“Making risk less risky” ? – The Intrazone podcast

“Making risk less risky” ? – The Intrazone podcast

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

“When you store your data in the Microsoft Cloud, achieving compliance becomes a shared responsibility between you and Microsoft.” [tweet]
― Martina Grom, co-founder of atwork and Microsoft MVP/RD.


 


What risks await without a compliance plan in place, or the tools to implement it, or the trust of partners, vendors, and employees? In one word: many. You can make risk less risky for your organization. By managing the who and what of data access, with awareness and adherence to policy, you forge a path with fewer risky business outcomes.


 


In this episode, Chris and I talk with Martina Grom (Co-founder, atwork and Microsoft MVP/RD) and Christophe Fiessinger (Principal program manager, Microsoft) about the role compliance plays in regards to information and communication governance. We dig into compliance strategy, technology like Microsoft 365 Compliance Manager, DLP, sharing, and more – with a nice dose of proven tips and tricks from two subject matter experts who know how to navigate the risky waters of security, governance, and keeping your information safe.


 


By tuning in, may you move your compliance score up many, many points.


 


Listen to podcast below at your own (minimized) risk:


 


https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17520329/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/247bc1/


 


Subscribe to The Intrazone podcast! And listen to episode 60 now + show links and more below.


 


Intrazone guests and co-hosts – clockwise, starting on the left: Christophe Fiessinger (principal program manager | Microsoft) [guest], Chris McNulty (director | Microsoft) [co-host], Martina Grom (co-founder atwork and Microsoft MVP/RD [guest], and little Mark Kashman (senior product manager | Microsoft) [co-host].Intrazone guests and co-hosts – clockwise, starting on the left: Christophe Fiessinger (principal program manager | Microsoft) [guest], Chris McNulty (director | Microsoft) [co-host], Martina Grom (co-founder atwork and Microsoft MVP/RD [guest], and little Mark Kashman (senior product manager | Microsoft) [co-host].


Links to important on-demand recordings and articles mentioned in this episode:  



 


Subscribe today!


Listen to the show! If you like what you hear, we’d love for you to Subscribe, Rate and Review it on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.


 


Be sure to visit our show page to hear all the episodes, access the show notes, and get bonus content. And stay connected to the SharePoint community blog where we’ll share more information per episode, guest insights, and take any questions from our listeners and SharePoint users (TheIntrazone@microsoft.com). We, too, welcome your ideas for future episodes topics and segments. Keep the discussion going in comments below; we’re hear to listen and grow.


 


Subscribe to The Intrazone podcast! And listen to episode 60 now.


 


Thanks for listening!


The SharePoint teams want you to unleash your magic, creativity, and productivity – and be compliant about it all. And we will do this, together, one compliance score point at a time.



The Intrazone links



+ Listen to other Microsoft podcasts at aka.ms/microsoft/podcasts.


 


Left to right [The Intrazone co-hosts]: Chris McNulty, director (SharePoint, #ProjectCortex – Microsoft) and Mark Kashman, senior product manager (SharePoint – Microsoft).Left to right [The Intrazone co-hosts]: Chris McNulty, director (SharePoint, #ProjectCortex – Microsoft) and Mark Kashman, senior product manager (SharePoint – Microsoft).


The Intrazone, a show about the Microsoft 365 intelligent intranet (https://aka.ms/TheIntrazone)The Intrazone, a show about the Microsoft 365 intelligent intranet (https://aka.ms/TheIntrazone)

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 108

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 108

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











We continue to expand the Azure Marketplace ecosystem. For this volume, 95 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live. See details of the new offers below:













































































































































































































































































































































































































Applications



Aceso Virtual Health.png



Aceso Virtual Health: Maintain close relationships with your patients remotely. These telehealth services, ranging from primary to mental health, cover areas with service delivery shortages or when you need to deliver care remotely.



AD Certificate Services on Windows Server 2016.png



AD Certificate Services on Windows Server 2016: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides Azure Active Directory certificate services on Windows Server 2016. Azure AD certificate services allow you to build public key infrastructure and provide public key cryptography.



AD Certificate Services on Windows Server 2019.png



AD Certificate Services on Windows Server 2019: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides Azure Active Directory certificate services on Windows Server 2019. Azure AD certificate services provide a database that manages information about network resources and application-specific data.



Altia-ABM - Insight.png



Altia-ABM: Insight: This end-to-end criminal investigation management software was designed by the Altia-ABM Group to solve crimes. It can be used in any jurisdiction and for any type of investigation.



