Microsoft is thrilled to stand alongside the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) and Government Technical Cloud Community in inspiring you to expand your horizons and validate your expertise through certification.

Certification isn’t just a badge; it’s a game-changer for you and your team. According to a recent study by Pearson VUE, 92 percent of participants reported boosted self-assurance after achieving certifications. In addition, 79 percent felt a surge of respect from their colleagues, and 74 percent gained greater autonomy in their work.

Managers, take note – certified candidates bring substantial advantages too. 81 percent deliver higher-quality output, 72 percent exhibit enhanced efficiency, and 82 percent excel in mentoring and supporting their peers. To discover more, download the Pearson VUE 2023 Value of IT Certification report.

Whether you’re a tech-savvy pro or a beginner, we offer a range of learning opportunities to propel you toward certification success. From self-study resources to interactive virtual classes led by expert instructors, our offerings cater to various learning styles. And we’ve teamed up with our valued learning partners to provide even more options.

Who can access these training resources?

Civil Servants with a gov.uk, gov.scot, gov.wales, nhs.uk, police.uk or sch.uk email domain are eligible to claim exam discounts, access ESI training and submit a claim for a certification prize. Additional training opportunities on this page, including Cloud Skills Challenges, Virtual Training Days and our Azure Connected Learning Experience, are open to all.

Learning resources on this page

Let’s start with AI

• AI skills challenges
• Cloud skills challenges*
• Azure Connected Learning Experience*

Exams and certifications

• Discounts
• Practice assessments and support*
• Certification prizes**

Live training sessions

• Virtual Training Days*

Additional support

• Microsoft Learn*
• Microsoft Learning Partners**
• Achieve more with Microsoft

*Open to all
**Eligible participants only

Getting started

There’s a world of learning available for you from Microsoft, but knowing where to start can be daunting. This page brings together some great resources to help you get certified in October.

Where to start will depend on what you want to learn, and how:

• Our Fundamentals certifications are great for IT pros looking to start their certification journey from the beginning – or for anybody else that wants to learn more about an area, or understand the art of the possible. These are broken down by area: certifications are available for Azure Fundamentals, AI Fundamentals, Data Fundamentals, Power Platform Fundamentals, Security Fundamentals and more.

• Prefer to learn through self-study?  Sign up for one of our free Cloud Skills Challenges that offer a curated collection of content that gives you the knowledge you need to pass the exam. These skills challenges run until the end of October and you can join as many as you like. Looking for more advanced content for self-study? Check out the content on Microsoft Learn or email us at OctCertHelp@microsoft.com and we’ll help you find what you need.

• Prefer video-based learning? Our Virtual Training Days are just for you. Offering a range of Fundamentals and non-certification content, these free classes are open to all. Look out for the non-certification classes if you’re looking for something more specific and technical.

• Need a little help with exam preparation? Our Azure Connection Learning Experience offers curated learning and exam preparation for a number of Microsoft certifications if you need extra help getting across the line.

• Check out the free sessions and other training from our valued learning partners. These links will take you to additional free classes that can support your learning. They include webinars, instructor-led classes, such as free Azure Administrator and Cybersecurity Architect training from Fast Lane.

When you feel ready, try one of our Practice Assessments to test your readiness before booking your exam. Don’t forget to utilise your ESI exam discount (50%) when booking. Make the exam free by claiming an additional discount and once you’re certified, complete the CCDO form for a chance to claim some great Microsoft swag.

Let’s start with AI

We’ve pulled together a wide array of learning opportunities, from foundational to more advanced role-based content. This includes some great study fundamentals on Azure, Data, AI, Power Platform and Security, together with some exciting content around Generative AI.  

AI skills challenges

There is a massive amount of interest in this area currently, and it’s worth hearing from Angie Heise, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector, on how Artificial Intelligence could support public sector organisations. Read this post from Angie Heise to understand some of the potential implications that advanced AI can have for the public sector, especially in areas such as citizen services, internal efficiencies, working with deep data and creative support.

To further expand your AI understanding and skills:

• Register for our Microsoft Build: AI Day at ExCeL London on October 19, 2023. This free one-day, in-person event helps developers discover new opportunities with AI and enhance their knowledge and skills to deliver more value using AI and Microsoft Azure. Join Microsoft product and engineering experts, and industry disrupters, to share ideas and unleash creativity with the power of AI.
  
• Register for our Career Essentials in Generative AI course and gain a Professional Certificate. This free course explains the core concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI functionality, preparing you to apply Generative AI in your own career.

• Register for our 1-day Master Class: OpenAI ChatGPT Capabilities, Use Cases and Integrations on October 27, 2023. This exclusive one-day (Fast Lane developed) course provides AI users and business decision-makers with a comprehensive introduction to the technology, key functionalities and pricing, an understanding of its capabilities and limitations, best practices, and the chance to find out how you can incorporate ChatGPT technology to support your business today.

Keen to find out more about AI and Azure? Check out these great resources to get you started:

If you’re looking for even more content on Generative AI, please check out this AI Learning Companion pathway.

Cloud skills challenges*

You can also invest in your learning by participating in our fun and friendly cloud skills challenges.

Compete Track your progress using the leaderboard as you navigate Microsoft’s digital learning platform Microsoft Learn.

Learn Sign up for one or more challenges and work through the content at a time that works for you.

Develop Skills Check out the practice assessment on the exam page to make sure you are exam-ready before taking advantage of exam discounts to get certified.

Choose your challenge:

Azure Connected Learning Experience*

Microsoft Azure Connected Learning Experience (CLX) is an experiential training programme that sets a path for you to become an Azure expert. The CLX programme offers a personalised journey that aims to optimise your learning experience while maximising your return on time invested. 

The four-step programme is designed to deliver exam readiness with a personalised learning journey that’s curated to meet your needs.  

• Register to receive recommendations on specific modules to study, elevate your understanding with practice tests and comprehensive Microsoft Learn study materials, and access on-demand hands-on labs and interactive guides to elevate your practical insights.  
• Join multiple instructor-led cram sessions hosted by world-class industry experts who will guide you to be ready for your first or next Azure certification exam.  
• Prepare at your own pace and crack your Azure Certification Exam efficiently. 

Register for the Microsoft Azure Connected Learning Experience

Exams and certifications

Discounts

If your organisation is enrolled in the Microsoft Enterprise Skills Initiative (ESI) you’ll have access to a 50 percent discount on a range of exams, making your certification journey even more accessible.

