This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is driving innovative solutions across all industries, but with machine learning (ML) applying a paradigm change to how we approach building products, we are all exploring how to expand our skill sets and enhance our applications.
In this session we won’t be able to teach you how to become a data scientist. But in this on demand session you can spend 3 hours, showing you how to build on your current developer skills to integrate AI services into your business applications and also set you up on your journey to become certified in AI Fundamentals.
During the session we will show you interesting technology through the lens of real business scenarios and to do that we would like to introduce you to Tailwind Traders. Tailwind Traders is a retail company looking for support on how to benefit from applying AI across their business. In ‘Developers Guide to AI’ we will show how Tailwind Traders have solved business challenges and implemented AI technologies.
In this online learning series and associated Microsoft Learn learning paths you will see a wide range of examples: dealing with different types of data (text, audio, image, unstructured), sharing best practices around unstructured search and conversational AI or taking your next step in learning more about machine learning theory with low code solutions.
Session Content
Introduction
Introduction to the show and what we want people to achieve.
Introducing Computer Vision for Automation in Changing Times
Cognitive Services: Computer Vision
Interview: Willem Mentis (Global AI Community, AI MVP)
Working with Computer Vision technologies in the real world
Extracting Value from Text and Audio to Inform Business Strategy
Since the world shifted to remote work research shows there are some bright spots. People cite flexibility and greater empathy for team members. 62% of people surveyed said they feel more empathetic toward colleagues now that we can all see into each other’s lives at home. On the other hand, there are concerning trends… We’re eroding the social capital built over decades around water coolers and in hallways leading to loss of connection and feelings of isolation. People are working longer hours – leaving them feeling depleted with the biggest increases in Teams usage outside the typical 9-to-5 workday and on weekends. Workday length increased 17% in Japan, 25% in the U.S., and 45% in Australia. One third of remote workers say the lack of separation between work and life is negatively impacting their well-being and more than 30% of information workers and first line workers say the pandemic has “somewhat” or “significantly increased” their sense of burnout. But, 70% of people also indicate that meditation could help decrease work-related stress. It’s clear that people want to do great work. The big question: How can technology help?
I used this post back in early May as a guide, following it step-by-step, and found it to be very effective. Christiaan talks about the why and how and has a fantastic viewpoint (and is connected to the product).
For more information or assistance on deploying Azure virtual desktop for your business contact us.
At Ability Summit 2020 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explains his personal passion for accessibility technologies and what accessibility means to him and to Microsoft. Satya’s son has made this personal to him. He demonstrates why empathy is core to embedding accessibility into the DNA of Microsoft and into business culture at large.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Interview with Nolene LaNeve, Teams Engineering Senior Technical PM around Security in Teams
This past summer was extremely busy for the Microsoft Teams Engineering team, especially in the US Government space. They helped customers with a record number of net new deployments in the M365 US Gov Clouds; GCC, GCC High and DoD. End users wanted to collaborate with outside agencies but in a way that meant their data was secure. IT Admins wanted to know which configuration options best fit their organization’s security posture. CIO‘s wanted to lean in and give their workforce the best in class technology, all while following US Government accreditation standards. The common theme in most questions asked by our customers was around security. We recently sat down with @NoleneSLaNeve, a Senior Technical Program Manager and all-around security expert from Microsoft Teams Engineering and asked herwhatarethe top 5 security questionsasked by our US Governmentcustomers for MicrosoftTeams. After all, Nolenehelped some of our larger Federal Agenciessuccessfully deploy Teams and is known to many as the call quality expert. Interview by Rima Reyes.
1. File Sharing in a Team
Question: “How can I securely collaborate and share files with other trusted organizations inside of a Team?”
Answer: “The best and fullest collaboration experience in Teams is called Guest Access. Essentially, Guest Access allows your organization’s users to collaborate with trusted people outside of your organization on documents, tasks, channels, conversations, and other resources within a Team. When someone outside of your organization is added to a Team, this person is called a Guest. Guest users even have a richer experience in Teams chat! Before anyone can add a Guest to a Team, your IT Admins will need to configure a few things first inAzure Active Directory, the M365 Admin Center, the SharePoint Admin Center and finally the Teams Admin Center. (Everything for Guest Access is off by default.) What’s great about these configuration options is that it really gives IT Admins the power to ‘dial things up or down’ based upon how much you want (or don’t want) to share and with whom exactly your organization wants to share with. A great example of when Guest Access is appropriate is during mission focused activities, like coordinating with local authorities during a natural disaster or when multiple agencies need to be involved for a policy review. Another thing to note is that Guests in Teams are covered by the same compliance and auditing protection as the rest of Microsoft 365 and come with the added benefit of being centrally managed in Azure Active Directory.”
