision to evolve their online presence pre-dates the pandemic, iconic British footwear brand Dr. Martens is a good example of a retail customer that has benefitted from transitioning to Dynamics 365 with help from Microsoft partner Hitachi Solutions.

Formed in 1947, Dr. Martens now has more than 100 stores globally, with ambitious plans for retail and e-commerce growth. Recognizing the need to adapt to suit the needs of the twenty-first century consumer, the brand embarked on “Project Reboot: Join the Revolution” to replace its legacy applications with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

“It was recognized that we needed a major transformation project to replace all our legacy applications to give us the tools to be able to grow the business. With ambitious growth plans, we needed a solution that could support our business now, and into the future.”Jackie Reid, Program Lead for Project Reboot

Finding the right partner

According to Reid, Dr. Martens selected Dynamics 365 because it gave the company an end-to-end solution across all areas of the business. Once they had decided to use Dynamics 365, their next step was to choose a Microsoft partner to help them implement the solution. They reached out to United Kingdom based branch of the global consultancy, Hitachi Solutions. One of the key project stakeholders at Dr. Martens had worked with them at a previous retailer and recommended their expertise.

A Microsoft Gold Partner, Hitachi Solutions has helped customers implement Dynamics 365 solutions since 2012. The company has won five global Microsoft Partner of the Year awards and has been a member of the elite Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle for 17 years.

“Dr. Martens recognized that this was not just an IT project, but a business transformation project,” Reid said. “It was really important for us to select the right caliber of partner with the same sort of ambitious vision to help us drive this project to successful deployment. Hitachi came with that capability. They also had good practice and methodology to deliver this project on schedule and within budget.“

George Efthimiou, Account Director at Hitachi Solutions, said that Dr. Martens had several goals they were looking to accomplish through Project Reboot.“Dr. Martens wanted to create an integrated and engaging digital strategy to support their growth, provide a true multi-channel business model, invest faster in existing stores, become more efficient, and increase their store presence globally,“ said Efthimiou.

Expertise inspires confidence

To help them achieve these goals, the Hitachi team worked with Dr. Martens to define, design, and build a core solution using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Then, Hitachi developed an architecture to support mission-critical integrations to e-commerce, third-party logistics, and warehouse management. So far, Hitachi Solutions has helped Dr. Martens roll out the solution to over 900 users throughout the organization.

Andrew Donnell, Project Reboot Solution Architect at Dr. Martens, said Hitachi’s global expertise in retail, wholesale, and distribution, combined with extensive experience across Dynamics 365, were an important combination.

“We had a really great set of functional consultants from Hitachi, and a really great set of developers. What they brought to the table is expertise in Dynamics 365, and also expertise in the retail and wholesale industry, which is a really key thing, because we’d be confident that if we gave them a set of requirements, they would understand our needs and come up with the best options for Dr. Martens. We attribute a lot of the success of this project to them.”Andrew Donnell, Project Reboot Solution Architect, Dr. Martens

Retail benefits contribute to growth

The Dr. Martens team is particularly excited about some of the retail-specific aspects of Dynamics 365. “The retail benefits of Dynamics 365 are huge,” Reid said. “We’ve implemented virtual warehouses, giving us visibility of stock as a whole but also stock per channel. This, combined with our new automated overnight store replenishment capability, means we’re able to get the right products to the right stores in a very short lead time. This is directly contributing to our growth and helping all teams to meet business targets.”

Reid said another significant benefit of the move to Dynamics 365 is the access to and visibility of business data. “We couldn’t do that on our legacy applicationsour analysts would spend all their time creating reports and not enough time analyzing them. Now, we’re able to leverage Microsoft Power BI, Power Pivot, and self-service to create accurate reporting in an instant. As a result, we’re able to ensure the accuracy of our information to make much more informed business decisions.”

Now that Dr. Martens is equipped with the tools they need for growth, Reid is optimistic about the future. “Dynamics 365 gives us a globally capable solution to be able to grow the business,” she said. “And with a turnover of 500 million, we now have the tools, the platform, and the capacity to grow our business threefold over the next five to 10 years. And we’re very excited about that.”

