Today, the pressures are different. The global workforce is shrinking as the population ages. Labour productivity is in the doldrums. And, with a more connected global population, security threats emerge and evolve faster than ever. While human ingenuity and expertise will always be needed to defend against these threats, 87% of leaders see AI as a market advantage.  

Whether you’re looking to improve agility and security in your SAP workloads, wanting to innovate without disrupting core business processes or looking for more control over your SAP migration, the cloud and AI offer a unique opportunity.

Here are five ways the Microsoft Cloud can help you harness the power of AI and extend your SAP capabilities. 

1. Create faster with AI-driven data insights

In a world of deadlines and labour-intensive tasks, innovation and creativity can suffer. By integrating Azure AI services to your SAP data, you can optimise your workflow and empower your employees to create ideas and content faster. Our AI-powered data platforms also help you complete time-consuming tasks with ease, offering instant and intelligent insights that propel your work forward. 

An example is the Microsoft Fabric platform. It delivers data analytics in a software-as-a-service model, with an open, lake-centric data architecture and deep integration with Microsoft 365. Its built-in AI Copilot helps you find out what you need to know using natural language. In addition, it’s built to work across clouds, so you can easily migrate elsewhere in the future. 

Part of the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform is Power BI, relied on by the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies. With easy-to-use AI analysis capabilities and AI-powered data summarisation, it helps you find insights, make decisions and take appropriate action with ease.  

2. Improve collaboration and productivity

To get the most from your employees, they need to be freed from siloed technology, software and business processes. You can enhance employee productivity by integrating and giving access to SAP data in Microsoft 365. 

With Microsoft 365 Copilot, your AI assistant can help you keep work organised and your employees productive. It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph – your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and more – and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. 

Copilot for Microsoft 365 works alongside your favourite day-to-day office apps. Just a few examples:

• You can be more creative in Microsoft Word, as Copilot writes, edits, summarises and creates alongside you. Rapidly find key information or get a head start by generating (and then re-generating) a full client brief.

• Copilot helps put all the rich capabilities of Microsoft Excel at your fingertips. It will review and edit data with simple prompts, make sheet-wide updates in seconds, and visualise key insights from large data-sets. 

• In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can now quickly summarise an entire presentation deck, or organise your deck into sections. Copilot also makes it easy to transform existing written documents into full decks, complete with speaker notes and sources – all with a few simple, spoken prompts. 

• With Microsoft Outlook and Teams, Copilot lightens the load and provides the gift of clarity. Summarising long email or message threads (with bullet points and all), pulling out different opinions expressed in meetings, and quickly drafting suggested replies and action items, all in real time. So you can unlock the magic of efficient and effective meetings. ​ 

Combining Microsoft Generative AI with SAP’s SuccessFactors and Joule enables new experiences for HR leaders, recruiters, hiring managers and employees. They can now create tailored job descriptions based on SAP SuccessFactors data and external data. Or rapidly generate interview questions based on an applicant’s CV. Using Microsoft Viva Copilot, employees will be able to curate their own learning paths. 

3. Simplify with automation and innovation

When great ideas or highly productive employees are held back by repetitive or labour-intensive business processes, it can stifle progress and creativity. Simplify your business process with AI-driven development and automation, using your SAP data. 

For over a decade, we’ve been progressively unifying the Microsoft Power Platform into a unique, fully integrated and cloud-powered suite. With solutions such as Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents and AI Builder, we’ve reinvented how all makers develop software, further democratising access to innovative business solutions.

Today, all employees have access to the tools they need to create applications, solve problems, automate workflows and analyse data more effectively. With Copilot working as your AI assistant in Power Apps, the development process is more accessible and less repetitive, so your development cycles don’t get slowed down.

Just describe your goal verbally, and Power Apps will use integrated AI to generate code, and even build complete apps. Check out the latest AI and other advances built into Power Apps.

You can also auto-generate working apps and data within seconds from images and design files. Save time, build more complex solutions, and reimagine business applications. Empower anyone across the business to create apps quickly and easily. 