Altia-ABM - Pegasus.png



Altia-ABM: Pegasus: This software has been developed by the Altia-ABM Group for law enforcement agencies to manage covert and undercover operations, intelligence, surveillance, informant management, and protected persons.



Altia-ABM - Smartcase.png



Altia-ABM: Smartcase: This is a modern incident and investigations software solution by the Altia-ABM Group to meet your investigation needs. It drives common working practices and has built-in analytical tools that are ready to use straight out of the box.



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Android Archiver: Use this connector by TeleMessage to import text messages, voice calls, and call logs from Android cell phones and archive them in Microsoft 365.



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ApertureDB: Visual Data Management Made Easy: This high-performance database by ApertureData manages visual data for data science applications. ApertureDB stores and manages images, videos, and associated metadata.



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Architectural Style Recognition API: ArtemTecta recognizes the architectural style of a building from an input photo, whether it is Classical, Neoclassical, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modern, or Postmodern.



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Azure Deploy by Macquarie Cloud Services: Deploy SD-WAN with Macquarie Cloud Services to maximize Microsoft Azure. They offer a turnkey Virtual Edge deployment to establish secure, private tunnels between your sites and Azure.



Azure Discover by Macquarie Cloud Services.png



Azure Discover by Macquarie Cloud Services: Assess your application and datacenter for cloud readiness with Macquarie Cloud Services. Identify early adoption scenarios, including Windows, Linux, and SQL Server. Analyze dependencies across VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and physical servers.



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Azure Subscription Documentation: XTRATEGUS helps document your Microsoft Azure resources. Through subscription access, they generate a complete document containing the features of your Azure subscription. This offer is only available in Brazilian Portuguese.



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BCM Node-Installer Azure Image: Bright Cluster Manager is an application built on top of Linux distributions. Bright Computing offers this node installer to provision and perform cluster extension cloud bursting of a Bright Cluster Manager to Microsoft Azure.



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Chief Returns Officer: Accelerated e-commerce growth is driving higher product return rates. Blending big data analytics with powerful AI tools, Chief Returns Officer is a SaaS platform that reduces product returns.



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Classify360: This data governance and rapid classification platform by Congruity360 enables intelligent data migration to Microsoft Azure via automated compliance workflows, repeatable classification processes, and defensible policies.



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ACCELQ Codeless Test Automation for MS Dynamics and more: ACCELQ is a codeless AI-based test automation and agile test management platform, tightly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and other Microsoft platforms to accelerate and improve the quality of your releases.



Counter-Strike - Source Game Server on Ubuntu 18.04.png



Counter-Strike: Source Game Server on Ubuntu 18.04: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides a Counter-Strike: Source game server on Ubuntu 18.04. Counter-Strike: Source is a first-person shooter video game.



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Cyberdefense: Companies are under continuous digital threats. Reduce your business risk with this cybersecurity solution by MNEMO to address threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. This app is available only in Spanish.



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Datometry Hyper-Q for Azure Synapse Analytics: Run existing Teradata applications natively on Azure Synapse Analytics. Datometry Hyper-Q is a virtualization platform that lets enterprises move from Teradata to Azure Synapse with minimal effort.



Digital Humans.png



Digital Humans: Dimension’s volumetric production studios are elevating and shaping the future of virtual entertainment. Dimension’s Digital Humans platform creates believable, emotional, and exciting human performance captures as volumetric holograms.



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Docker Advanced Engine on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides Docker Advanced Engine on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Docker is a software platform that allows you to build, test, and deploy applications quickly.



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Docker Engine Advanced on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides Docker Engine Advanced on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Docker is a software platform that allows you to build, test, and deploy applications quickly.



Enabling Studio - Website chat leveraging Teams.png



Enabling Studio – Website chat leveraging Teams: Enabling Technologies developed this website chat to power real-time communications via Microsoft Teams. Build communication workflows that align with your business processes without having to engage software developers.



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Enterprise Number Archiver: Use this TeleMessage connector in the Microsoft 365 compliance center to import and archive messages, chats, voice call recordings, and logs. It provides employees with a business number associated with an app on their phone.



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Expense Once: This cloud-based solution automates, streamlines, and controls the expense management process, ranging from receipt submission to staff reimbursement.



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EYE-SYNC: Developed by SyncThink, this is a non-invasive eye-tracking system to identify functional impairments of the visual or vestibular systems with modified virtual reality or augmented reality goggles.



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Flood Detection API: Detecting flooded areas in a photo using artificial intelligence, the Flooderizer API is especially useful for mall security cameras, parking lots, buildings, and agriculture.