Our Claiming Your Exam Discount guide walks you through the steps to claim your discount and schedule your exam. We’ve even reserved a limited number of exam vouchers that stack on top of the ESI discount, reducing your exam cost to zero.

Don’t miss out – secure your spot by completing the Microsoft exam voucher application form.  

The additional vouchers are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’ve missed the opportunity, you might be able to reclaim this balance payment from your Learning and Development (L&D) team, if the certification supports your current role. Please check with them first.  

If you have any questions about the programme or claiming your exam discount, please contact us at OctCertHelp@microsoft.com.  

Practice assessments and support*

You can gear up for success with our range of free practice assessments. These invaluable tools allow you to fine-tune your skills before the big exam day. Check out the exam page for each assessment to access these practice resources – or follow the links below for some of our most popular ones:

Need help or advice on what content you should start with, or what is most relevant to your role? Perhaps you have a technical question or want to discuss your project with a Microsoft SME. We’re only an email away at OctCertHelp@microsoft.com. Alternatively, why not join one of our many drop-in sessions running through October:

Certification prizes**

We believe in celebrating your achievements, so we’re also delighted to let you know about our certification prizes. Simply complete the certification prizes claim form provided by CDDO, who will then share your details with us. The first 200 to correctly provide the requested proof of a certification achieved in October 2023 will receive a special Microsoft swag voucher in their inbox.

Please note that prize claims are subject to the following terms and conditions:

• Claims will only be accepted from customers of a participating government department. Personal email addresses won’t be considered.
• By completing and submitting the CDDO form, you agree to us validating your certification and contacting you about your claim.
• Certificate prizes are limited to the first 200 submissions and will be sent to UK postal addresses only.
• One prize per customer, regardless of the number of exams passed during the event.
• Claims must be submitted by Friday, November 10, 2023, 12:00 p.m. (GMT+1). Claims received after this date won’t be considered.
• Prizes are non-negotiable, non-transferable and non-refundable. No cash alternative is available.

For any questions, please contact OctCertHelp@microsoft.com.

Live training sessions

Virtual Training Days*

Microsoft Virtual Training Days are free, in-depth virtual training events covering foundational concepts, terms, and capabilities. A great alternative (or complement) to self-study to get you ready to earn your Fundamentals certification.

Additional support

Microsoft Learn*

Microsoft Learn. Spark possibility.

Build skills that open doors. See all you can do with documentation, hands-on training and certifications to help you get the most from Microsoft products. Access a range of self-study resources at Microsoft Learn. For a collection of Microsoft resources aligned to role and certain products, please also see www.aka.ms/pathways.

Microsoft Learning Partners**

Microsoft Learning Partners can help you get the most out of your organisation’s technology investment, building knowledge and new skills in Microsoft technologies through classroom training or Microsoft Official Courses On-Demand. Our learning partners are proud to support this skills initiative – please check their details below.

Fastlane

Fast Lane is uniquely positioned among a select few globally, having achieved all six Microsoft solution designations. Fast Lane’s approach is not just about education; it’s about practical, hands-on skilling that tackles the intricate realms of Cloud, Data, AI, and Security. With a highly targeted and tailored approach, Fast Lane doesn’t just teach – it solves real-world challenges. Through precise alignment with and a deep understanding of Microsoft’s ecosystem, Fast Lane empowers individuals and organisations with the skills needed to thrive in today’s complex technological landscape.

Find out more about Fast Lane’s support for this skills initiative and also register for its free ChatGPT 1-day webinar and free virtual instructor-led classes on Azure Administrator (AZ-104) and Cybersecurity Architect (SC-100).

Firebrand

Firebrand is proud to be a Microsoft Cloud Partner. It is one of a number of companies in the world to have received this badge through proven expertise in delivering quality solutions across six specialist business areas: Business Applications (Dynamics 365 and Power Platform), Data & AI, Infrastructure, Digital & App Innovation, Modern Work and Security.

Find out more about Firebrand

QA

QA is one of the largest Microsoft Learning Partners in the UK, and one of the only Microsoft Learning Partners to be recognised as a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Microsoft Cloud. QA offers a broad range of training in Microsoft technologies and applications, including cloud technical skills (from Azure to Office 365) and office apps (from Excel to Power BI).

Find out more about QA

Skillsoft

(Coming soon.)

Achieve more with Microsoft

We’re genuinely excited for you to seize this opportunity to embark on a transformative learning journey. As you equip yourself to learn and take on new career challenges, you may soon be ready to distinguish yourself as a public sector change agent.

If you have any questions or need guidance on where to start, our dedicated team is here to help. Please reach out to us at OctCertHelp@microsoft.com, and we’ll be delighted to help you on your path to success.

Let’s elevate your skills and make your mark together!

*Open to all
**Eligible participants only

About the author

Paul is the Microsoft UK Public Sector Skills Lead with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. He is passionate about cloud computing, and how learning can power digital innovation and transform careers. Paul is currently leading the development of training programmes for Microsoft’s public sector customers across Central Government, Local Government and Policing, helping individuals and organisations realize the benefits of their investment in Microsoft solutions.

The post Introducing a world of opportunities: advance your skills with Microsoft appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Welcome to our MVP Spotlight series! We’re showcasing some of the wonderful people in our MVP program about their areas of expertise, so that we can learn more about how they got started and their recommendations for others doing the same. We’ll also point you towards the resources they’ve worked on, whether it be articles, videos or podcasts, to help you level-up your own skills.

Meet John, Azure MVP

This time I caught up with John Kilmister, where I asked him about his personal dev journey, and how other developers can improve their Azure skills.

Chris: Introduce yourself!

John: I’m John Kilmister, an Azure MVP, software engineer, software architect, blogger and speaker. I always find it hard to explain my niche area but if anything, it’s focused on how software developers can use the Azure platform.

In my day job I work as a principal software architect on a SaaS product, as part of a team of software architects at a large international company. I help develop roadmaps for our codebase, help improve developer experience, analyse tools/options and input into the general direction of code in the product. Everything we build is in C# hosted on Azure.

I became an Azure MVP last year and it has been great to meet more people in the community.

C: How did you get into cloud and Azure?

J: I have always had an interest in computing – my dad was into electronics and fixed TVs and VCRs, so when computers came they were around the house and I often found myself helping fix them. After school I initially took business studies, then on to a degree in Business Information Management Systems, which would be useful later for working with business colleagues, with a placement year doing both hardware and software. Later I learned the computer science bits I missed through self-study.