4. Improve developer productivity with Copilot

Working faster and smarter can be crucial when it comes to business competitiveness and innovation. One of the most exciting new capabilities we’ve recently launched with GitHub is a new service we call GitHub Copilot. It can empower developers to save time and energy with AI-generated code, and helps easily integrate AI capabilities into SAP ABAP applications. 

GitHub Copilot provides an AI-pair programmer that works with all of the popular programming languages. This dramatically accelerates developer productivity. Up to 46% of all new code written by developers using Copilot is now fully AI-generated, with developers reporting a 55% productivity boost by using Copilot. 60% to 75% of developers who use GitHub Copilot also say it helps them focus on more satisfying work and enjoy their jobs more. 

5. Stay ahead with AI-driven security

Keeping protected against cyberthreats in today’s security landscape means being able to respond quickly and effectively. With Microsoft Security Copilot, you can do just that. 

Security Copilot combines the most advanced GPT4 model from OpenAI with a Microsoft-developed, security-specific model. It’s powered by Microsoft Security’s unique expertise and scale, sifting through 65 trillion signals daily. So whether you need to detect hidden patterns, harden defences or respond to incidents in your SAP systems, it’ll help you do it better and faster. 

As the first and only generative AI security product to help defend organisations at machine speed and scale, Security Copilot helps you be more effective and efficient while also supporting your teams to solve security challenges. It runs on our security and privacy-compliant hyperscale infrastructure, which is unique to Microsoft and brings the full benefit of being on the Azure cloud platform. And over time, it will work with a growing ecosystem of products from third-party vendors. 

With this comprehensive approach, and all your security capabilities in one place, you’ll benefit from unparalleled simplicity, visibility, automation, and intelligence.  

Extend SAP and innovate on Microsoft Cloud

Redefine what’s possible by integrating AI and Microsoft into your SAP data. It can help empower your employees, accelerate savings in your business, optimise your workload and enhance your productivity.  

To learn how AI can benefit your organisation and how we’ll support you through the change, please contact the authors, Sean Pilkington and Tom Payne, or your Microsoft representatives. 

Find out more

Microsoft Discovery Day: SAP on the Microsoft Cloud

Maximize SAP Investments by Migrating to the Microsoft Cloud: On-demand webinar

Innovate on Your SAP Data with Power Platform Integration: On-demand webinar

About the authors

Sean Pilkington

As the SAP on Azure UK Lead at Microsoft, Sean draws on over 20 years of experience in SAP design and solutioning to help clients visualise how their SAP solutions can be deployed into the Azure cloud. He thrives on demonstrating innovative technology that seamlessly blends with SAP to give customers the best experience, while enabling their business to drive down costs, increase ROI on technology and accelerate their digital transformation.

Tom Payne

As the SAP on Azure Sales Lead at Microsoft, Tom brings a wealth of experience to empowering SAP customers as they embrace cloud transformation with Microsoft Azure. He is adept at simplifying complex technology applications while optimising the customer journey.

The post Embrace the art of the possible: 5 ways Microsoft AI can enhance your SAP workload  appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

But how do you run these sessions remotely while creating that same energy? How can you maximise productivity and return on investment of time and resources? Virtual meetings tend to require more thought and planning to enable and drive business results in an engaging and inclusive way.

We consider some of the underlying assumptions around working in the same physical space to map to a fully virtual way of working model for remote creative thinking sessions.

Moving on from traditional creative thinking sessions 

It’s a general assumption that the investment of time (including travel), focus and energy is offset by generating innovative ideas. This leads to workshops and agendas which are coarse-grained, to maximise the investment in time people have set aside to contribute.

Being somewhere physically can lend itself more naturally to creating serendipitous moments and the feeling of connectedness. Yet, when organised correctly, these moments can be designed into a virtual event.

And when you factor in those other ideas such as travel, and focus, hosting a virtual event can improve those. A major benefit of virtual events is that there is reduced cost and no travel time – there may even be a reduced carbon footprint. This increased flexibility can result in increased attendance, allowing people to carve out the time and get themselves in the right headspace.

