April 28, 2021
In an era of distractions, Microsoft wants AI to be your coworker
Microsoft is aiming to adapt its productivity suite to a short-attention-span world, bringing years of research into products like PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel. This article outlines how after years of slavishly digitizing and formatting words, numbers, and images, future versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will be much more aware of your work and how you do it. Intelligent algorithms will find patterns and meanings in the data and use the insights to help you get through your day more efficiently. This transition to smarter work software has already begun.
Why Promoting Healthier Workplace Habits Will Boost Your Business
Too many existing workplace environments lack adequate value when it comes to mental health and physical fitness, according to Sam Corcos in his Entrepreneur article, "Why Promoting Healthier Workplace Habits Will Boost Your Business." Corcos acknowledges, "we're living in a fast-paced era with higher stress levels than ever," so it's crucial you show your employees you care about their health and well-being.
Half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job for mental health reasons, according to a recent study by Mind Share Partners, Qualtrics and SAP. Combine this high exit rate with the fact that according to the Centers for Disease Control, depression reduces cognitive performance one-third of the time—and you have a petri dish of too many unnecessarily-high unhealthy work environments.
"To help your employees mitigate these health risks and improve mental clarity and motivation, become part of the solution," writes Corcos. An example of what you can do? Improve the nutritional quality of the food and drink offered in the building. Vending machines and office parties with snacks and drinks high in sugar not only provide an eventual crash in energy levels and mental clarity after consumption, but they also contribute to long term health problems.
Instead, Dr. Casey Means suggests offering glucose-stabilizing snacks such as nuts, seeds, berries, sliced veggies, hummus, olive tapenade, bean dips, nut butters, grain-free nut-based crackers, roasted seaweed and roasted chickpeas. She says that, "these types of snacks tend to generate less of a glucose spike, thereby helping employees maintain energy levels and mental clarity while also providing their brains and bodies with health-promoting nutrients."
At the same time, encourage employees to monitor their glucose levels and corresponding daily energy and mental sharpness, as well as overall physical and mental health.
Corcos includes other solutions to a healthier workplace, so be sure to read the entire article. Ultimately, the modern workplace needs to value the physical and mental health of its employees.
April 27, 2021
Where Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt Next
With so many possible artificial intelligence (AI) applications, predicting trends can be challenging, especially in an age when innovation reigns supreme and new breakthroughs occur every day. So, in an effort to gain further insights into the future of AI, researchers from Stanford University and the Brookings Institution analyzed keywords in patents to identify where the technology will have its greatest impact on jobs and companies in the years ahead.
Read this article to learn about their predictions about the future of AI and gain insights into what industries will be most impacted by artificial intelligence and its applications.
Get started with Power Apps - Learn
Ready to create your first app? Learn the basics of Microsoft Power Apps and how you can make your business more efficient. Explore the different technologies and easily build an app:
Analytics & AI solution video
This video is a quick introduction to Microsoft Analytics and AI, explaining how to expand the reach of your data insights and gain increasing levels of efficiency and personalization. By harnessing the power of Microsoft Analytics, you can inform and drive intelligent automation through AI and machine learning.
How AI is transforming healthcare
Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving massive innovation in the healthcare and life sciences industries. It's expediting advances in drug research and discovery, allowing for better and faster diagnoses, and enabling far greater efficiency in business processes. Considering how many can benefit from AI advancements in the healthcare industry, it's a sector where technology stands to have the one of the biggest impacts on society.
Read this article to learn how #AI, machine learning, and robots will continue to shape the future of the healthcare industry and enhance patient experiences in the upcoming decades.
Teams quick start guide
Whether you are new to Teams and need to learn the basics or you are using Teams and want a handy reference, this Quick Start Guide for Teams is a must-have-close-by-tool.
It includes start up necessities, such as buttons, tabs and channels, but also includes the how-to tasks you need to know only when you're ready to do them: start an impromptu meeting, make video and audio calls, share a file, add apps, and search for stuff, for example.
Keep this guide handy and share it with other users!
April 26, 2021
A step forward in the age of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way, especially in recent times. In the past five years, adoption of AI-driven technology has significantly increased among the world's enterprises, leading to smarter machines and a validation of AI's role in these organizations. As more businesses adopt AI, it becomes more important as a potentiator of human talent. Businesses also gain increasing access to unparalleled levels of innovation.
In this infographic, you'll get a glimpse into how Microsoft-powered AI features have been making businesses around the world smarter and more efficient.