After leaving university I decided to become a programmer and got my first full-time job converting VB6 to .NET 1.1 in a waterfall 2-year-long project, then supporting it for the next 5 years. After this, I went to work for an international online retailer where I learnt a lot about e-commerce, agile development, internationalisation and scale.

Following this in 2015, I helped set up a development team at the UK’s largest chain of gyms. Over the next 7 years I held many roles in the team, doing everything from initial website builds using continuous delivery on Azure, Xamarin development (it’s amazing to see people on the bus using your app!) to team design. We chose Azure and PaaS to cope with unexpected loads, and this is how I started my Azure journey all those years ago.

C: We recently saw you participate in the 2022 Festive Tech Calendar – what drives you to give back to the community?

J: I love learning things and then sharing that with others. This is something I have done many times in my workplace and continue to do.

A few years back I started to write my blog for a number of reasons; firstly as a way to improve my writing, but also to give me a reason to learn something new and in-depth. By writing and sharing it with others, I check the details and consequently discover more things. But the most important thing is to share with others and give back.

My posts have been focused on Azure with a developer twist to them, looking at how we can use PaaS or Serverless with C# or JavaScript. I like going deep on topics when I find the time, like How to Separate Production, Test and Development Resources in Azure and Azure Custom Roles Following Least Privilege Best Practices, and it’s also great to get feedback and learn even more from others.

I had done a few lightning talks at local .NET user groups over the years, but it wasn’t until I was approached to repeat a session at a different user group that I really started doing them frequently. When lockdown came and many groups moved online, I had the opportunity to perform talks to many people all over the world. It built from there, and I have now spoken in person at different groups and online.

In the near-future, I am planning to write talks on “Unlocking the Potential of Azure Blob Storage: A Guide to the lesser-known Features” and “Azure for C# Developers: A Hands-On Guide” this year. You can track my upcoming talks on my website.

I have also been involved with Bit Project for the last 2 years mentoring students, which has been great for getting more people into the industry by sharing my experiences. I have also worked with a local university and had the chance to talk about the industry with others, as well as been on podcasts about my tech journey.

I have dyslexia, though I have found ways to work around this. I also try to find hobbies and other activities beyond the code.

C: You mention you’ve found ways to work around your dyslexia – if you’re comfortable sharing them, could you talk a bit about it?

J: Dyslexia affects up to 1 in 5 people. For each person it’s different, but for me it causes challenges mainly with spelling and reading. I will often read text and the words don’t make sense, reading it again and again and they still say the same thing, but eventually I’ll be able to see that it says something completely different. On the positive side, it’s now thought that the genetic changes that cause Dyslexia also provide strengths through different approaches to problem-solving, communication skills and creative activities, something that I feel I can relate to.

I was first diagnosed while at university, at the time when I probably did the most reading and writing I would ever do. Luckily the world of work is different and as I started as a programmer, there was less need to write longer documents. As I progressed to more senior roles I have written more but I have found support from colleagues and techniques to help.

If I read my own work, I find that I struggle to read what is on the page and instead read what I thought was written. Therefore when I’m writing long documents or blog posts, I tend to use the voice-to-text features in Word, edit the document and then use the read-aloud features to read it back to me. I also ask others to read over my work and suggest edits, which not only helps with spelling but with the document as a whole.

While coding, spelling mistakes can typically be spotted in pull requests or corrected after the fact, but there are times when this is not the case. I have previously misspelt database columns and public API endpoints that others have had to live with for years after. To avoid this I now use a spell-check plugin for Visual Studio and for Visual Studio Code, and it’s great to see this is soon going to be built into Visual Studio without the need for a plugin.

I started my career learning how to code from books, and I feel that they are still really important even though they’ve been a struggle for me. Today I often use audiobooks to help, listening to them in full or in some cases, where the books have technical diagrams and visual elements, I will have both an audiobook and a hard copy together.

As with everything in my life I continually attempt to keep learning. Recently I have become aware of the Made by Dyslexia campaign supported by a wide range of successful people who have dyslexia. They share inspiring stories and techniques.

C: Do you have any tips for people starting out with Azure?

J: With hundreds of services in Azure it can be overwhelming, but luckily there is no need to learn about them all. If you are starting out on your cloud journey it’s worth understanding the options between IaaS, PaaS, and Serverless, and initially focusing on the one that suits your needs. A great way to begin is with the AZ-900 MS learn module.

One of the first things I would always suggest everyone does is set up budget alerts. The cloud is excellent with consumption pricing, but early on when experimenting with a new cloud provider or service for the first time, it’s easy to accidentally leave something on and spend more than you had expected.

There are, however, so many ways to get started with Azure for no cost. If you have a Visual Studio subscription you can enable the monthly free credit – I often use this to try things out away from other systems. There’s also the Azure student offer, as well as the generous free tier for many services have.

If you are looking for interesting developer projects to get started on, serverless Azure Functions are easy to learn and work with a wide range of languages – from C# and PowerShell through to Python and Java. Cognitive Services also offer opportunities for lots of interesting and creative project ideas.

John’s Azure content

Fortunately for us, John has written tons of content on Azure and other technologies, so it’s a great way to learn about something new. Check out our curated selection of articles below, but be sure to visit his website for a more comprehensive list of everything that is available.

Articles

• Azure Blob Storage and Life Cycle Management
• Prompting Developers to Install Recommended Azure Tools
• An Introduction to Running and Deploying Backstage on Azure
• Two Approaches of Dynamically Generating Images with Azure Functions
• How to Separate Production, Test and Development Resources in Azure
• Getting Started with Serverless SignalR and Azure Functions
• 6 Sample SQL Databases for your Next Azure Project
• The Exam Journey to Microsoft Certified Azure Solution Architect
• My Top 10 Visual Studio Code Extensions for 2022
• 51 Links and Resources for Technical Teams, Developers, Managers and Architects

Videos

• Build a Dynamic Image (Sticker) Generator with Azure Functions
• Cloud with Chris: Tools of a Software Architecture for Everyone! with John Kilmister
• BitProject: Overview of JS Frameworks and Azure Static Sites
• BitProject: Build Your Tech Portfolio with John Kilmister

You can find John on Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn and Stack Overflow.

Learn more

• Read more from our MVP Spotlight series
• Introduction to Azure fundamentals
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe cloud concepts

The post MVP Spotlight: Azure for developers with John Kilmister appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Welcome to our MVP Spotlight series! We’re showcasing some of the wonderful people in our MVP program about their areas of expertise, so that we can learn more about how they got started and their recommendations for others doing the same. We’ll also point you towards the resources they’ve worked on, whether it be articles, videos or podcasts, to help you level-up your own skills.