Now we have the digital tools to support virtual ways of working, it makes sense that people’s expectations have changed, and they’re more likely to expect virtual events in the future. A virtual event has the potential to be just as good as, or even more successful than a physical event.

What makes a good facilitator for a creative thinking session?

It’s important to remember that often ideation session attendees are diverse and in a lot of cases do not have close and pre-established working relationships. This means you need a good facilitator to help drive the session.

They will ensure that everyone is briefed on ground rules, agenda, objectives and required tools. Ongoing active facilitation manages the energy and focus of the group. When all are in the same physical location the facilitator can read visual cues. This needs to be done differently for virtual ideation sessions. Visible or declared accessibility needs can also be more explicit and actively catered for. We’ll go into some depth about how to manage these in the virtual environment.

How to flip from physical creative thinking sessions to virtual effectively

Examine your assumptions

• Video conferencing fatigue is real: Agendas should be much more granular in a virtual setting to ensure breaks.
• Introduce small breakout rooms to ensure everyone can share ideas.
• Establish ground rules.

Virtual accessibility

• Planning is key: Ensure you have accessibility factored in, such as automatic captioning.
• Consider everyone: Use the Accessibility Checker in your presentations and documents to ensure everyone can access them.

Virtual engagement

• Actively plan engagement: Use digital engagement tools to gamify sessions.
• Facilitate creative thinking: Implement warmups, games, and quizzes during breaks.

Virtual tools and processes

• Effective meetings take planning: Share a pre-brief of the tools and processes you will use so participants can familiarise themselves.
• Mistakes happen: Allow time in your agenda in case something doesn’t work right away.

Examine your assumptions for creative thinking sessions

When everyone joins remotely, we need to examine our assumptions of physical meetings. For example, we shouldn’t assume that all attendees have blocked out the half-day or whole day to collaborate. Conversely, we should be mindful that many will be sitting in their home office or living space. Agendas should be much more granular in a virtual setting. Allowing people the time to get away from their desk is a key part of this.

We should challenge our assumptions that workshops must be in a whole or half day event. Consider breaking up your agenda into ‘bites’. Make sure to include recap time to warm people back up. This also allows real time for consolidation of previous sessions and presentations of feedback and insights to guide the group forward.

This approach might mean more facilitation time is needed – potentially filling the time of two facilitators where one was previously enough.

Virtual inclusion

We all make assumptions of how we want to collaborate. Even if we’ve identified strategies to address our subconscious biases, inclusion requires extra consideration in a virtual setting. Virtual meetings have the potential to be a great leveller, where everyone is starting from the same place.

One useful strategy for driving inclusion in diverse groups is to task attendees to write an ‘about me’ slide which is shared ahead of the session. This can outline things such as:

• How I like to work
• My areas of expertise
• What I am hoping to get out of the session
• How I prefer to communicate

Facilitators can also use this to look at the balance of perspectives, objectives and experiences in the team. They can also allocate individuals to breakout groups to maximise diversity or concentrate expertise (as appropriate).

Another useful approach to drive inclusion is to structure your agenda around smaller group breakouts, followed by share backs with the wider group. Smaller groups still need an element of facilitation. However, generally the smaller the group the more opportunity everyone has for their voices to be heard.

Ground rules are also important to establish. Brief attendees to try to be more self-aware and to actively give each other airtime. Establish the use of the ‘Raise hand’ feature in Teams when they want to speak, for example.

In some cases, we have even seen virtual meetings become a cultural leveller, as they flatten organisation hierarchies – for example by reducing deference that team members might have for their boss in a physical setting.

Virtual accessibility

We need to actively plan for specific accessibility needs in virtual settings. In a physical setting visual cues may make accessibility needs more present. Yet, a remote setting may even be an enabler through the use of accessibility features in digital tools such as live captions. Like in physical settings, planning is key.