Learn more

Dr. Martens’ story is just one example of how Microsoft partners are helping retail customers use Dynamics 365 to grow their businesses. Read additional details about how Dr. Martens embarked on “Project Reboot: Join the Revolution” to replace all its legacy applications with Dynamics 365.

You can also learn how to optimize your financial operations with Dynamics 365 Finance, accelerate time to market with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and deliver unified, personalized shopping experiences with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce.

Also, browse more winning formulas in our gallery of customer stories, and reach out to learn how Dynamics 365 can help solve your toughest business problems.

The post Hitachi Solutions helps Dr. Martens reboot their business appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

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

Make your voice heard! Help us shape the future of Log Analytics experiences

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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

Intro


The Log Analytics UI team is hard at work on new features and experiences.


We are looking for users who are willing to engage with us, explore new ideas and provide valuable feedback.


This is your chance to make your voice heard and make a real impact on Log Analytics.


 


Make your voice heard!


Applying is quick and easy, simply fill in this form.


The form is super straight forward and takes less than 5 minutes to complete.


 


What’s next?


The Log Analytics UI team will review all submissions and select customers to engage with based on the various features we are working on.


We can’t guarantee we will contact all customers – however, we will do our best to contact applicants based on the data provided.


Applicants who match our criteria will be contacted directly via email.


 


Thank you,


The Log Analytics team.

Scammers are scheming as HealthCare.gov reopens

Scammers are scheming as HealthCare.gov reopens

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Security

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

The Coronavirus pandemic has not only had a dramatic health impact, but also an economic blow as many Americans are now unemployed — and uninsured. As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has re-opened HealthCare.gov for a “Special Enrollment Period,” from February 15, 2021 – May 15, 2021. This Special Enrollment Period will give people who need health care coverage the chance to sign up. But it also gives scammers a new chance to call, email, send letters and texts, trying to get your money — and your personal and financial information.

Scammers know you have questions about the special enrollment, and they’re taking advantage of that to mislead you.

Here are some things to know to help keep your money and personal information safe, while getting the insurance coverage you need:

  • No one from the government will call you about health insurance, or ask you to verify your Social Security number or financial information. People who do are scammers.
  • People who offer legitimate help with the Health Insurance Marketplace — sometimes called Navigators or Assisters — are not allowed to charge you for their help. If someone asks you for payment, it’s a scam.
  • People representing Affordable Care Act plans won’t contact you by phone, email, or in person unless you are already enrolled.
  • If you’re planning to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, do it at HealthCare.gov. People who try to sign you up elsewhere just might be scamming you.

Suspect a scam? Let the FTC know at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your reports give us the information we need to launch investigations, and put scammers out of business.

Stay connected to stay informed. Subscribe to consumer alerts from the FTC. When you do, you’ll get updates delivered right to your email inbox.

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

Microsoft Viva Insights helps people nurture wellbeing and be their best

Microsoft Viva Insights helps people nurture wellbeing and be their best

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Technology

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

By Seth Patton, General Manager, Microsoft 365 Next Gen Productivity & Employee Experience

 


Nearly a year into our hybrid work experiment, we are now surging ahead to a future in which even the most complex work can be done from anywhere, powered by our seamless digital connections. To thrive in this next phase of the experiment, we’ll need to apply what we’ve learned about work and life. 


 


One of those key take-aways is that employee experience is at the center of our collective success. People’s wellbeing enables their productivity, innovation, and engagement at work. Companies that prioritize employee experience are 25 percent more profitable and twice as innovative than their counterparts that don’t, according to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Companies that work to enhance wellbeing significantly outperform their peers in earnings and stock appreciation.  


 


We’ve also learned what can happen when the boundary between work and life blurs. A December 2020 study found that 76 percent of US employees experience burnout. In another 2020 study, nearly 70 percent of employees reported higher stress levels, and more than half reported elevated levels of anxiety. Research also reveals a 48 percent greater likelihood that people with low engagement and wellbeing will leave their company. Employees who are not engaged cost their company the equivalent of 18 percent of their annual salary. 