Meet Lee, Developer Technologies MVP

This time I caught up with Lee Englestone, where I asked him about his personal dev journey, and how others can improve their Visual Studio skills.

Chris: Introduce yourself!

Lee: My name is Lee Englestone, Avanade DevRel Lead based in Manchester, England. I have a two great kids, an amazing wife and two ok cats (Molly and Stormtrooper). I enjoy Taekwondo, Badminton, Reading, Hackathons and building a few side projects.

I’ve gone back to school to pursue my masters degree part time and am currently studying MSc Entrepreneurship Management and Innovation online at the University of Bath.

I’ve been a Microsoft MVP in developer technologies for the last 3 years, largely because I enjoy creating videos and useful online resources for the developer community such as VisualStudioTips.co.uk and XamarinARKit.com (and others), which are regularly visited by 1000s of developers. I also wrote a book sharing how .NET developers can create Augmented Reality experiences for iOS devices using Xamarin, ARKit, .NET, C# and Visual Studio.

I enjoy playing around with AI and Image classification models, which you can see in my experiments at IsChristmasTree.com and GoodyOrBaddy.com, as well as in my video on self driving/learning car simulation.

I’ve recently made the move from Software Engineering to Developer Relations, as I am finding DevRel to be increasingly important for both organisations and the community (though I still code a lot in my spare time). As DevRel Lead, I don’t sit in marketing or recruitment. Instead, my north star is building long term relationships with the development community by encouraging my organisation to have a community centric mindset that benefits the community.

For example, I am building out TechCommunityCalendar.com to be a resource that aggregates Tech Conferences, Meetups, Hackathons and Call for Speakers – all in one place.

C: How did you get into Visual Studio?

L: I’ve been using Visual Studio since Visual Studio 2003 in all my roles and enjoy seeing it improve with every new release.

Recently I’ve been amazed how you can use StereoKit and C# to build and deploy virtual reality experiences straight from Visual Studio to your Oculus/Meta Quest 2 headset in a code-first manner with just a few lines of code. Mind blown!

Visual Studio really is the modern-day canvas for creativity and innovation.

C: What are some of your favourite tips for using Visual Studio?

L: If I had to choose, my most used keyboard shortcuts are probably the following:

Ctrl + Shift + F9 = Delete All Breakpoints
Ctrl + – and Ctrl + Shift + – = Navigate backwards, forwards
Ctrl + K, K = Toggle bookmark
Ctrl + K, N = Go to next bookmark (cycles through)
Ctrl + R, W = Toggle showing whitespace (I don’t like unnecessary whitespace)
Ctrl + K, D = Format document (Removes most of that unnecessary whitespace)

C: Do you have any tips for people starting out with Visual Studio?

L: 

Keep learning! – Check out VisualStudioTips.co.uk, learn the keyboard shortcuts and see your productivity and enjoyment of using the tool rocket!

Go build! – There are multiple versions of Visual Studio, including a free community edition. With C#, .NET and Visual Studio you can build any website, mobile app, AI program, IoT or cloud solution, augmented or virtual reality app you like!
The only limit is your imagination!

Share what you learn! – I’ve previously delivered a couple of talks titled “25 Tips for Visual Studio”. When you start sharing what you learn, not only do you help others but they will share and pass on their learnings with others and you as well!

Lee’s Visual Studio content

Fortunately for us, Lee has written a wealth of content both on Visual Studio and on topics related to it, so it’s a great way to get stuck in. Check out our curated selection of articles below, but be sure to VisualStudioTips for a more comprehensive list of everything that is available.

Articles

• Tips for Visual Studio
  • Bookmarks
  • Code Map
  • Code Snippets
  • Comment Shortcut
  • Delete All Breakpoints
  • Format Document
  • Go To Definition
  • Go To Line Number
  • Move Solution Explorer
  • Multiple Line Edit
  • Peek Definition
  • Quick Actions
  • Sync With Active Document
  • Task List

Videos

• 25 Tips for Visual Studio

You can find Lee on Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Learn more

• Read more from our MVP Spotlight series
• Introduction to Visual Studio on Microsoft Learn
• Use Visual Studio for modern development
• Getting started with Visual Studio for Windows 10 app development

The post MVP Spotlight: Learning Visual Studio with Lee Englestone appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Many believe that it’s difficult to get started with Azure DevOps, but that’s really not the case.

Azure DevOps can deploy to any cloud on-premise, and you can bring any code to our tooling. This means it’s not just for Windows developers, or .NET developers, but for everyone – be it multi-platform, open source, or your on-premise environment.

One thing it’s really great for is CICD – or Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery – and it does this with automation. So things like infrastructure code, using third-party tools like Terraform, or deploying ARM templates into Azure, can all be done automatically. You can even look at automating your actual code with your developers using Azure pipelines.

Azure DevOps can also manage projects and tasks. It’s great for project managers to know what tasks exist, when they’re being assigned to each person, and when they’ve been completed. It’s also possible to see which tasks are creating blockers, so you can manage your workflow more effectively.

To help you along your DevOps journey, we’re taking a look at some of the best free ebooks from Microsoft. Enjoy!

Azure DevOps explained

Deliver quality applications efficiently and at scale with Azure DevOps tools for every phase of the development lifecycle. Get this e-book to help you plan projects, collaborate on code development, and build and deploy applications faster. Also, explore ways to increase quality and customer satisfaction with continuous software delivery.

In Azure DevOps explained, you’ll find DevOps principles and follow tutorials to learn how to:

• Manage projects with Kanban boards and securely manage source code with repositories.
• Enable continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) by creating build and release pipelines with fully integrated package management.
• Send applications faster by using GitHub and Azure DevOps together.
• Improve code quality and manage project testing lifecycles with Azure Test Plans.
• Set up CI/CD pipelines for .NET-based applications and container-based infrastructures with step-by-step instructions.

Visualise your DevOps workflow

Visualising your end-to-end DevOps workflow can be tough. Being able to see your workflow will allow you to see your strengths and where you have room to optimise your tooling. The DevOps Workflow Generator will allow you to configure and visualise your specific workflow – exportable in one easy-to-read report that you can download on demand.

Additionally, we’ll be taking the aggregated, anonymous data from this tool and reporting the latest trends that we find to you. We’re looking forward to learning more and to sharing our findings with you.