Virtual engagement for creative thinking

Engagement needs to be more actively planned. Warmups and ice breakers need to be more part of the agenda. Digital tools can help defend against distractions. Asking people to be present is a start. But techniques such as regular voting and gamifying participation can drive engagement. It can also help deliver feedback to facilitators on the level of group engagement and attention, and where help and coaching may be needed.

Consider side challenges – for example quizzes or cryptic puzzles, with prizes awarded to inject purpose. Creativity is your only limit. Make things fun! Equally, actively encourage breaks more regularly than you would with a typical set of back-to-back meetings.

Virtual tools and processes

There are many established design practices and tools to utilise which will help you establish the right methodology, tools and templates. Yet, we should be mindful of how these need to be modified, extended or changed for virtual meetings. Effective physical meetings require preparation. So do virtual meetings.

You’ll need to standardise the overall working method and toolset ahead of time, sharing this and encouraging people to try it out before the meeting. From a process perspective, a small working group should define the process based on objectives and create things like required templates, breakout meeting groups and process guides. And for the first time you try this, allow for things to go wrong by with extra time in your agenda – as they probably will.

Creating engaging experiences for everyone

Where do we get our best ideas from? Diverse groups where everyone has a voice to share their thoughts. That’s why ideation sessions are an essential business tool to solve the problems of today and create the opportunities of tomorrow.

And because we’ve moved more to virtual meetings, this means more people can take part, solving challenges quicker and building new ideas. When done in a clear and structured way, they can maximise human creativity and drives business results.

Creativity never needs to stop – even in a hybrid or remote working environment.

Find out more

Reimagine the new world of work

Discover how to respond to the new world of work with leadership, culture and practice

About the author

Terry Room is currently a Managing Architect for Microsoft Consulting Services in the UK. With over 20 years of technology industry experience, he leads a cross disciplinary team of consulting architects and digital advisors, with a focus on driving large scale business and technology transformation with strategic enterprise customers through the design of compelling business cases, resilient technology architectures, and transformation programmes which deliver sustainable business value.

The post How to encourage creative thinking inclusively and remotely in the new world of work appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

In the new world of work, it’s important to keep your people at the heart of your business. That’s why empowering them with the tools they need to work smarter will help you create an inclusive and resilient culture. A Forrester study found that workers realised almost two hours in daily productivity gains using Microsoft 365 on Surface, while reducing security breach costs by about 20 percent. We’re going to dive into the ways you can embrace the productivity gains of a robust security strategy, while empowering employees to do their best work from anywhere.

1.      Extend security across your entire stack

A security strategy needs to ensure your entire digital estate is secure. Ensure your entire stack is optimised with devices and applications that have built-in security based on a Zero Trust model. Surface meets the same security standards of all Microsoft software and services, making it a strategic part of your security stack.

But what is Zero Trust? It’s a security model that adapts to the new hybrid workplace and embraces mobility and remote working. By assuming breach, Zero Trust verifies each request or what resource it accesses regardless of where the request originates. By never trusting and always verifying, it ensures every access request is authenticated, authorised and encrypted before granting access.

This identity-based approach works in the background and enables things like single sign-on. Employees can, for example, sign into their Surface device with Windows Hello, a reliable, fully integrated biometric authentication based on facial recognition or fingerprint matching. Because the Surface optimises apps, it makes it easier for employees to work together. In fact, that same Forrester study I mentioned earlier also found that 88 percent of survey respondents said that Microsoft 365-powered Surface devices had helped their employees become more collaborative.

Construction firm Willmott Dixon saw an immediate improvement in productivity when using Surface and Microsoft 365. “A lot of our architects and engineers live quite far away. We now connect with them via Teams” says Simon Wilson, Senior Operations Manager. “We’ve seen projects that have reduced design time from 12 weeks to eight weeks. That is a true saving to the project.”

2.      Manage your security strategy your way

Zero Trust also helps your IT team manage your security infrastructure by combining threat protection, detection and response. Security can be managed from an easy to use control centre, protecting users, data, and endpoints. An integrated approach takes advantage of AI and automation. They take over low-level risk detection and real-time analytics to monitor and respond. This reduces chronic alert fatigue and means analysts can focus on critical alerts or higher threats.