4 reasons small businesses should innovate with Power Apps
This infographic demonstrates how Microsoft Power Apps can help businesses empower their workforce, save money building apps, simplify the development process, and scale quickly without compromising quality or security. Learn more:
View: 4 reasons small businesses should innovate with Power Apps
Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Demonstrating Improvements in quality and efficiency of patient care
Healthcare organizations face extreme business, clinical, and technical pressures as they make the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care delivery and reimbursement models. Legacy Electronic Health Records (EHRs), as they are architected today, lack true collaboration capabilities, resulting in clinician inefficiencies and patient dissatisfaction. To make matters worse, with the shift from volume- to value-based payments, patients are now discharged "quicker and sicker" into a delivery ecosystem that was never designed to manage and coordinate care beyond any single facility. To succeed in this new paradigm, providers must become increasingly more agile and collaborative; they must also recognize the importance of CRM as a component of their patient engagement strategy.
Read this whitepaper to learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides healthcare organizations with the salesforce automation, marketing planning, social listening and engagement, customer service, and analytics capabilities that are crucial for improving patient care and enhancing collaboration within and among care teams.
View: Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Demonstrating Improvements in quality and efficiency of patient care
April 21, 2021
Increase yields with smart, solar-powered farming solutions. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.
Optimizing resources is a top priority in the farming industry. As farmable land gets more utilized and population increases, the need to do more with less becomes a crucial competitive advantage. Luckily, today's farmers have various digital tools at their disposal such as automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence that allow them to increase yields while lowering their water and electricity consumptions levels.
Subscribe now to learn how independent farmers around the world are leveraging Microsoft technology powered by solar energy to increase and stabilize their income, and how you, too, can get started with Azure AI.
Deepen and engage customers with AI
Microsoft Analytics and AI accelerates digital transformation that deepens engagement, predicts outcomes, and automates operations. Subscribe now!
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Digital collaboration increases transparency among employees; it also empowers organizations to develop better interdepartmental relationships, improve workflow, and reduce lead times. In addition, collaboration solutions can provide co-workers with a single place to brainstorm ideas, communicate, collaborate, store files, share knowledge, and get work done without any lags or setbacks.
Subscribe now to get the latest insights into how digital collaboration powered by Microsoft 365 is creating more efficient, faster-growing businesses worldwide.
Privacy, security, and compliance are prioritized in Microsoft Teams
Now more than ever, people need to know their virtual conversations are private and secure. Microsoft is committed to giving users transparency over the collection, use, and distribution of their data. No tracking for participant attention or multitasking during Teams meetings. No unfettered government access to data, and no ads linked to data. Microsoft even offers transparency reports on the Transparency Hub, detailing how it responded to third-party requests for data.
"We are committed to providing products, information, and controls that you let choose how your data is collected and used," stated President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith. Knowing that your organization can experience enterprise-grade communication and collaboration while at the same time be protected, secure, and compliant—that allows you do your work with confidence.
View: Privacy, security, and compliance are prioritized in Microsoft Teams
April 20, 2021
How Low-Code Platforms Let Developers Drive Business Innovation
Watch this webinar to learn how low-code platforms like Microsoft Power Apps empower all developers to unleash innovation and drive growth. Discover how to engage and leverage your team in a pro developer scarcity climate. Microsoft and Forrester Research speakers lead the discussion. Sign up here.
Low-code drives business transformation
This infographic shows how Microsoft Power Apps uses low code to help you save money and time for your business. See why Forrester named Microsoft a leader in low-code development platforms, and discover the benefits of Power Apps here.
Allstate transforms the customer experience with Azure AI
This video showcases how Allstate is transforming customer support with artificial intelligence. With Azure Cognitive Services, Allstate is capturing insights from customer calls to enable a more seamless customer experience.
Empowering independence for farmers
Modern technology has enabled farmers to obtain impressive yields that sustain entire populations while allowing them to become as efficient as possible with their available resources. However, most of this technology is dependent upon stable electrical grids, large-scale aqueducts, and a steady fuel supply, all of which are not readily available to millions of farmers around the world.
One of these farmers is Monica, who depended on a water well located on her property as her only water source to sustain both her farm and her family. To make matters worse, climate change made rain increasingly scarce in her region of Kenya, Africa, which further decreased her available water supply and forced her to work harder just to maintain her current yields. Thankfully, just as things seemed impossible, digital transformation provided her with the solution she needed to secure a better future.
In this video, you'll learn about Monica's story and how, thanks to solar-powered Microsoft technology, she was able to automate her entire irrigation system, gain access to accurate weather forecasts, and obtain more income year round.
The value of low-code: turn your bright ideas into brilliant apps
This video is a quick introduction to low-code capabilities and how Microsoft Power Apps uses this technology to empower businesses to create innovative apps. Discover how to reduce inefficiencies and solve business challenges by quickly and easily creating custom applications.
April 19, 2021
DHHS: Collaborating and caring
Choosing the right tools for productivity and collaboration is critical for any organization to achieve its digital transformation goals. For employees to effectively share information across multiple departments and projects, businesses must empower their workers and clients via access to the very best digital technology available. By making the productivity of their employees a main focus of their digital initiatives, organizations can enjoy the growth that comes from increased collaboration and more-efficient internal processes.
