August 27, 2020

The 5 Habits Of Successful Sales Leaders

If you distilled the best practice for sales leaders, what would it look like? Kevin Kruse, CEO of LEADx has complied his 5 top habits for sales managers to foster a top sales team. Learn how he sees your role as coach, how to give feedback and more! Next, use Dynamics 365 to optimize your team's productivity by automating routine tasks and embedding familiar tools such as LinkedIn, Outlook, Excel etc. right into your sales process. Couldn't be easier! Great sales managers develop 5 habits to engage their team members.

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Social Asset C: Empower security teams to coordinate

Stay connected to empower your team. Learn more about unifying your workplace collaboration with Microsoft Teams! Subscribe now!

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August 26, 2020

Benefits of using Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure

This whitepaper highlights why Azure makes sense for applications that rely on SQL Server or Windows Server, based on four themes: security, innovation, hybridity, and cost.

View: Benefits of using Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure

The power of relationship selling

In this report—a collaboration between Microsoft and Heinz Marketing—you'll find insights gleaned from over 200 in-depth surveys with top sales leaders. Learn how to achieve desired sales goals, maximize the effectiveness of customer data, and take more strategic steps toward building personal relationships using data-driven engagement tactics.

View: The power of relationship selling

Now is the time for Microsoft Teams

This infographic outlines how you can stay in touch with the hub for teamwork in Office 365. With Microsoft Teams you can connect, collaborate, and come together securely by meeting with your peers and getting work done anywhere - even remotely.

View: Now is the time for Microsoft Teams

Chief Data Officers Struggle To Make A Business Impact

Data continues to proliferate. Digital transformation initiatives are driving intensified competition. In this thought leadership article, an experienced strategy consultant suggests harnessing the full power of data is the key to driving successful transformation. More than a one-shot effort, data-driven transformation is a long and sustained journey which requires commitment, steadfastness and adaptability. A Microsoft partner and Azure solutions provider, Bay Area IT Solutions, Inc. delivers the cloud, security and AI technology needed to build and sustain an effective, agile data estate.

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5 Ways to Inspire Creativity and Innovation in Your Employees

Scott Duffy, entrepreneur and author of the book "Breakthrough," let us in on how to foster creative teamwork by breaking your staff out of the office mindset. In this Entrepreneur Magazine article, he shares tips to help you build experimentation in your team and create comfort around risk. Read on to learn how to foster inspiration and innovation!

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August 25, 2020

Solution overview video

This video highlights the benefits of using Activate Digital Selling solutions from Microsoft. Make the digital buying experience rich, personal, and efficient with predictive AI and unified customer data.

Law firm runs better with server on Azure

Why run Windows Server on Azure? Ellen Kirby, senior manager of Technical Operations and senior enterprise architect at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, talks about the benefits of running the law firm's Windows Servers on Azure and about leveraging Windows Admin Center for better management and automation.

Create instant remote work meetings with Microsoft Teams

Stay connected with Microsoft Teams while working from home with the help of the "Meet now" feature. In this video, you'll learn how to use "Meet now," which gives you the ability to turn a team chat conversation into an instant remote meeting.

Day in the life - IT project manager

Join Jamal, IT project manager, as he navigates his day with the help of Microsoft Teams. With the mobile app, he joins the daily stand up meeting and reviews the daily activity feed. He reviews status and trends in the dashboard and tasks by owner in the planner. With the cloud-based meeting app. he can review past meetings and he tracks finances in another tab. Check out how Microsoft Teams makes his planning so much smoother with a secure location that brings together everything teams needs to be productive.

View: Day in the life - IT project manager

Transform interactions with Microsoft Dynamics 365!

Real time insights and embedded intelligence transform your customer interactions. Understand the impact of the buyer's journey. Target the right audience with dynamic segmentation. Bring together insights from multiple channels to give you unmatched advantage! Transform your selling with Microsoft Dynamics 365!