The built-in security of Surface and Microsoft 365 makes it easy for your IT team to optimise to meet your specific needs. You can even go beyond traditional software-based policy management. Firmware configuration settings can deliver an extra level of hardware control and manageability. For example, the camera can be turned off for any device in highly secure areas to reduce risk. The built-in security of Surface and Microsoft 365 makes it easy for your IT team to optimise to meet your specific needs. You can even go beyond traditional software-based policy management. Firmware configuration settings can deliver an extra level of hardware control and manageability. For example, the camera can be turned off for any device in highly secure areas to reduce risk. Surface also benefits from three security features: Trusted Platform Module (TPM), Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Device Firmware Configuration Interface (DFCI).

TPM: This military-grade security protects the keys used in authentication and encryption.

UEFI: This protects the firmware from malicious attacks. Maintained by Microsoft, so that from the time the power button is pressed to the time that the operating system boots, organisations can avoid a critical vulnerability point and be assured that the latest UEFI updates are pushed out.

DFCI: Born from the Microsoft cloud offerings and enabled fast cloud deployment and management down to the firmware and component level. Benefit for those using AutoPilot via InTune, perfect for cloud first deployment, management and end of user decommission from your IT admin. DFCI gives users freedom to work from any location while still maintaining control and security.

Microsoft Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM) is a feature of Surface devices with Surface UEFI that allows you to secure and manage firmware settings within your organization. With SEMM, IT professionals can prepare configurations of UEFI settings and install them on a Surface device.

While these make it easy for your IT team to manage, a compliant organisation often hears from employees that security measures make it harder for them to access the tools they need to work. When you have built-in security, you can ensure pain-free access without compromising the employee experience. A biometric single sign-on such as Windows Hello can make it faster for your employees to log in. Additions like multi-factor authentication can also reduce credential attacks by 99 percent.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) actively serves 25 million British citizens. Their cloud-first strategy allows them to be more agile and efficient. As a result of this approach, they are less reliant on expensive and hard-to-maintain on-premise infrastructure and are able to scale with the demands of business. By pairing this approach with Surface devices, they’re ensuring advanced security standards are applied from chip to cloud. “We’re making sure our solution covers all these security standards without limiting user experience,” says Nava Ramanan, Workplace Computing Lead Technical Architect at DWP.

3.      Minimise risk and reduce costs and complexity

With the right tools and devices it is possible to increase security and productivity while reducing costs and complexity. Surface powered by Microsoft 365 improves enterprise security by reducing both the number of security breaches and remediation costs—all without impacting workforce productivity or the employee experience. Forrester found that the number of annual breaches was reduced by 50 percent per year by using two-factor authentication, Advanced Threat Analytics, and Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM).

By integrating new agile methods of device deployment and management, you can improve IT efficiency while reducing overheads. When combining Surface with Microsoft AutoPilot and Windows 10 Pro, IT teams saved four hours per device deployed.

As a local government, Warwickshire County Council is under increasing pressure to make resources go as far as possible while maintaining and improving services for its community. They made the bold decision to reduce costs by going from a combination of eight different devices to just one. They deployed Windows AutoPilot to optimise their IT team and ensure staff could start working straight out of the box.

“In just three months we migrated 4,500 staff to Microsoft 365 and Surface Pro. And less than one percent of users raised any issue with that at all,” says Craig Cusack, Assistant Director for Enabling Services.

Keeping workforce productivity at the heart of your security strategy

When you integrate your devices, apps and cloud security provisions, based on a Zero Trust principle, you can drive a highly orchestrated, centrally managed security solution. This makes it easier for your IT team to manage and deploy. It also embraces productivity and collaboration to ensure your employees stay secure and working at their best, even when remote.

UK law firm Shakespeare Martineau rolled out Surface devices to pair agility and freedom with improved end-point security, flexible productivity and practicality. In the end, it did much more, including improving morale, productivity and reducing downtime. They also saw an increase in billable hours and enhanced client satisfaction.