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FraudAi: Developed by Electrifai, this medical fraud, waste, and abuse prevention app utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning. FraudAi will flag potential instances of medically unnecessary procedures and coding abnormalities.



Furniture Category Recognition API.png



Furniture Category Recognition API: Targeting furniture e-commerce companies, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, the FurnishRec app recognizes the most common furniture categories, such as sofa beds or office chairs.



Genesys Cloud Contact Center for Dynamics 365.png



Genesys Cloud Contact Center for Dynamics 365: Appxconnect provides native integration between Genesys Cloud and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Business users get the best of the award-winning contact center solution from Genesys and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to fully manage customer engagement.



Hypersonix.png



Hypersonix: This is an AI-powered intelligent enterprise platform for retail, restaurant, hospitality, and manufacturing enterprises. It incorporates a full array of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive intelligence.



Icy Road Detection API.png



Icy Road Detection API: IcyRoadDet is intended for software development in the automotive, travel, and transportation industries. This app detects icy roads from a photo using artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.



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Id-Gate (eng): LLC RecFaces offers this app for safe city systems, airports, banks, industrial enterprises, and retail business centers. Cameras and scanners capture the biometric data of the incoming person to verify access rights.



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Intelligent Insights for Healthcare on DDP: Wipro’s healthcare apps provide insights into predictive maintenance for medical devices, detect adverse drug effects and fraudulent claims, forecast demand for medical equipment, and identify cross-sell/up-sell opportunities.



Intelligent Insights for Manufacturing on DDP.png



Intelligent Insights for Manufacturing on DDP: Powered by Wipro’s Azure-based Data Discovery Platform, Wipro’s intelligent manufacturing apps deliver end-to-end process view, real time monitoring, asset management, proactive failure diagnosis, and fraud identification.



Intelligent Insights for Retail on DDP.png



Intelligent Insights for Retail on DDP: Providing store performance analytics, Wipro’s retail apps help identify store sections where customers spend the most time in and advise on better use of retail space, advertising channels, and proactive selling.



Kamvo EPM.png



Kamvo EPM: Connecting strategy with execution, Kamvo by Resemble Systems is a flexible, scalable, end-to-end enterprise project management (EPM) solution for portfolio and project execution.



Komutel.png



Komutel: Komutel’s Komand is a command center to facilitate and improve inbound and outbound call handling. Integrate Komand with Microsoft Teams or Microsoft Azure tenants in your environment to unify networks, data, and communications.



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Markdown Price Optimization Solution: Churchill’s solution helps manage the lifecycle of each item in a category by identifying markdown candidates and price options, then recommending the optimum combination of price discounts and time periods.



MetalLB Helm Chart.png



MetalLB Helm Chart: This pre-configured container image from Bitnami provides MetalLB Helm Chart. MetalLB is a load balancer implementation for bare metal Kubernetes clusters, using standard routing protocols.



mindzie.png



mindzie: This solution uses information already collected in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and identifies areas for improvement, such as procure-to-pay, accounts payable, order entries, or sales opportunities.



OfficeWatch XT Digital Workplace Analytics.png



OfficeWatch XT Digital Workplace Analytics: XT is an omnichannel analytics and notification platform designed by Metropolis to help managers efficiently measure, monitor, track, and account for communications within their respective divisions.



OneVu Citizen Account.png



OneVu Citizen Account: This citizen engagement platform by IEG4 enables the digital transformation of council services by providing a self-serve portal for citizens to communicate with back-office departments.



OTRS - Ticket Request System Server on CentOS 7.8.png



OTRS – Ticket Request System Server on CentOS 7.8: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides the OTRS ticket request server on CentOS 7.8. OTRS is a modern, flexible ticket and process management system for service management professionals.



OTRS - Ticket Request System Server on Debian 10.png



OTRS – Ticket Request System Server on Debian 10: This pre-configured image by Tidal Media provides the OTRS ticket request server on Debian 10. OTRS is a modern, flexible ticket and process management system for service management professionals.



Painting Style Recognition API.png



Painting Style Recognition API: PaintinGen recognizes the most popular painting styles, including Impressionism, Expressionism, Abstract, graffiti, or Surrealism. It was developed by SC DE VIS SOFTWARE for history of art professionals, students, and art patrons.



Pixel Mobile Clinical Uploader.png



Pixel Mobile Clinical Uploader: This app by Medialogix provides an easy-to-use mobile interface for clinical photography. Use cases include disease and wound management, treatment planning, time-critical theater photography, and ambulance.