 


To help people achieve balance, collaborate smartly, and find focus wherever and whenever they need it, we’re excited to announce insights and experiences that are part of Microsoft Viva, the employee experience platform built on Microsoft 365 that empowers people and teams to be their best from wherever they work. Microsoft Viva brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an employee experience that integrates seamlessly into the apps you use every day, such as Microsoft Teams. 


 


Introducing Microsoft Viva Insights


Microsoft Viva Insights gives individuals, managers, and leaders personalized and actionable insights that help everyone in an organization thrive. In addition to new productivity and wellbeing experiences and insights in Microsoft Teams, Viva Insights will, over time, bring the power of Microsoft Workplace Analytics and Microsoft MyAnalytics together under the Microsoft Viva brand. 


 


Viva Insights is designed to protect privacy. Personal insights are visible only to the individual, and for manager and leader insights, customers can rely on safeguards like de-identification, aggregation, or differential privacy by default. 


 


We’ve already started to deliver the insights and experiences in Teams for individuals, managers, and leaders that we unveiled at Ignite 2020. In fact, you can install the Viva Insights app in Teams starting today. An initial set of personal insights is available in public preview for users on Microsoft Exchange Online. Manager and leader insights are available in public preview for licensed Workplace Analytics customers. 


 


In the coming months, additional personal wellbeing experiences, including a virtual commute, an integration with Headspace for meditation and mindfulness, and an integration with Microsoft Viva Learning, will be available in Viva Insights.  


 



 


We’re also excited about features and advanced capabilities to support wellbeing and productivity. 


 



  • A new dashboard, in public preview today, enables organizations to combine de-identified and aggregated employee feedback from LinkedIn’s Glint—“how people feel”—with de-identified and aggregated collaboration data from Viva Insights—“how people work.” Leaders will be able to more accurately identify where teams may be struggling, proactively adjust work norms, and then quantify the impact of those changes over time. The dashboard is available in public preview for joint Workplace Analytics–Glint customers. 

  • Workplace Analytics customers can jumpstart deep analysis by using an open-source repository of functions, then easily share results using pre-built visualizations and interactive HTML reports.  


 


Let’s dig into how Viva Insights will support new ways of working and help employees, managers, and leaders build better work habits and achieve balance. 


 


Personal insights


Today we’re happy to announce that Microsoft Viva Insights in Microsoft Teams is now available in public preview for Microsoft 365 users with Exchange Online. The preview features an initial set of personal insights and wellbeing experiences. 


 


The stay connected experience helps employees maintain strong relationships with important people in their network. This experience gives users a seamless way to prioritize time for regular one-on-one meetings and keep up with asks distributed across emails, chats, and shared documents from a single place—important as communications increasingly go virtual. 


 


In addition, the protect time experience makes it easy for users to schedule focus time so that they can work uninterrupted—before the day fills up with meetings. 


 


The insights for individuals that this app presents are completely private, derived by summarizing Microsoft 365 data from emails, meetings, calls, and chats that individuals already have access to.  


 


Stay connected and protect focus time with Microsoft Viva Insights_1.gif


 


 


In the coming months, updates to Viva Insights will bring additional personal wellbeing experiences, such as a virtual commute to help people mindfully wrap up their workday, check-ins to help them pause and reflect on their day, and an integration with Headspace for meditation and mindfulness experiences.  


 



 


We also know that access to ongoing learning and skill-building is a key part of a great employee experience: 94 percent of employees say that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development. Learning will be easier to fit into employees’ busy day with new actionable insights, coming in the future to Microsoft Teams, to protect time for learning and course recommendations from LinkedIn Learning to support lifelong development and career growth. 


 


Personal productivity and wellbeing insights are also available in the flow of everyday work within Microsoft Outlook. People can start their day with key insights and prompts—such as opportunities to connect, meetings to prep for, and commitments to follow up on—delivered in their daily Briefing email from Cortana. This feature is generally available today in English, with a Spanish-language option on the way. 