“Microsoft Surface complimented our strategy and was the device of choice to support our positive passionate people. The product is very good – in style, different ways of working and real performance – and it gives our staff the agility and freedom to work in a way that suits their lives whilst maximizing productivity and effectiveness,” says Dal Virdi, IT Director.

This also has the advantage of doing more with less. Implement new agile ways of working with a standardised portfolio that optimises the software and apps you run. Not only will this encourage your employees to work better together, but you’ll also benefit from improved efficiency and reduced overheads. That way you can spend more time innovating and delivering a great experience for the customers you support.

Find out more

Security and Endpoint Management with Surface: Surface for Business

Visit the website: Reimagine security and risk management

Download the eBook: Modernise your endpoint security strategy

Resources for your development team

Read the blog: Data security and encryption best practices

About the author

Chris is Surface for Business product portfolio lead for Microsoft in the UK. As the owner of the UK product proposition, Chris enjoys understanding business challenges and bringing together product propositions that empower individuals and businesses to achieve their business objectives. With over 13 years of experience in hardware technology, Chris has held a number of roles in Product Management, Marketing and Sales across the industry in the UK and abroad.

The post 3 ways to create a robust security strategy for remote teams appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

At Microsoft, I’m constantly reminded of how advances in security technology can enable productivity and collaboration. How it can actually create and improve inclusive user experiences. We do this by adapting security policies and processes to reflect how users and consumers are utilising and engaging technology, and new ways of working, on an evolving basis.

What does this way of thinking mean? It means that a people-first approach is essential when considering the best approach to cyber resilience and business continuity. Especially as you navigate the next steps, and prepare you for the unexpected. It will also support your employees to do their best, no matter where they are, or what their circumstances.

Here are four shifts that will support your organisation on the journey to resilience and inclusivity.

1. Drive the future of security with digital empathy

The most successful organisations who empower their people to achieve more by being productive from anywhere, are the ones who are empathetic to the end-user experience. Sometimes this can be a friendly voice over a Teams call, or assisting them as they adapt to new ways of working.

Digital empathy also stretches to making digital solutions more inclusive. This means having tools and policies that adapt to people’s ever-changing circumstances.

Bring Your Own Device Policies

With more users becoming remote and working flexibly, it can be inconvenient for users to carry multiple corporate and personal devices. Its great to see financial institutions rethinking their approach to Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) policies. This offers flexibility and choice for users. It can also speed up the onboarding process and reduce costs in sourcing and maintaining devices.

Of course, this doesn’t come without risk. To protect users’ privacy and control access to corporate services and data, the devices need to be both ‘trusted and healthy’. By utilising a management tool like Intune to prevent unauthorised access and compromise you can:

• Manage at the device level. Mobile Device Management (MDM) lets you enroll devices for management. This includes all data that lives on the device. You have full control to ensure the device is compliant and can manage settings, certificates, and profiles.
• Another approach is Mobile Application Management (MAM). This works well for BYOD scenario. With MAM you can publish, push, configure, secure, monitor, and update mobile apps for your remote workers. This provides application-level controls and compliance, while maintaining the familiar user experience for end users.

2.      A Zero Trust security approach

As employees started working remotely en masse, the traditional type of ring-fenced security had its disadvantages. It often struggled to meet the need of a hybrid workforce, working from different locations, and from multiple devices. Therefore adopting a Zero Trust approach to business continuity and security became an imperative.

The key principles of Zero Trust are quite straightforward:

• Never trust
• Always verify
• Assume compromise

In a Zero Trust model, access by users and devices – both inside and outside the corporate network – is granted based on an evaluation of the risk associated with each request. The same security checks are applied to all users, devices, applications and data every time.

To start with Zero Trust, it’s important to realign around identity. This can benefit employees, as it makes it easier for them to use single sign-on or access data across multiple devices. For example, multi-factor authentication prevents 99 percent of credential theft and other intelligent authentication methods can make accessing apps easier and more secure than just using traditional passwords. This also helps create robust BYOD strategies that work in unison to enable users to be both secure, and productive.