Pollution Index by Seabin Project.png



Pollution Index by Seabin Project: Developed by Seabin to provide measurable impact on pollution in the world’s oceans, the platform has the capacity to monitor the world’s waterways and inform governing bodies to fill pollution knowledge gaps.



PowerExcel - SaaS for Planning.png



PowerExcel – SaaS for Planning: This Microsoft Azure-hosted SaaS solution brings together the best of Microsoft Power BI, SQL Server, and Microsoft Excel. The platform seamlessly marries data between the relational and Excel worlds and provides Power BI visibility.



Regular Price Elasticity Modul.png



Regular Price Elasticity Module: Set the right price for each item. Churchill’s Regular Price Elasticity software uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to measure the impact of regular price changes on consumer demand.



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Remote Device Access: M&M Software’s solution allows you to access IoT devices’ servers from the cloud through the firewall. The firewall does not need configuration. This solution is available only in German.



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Road Accidents Detection API: Accidentor detects road accidents in a photo using artificial intelligence and the power of the cloud. The recognized road accidents have a confidence score, a timestamp, an identifier, and a tag name.



ROGER365.io.png



ROGER365.io: Empower your business to become customer-led and customer-connected with the help of the Ask Roger! team. Link Microsoft Teams to web chat, WhatsApp, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and AI to optimally engage with your customer.



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ScaleOut Digital Twin Streaming Service: Real-time digital twins model real-time behavior of individual data sources. ScaleOut’s twins are designed to run alongside your Microsoft Azure applications that process streaming data.



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Sectigo Private CA: Many enterprise cloud applications are tightly integrated with Microsoft Azure Key Vault, which, however, cannot issue certain certificates. With Sectigo, you can manage large inventories of certificates.



Seidor BannaAnalytics.png



Seidor BannaAnalytics: This analytics app built on Microsoft Power BI gives you control over your Microsoft cloud service costs, consumption, and security levels. The application is provided by Seidor for free to its customers.



Skybox Vulnerability Control.png



Skybox Vulnerability Control: Skybox analyzes vulnerabilities in the complete context of your attack surface. By integrating with Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), formerly Azure ATP, Skybox gains access to an even broader range of data that enhances its vulnerability assessments.



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SlideX Solutions: SlideX offers web and mobile applications for residential and commercial ticketless valet parking, automated fee payments, space monitoring, garage administration, visitor management, and on-demand car services.



SQL Server Health Check.png



SQL Server Health Check: ALESON ITC offers managed services to optimize database servers, especially those that were migrated from an on-premises environment to Microsoft Azure, including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Managed Instance. This service is available in English and Spanish.



Student Integrity.png



Student Integrity: With the sudden move to remote learning, students may find it easier to cheat on assignments. The app by Analytikus helps detect plagiarism through cognitive analytics and machine learning.



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Teams Connect for Education: Identity Experts’ solution automates Microsoft Teams lifecycle management, taking a feed directly from the student records system. It is provided as a fully supported service with UK-based support to universities and colleges.



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TIMEA the chat bot: Reduce more than 40 percent of the time spent on repetitive tasks with this personal chatbot assistant from TotalSoft. This friendly interface responds to questions routinely addressed to HR departments. This app is available in English and Romanian.



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ToolsGroup Service Optimizer 99+ (SO99+): This service-driven supply chain planning software automates and optimizes supply chain planning tasks to meet target service levels with demand analytics and self-learning AI technology.



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Traffic Lights Detection API: The tLightsDet app detects  lit traffic lights on input photos and localizes them by generating a probability score. It is recommended for apps developed for smart cities, drivers, pilots, navigators, automotive, and transportation.



UpKeep SaaS.png



UpKeep SaaS: Designed for small to midsize companies, UpKeep offers core maintenance functionality, such as preventive maintenance, asset, inventory, and work order management.



Verizon Network Archiver.png



Verizon Network Archiver: Get a copy of employee text messages in Microsoft 365. Use the TeleMessage connector in the Microsoft 365 compliance center to import and archive SMS/MMS data from the Verizon network.



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Vibe.fyi: Vibe is helping to transform the way multi-location organizations influence their workforce. Reach wired, non-wired, and remote workers via digital signage, screensavers, web browsers, and mobile devices.



Virusfree.png



Virusfree: This email security cloud service by Excello accurately and effectively protects your mailbox from the full range of cyberthreats. You will get reliable antispam, antivirus, attachment protection, and email encryption.



Wavefront Helm Chart.png



Wavefront Helm Chart: This pre-configured container image from Bitnami provides Wavefront as a Helm chart. Wavefront is a high-performance streaming analytics platform for monitoring and optimizing your environment and applications.