6 tips to integrate security into your DevOps practices

DevOps proven practices illustrate how collaboration between developer and operations teams leads to faster software delivery. Now, the issue facing digital leaders is the security and compliancy of their code, workflows and infrastructure. The logical next step: integrate your security team with the existing DevOps team – breaking down another organisational silo. In this e-book, you will learn how to:

• Develop a security-first company culture to drive DevSecOps adoption
• Proactively secure your code, workflows, infrastructure and software supply chain against vulnerabilities
• Provide your teams with shared tooling and best practices to enable end-to-end visibility and traceability
• Leverage improved insights and policy automation to realise continuous compliancy

Securing Enterprise DevOps Environments

Download the Microsoft & Sogeti e-book, Securing Enterprise DevOps Environments, to learn to fortify all three attack surfaces of enterprise DevOps environments and implement the culture changes necessary to thrive in our dangerous new world. We’ll explore the ideal secure and regulatory-ready setup of Enterprise DevOps tools and practices, focusing on three specific areas:

• Secure the developer environment.
• Secure the DevOps platform environments.
• Secure the application environments.

MLOps with Azure Machine Learning

Not every organisation’s machine learning DevOps (MLOps) requirements are the same. The MLOps architecture for a large, multinational enterprise is unlikely to fit a small startup. Organisations start small and build up as their maturity, model catalogue, and experience grow.

Microsoft aims to meet organisations where they are on their ML/AI journey. Our leading technologies and robust MLOps capabilities can help you accelerate the machine learning lifecycle and empower data scientists and developers to build, train, and deploy models on a secure, trusted platform that supports a wide range of productive experiences and is designed for responsible machine learning.

Useful Links

• An introduction to DevSecOps
• Get stuck into more DevOps on Microsoft Learn
• How to get started with Microsoft certifications
• View live and on-demand sessions on Azure and more on Microsoft Learn TV

The post Improve your DevOps practices with these ebooks appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

This year’s Microsoft Build has come to a close, but despite the event being over there’s still plenty of content for you to enjoy. There are a wealth of on-demand sessions and supplemental content that cover everything from announcements to tech deep-dives, so it’s absolutely worth your time to dig into the session catalogue.

What our MVPs thought

With so many sessions available, it might be hard to know where to start. Fortunately, we had the perfect group of people to ask for pointers!

Following the conclusion of this year’s Microsoft Build, we spoke to some of the Microsoft MVPs in the UK about what they thought about the event, as well as their personal highlights.

Kevin McDonnell, Microsoft 365 Solutions Architect and co-host of the GreyHatBeard podcast, said:

Options are what helps us feel better mentally, and Build brought those in abundance. Whether it was to enjoy from the comfort of home or to head into TVP to attend in person (including a great choice of food). Whether it was to focus on dev in Azure, GitHub pipelines, the best of Graph or the magic of Power Platform. Whether it was tech content, how to build a community or the emotional Humans of IT track. There was content for all and how you wanted it. I learnt, I chatted with old friends and I met new people – exactly what I want from a conference!

Chris Hoard, Partner Education Lead at Vuzion, said:

This year’s Microsoft Build was the first major post-pandemic event which truly embraced hybrid, and one which I think will be the template for events moving forward. On the one hand, we had the digital core delivered out of the Microsoft Media Hub in Redmond, and on the other we had regional spotlights where you had the opportunity to meet up and attend sessions in person. Whether you want to watch remote, attend in real life or even watch sessions remotely whilst being there in real life: this event showed us that the choice is yours, which is far more inclusive and personalises how each of us like to consume content.

Attending in person, I met many of my friends and fellow MVPs, we enjoyed street food and had a great time delivering and supporting each other’s sessions. The hospitality was second to none, the atmosphere and organisation was second to none – and at the end of the day it was easy to be without – let’s admit – all the drawbacks and cost of the old events. Looking forward to Build 2023!

Thomas Thornton, Azure Technical Specialist at Kainos, said:

It was an awesome event for my first in-person event after two+ years! There was a great mixture of content for all, and a lot of getting to meet those who I have spoken to/communicated with for over two years and not met! A really great event – looking forward to the next!

It terms of being a hybrid event, it worked well. The expert sessions in particular had a good collaboration between both those online and in-person.

Marcel Lupo, Cloud Solutions and DevOps Architect at Avanade, said:

The event was awesome!! Great content and speakers, plus it was great to just get together and meet so many people from the community and other MVPs I’ve not spoken to in person. As a connection zone speaker at the event, I think the hybrid sessions went down really well. The event was super awesome and I’m looking forward to doing this again!

Thoughts from other viewers

During the two-day event, viewers from all over the world were sharing their thoughts on the #MSBuild hashtag on Twitter. Here’s a small selection of what sessions and announcements people were talking about:

#PowerPages the new hero in @MSPowerPlat! 🤩 Handy links:
1⃣Power Pages new docs site – https://t.co/PPCwmYX20C
2⃣Power Pages go live checklist – https://t.co/EloaRsgPJ5
3⃣New Power Pages community site – https://t.co/MqsOXfazH4
4⃣Watch #MSBuild session – https://t.co/Up3KRHorcS pic.twitter.com/JdISZuHeZj

— Elaiza Benitez #LetsAutomate (@benitezhere) May 24, 2022

This must be the coolest session from #MSBuild @stevensanderson teaches you about running .NET on WASM and WASI.
You can even run ASP .NET Core server apps, client side in the browser, not Blazor 🤯

Check it out here: https://t.co/DHWI9KuJt7 pic.twitter.com/yyIotMlQEJ

— Niels Swimburger.NET 🍔 (@RealSwimburger) May 26, 2022

My writeup of #MSBuild this week. I was particularly impressed by the #AI dev software, which comes from @OpenAI. Can see this eventually being used to create complex next-gen web software like metaverse. https://t.co/LWvOralKLu

— Richard MacManus (@ricmac) May 27, 2022

THE BEST video of #MSBuild I've seen so far is @danroth27 demo'ing a single C# based codebase running in Web, iOS, Android, PC, MacOS and then mixing in native controls. Blazor+MAUI=INSANE. https://t.co/CtQD2gpMBA

— Lee (P )?Richardson 🚨 (@lprichar) May 27, 2022

From developer flow to the metaverse, I highlighted 10 technologies at #MSBuild that are coming together as one powerful platform to help developers build what’s next. You can watch my keynote here: https://t.co/OWqPAGbfVL pic.twitter.com/46WqJ7m7I3

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) May 24, 2022

With over 300 sessions it’s impossible for us to cast a spotlight over each and every one, however the session catalogue is a great way of finding the right talks for you. With filters for session language, type and solution area, you’ll be able to find sessions to boost your existing skills, as well as kickstart new ones. Be sure to check it out!