Of course, it’s important to pair a Zero Trust strategy with advanced threat protection and information protection. This helps to detect and prevent lateral movement, and data loss, no matter where it resides.

3.      A people-led focus to a secure control environment

What normally works on-premise does not easily transfer to a cloud or hybrid operating model. particularly when accessing critical services and data from multiple sources.

For example, how is your Virtual Private Network (VPN) set up? It can often force all your network traffic through on-premises data centres, slowing down services and making it hard for employees to work. This may cause frustration. It can cause employees to look for workarounds, potentially bypassing safeguarding controls and policies, and downloading apps from the internet.

This scenario can be fixed by initiating split-tunnelling. This allows trusted cloud services like Microsoft 365 to be accessed straight over the internet. Your VPN can then be used to access critical apps and data that reside in your Data Centre, reducing the load.

In addition, a Cloud Access Security Blocker (CASB) gives you rich visibility over your shadow IT. It provides a centralised approach to monitor and protect access to data, on cloud based apps. As an example, we implemented Cloud App Security for more than 150,000 employees globally. Apps that don’t meet our stringent security standards are blocked. Popular and trusted apps are onboarded to our Azure Active Directory, making it easier for employees to access what they need securely.

4.      Providing resilient education to improve security

As cybersecurity matures, so do adversaries. They are adept at changing techniques and tactics, and at exploiting local or global events to lure victims via phishing campaigns. Using cloud-based security means you can take advantage of intelligent threat protection and analytics. For example, we collect and analyse over 8 trillion telemetry signals daily from a diverse set of products, services, and feeds around the globe. At the same time, you need to ensure your employees have the knowledge to protect themselves to reduce compromise. During times of crisis and change, users need to be warned to expect more phishing and social engineering attempts. It’s also useful to understand the psychology behind what makes people click.

This stretches beyond standard cybersecurity training. It’s about being empathic as I mentioned earlier, to what is going on inside and outside of the company. As much as we talk about external threats, we must be mindful to the increase in insider threats as well.

Insider threats

With all the changes that may be happening, we have to be mindful to how users are adapting and coping with the situation. We need to think about the stressors (fear and uncertainty about their jobs, balancing work and home life), and how this could impact a person.

Not all insider risks are malicious in intent. It can often come down to a lack of awareness of policies, knowledge, or frustration of not being able to work productively, that leads to mistakes. Conversely concerning behaviour, such as downloading or printing sensitive files, renaming files, using unapproved apps, or copying files onto external devices could be a sign of malicious intent.

While these behaviours don’t automatically arouse suspicion, it’s important to actively look for patterns of anomalous behaviour and mitigate them. With digital empathy, we can pre-empt and reduce some of the stressors or situations with wellbeing programmes and education that are empathetic and supportive to employees, reducing the chance of insider risks.

An effective security culture allows users to work productively while they help keep the business safe. Our built-in approach to security works across platforms, locations and tools – so it’s easier for your people to comply.

The future of security

One of the things we’ve learnt this year is to expect severe, but plausible scenarios. It can seem daunting to prepare for the extreme unknowns – but that’s what we have to do. Organisations are becoming more reliant on cloud and hybrid technologies. Therefore, successful strategies must include a people-based approach to cyber resilience. These four shifts, focussing on digital empathy and zero trust will help you to take advantage of innovative and integrated technologies that enable you to achieve more, with less.

Find out more

Get the guide to building resilience

How modern cybersecurity helps you stay productive and resilient

3 ways the banking sector can innovate in the new normal

Join the conversation at Envision

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About the author

Sarah Armstrong-Smith is a Chief Security Advisor in Microsoft’s Cybersecurity Solutions Group. She principally works with FSI customers in the UK and strategic customers across Europe, to help them evolve their security strategy and capabilities to support digital transformation and cloud adoption.

Sarah has a background in business continuity, disaster recovery, data protection and privacy, as well as crisis management. Combining these elements means she operates holistically to understand the cybersecurity landscape, and how this can be proactively enabled to deliver effective operational resilience.