WhatsApp Archiver.png



WhatsApp Archiver: Use the TeleMessage connector in the Microsoft 365 compliance center to import and archive WhatsApp calls, chats, attachments, files, and deleted messages.



Windows Virtual Desktop - Cloud Sandbox.png



Windows Virtual Desktop – Cloud Sandbox: This ready-to-use Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) environment showcases the core capabilities and use cases for IT managers who want to learn, evaluate, and experience WVD before starting with production deployments. 



WInsights – Insights to Win.png



WInsights – Insights to Win: This solution by WinWire Technologies uses Microsoft Azure data and AI services to transform data into actionable insights to help organizations monetize critical data assets, drive growth, and accelerate time to market.



Zeus Eye.png



Zeus Eye: Enable your leadership team to make effective decisions with this powerful analytics tool by Mozanta Technologies. Zeus Eye acts as a data source for your organization to analyze the performance of your disparate systems.



Consulting services



2 day workshop - Azure modernization.png



2-Day workshop – Azure modernization: 848 will deliver a two-day workshop to review your existing hosted and on-premises services, then create a high-level report with recommendations to migrate to IaaS, PaaS and SaaS solutions on Microsoft Azure.



Azure Foundations 2-Days Assessment.png



Azure Foundations 2-Day Assessment: This assessment from FyrSoft helps customers understand their cloud maturity and provide steps to digitally transform. This is a consultative assessment to help the customer evaluate their options and capabilities.



Azure Readiness 5 day Assessment.png



Azure Readiness 5-Day Assessment: Superadmins’ 5-day Azure Readiness Assessment is dedicated to analyzing your on-premises workload and providing a recommendation report on how you can easily and quickly migrate to Microsoft Azure.



Azure subscription documentation.png



Azure Subscription Documentation: XTRATEGUS helps document your Microsoft Azure resources. Through subscription access, they generate a complete document containing the features of your Azure subscription. This offer is only available in Brazilian Portuguese.



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Brillio Rapid App Modernization: 1-Day Workshop: Through sharing of case studies and interaction with your peers, you will walk away with a firm understanding of how to develop your strategy for transforming your existing legacy ecosystem.



Cloud Migration Assessment - 6-Week Assessment.png



Cloud Migration Assessment: 6-Week Assessment: The DataArt team of experts offers an assessment of an end-to-end migration to Microsoft Azure that will help deliver cost optimization. The assessment includes an estimate for the migration effort.



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Cloud Migration: 6-Week Implementation: The DataArt team of experts offers an implementation of an end-to-end migration to Microsoft Azure that will help deliver cost optimization. The implementation includes a resources evaluation and cost estimate report.



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DIA START2AI Use Case Discovery 2-Day workshop: This interactive workshop from Savaco uncovers business questions that can be supported by artificial intelligence. The output is a value-feasibility matrix and a hands-on Azure data and AI experience.



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Hadoop to Azure DataServices: 10-Week Implementation: Motifworks accelerators can help you migrate your big data workload and deliver ROI. Create more productive development, optimize cost, increase time to market, innovate freely, and democratize data insights.



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Identity & Access Management As A Service: This is a managed service offering from Phakamo Tech for organizations with a minimum of 500 users that require consistent governance, risk, and compliance management.



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Infrastructure Migration 1-Day Workshop: FyrSoft invites you to an interactive exploration of how to migrate existing infrastructure to the cloud. The workshop covers everything from whiteboarding migration strategies to hands-on experiences with migration tools.



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Insight Cloud Care for Azure: 12-Month Implementation: Insight offers managed cloud services to take advantage of the speed, scalability, and cost savings possible on Microsoft Azure. Its cloud management portal provides self-service access.



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Microsoft Azure Security: 2-Week Assessment: This infrastructure review and testing activity from DataArt includes checking Azure environment security settings and controls, examining the environment to reveal any security gaps and issues, and more.



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OpenFOAM on Azure: 10-Week Proof of Concept: Find out how OpenFOAM on Azure will harmonize with CAE workflows and what virtual product development in the cloud can do for your engineers. This proof of concept includes the professional services of GNS Systems.



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OpenFOAM on Azure: 2-Hour Briefing: This briefing from GNS Systems will help you to understand the value of your virtual product development in the cloud and shows you the advantages of OpenFOAM on Azure.



OpenFOAM on Azure - 3 Days Workshop.png



OpenFOAM on Azure: 3-Day Workshop: Learn how OpenFOAM on Azure harmonizes with your CAE workflows and what virtual product development in the cloud can do for your engineers. The goal of this GNS Systems workshop is a statement of work (SOW) with recommended next steps.