Useful links

• Watch Build 2022 on-demand today!
• A look at the announcements from Microsoft Build 2022
• New Azure features and functionality for May​ 2022 – Microsoft Build edition
• Catch-up on the conversation on @MSDevUK, as well as on the #MSBuild hashtag!
• Check out Microsoft Learn TV

The post What to catch up on from Build 2022 appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

The teams who develop and manage these solutions – developers – are at the heart of the organisation. They’re critical in enabling your organisation to respond to your customer’s needs.

And when it comes to digital innovation, speed is crucial but so is having a structured plan in place. At the same time, innovation is open to everyone. Therefore, organisations need the right tools to create a culture of innovation.

Professional developers can use Visual Studio and GitHub to modernise existing and develop new applications.

You can also empower a new stream of innovation– citizen developers. These employees understand a business process and want to improve on it but might not have the developer expertise. Now with Power Apps, they can use low/no code solutions to build what they need.

Here are six ways to build a customer-centric culture by empowering your developers.

Move to the public cloud

Innovation happens faster in the cloud. Whether you need to modernise existing applications, simplify complex environments or create new apps, you can benefit from the scalability and flexibility of Azure. Developers can build on a secure foundation in any language or foundation, from anywhere.

Simplify complex and distributed environments across multiple clouds and edge environments with Azure Hybrid cloud solutions. Bring Azure management to your entire IT estate and run Azure services anywhere.

As the UK’s leading omnichannel payments business, PayPoint needs to maintain business as usual while managing increasing demand for its services. With Azure, they were able to respond with agility and even develop and deploy new functionality without downtime to customers.

Shorten time-to-market

According to a Gartner survey study, positive customer experiences drive more revenue, higher employee satisfaction and greater customer retention.

Organisations have a strong sense of urgency in going digital. This is driving demand for tools and services that shorten time-to-market and drive those positive customer experiences.

With tools like Azure DevOps and Visual Studio Code, with automation through DevOps Pipelines, GitHub Actions, the ability to streamline business processes with Power Automate and more increases the efficiency of your developer teams. They can then focus on innovating the customer experience.

Reassess investments

Customers increasingly expect products and services that factor in what they care about – be that macro topics like climate impact, or micro impacts such as their experience interacting with your products.

To meet these demands, organisations must find new ways to deliver service at scale. They need to focus on and connect with the customer experience – no matter how many business units, systems, supply chains and processes that customer journey may span. And do this all while reducing costs.

This requires a new way of thinking.

Many organisations are starting by setting a strategic approach and thinking of themselves as a software company first. Then, they’re leveraging digital technology to deliver on their vision.

Solutions built using the Azure platform offer near-instant provisioning of resources. This lowers innovation costs and enables a faster time-to-market. In fact, Forrester found the average cost to develop an application is 74 percent less with Power Apps.

Empower developers

According to McKinsey & Company, organisations with developer velocity experience four to times faster revenue growth, 60 percent higher return to shareholders, and 20 percent higher operating margin.

Unleash the creative energy of developers by leveraging Azure innovation tools. This enables them to build productively, foster secure collaboration, and remove barriers so they can scale faster innovation at lower cost.

Help them build the skills they need to bring ideas to life with certifications and training. Give developers autonomy, decision making and automate back-end processes so they can focus on bringing innovation.

Drive citizen development

Over 86 percent of organisations already struggle to hire developers. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2023, there will be four times as many end-user or citizen developers, compared to experienced developers in enterprises.

Empower the people closest to the problem to become citizen developers and solve problems themselves. With low/no code solutions like Power Apps anyone, regardless of their technical capability, can work together on the same platform to create solutions with a high level of agility.

Heathrow Airport employees have eliminated 75,000 pages of paperwork and reduced data entry by nearly 1,000 hours through the low-code development of 30 apps, helping the airport reduce its costs.

Infuse intelligence

The applications that both developers and citizen developers are building are powering important customer centric business processes. By applying AI and machine learning, organisations can infuse intelligence with real-time personalisation and serve up customised algorithms.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, uses Azure’s integrated platform with AI to build an algorithm that predicts bed space utilisation. The data is then available on Power BI so healthcare employees can quickly and simply understand the insights.

Empower developers to build a customer-centric culture

By unleashing the full potential of developers and citizen developers, organisations will enable growth, solve a wide range of business problems, and drive digital modernisation.

According to McKinsey, organisations with a developer mindset have 4 to 5 times higher revenue growth and 55 percent higher innovation.

Build a growth mindset culture where developers can drive innovation from anywhere, powered by a comprehensive portfolio of technology that complements your business needs.

We are the only company that has that full stack that spans across the breadth of both tech adoption and tech capability to build, and ultimately increase your chance of succeeding.

Find out more

Resources for leaders:

Watch the webinar: Unleash your developers to innovate

Take the Developer Velocity Assessment

Imagine digital innovation that makes a difference

Deliver a seamless experience with real impact

Build a growth mindset

Make app building easier

Resources for developer teams:

Explore the Dev Hub

Watch Microsoft Build on demand

Get certified

About the author

Denise leads the the digital and app innovation team, working directly with customers to uncover new opportunities. She has over 20 years’ experience in transformation leadership and business change delivery. With a proven ability to drive growth, innovation and performance turnaround across complex organisations, she has delivered new cloud services, automated processes and ways of working across the largest banking system in the UK.

The post The developer-customer connection: Why dev-centred cultures are customer-centric cultures appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

There have been many times in my career when I felt it necessary to pivot. I can’t give you evidence of a strong indicator of why I felt that way, just that things needed to change. Sometimes it was a wholesale change; sometimes it was just a slight modification. But with each adaptation I’ve learned and grown, and I guess it worked because I’m still here, still in love with technology.

With all my accumulated years as a technology worker, it could have been a sort of technology awareness, knowing that I’d spent too many cycles in a focus area and that the area was almost spent. Maybe I was just in tune with the technological cosmos, but those times – when I’ve accepted them and reacted – have been some of the most monumental and rewarding.