 


To enable people to stay organized and engaged, later this year, new cards in the Briefing email will help people look forward to and prepare for the week ahead. We’re making it easier to carve out time for important activities, such as learning, and to discover unlocked courses from LinkedIn Learning in a new feature that’s also coming later this year.  


 



 


Leaders and managers


We know from research and our recent collective experiment with remote work that the connection between managers and their employees is key to engagement and a positive employee experience. In fact, managers are often lifelines in times of disruption and change.  


 


Microsoft Viva Insights in Microsoft Teams, available in preview today, includes a set of experiences that enable licensed Workplace Analytics customers to help managers and leaders empower their people to be their best. Customers can rely on safeguards such as data aggregation, de-identification, and minimum thresholds to protect privacy every step of the way.  


 



 


Managers can nurture the wellbeing of their team members through visibility into work patterns that can lead to burnout and stress, such as meeting overload, too little focus time, or time worked outside employees’ chosen work hours. Supported and contextualized by research and tips for best practices, these insights help managers identify the challenges that they most need to address while supporting employees’ varied work and flexibility needs. 


 


This experience will be enriched over time with opportunities for managers to create team action plans. Team members receive recommendations and best practices to help them prioritize wellbeing and boost productivity. And managers can assess progress against team goals over time.  


 


Microsoft Viva Insights for managers GIF.gif


 


Viva Insights in Microsoft Teams will also empower leaders to address critical strategic questions and take actions to strengthen organizational resilience, boost employee engagement, and improve agility to help ensure that their organization is ready for the future of work. For instance, we know that employees who maintain strong connections with their teammates feel a sense of organizational belonging that boosts overall job satisfaction, while those who don’t have strong connections are at risk of isolation. Leaders can understand the strength of these connections and identify ways to boost cohesion, break down silos, and create alignment and shared purpose.  


 


Microsoft Viva Insights for leaders in Teams_3.gif


 


Today we’re especially excited to introduce the Glint Microsoft Power BI dashboard. Glint is a People Success Platform, acquired by LinkedIn in 2018, that uses real-time people data to help organizations increase employee engagement and develop their people. This dashboard, available now in public preview to joint Glint–Workplace Analytics customers as part of Viva Insights, offers new capabilities that pair two powerful datasets. Customers control access to this data and to data-driven insights. By mapping de-identified and aggregated collaboration insights about “how people work” to de-identified and aggregated engagement data about “how people feel” the dashboard enables leaders to more accurately identify where teams may be struggling, proactively adjust work norms, and then quantify the impact of those changes over time. 


 


Support people's wellbeing with Microsoft Viva Insights_4.gif


 


LinkedIn joins two powerful Microsoft platforms to nurture employee wellbeing - YouTube.png


 


Advanced tools for custom analysis


For most companies, these out-of-the-box insights are just a starting point. Not only do our tools and technology continue to evolve but they also provide customers with advanced analysis and robust tools for specific and complex business problems. For example, an open-source repository of low-code pre-built functions, visualizations, and interactive HTML reports can jumpstart deep analysis to help business leaders address specific challenges. These advanced tools are available for Workplace Analytics customers.   


 


Microsoft Viva Insights uses data and signals from Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 apps and services, and can also access data from an existing ecosystem of collaboration tools and services, including Zoom, Slack, Workday, and SAP SuccessFactors. In this way, leaders can see how collaboration patterns influence the outcomes they care about, and organizations can realize exponential value from their data sources.  


 



 


In addition to the new Glint Power BI dashboard for leaders, we’re partnering to bring organizational insights from Workplace Analytics into Glint. New capabilities, now in pilot, can help leaders analyze engagement data, including comment data, based on metrics such as weekly collaboration hours, workweek span, and manager-employee one-on-one time. Glint Smart Alerts also uses this data to help organizations identify populations with low engagement or burnout so leaders can take action to increase wellbeing before employees decide to leave.   


 



 


Get started


Get started with Microsoft Viva Insights to help people across the organization thrive: 



 


   – Seth Patton, General Manager, Microsoft 365 Next Gen Productivity & Employee Experience