Quickbooks on Azure - 5 Day Implementation.png



Quickbooks on Azure: 5-Day Implementation: CloudIBN combines the robustness of Microsoft Azure and the simplicity of Quickbooks and offers migration services to shift Quickbooks to Azure seamlessly.



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SELA Group Managed Services: Sela offers a complete service of your cloud in PaaS or Microsoft Azure infrastructures, network management, big data solutions, and utilization of your Azure solution.



SQL Server Migration - 10-Day Implementation.png



SQL Server Migration: 10-Day Implementation: In 10 days, Seepath will execute on the SQL migration plan developed as part of its SQL Server Migration Assessment. At the end of the implementation your database workloads will be running on Microsoft Azure.



Virtual Desktop 365 - 2-Week Implementation.png



Virtual Desktop 365: 2-Week Implementation: Access Windows 10 desktop and apps from anywhere, on any device. Adopt a modern solution to secure remote work with Windows Virtual Desktop along with new capabilities that make deployment easier.



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Windows Virtual Desktop – 2-Week Proof of Concept: Exelegent’s proof of concept for Windows Virtual Desktop includes one shared pool for five users, and a dedicated pool with two virtual machines. A Windows 10 multi-session also is included.



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Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) in a Day Workshop: This Windows Virtual Desktop Workshop from FyrSoft provides you with the knowledge and skills to accelerate design and implementation. The workshop covers deployment options and more.



Windows Virtual Desktop Proof of Concept 10 day.png



Windows Virtual Desktop 10-Day Proof of Concept: This proof of concept from itnetX helps accelerate the deployment of applications and workplaces. Leverage Azure to ease access to key business applications and data secure, and more.




 

7 tips for safe online meetings and collaboration with Microsoft Teams

7 tips for safe online meetings and collaboration with Microsoft Teams

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

Remote and hybrid work has become the new norm for many employees across the globe as day-to-day collaboration continues to be accomplished virtually. With this shift to online communication, how can you ensure that you’re collaborating safely?



Queue Microsoft Teams! Whether you’re hosting virtual meetings, carrying out daily group and 1:1 chat, sharing documents, or coauthoring in a document in real-time – Teams enables safe and secure collaboration!



Tip 1: Control who can join your Microsoft Teams meetings directly and present


Meeting organizers can change participant settings for a specific meeting through the Meeting options web page. In Teams, go to your Calendar, select a meeting, and then select Meeting options. From here you can determine settings like who needs to be admitted to the meeting and who can bypass the lobby to join it directly. Additionally, you can decide which participants are able to join with the presenter role to present out content and who should join as standard attendees. Another helpful control for large meetings is the ability to prevent attendees from unmuting themselves – this is particularly useful when the meeting will be led by specific participants while the rest of the audience will be listening in. Note that your organization controls the default participant settings.




Tip 2: Minimize Teams meeting disruptions by muting individual or all meeting attendees


In order to prevent meeting disruptions, intentional or accidental, as a meeting organizer you have the ability to mute individual attendees or all meeting attendees. If an attendee happens to leave their microphone unmuted while being away, you can easily mute that participant from the participant pane. During large meetings led by designated speakers, such as a town hall or lecture, the ability to mute all attendees ensures your presenters won’t be accidentally interrupted.




Tip 3: Determine who can present content or share their screen in your Teams meeting


As the meeting organizer, you can determine who has the ability to present out content or share their screen within the meeting. Prior to the meeting start, we discussed above how this can be accomplished via Meeting options. Once your meeting has begun, you can select a participant via the participant pane to determine whether they have the presenter role or are a standard attendee. This can be especially useful when you have outside participants attending your meeting who may only need the presenter role temporarily.




Tip 4: End your Teams meeting for everyone in attendance at once


As the meeting organizer, sometimes the meeting needs to end at your discretion without allowing participants to remain. Ending a meeting for all attendees is often applicable in large-meeting settings such as a town hall, lecture, or webinar class to ensure attendees don’t remain in the meeting. Once a meeting has wrapped up, instead of clicking Leave, select the dropdown located next to it and click End Meeting. You can also access this by going into your meeting controls, click more options (…) , and select End Meeting. This will end and close the meeting for everyone in attendance.




Tip 5: Create a team with increased security


If any of the content stored or discussed within the team may be considered business sensitive, such as financial details or classified project information, it’s best practice to apply increased protections to that team to ensure the content security. This can be accomplished by creating a new team and applying an IT-created sensitivity label. When applying a sensitivity label to your team, it automatically applies the configured protections to the team.