Watch this video to learn how the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of Victoria, Australia, is using Microsoft 365, Azure, and Dynamics 365 to boost employee productivity through more-effective collaboration and more-efficient internal processes.
NSW: Affording a device in every hand
Business.com named Microsoft Teams the best video conferencing service in 2020: "What truly makes this service appealing is its integration with other Microsoft Office applications. If you already use Word, Excel and Outlook, integrating Teams into your workflow is a simple process. Considering everything you get access to, this is one of the most affordable video conferencing services we found in our research." Businesses don't need a chat feature or other stand-alone services—they need to be able to perform their tasks while having access to their files—they need integration. This is what Teams provides, and at an affordable price.
View this video and see how integration and affordability enabled the education department in New South Wales to put a device in every pair of hands.
April 13, 2021
Spotlight on 'Teams as a Platform' at Virtual Microsoft Build 2020
At Microsoft's annual Build developer conference, there were several updates announced for Microsoft Teams. According to veteran participant and Forbes contributor Patrick Moorhead, the integration of Teams with Microsoft Power Platform "was the biggest story out of the conference this year, as it turns Teams into essentially a full-blown platform. With the lack of developers globally, I think this combination could enable some very powerful capabilities."
Power BI is also getting further integrated into Teams, notes Moorhead. Users will be able to import and share reports, or merely charts from reports, from the new 'Share to Teams' button in the Power BI portal. "Additionally, when a chart is shared to a Teams conversation it will now include a rich thumbnail preview, and an adaptive card that Microsoft says will enable users to take action on said chart," writes Moorhead.
There's lots more to take note of for the improvements around Microsoft Teams and its far-reaching capabilities. Read Moorhead's entire article, "Spotlight on 'Teams as a Platform' at Virtual Microsoft Build 2020" for an overview of these developments.
Employ flexible, open hybrid cloud solutions and transform customer engagement
Keep up to date on cloud solutions to transform customer engagement. Subscribe now.
View: Employ flexible, open hybrid cloud solutions and transform customer engagement
Forget the ROI: With artificial intelligence, decision-making will never be the same
The benefits of AI are undeniable, yet the technology itself is still not widely seen as a surefire investment by a large percentage of today's decision makers. As a matter of fact, a recent study revealed that only 40 percent out of 1,500 executives have stated that they're currently executing one AI initiative, or are in the process of doing so. There are multiple reasons for this— among them, a shortage of AI professionals, plus challenges when calculating profitability —but the real silver lining is that the fight for greater inclusion of AI-driven projects starts by bringing solid arguments to the boardroom.
In this article, you'll read about four evidence-based and time-proven cases you can use to push forward the execution of your artificial intelligence initiatives.
Digital therapeutics trends and considerations in times of crisis
Digital Therapeutics (DTx) mobile software solutions that digitally deliver clinically proven medical interventions have been crucial in helping countless people to receive effective healthcare from the comfort of their own homes. Thanks to these solutions, healthcare providers and organizations have managed to successfully connect with patients around the world to monitor and address their mental health, cognition, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and overall wellbeing.
Read this article to learn about the main trends that have emerged in how companies are leveraging DTx to help people with chronic conditions live healthier, more fulfilling lives, even during the current pandemic.
April 12, 2021
How American Express and Microsoft can help merchants battle fraud
This article chronicles how Microsoft partnered with American Express to improve the accuracy of fraud protection for online retailers. American Express joined forces with Microsoft to enable merchants and card issuers to share information about risk exposure while incorporating information in detailed evaluations.
Begin your artificial intelligence journey with Microsoft
Today, artificial intelligence is becoming essential to the daily operations of the world's leading enterprises. This integration has allowed subsequent breakthroughs in AI to trickle down into other industries and smaller-sized businesses, allowing them to reap the benefits of technological advancement and automation. Thanks to this snowball effect, artificial intelligence is no longer the work of science fiction, but a relevant and necessary tool that can help you achieve previously unattainable business opportunities and increase efficiency like never before.
In this infographic, you'll learn more about the history of Microsoft's AI breakthroughs to gain a better perspective on how your current initiatives can be complemented or enhanced by Azure AI.
View: Begin your artificial intelligence journey with Microsoft
Solution overview video
This video highlights the benefits and features of using the Modernize .NET Microsoft solution to find lightning fast innovation, elastic scalability, cost savings, and better performance.
April 7, 2021
Create a smarter farm powered by sustainable energy and artificial intelligence. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.
When it comes to digital transformation, becoming more efficient has always been a top priority, especially with regard to natural resources. Here, smart farming has allowed the industry to evolve in an exponentially more sustainable way while also delivering innovative solutions to issues such as population growth, climate change, and livestock nurturing.