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August 19, 2020

A day in the life - Marketing

Meet Pam, a marketer who's planning an event while running the rest of her marketing operation. She can check her activity feed at home before leaving for work to see the priorities for the day. She can join a status meeting remotely using Microsoft Teams and using OneDrive-lined documents she can share documents, co-edit files in PowerPoint, Excel and access outside apps like Adobe Creative Cloud, Hootsuite and much more. Take a look and explore how Microsoft Teams can bring together everything a team needs to be productive!

View: A day in the life - Marketing

6 Strategies to boost sales productivity: A guide to modernizing your growing business

This guide will give you six strategies for meeting your sales challenges. You'll get tips on how to meet customers at any point in the possibly non-linear journey, implement seamless solutions, ease onboarding and alignment, and get holistic performance insights. 92% of sales organizations rank sales engagement platforms as critical to their success.(1) You can help your customers make this critical move and find a solution that scales with their business--Dynamics 365. (1) Craig Rosenberg, "Sales Engagement - the Definitive Guide," TOPO, accessed January 15, 2019

View: 6 Strategies to boost sales productivity: A guide to modernizing your growing business

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SQL Server 2019 and Azure Data Services offer an industry-leading data platform with built-in security, enhanced performance and data analytics to modernize your business.

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Gartner Peer Insights 'Voice of the Customer': CRM Lead Management

Gartner Peer Insights compares vendors' customer relationship management (CRM) systems, which can then be used to determine best practices for your own business. This study in statistics provides insight on the best ways to capture and manage leads.

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Social Asset 1: Subscribe now

To learn more about selling smarter, subscribe now.

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What is Teams?

This video shows how you can pull together a team with Microsoft Teams on your PC, Mac, or mobile device. Use chat instead of email, securely edit files at the same time, see your likes, mentions, and replies with just a single tap, and have the freedom to customize it all by adding notes, websites, and apps.

August 18, 2020

Itaú Unibanco boosts service availability and data processing with SQL Server 2019

Completing 5 billion transactions a day with aging data infrastructure, Itaú Unibanco knew it needed to update its system—and it finally did. Using Microsoft SQL Server 2019 it can now deliver the high-level service its customers came to expect. Director of Operations Fabio Napoli confirmed, "Migration was easy...and it fixed problems—what usually takes hours now can be done in seconds." How much more could your business achieve if you unlocked the full potential of your data? Reach out to Bay Area IT Solutions, Inc. to find out how we can help.

August 17, 2020

Systems Imagination uses SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters to deliver cutting-edge medical insights

Systems Imagination uses big data to discover new tiers of medical insights unobtainable through conventional means. In order to gain the distributed computing power it needed, the company adopted Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. Now, it delivers results based on petabytes of data to its customers within hours while simultaneously keeping operating costs low.

Buying is a journey

Go beyond transactions and interactions to give your buyers unique experiences that build trust. Transform the sales experience with Dynamics 365 Sales. Features include enabling smarter selling with contextual AI, increasing sales profitably with advanced insights, and improving coaching and sales performance.

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August 12, 2020

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Business Models

Business models are quickly changing in the age of AI. In this article, Jayshree Pandya of Risk Group writes about how the application and adoption of AI will revolutionize business and commerce. Still struggling to determine how AI can work for you? Contact us to learn more.

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Here Is the One Question You Need to Ask Your Sales Team

What's the one question to ask your sales team to empower them to achieve more? Check out this article from award-winning researcher, sales expert and tech entrepreneur, David Priemer. In Entrepreneur, David shares advice for selling more, faster and with less friction --encouraging organizations to unveil "blockers and blind spots lurking in the dark corners of your sales operation."

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Take customer engagement to a whole new level

Engagement matters to technology buyers. Check out this infographic to see how combining Dynamics 365 for Sales, Office 365 and LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps customers break through roadblocks to better sales efficiency by bringing relationship data together for actionable insights. Get out from under the complexity of disconnected tools, data and processes once and for all!

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Social Asset BYL B: Unify workplace collaboration

Subscribe now and unify your workplace collaboration with @Microsoft Teams.