When creating a new team, on the sensitivity and privacy pane select the dropdown under Sensitivity to select an IT-created sensitivity label to apply to the team. As a reminder, it’s always best to check with your organization or IT department on how sensitive business information should be stored.




Tip 6: Create a private channel


Sometimes you need to share sensitive information within a team to specified team members only, such as project details or strategic planning, that doesn’t require holistic team protection. Rather than creating a new team, you can create a private channel within an existing team that is only accessible to designated members. This is a great way to provide a security layer to protect sensitive business information without creating a new team.


Create a Private Channel.png


 


To create a private channel, go to the team and choose more options (…) and select Add channel. After providing a name and description, under Privacy select the dropdown arrow to specify the channel is Private – Accessible only to a specific group of people within the team. Once created, you can add additional private channel owners and up to 250 members. As a reminder, it’s always best to check with your organization or IT department on how sensitive business information should be stored.



Tip 7: Help protect sensitive data in Teams
Microsoft Teams supports data protection policies to help protect sensitive information from being accidentally or inadvertently shared. When collaborating in a Teams 1:1 or channel chat, you may have a message return as blocked if that message contains information that meets your organization’s sensitive information policy.


Message Blocked.png


 


If your message is blocked, within that blocked message you may see a clickable link that says What can I do? If you click that link, a helpfully policy tip created by your organization will display educating you on why content within that message is considered business sensitive. Policy tips are designed to help the sender understand why certain content is considered business sensitive or is best practice not to share.



 



 


We hope that these safe online collaboration tips will help you remain productive while having the confidence you’re remaining secure.

New certification: Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect Expert

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

We’re pleased to announce the new Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert certification, giving you the opportunity to prove your expertise in architecting solutions using Microsoft Power Platform. To earn this certification, you must pass Exam PL-600: Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect and earn at least one of the following certifications: 



 


Exam PL-600 is replacing Exam MB-600 on June 30, 2021


Exam PL-600 replaces Exam MB-600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect, which expires on June 30, 2021. After that date, MB-600 will no longer be available for you to take—only PL-600 will be. If you’re currently preparing for MB-600, make sure you take and pass that exam before June 30, 2021. When you pass Exam PL-600 and earn one of the prerequisite certification options, you’ll have earned your Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect Expert certification, and it will be valid for a full year.


 


Give your career a boost


Getting advanced training and certification in Microsoft Power Platform can help you improve your business and expand your opportunities to get hired and promoted. An increasing number of job listings on LinkedIn, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and other sites list proficiency in Microsoft Power Platform as part of the job description. And, according to the 2020/2021 Nigel Frank Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey, 61 percent of respondents believe that certifications give you the edge in the job market, and 73 percent of permanent employees reported that their salary increased after certification.


 


Is this certification right for you? 


Do you have experience performing proactive and preventive work to increase the value of your customers’ investment? Are you able to identify opportunities to solve business problems? Do you promote organizational health in your engagements? If this describes you and you want to brush up on these skills, why not take training that can help you earn certification as a Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect Expert?


 


To pursue this advanced certification, you must have experience leading successful implementations and an ability to focus on solutions that address the broader business and technical needs of an organization. You should have functional and technical knowledge of Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps, related cloud solutions from Microsoft, and third-party technologies. In addition to having experience across Microsoft Power Platform, you should be able to facilitate design decisions across development, configuration, integration, infrastructure, security, availability, storage, and change management.


 


Are you eager to sit for the exam? Your experience with the following tasks is the background you need to take the exam and get a certification that validates your skills:



  • Initiate solution planning and identify Microsoft Power Platform components.

  • Identify organization information and metrics.

  • Evaluate an organization’s enterprise architecture.

  • Capture requirements and perform gap analysis.

  • Architect a solution.

  • Lead the design process, and use Power Automate in your automation strategy.

  • Design integrations.

  • Identify opportunities to integrate and extend Microsoft Power Platform solutions by using Azure.

  • Design the data and security models.

  • Validate the solution design.

  • Support and troubleshoot the solution as it goes live.


 


Preparing for certification


Start your Microsoft Certification journey today! The resources section on the certification page contains valuable help to get you ready for the certification exam. There, you’ll  find links to the free online learning paths and paid instructor-led training offered by Microsoft Learning Partners that help you prepare for this exam, along with a link for scheduling the exam.  