US Gov Cloud Caveats: “Guest Access for Azure AD and Teams is available in GCC. GCC High and DOD will have Azure AD and Teams Guest Access capabilities in the future (allowable only per the accreditation guidelines).
Question: What is the best way to chat with another trusted organization in Teams without having to share files?
Answer: “If your organization just wants to chat with people outside of the organization, then configuring External Access would be key. External access is a way for your users to find, call, chat, and set up meetings with external domains in Teams. You can also use External Access to communicate with outside users who are still using Skype for Business (online and on-premises). External Access is a great way to start figuring out what cross-government agency collaboration looks like. It’s so lightweight and easy since no file sharing is at play here. IT Admins have the power to configure who they want their organization to talk to (or not talk to) all through the Teams Admin Center. External Access is also useful for government agencies with a small subset of users who happen to be in a location that has extremely low bandwidth (think being in the middle of a forest somewhere) and must still use Skype on Prem. External Access allows for these two entities to talk to one another even while in the same organization.”
US Gov Cloud Caveats: “GCC & GCC High users can setup External Access with each other and with organizations in Commercial. DOD agencies can setup External Access with each other only.”
Answer: “Teams data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Microsoft also encrypts all of the data going between a user’s device and when it finally lands in a Microsoft datacenter. (Even betweendatacenters too!) Compliance data is also encrypted at rest in Microsoftdatacenters, but it is done so in a way that allows organizations to decrypt the content if needed for compliance reasons, like running an eDiscovery case. The type of encryption that Teams uses for all chat messages are TLS (Transport Layer Security) and MTLS (Mutual Transport Layer Security). FYI, TLS and MTLS protocols provide encrypted communications and endpoint authentication on the internet. Teams media content uses a type of network protocol used for delivering audio and video called RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) and SRTP (Secure RTP) to encrypt media traffic. When it comes to how other content in Teams is encrypted, remember that files are stored in SharePoint and are backed by SharePoint encryption. Notes are stored in OneNote and are backed by OneNote encryption. The OneNote data is stored in the team’s SharePoint site. IT Admins should become really comfortable with managing the other services in M365 as well since Teams works in partnership with SharePoint, OneNote, Exchange, and more…”
Question: Why is VPN split tunneling important for just Teams media traffic? How can US Gov organizations champion for this change?
Answer: “This is the question asked the most by our US Government customers. Most organizations we talk to think that they have to be the ones encrypting all traffic and content over the VPN but in actuality that’s not the case, especially whenMicrosoft is already encrypting the content for you. (There is no value in double encrypting each packet of data.) In fact, many organizations run their Teams media traffic over the VPN as well causing it to crumble and all but ensuring a poor user experience. Let’s envision an example of how VPN tunnels work. Imagine a 2-lane road. Rush hour has just started so more and more cars are occupying this 2-lane road. The more cars, the slower everyone will move along the road. Cars represent packets of data. If there are too many cars on the road, other important traffic can’t get through. That’s why it’s important for traffic that doesn’t have to be encrypted by the customer’s network be moved off the VPN, like Teams media traffic since it’s encrypted anyway. Split tunneling VPN traffic enables segmenting traffic to be egressed to Office 365 via a direct Internet connection. My team always recommends that at a minimum, organizations enable split-tunnel VPN for Teams media traffic to reduce VPN load. This ensures a high-quality experience for all media scenarios within Teams (and much happier end users with less help desk tickets). Teams Engineering made sure it was easier for customers to implement this since Teams only uses 4 UDP ports and 3 IP ranges for media traffic. In other words, its much easier to split out media traffic and take Teams media traffic off the VPN! Remember, we aren’t saying to remove all M365 traffic off the VPN, just Teams media traffic.”
Question: How can customers be assured they know who is in their meetings and not have any ‘uninvited guests’?
Answer: “Ever host an event where unexpected folks showed up and no one was checking their invites at the door? Sam‘s 3rd cousin Vinny happened to hear about your party from his great aunt Myra. How did that even happen, right?! Teams can help you check a guest’s invite at the door before they come into the party! The Teams Admin Center has configuration controls that allow organizations to match meeting security to their specific needs.