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eBook: The ultimate guide to Windows Server 2019

Take full advantage of your on-premises investments with Windows Server 2019. Learn how to extend your on-premises environments to the cloud with the Windows Server 2019 advanced hybrid capabilities. Additionally, learn how to add additional security layers and update your applications and infrastructure when you connect to the cloud.

View: eBook: The ultimate guide to Windows Server 2019

August 11, 2020

Creating World-Class Collaboration In A Global Team

Teams in today's modern workplace are often multi-office or even multi-continent affairs. As a result, team cohesion can challenge the best managers. In this Forbes article, "Creating world-class collaboration in a global team," learn how Kim DeLine, the COO for Elevate K-12, engages a distributed workforce in her role at the leading live streaming company in the education field. With Microsoft Teams, you can connect across geographical and organization boundaries, run status updates and team building with remote workers via a cloud-based meeting solution, and foster a culture of knowledge sharing. See how important it is to explain the "why" with a multi-cultural office and encourage an understanding of purpose during times of change.

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Imperial College London uses Teams to teach and connect in a time of COVID

A world top ten university, with an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research, Imperial College London now uses Microsoft Teams to teach and connect in a time of COVID-19. In this video, see how the college is now relying on Teams for the delivery of its lectures and its remote labs, as well as a "virtual common room" where students and faculty can interact. Staff now have the fluid integration of shared files, scheduled events, and the students' use of the virtual learning environment, providing opportunities to respond to students in a way never done before.

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Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

Managed Instance is a resource type in SQL Database that enables you to quickly and confidently move your SQL Server databases (2005 and newer) at scale to the cloud. Companies report a 212% return on investment by moving their SQL Server databases to Azure with less that 6 months post-migration payback. Read this infographic for more on how straightforward and economical migration can be.

View: Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

A day in the life - sales with Microsoft Teams

April, a sales rep, is looking to grow her company's Midwest customer base. See how she starts her day finding a lead in Microsoft Teams and then uses Dynamics and Power BI to dig out connections that turn that lead into an opportunity. By 5pm she now has a new resource to amp up more sales opportunities in the region. Check out this infographic to see what deal building looks like with Microsoft Teams!

View: A day in the life - sales with Microsoft Teams

Solution overview video

Learn about the features and benefits of migrating to Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure. This video discusses key aspects such as preventing the loss of valuable data and getting the lowest cost of ownership.

August 10, 2020

How to accelerate digital selling with Dynamics 365

This video provides an overview of the sales accelerator in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Insights. You will learn how to maintain business continuity with the sales accelerator, a digital-first experience that enables salespeople to work remotely.

August 5, 2020

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Today's modern salesforce needs tools to streamline the sales process, automate routine tasks and identify the best path to each buyer. Explore Dynamics 365. It offers insights and identifies relationship risks and opportunities. It can even recommend next steps--action cards, social and email engagement strategies and sales playbooks. And it does this while interacting with the platform and tools your team already uses -- like LinkedIn, Office 365 and Skype. You need info on the best tools to help your team succeed. Case studies, user tips and more from Bay Area IT Solutions, Inc.. Subscribe now to keep it coming!

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A Developer's Guide to Building AI Application

Like the vast majority of Nepalese, Melisha Ghimere came from a remote village from a family of subsistence farmers who raised cows, goats, and water buffalos. Seven years ago, she watched her relatively wealthy uncle and aunt lose a lot of their herd to an outbreak of anthrax; they were never to recover their economic footing. Melisha went on to college thinking about the plight of her family. In college, she worked to develop a predictive early warning solution to help farmers. With a team of four students, they researched livestock farming, veterinary practices, and spoke to farmers. They built a prototype for a monitoring device that tracks temperature, sleep patterns, stress levels, motion, and the activity of farm animals. Melisha's AI system predicts the likely health of each animal based on often subtle changes in these observations. Farmers are able to track their animals, receive alerts and actionable recommendations. Although her project is still in its infancy, the field tests have shown the solution was about 95% accurate in predicting risks to an animal's health. Melisha and her team were able to help a family prevent a deadly outbreak of an anthrax infection by identifying a diseased cow, before symptoms were evident to the farmer. Melisha's team was a regional finalist in Microsoft's Imagine Cup competition in 2016.* For more to inspire you to embrace AI, read this developer's ebook. Then contact us to find out how we can help make AI work for you! * The Future Computed--Artificial Intelligence and its role in society--Microsoft