 


 


 

2020 The Year of Sustainability Part Two

2020 The Year of Sustainability Part Two

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

As I stand here typing in my very poorly insulated, frigid, dilapidated shack of a garage (affectionately dubbed my “Papaya Boathouse”) in my puffy jacket, surrounded by 10 bicycles and a whitewater kayak among other things (a frequent talking point on the stream of video calls that make up my days), it’s almost laughable how normal it now seems, versus how foreign this scene was a year ago. So much has changed in ways we never could have imagined; our perspectives have been thrown out of whack – which has also presented opportunities.  


 


The year 2020 was bonkers in many ways, but it was also a huge turning point in Microsoft becoming the worldwide frontrunner in ambitious environmental efforts, as well as being just the beginning, with a lot more that needs to be done, quickly. When I look back on 2020 (and it still feels like a really long March), a few main themes emerge for me around the environmental sustainability landscape.


​​​​​​​


1. Leveling the playing field


Many Microsoft employees joined the Worldwide Sustainability Community in a search for more information, resources, and a community that could be a connection point. The WWSC doubled its membership in 2020 to nearly 4,000 people, and the number of regional chapters in our community also doubled to 26 and counting. 


 


However, members of the WWSC outside of the central “hubs” of activity (primarily Redmond, but strong chapter locations around the world) have expressed feelings of inequity at being unable to join in person for events and initiatives. With our new virtual world format, everyone, everywhere has a level playing field, and the opportunity to participate equally in the movement. This goes for people outside of the WWSC and outside of Microsoft, as well. With all the hilarity that often ensues with video conferencing in our remote world, there’s also a lot to gain from the equitable involvement opportunities now afforded to all.


 


2. ​​​​​​​​​​​Rebuilding right


In one of my favorite books, “No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process,” a major theme is about taking away everything, to be able to bring back just what’s important to us. “Eliminating the colossal waste from our lives, responsible for so much of the damage we do to our planetary habitat, does not entail depriving ourselves but just changing some no-longer-functional habits. After all, who would suggest that a world without plastic bags is to be deprived? Who could possibly argue that using plastic bags makes us happier?” This can be applied to what’s happening now; starting by taking away, so we can rebuild with what matters – what’s actually important without all the stuff we thought we needed – and with the corresponding reduction in resource use and degradation.


No Impact man was later made into a documentaryNo Impact man was later made into a documentary


 


 


3. Bring on the new administration


With president-elect Joe Biden calling climate change the “number one issue facing humanity,” things are looking a lot more hopeful for the United States rejoining the game for global cooperation and leadership on environmental issues. Mr. Biden’s Plan for Climate Change and Environmental Justice includes making US electricity production carbon-free by 2035 and having the country achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. There are already efforts of cooperation across parties to point to, that have flown under the radar. In September, Democrats and Republicans cooperated on a bill to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a family of gases commonly used as refrigerants, which includes some of the most powerful greenhouse gases known to science. The same month, the Senate passed a bill called the Bipartisan Wildlife Conservation Act intended to improve species conservation and protect vital ecosystems.


 


4. The plant-based revolution


The science is clear that the meat and dairy industry is the single greatest factor in deforestation, water pollution, and a top contributor to climate change, putting us into the Earth’s sixth mass extinction. The conversion of land for beef production and animal feed is a leading cause of deforestation in many tropical regions, including in the Amazon. One of the US’s, and much of the world’s, most serious and persistent threats to clean drinking water is pollution from factory farm runoff. And there is endless evidence that the meat industry is one of the leading causes of climate change. If cattle were their own nation, they would be the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. 


 


Project Drawdown identifies plant-rich diets as their #4 top solution to reaching the point of drawing down carbon from our atmosphere. This is to speak nothing of the ethical travesties of inflicting these traumas on billions of sentient beings, including the workers, and the consistent evidence of the health concerns, with higher risks for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and premature death (if you have not seen the movie Gamechangers, you have to watch it next!). 


Plant-based diets have both environmental and health benefitsPlant-based diets have both environmental and health benefits


 


While getting all our nutrition from plants is, for most people, not actually challenging, it’s certainly not what is convenient, cheap, accessible, and – most importantly – accepted as normal in many parts of the world, and especially in the United States. Until 2020! 2020 has seen a massive rise in plant-based products served in fast food chains, making it just as convenient to choose the planet-and moral-friendly option as the destructive one. See this massive list of chains serving the stuff! And in Singapore, cultured meat has been approved for consumers for the first time!! This is huge! So, while eating fluffy animal cadavers still abounds, this 2020 momentum has got me giddy, and I’m so excited to watch its progression.