Talking with others through my interactions at conferences, events and in communities, I know that many have also felt this tug throughout their career, but many even more recently. I believe we are at another one of these junction points. I’ve personally been trying to expand my scope of knowledge in areas where I’m uncomfortable and I know that my efforts will help me to grow again and stay a resilient technological citizen for even more years to come.

One of the best ways to approach this potential lane change is to delve into areas you’re not immediately comfortable with and locate available resources for learning. In doing so, you are much better able to identify the new lane you want to be in, and you’ll start to find new areas of interest. Pivoting doesn’t have to be torturous. Adding new expertise shouldn’t feel like a punishment. You’ll quickly identify a new area where you feel a new cosmic harmony. Find it and stick with it.

As a security person at Microsoft, I can tell you that security threads throughout everything you work with each day. If there were one single area I would propose you focus on, it would be security – particularly how the Microsoft Security platform integrates and interacts with your hybrid environment. This is a very good place to be right now and an awesome career path. And, while you may feel comfortable with the overall security for devices, applications, services and users you manage, building deeper knowledge in these areas is important and can help ease that hunger for change.

Here’s some recommended areas that might be slightly out of your comfort zone that you can use to test the waters:

• SC-200: Mitigate threats using Microsoft 365 Defender
• SC-300: Implement an identity management solution
• SC-400: Implement Information Governance in Microsoft 365
• Protect on-premises identities with Microsoft Defender for Cloud for Identity

Good luck in your endeavours and hopefully our cosmic technology paths will cross one day.

Learn more

• This article was written for the Monthly TechNet UK IT Pro Newsletter – sign up today!
• How to get started with Microsoft certifications
• A look at new Windows Server Hybrid certification
• New Azure features and functionality for April 2022

The post How to pivot as an IT Pro appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Join the Learn Live Azure Hybrid Cloud Study Hall on Microsoft Learn TV!

At Microsoft we strongly believe that Hybrid Cloud is an important concept for our customers and partners. When it comes to our Azure Hybrid Cloud offerings, we are not just offering a one size fits all solution, we are offering a set of different services and solutions that our customers can leverage depending on their needs. We offer a whole range of solutions, including Azure Stack Hub, Azure Arc, Azure Stack HCI and many more.

To learn more, you can join us for the new Azure Hybrid Study Hall series. This fourteen-part weekly series will answer your questions live, walk through how to configure, deploy, manage your hybrid cloud resources using services and hybrid cloud technologies, and walk through Microsoft Learn modules focused on Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI.

You will learn how you can manage your on-premises, edge and multi-cloud resources, and how you can deploy Azure services anywhere with Azure Arc and Azure Stack.

The series will kick off on April 14th and will have two new episodes every Thursday. Join us then!

Learn more

• This article was written for the Monthly TechNet UK IT Pro Newsletter – sign up today!
• New Azure features and functionality for March 2022
• How to get started with Microsoft certifications

The post Learning Azure Hybrid Cloud skills with Learn Live on Microsoft Learn TV appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Let’s dissect this a little. Firstly, what is culture? It’s quite an ethereal term and one I have often struggled with. Someone once shared a simple definition that resonated with me: Culture is “what you do when your boss isn’t watching”. Culture is something ingrained into how you work and think, which is important. You can’t simply say you have a culture as an organisation. You must live and breathe the culture.

And what do we mean when we say data-driven? It’s not about collecting all data. In fact, lack of data isn’t a problem for most organisations! However, what they often struggle with is extracting value from that data. Therefore, what we are really talking about is decisions that are driven from data. Because we use the data to inform and justify our decisions, it needs to be good quality.

So, a data-driven culture is one where the organisational norm is that decision making is driven by data. How can leaders successfully build this culture? If we look at the journey to a data-driven culture, I think of four steps.

1. Create the right mindset for a data-driven culture

To me this is the most crucial step – leadership must be clear. I don’t just mean that leaders need to talk about using data. Leaders need to demonstrate how they place data at the heart of what the organisation is trying to achieve every day.

In order to thrive, leaders must be clear about what their organisation’s purpose and outcomes are. A great way to create accountability and direction is to tie those purposes and outcomes to measures of success.

At Microsoft, we use an approach called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to organise and align our activities to transform. The focus on key results inspires a data-driven mindset across the organisation. It also provides a common data driven focus and language for everyone in the business – we all start to think about the measures that matter.

2. Find organisational and individual value in a data-driven culture

When looking at driving change I have to say that unfortunately we, as humans, can be a selfish bunch. Often, one of the biggest drivers of successful change is understanding what is in it for the individual. Within Microsoft we apply the PROSCI change methodology. At the heart of this is the ADKAR change model. There is the adage: organisations don’t change, people do. ADKAR is an acronym for five elements of change for individuals:

• Awareness of the need to change.
• Desire to participate and support the change.
• Knowledge on how to change.
• Ability to implement desired skills and behaviours.
• Reinforcement to sustain the change.

To embed the change within our people and therefore to drive change in the organisation, we really need to create the desire to change. If people are told the future is a data-driven culture they simply won’t buy into it and commit to it. Therefore, demonstrating change and demonstrating value from data fast is important. When people see that the change works and is more effective, they’ll want to change.

3. Build your and your employee’s skills

If we are working on changing our mindsets, we also need to prepare our people with the right skills and tools. Everyone needs basic data literacy skills and we all different levels of knowledge. Some people have inherent data literacy skills. Others may need support to be able to understand and assimilate data then interpret and analyse it. Then, once we have the basics in place, we need to progress to understand how we can use the tools at our disposal to answer the business question we have. However, we can’t just throw tools like Excel, Tableau and PowerBI at our people and expect them to be able to optimise and transform our organisations.

Leaders need to help their employees on their learning journey by democratising data access, building learning opportunities and give employees the time to take those opportunities. One way you can do this is to build re- and upskilling into employee KPIs. In our data journey we move from a data consumer to data analyst, citizen data scientist and beyond. Not everyone starts in the same place. Everyone’s learning path is different and the KPIs need to reflect that.

Microsoft provides access to great learning tools to support you and your employee’s individual journey. These include Microsoft Learn – the front door to all your training needs whether you are just starting out or an experienced professional, with role-based learning paths. You can also explore how to use AI in your organisation with the Microsoft AI Business School.

4. Empower employees with the right tools

So, now you’ve changed your mindset and the mindset of your organisation. You’ve seen the value of a data-driven organisation and are building relevant skills. But what tools do leaders need to get insights?