View: A Developer's Guide to Building AI Application

Guide to Creating a BYOD Policy for Small Business

Allowing employees to access company data from personal devices can be essential to creating work-life balance, but employee-owned devices can also pose security threats. Check out this article for an overview of the risks and benefits of implementing a bring-your-own-device policy. Contact us for more information on how to help your company secure company data accessed from personal devices.

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Innovate Infographic

Moving Windows Server and SQL workloads to Azure provides flexible, scalable, and highly available cloud infrastructure. It also supports rapid innovation and digital transformation, freeing you to innovate. This infographic presents the benefits of running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure.

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Social Asset 3: Subscribe now

Drive smarter selling and optimize engagement. Microsoft has the tools to make it happen. Subscribe now!

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August 4, 2020

A Day in the Life of a Construction Pro with Microsoft Teams

Sofia is a construction company superintendent who works at multiple sites and uses Teams to keep her schedule and projects all in one place. View this infographic to get a glimpse of a day in Sofia's life -- and how she uses productivity, collaboration, BI and enterprise mobility tools in Teams to stay on track.

View: A Day in the Life of a Construction Pro with Microsoft Teams

Employee empowerment bears fruit

Early adopters of Office 365, Fruit of the Loom uses Microsoft Teams to combine tools that allow 30,000 associates to collaborate across locations and countries around the world. The video in this episode tells the Fruit of the Loom story -- showing that no company is too established to transform. Watch it to discover how Microsoft Teams empowers employees to effectively express ideas and unlock creativity by bringing together chat, meeting, calling, Office 365 apps and third-party tools -- all in one place. In a world where enterprise-grade security and compliance are non-negotiable, Microsoft Teams gives Fruit of the Loom the protection it needs to create a secure culture of knowledge sharing and creativity.

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Integral Analytics switches to Azure from AWS for high performance and cost-effective data warehousing

Darrin Kinney of Seattle City Light said, "Some of the biggest challenges are just collecting and handling the vast amounts of data." Now, using Azure SQL Data Warehouse, this energy-analytics firm cost effectively brings actionable insights to electric utilities. Watch this video to hear more.

Customer story: Garner Foods

Although Garner Foods is based in South Carolina, they sell hot sauce and Green Mountain Gringo brand products all over the world. With digital tools, their projects are easily managed remotely, and team members can work from anywhere. Garner Foods chose to partner with Microsoft 365 Business to easily onboard new employees and to secure company data stored on countless devices. With employees and sales representatives traveling all over the United States, being able to securely work and collaborate from any device has played a huge role in the company's ongoing success.

Itaú Unibanco boosts service availability and data processing with SQL Server 2019

As a banking leader in Latin America and one of the largest banks in the world, Itaú Unibanco handles thousands of transactions every second. Operating on an aging data infrastructure, the bank found it difficult to expand its digital services without breaking SLAs or putting its guarantee of continuous service availability at risk. Since it migrated database services to Microsoft SQL Server 2019 based on Intel datacenter technologies, Itaú Unibanco can confidently scale data collection and infrastructure maintenance while it delivers the high level of service its private and commercial banking customers rely on.

August 3, 2020

Rapidly-growing UK restaurant chain migrates key business processes to Microsoft Dynamics 365

TGI Friday's popular and rapidly growing restaurant franchise in the UK wanted a more scalable, flexible platform for core business processes. To support its ambitious growth, the franchise is consolidating business operations starting with financial management on Microsoft Dynamics 365. Built-in functionality and ease-of-use mean that TGI Friday's can continue to onboard more business processes while expanding its franchise. Benefits include lower costs, easier access to data, and better insight.