We recommend the following configuration settings for Teams Meetings with external participants:
In the Teams Admin Center, turn on the toggle for Anonymous Join. With this setting on, anyone can join the meeting as an outside user by clicking the link in the meeting invitation. Enabling anonymous join is only for Teams meetings and does not allow the sharing of files during a meeting with those outside of your organization.
Outside Users without a Teams Account:
Must enter a name before joining the meeting.
Meeting chat is limited to text only.
Can join via the Teams mobile app, even without an already existing account (the app just needs to be installed on the phone before clicking the meeting link).
Cannot create or join a meeting as a presenter, but can be promoted to presenter after they join a meeting.
Outside users with a Teams Account:
Can choose to sign in before joining the meeting for a richer meeting experience. These users, if promoted to do so, can act as presenters.
Think about using Azure Information Protection Labels in Outlook as an option for meeting organizers to apply classifications that do not allow forwarding of meeting invites.
In the Teams Admin Center under the Meeting Policies Section, most US Gov agencies use these configuration settings…”
US Gov Cloud Caveats: GCC and GCC High organizations can enable anonymous join to allow outside users join their meetings. DOD hosted meetings cannot be joined by users outside of the DOD.
Bonus Question: What is the fastest way I can deploy Teams in my organization without missing anything important, all while focusing on security?
Answer: “We know these are trying times and want to make sure everyone has the best experience when working from home or in a remote environment. We know Teams can help with that better user experience. That’s why we have catered the ‘must do’ list for deploying Microsoft Teams in your US Gov organization! Check out the resource below!
Senior Technical Program Manager, Teams Customer Engineering
Nolene LaNeve is currently a Senior Technical Program Manager in Microsoft’s Teams Engineering Product Group. Nolene is a subject matter expert on media quality and reliability and specializes in ensuring organizations in highly-regulated industries can deploy and/or upgrade to Microsoft Teams and achieve superior media quality and reliability while maintaining necessary security requirements.
Prior to her role in Teams Engineering, Nolene was a Solutions Architect in the Skype Circle of Excellence, where she built the “Optimize Enterprise Communications” engagement and helped customers optimize their Skype for Business deployments, as well as migrate to Office 365.
Nolene came to Microsoft as a Premier Field Engineer, where she supported financial services and defense technology organizations, after being on the customer side as a lead application engineer at Raymond James Financial Services, as well as a mobility engineer at AVI-SPL.
We’re getting a lot of inquiries about how to best prepared in case there are school and daycare closures or in the event someone in the office contracts the virus and others who may have had contact will have to quarantine themselves. We’re recommending a strategy built around Office 365 and OneDrive. Because Office 365 and OneDrive can be remotely accessed by any computer, either through a browser or via an app, workers can continue to be productive away from the office. However, we know there may some questions about printing (ex. – printing checks), scanners, or accessing non-Microsoft programs that do not have a Web interface. For this reason, we’ve developed a short questionnaire for you to fill out to identify all the areas of your business remote workers will need to access. Please follow this link to fill out the questionnaire.
Heads up from the CDC for businesses to prepare for COVID-19
Planning Considerations
All employers need to consider how best to decrease the spread of acute respiratory illness and lower the impact of COVID-19 in their workplace in the event of an outbreak in the US. They should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b) protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications, (c) maintaining business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains. Some of the key considerations when making decisions on appropriate responses are:
Disease severity (i.e., number of people who are sick, hospitalization and death rates) in the community where the business is located;
Impact of disease on employees that are vulnerable and may be at higher risk for COVID-19 adverse health complications. Inform employees that some people may be at higher risk for severe illness, such as older adults and those with chronic medical conditions.
Prepare for possible increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members, dismissals of early childhood programs and K-12 schools due to high levels of absenteeism or illness:
Employers should plan to monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace. Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
Assess your essential functions and the reliance that others and the community have on your services or products. Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g., identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).
Employers with more than one business location are encouraged to provide local managers with the authority to take appropriate actions outlined in their business infectious disease outbreak response plan based on the condition in each locality.
Coordination with state and local health officials is strongly encouraged for all businesses so that timely and accurate information can guide appropriate responses in each location where their operations reside. Since the intensity of an outbreak may differ according to geographic location, local health officials will be issuing guidance specific to their communities.
Important Considerations for Creating an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan
All employers should be ready to implement strategies to protect their workforce from COVID-19 while ensuring continuity of operations. During a COVID-19 outbreak, all sick employees should stay home and away from the workplace, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene should be encouraged, and routine cleaning of commonly touched surfaces should be performed regularly.
If you need assistance with your Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan please go here.
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