Firstly, organisations need quality, curated data that is easily accessible. Not everyone in the business is a data engineer who can find, cleanse and prepare data for analytics. You need an easy way for everyone in an organisation to find the business data that they need. It also needs to be presented in a manner that is easily understandable – using the language they understand. This is where a data marketplace or data catalogue is invaluable. At Microsoft we have Azure Purview, our unified data governance platform. This is a platform that automatically discovers data wherever it lives in your organisation. It can classify data and identify data lineage; but importantly it also presents a data catalogue of your data using business language. The data catalogue is a core element of a successful self-service strategy.

Using self-service data insights tools like PowerBI provides easy access to pre-prepared and certified datasets. This enables your people to be confident in the quality of the data source and empowers them to discover new insights from the data. It also allows the data owners can enable controls to ensure colleagues can only see the data they need to.

A continuous journey to a data-driven culture

These four steps will help you build a data-driven culture. I also want to remind you of the final step in ADKAR: Reinforcement! It’s critical that this is not seen as a one-off initiative. You need to work hard at reinforcing the change to build a successful data-driven culture. If people don’t use these new skills, mindset and tools, it is the case of use it or lose it. This can be tough – but creating a champion network focused on data is a wonderful way to organically drive and embed the culture.

Find out more

Build a data-driven organisation

Peer to peer interview: Unite your data strategy and culture

Create a data culture

About the author

James is a Digital Advisor in Microsoft Consulting Services. He is focussed on helping customers realise their business outcomes and purpose by enabling their digital transformation with advanced cloud technologies – with a particular focus on data, AI, automation and sustainability. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2014, James held several roles across financial services (HSBC, Schroders), public sector (Scottish Water) and consulting (PwC).

The post The role of leadership in a successful data-driven culture appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Despite rapid acceleration of digital modernisation, our recent research report – Unlocking the UK’s potential with digital skills – finds that 69 percent of leaders think they still have a skills gap within their organisation, despite 80 percent recognising that digital skills investment will be important to the country’s economic recovery. At the same time, employees are hungry to learn. 59 percent agree that developing digital skills will be important to their employability post-pandemic.

The challenge for many leaders now lies in how to create a culture in which employees are guided and empowered to learn the skills that they are eager to develop, and will be so important in the digital economy. To that end, I’ve penned a couple of thoughts and would love to hear your reflections in the comments below.

1.      Acknowledge the skills gap

Awareness is the first step to action. It’s certainly a positive that almost 70 percent of UK leaders recognise the gaps in their digital capability. Now is the time to turn awareness into action.

Identify the barriers your organisation is facing when it comes to skills investment. It is possible your challenges are like those experienced by other companies. 37 percent of leaders cite cost as their primary challenge, whilst 28 percent are united in feeling that their lack of strategy holds them back. I often find engaging with my counterparts beneficial, not least as we discover shared challenges and learnings. If you aren’t sure where to start, organisations such as FutureDotNow provide useful opportunities to listen and learn from like-minded leaders on how to bridge skills gaps.

Then, create an integrated, cross-functional digital team who are responsible for driving the effective use of digital skills and solutions throughout the organisation. Work with this team to evaluate your technology stack, identify skills gaps and assess your digital talent pool.

2.      Affirm your commitment

Actively champion the value of lifelong learning. Share resources for employees to develop in-demand skills. Also, provide space for everyone to learn throughout the working week. Over time, these steps will contribute to an inclusive learning culture that will empower learners and prepare your organisation for the digital economy.

At Microsoft, we host a quarterly learning day; an opportunity for employees to focus their time entirely on growth and development. Talks and training provide employees an opportunity to learn something new. We allocate space for employees to learn in the way that best suits them. Learning Day serves as an important and regular reminder to all the value of personal growth and skill development.

3.      Invest in the right skills

One of the biggest challenges can be knowing which skills to focus on. Of course, this varies in every company. But we uncovered a great place to start: data literacy. Our research found that data literacy skills have the greatest impact on business performance. It also provides employees with a useful capability to develop in a wide range of roles. To further support leaders in identifying the right skills to invest in, we split digital skills in to two categories:

• Consumptive skills such as using Microsoft 365 and adopting new technologies to allow people to use digital tools and systems.
• More technical productive skills such as coding, developing algorithms, computer science modelling the enable us to create those solutions.

Since others adopt what the creators develop, productive skills can have double the impact on organisational performance. Your initiatives should take this distinction into account and deliver the right balance of learning options. Microsoft Learn is a great place for employees to get started.

When you empower people with digital skills they become interpersonally stronger too, leading to greater critical thinking, collaboration and decision-making. Build on this by offering training that goes beyond technical capabilities to support workers in developing professional skills such as creativity, adaptability and collaboration.

4.      Nurture your Next Gen Workers

Our research shows that a creative new generation has joined the workforce with a strong blend of consumptive and productive skills. These Next Gen Workers make up 73 percent of the workforce today. Democratise consumptive skills by providing opportunities for employees to learn and engage with no code/low code technologies such as PowerApps. In turn, the potential benefits for organisations and society could be significant.

5.      Think differently about talent

To prepare for the new world of work, leaders should rethink their talent acquisition and development strategies by looking outside traditional talent pools to fill skills gaps. One such way could be to hire a digital apprentice into your organisation to support your goals and develop throughout the apprenticeship. I know first hand the value apprenticeships provide for both employer and employee. I would encourage anybody interested in hiring an apprentice to explore our new UK apprenticeship network.

Building skills in the new world of work

As we enter a hybrid world of work, conversations on skills and talent remain high on the agenda for leaders across the UK. The skills challenges within organisations are complex and unique, however these steps, alongside our our digital skills report, will provide you with actionable insights on how to unlock your organisation’s potential.

Recently, we’ve been discussing how to think differently about talent with industry leaders. It’s something that has been at the top of my mind as well. Therefore, in the next blog, we will dive a bit deeper on how to develop and attract diverse talent, with insights from leaders across the UK.

Find out more

Unlock the UK’s potential with digital skills

Learn how to harness the power of data

Develop your skills and own your story

Watch a panel of industry leaders discuss how to think differently about talent in an on-demand session from Microsoft Envision

About the author

Simon is passionate about unlocking the potential in every person and organisation and has been with Microsoft since 1999. In his role as UK Chief Learning Officer, Simon is responsible for leading the learning culture and skilling strategy in the UK and driving the execution for customers, partners, employees, and future generation skilling. Prior to this, Simon has held several senior positions at Microsoft, leading several businesses across the UK and EMEA.

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