Subscribe now to get the latest news on how you can start creating a smarter farm, fueled by sustainable energy sources and powered by the intelligence of Microsoft Azure AI.
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Digital transformation has become one of the keys that modern healthcare providers use to unlock increased efficiency and dramatically improve their patients' experiences. From applications that enable patients to solicit their services from any location to collaboration software that allows providers to increase the effectiveness of existing services, digital is transforming the industry in ways that were previously unthinkable.
Subscribe now to stay up to date on the latest insights and trends in the digitization of healthcare, and see how Microsoft technology can be used to provide patients with enhanced services.
April 6, 2021
Digital collaboration is key to success in the modern workplace
What is Microsoft Teams? It's a collaboration hub—a place to conduct 1:1 and group chat and to engage in powerful online meetings. It has Enterprise calling and voice with built-in Office 365 apps. Teams' versatility is stronger than ever, while maintaining enterprise-grade security and compliance that customers rely on. App integration is also built in—and there's a steady increase in organizations utilizing apps with the tool. There's a reason it's the fastest growing business application in Microsoft history.
Subscribe now to learn how digital collaboration powered by Microsoft Teams is the answer to modern workplace needs this year.
View: Digital collaboration is key to success in the modern workplace
3 fundamentals for a successful hybrid cloud
Learn how to manage infrastructure more easily, innovate faster, and improve security using the hybrid cloud. Read this one-pager to get guidance on using three fundamentals to create your hybrid cloud strategy: networking, identity and access management, and security.
Disruption Defined: Maersk navigates data to move goods globally
Welcome to the fourth industrial revolution where we're now experiencing the digital age. This revolution is transforming all industries, including shipping and logistics. Maersk, the integrated transport and logistics giant, has transformed their business using digital strategies. In the past, shipment delays were caused by hiccups in a supply chain, since those chains must move large amounts of data. Since Maersk's switch to harnessing data digitally, they've reinvented how global supply chain management is done.
Managing cybersecurity like a business risk
This powerful thought leadership article highlights the threat of data breaches and cyberattacks, while advocating for organizations to rethink their approach to cybersecurity. Microsoft urges businesses to view data transformation and threat analytics/modeling as growth opportunities while approaching security as a core philosophy.
SunCulture: Helping to weather the dry seasons
Sometimes, having access to the right data at the right time can enable life-saving decisions. If you don't believe so, just ask Monica, a Kenyan farmer who has to leverage water from a well in her back yard to irrigate her crops as well as provide her family with drinkable water. Due to climate change, rainy seasons have become more and more scarce, forcing her to carefully manage her water output depending on the weather patterns in her region.
Watch this video to learn how solar-powered digital transformation and Microsoft Azure are empowering farmers like Monica with easily accessible, accurate data that allows them to effectively predict rainfall, control their irrigation systems, and increase yields.
April 5, 2021
DHHS: Department of digital transformation
Improving operational efficiency is at the core of enabling better outcomes for patients. By freeing employees from manual intensive tasks and outdated legacy technology, organizations can focus on optimizing their processes and improving patient experiences. For the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in Victoria, Australia, part of this process meant eliminating the agency's dependence on paper and improving its employees' ability to collaborate and share critical information.
Watch this video to learn how digitization based on Microsoft technology has enabled DHHS to be more efficient, eliminating more than 80,000 paper faxes per year and enabling seamless collaboration that empowers data-driven decision-making.
NSW: Large-scale education
Teams was built to work closely with Office 365—so the fact one in five corporate employees use an Office 365 cloud service means that they are prime for a smooth deployment of Teams.
About two-thirds of Teams users are interacting with files inside the app—the number of organizations integrating apps with Teams is also rising. Again, with remote work increasing, users are finding the integration features of Microsoft Teams increasingly helpful.
In this video, you'll see how the second largest educational organization in the world deployed Microsoft Teams seamlessly—without restrictions by some of the scale issues it faces.
Alaska Airlines makes shopping easier with faster flow of new e-commerce features
A great online shopping experience begins with great software. That's why Alaska Airlines uses Microsoft Azure and Windows Server Containers to launch new e-commerce features faster. Travelers get new offers sooner, which translates to happier customers and increased revenues. By running its e-commerce engine in Azure in hybrid fashion, Alaska can scale more easily and ensure its sites run at the optimum point of performance and cost.
Why Microsoft?
When it comes to risk analytics workloads, Microsoft has you covered. This infographic highlights five benefits in an easy to comprehend visual. Microsoft delivers the ability to meet enterprise requirements, expertise on the latest Azure features, and a network of highly experienced data scientists to address financial service challenges. Additionally, Microsoft Premier Support ensures full adaptability and accommodates hybrid configurations.
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