Sarah has been recognised as one of the most influential women in UK Tech and UK cybersecurity and regularly contributes to thought leadership and industry publications.

The post 4 ways to drive the future of security in the financial sector appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Yet those that have taken the transformation leap can now stand as exemplars to newcomers. Their innovation has prompted the creation of many media-specific tools and services in the cloud which are now tried, tested and good to go.

In its new report, The Cloud for Media, the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) examines the practical benefits of the cloud for media companies and software vendors to the industry. It guides companies through cloud technology, strategy, migration, economics, and the skills and governance they’ll need to make transformation a success.

So what are the advantages of migrating media workflows to the cloud? What kind of changes do you need to prepare for? And what are the key takeaways from this report?

Benefits of the cloud

To leverage the full potential of cloud technology, media companies will need to commit to a new business strategy. That’s because migration changes existing business practices and relationships. To carry these changes through, your finance, technology and operational teams really need to be fully behind them.

In theory, this shouldn’t be controversial. The cloud will enable them to simplify processes, cut costs, and be more productive through being able to automate tedious tasks. Meanwhile, it can also free the wider business to adapt, experiment and innovate.

Let’s look at five more industry-specific benefits.

1. Collaborative production

The cloud enables more collaborative workflows, especially in content production. Many producers have successfully adopted Software as a Service (SaaS) tools such as collaborative document editing, file storage and resource planning. With very little training, they can quickly benefit from an excellent user experience.

2. Secure remote work

The cloud’s role in enabling remote and mobile working – supported by premium collaboration tools – is well known. Powerful cloud security solutions will also help protect your employees’ applications, data and devices. For example, single sign-on and multi-factor authentication (MFA) free staff to securely access their tools and resources whenever they need them. From anywhere.

3. Agile content delivery

With cloud-based workflows, you can speed up the supply chain. That’s because, once content is in the cloud, both software and people can access it directly, without a series of distributions. This can be especially useful for news broadcasting and live sports, in which breaking news or a winning goal can be shared with all distribution channels in near-real time. Better still, you could even look to automate the process.

4. Global distribution

A lot of large OTT platforms are run in the cloud, serving video to viewers using content delivery networks (CDNs). If you’re dealing with multiple regions, demand can be unpredictable. But the cloud allows you to scale delivery, without over-provisioning, to match changing demand. You can also use it to deliver live, broadcast-grade content and channels online (as several providers do for major sports).

5. Broadcast

Cloud-based channel playout and linear channel origination is finally on the rise. Protocols like RIST, SRT, and Zixi, combined with gradually improving connectivity and bandwidth, have enabled live streams to be transported into, around and out of the cloud. A note of caution: connectivity remains an area for attention.

Three practical tips for cloud migration

Each organisation will have its own migration journey, dictated by its individual business and customer needs. But the report highlights three key takeaways that will apply for all media companies.

1. Engage your whole organisation

First, get your CFO on-side. You’ll need their support, because the cloud uses an OpEx rather than a CapEx model. Next, work with the business to rethink workflows – don’t just migrate them to the cloud. Finally, to build support on your journey, regularly communicate the end to end strategy and provide training so your teams have the right skills to work alongside the latest technology.

2. Go ‘cloud native’

In other words, create solutions that exploit the cloud’s capabilities. That means taking advantage of its scalability, agility, resilience, performance and cost-effectiveness. Make sure your solutions are also built with security in mind. Consider factors like identity, access management, and encryption.

3. Commit to the process

Define a strategy and plan, and get going. Break your migration journey into manageable steps by migrating individual business areas or workflows one at a time. Move whole workflows to avoid migrating content in and out of the cloud too often (which adds cost and time to the process).

A practical way to learn about technology is to get hands-on with it – perhaps with a straightforward use case. The cost of experimenting is low, so why not try building a component that takes advantage of cloud capabilities, then tracking its performance and fine-tuning it? Or build a different component. Either way, it’s time to seize the day.

Find out more

Download the report: The Cloud for Media

Discover more: Azure Media Services’ new AI-powered innovation

Read about NBA and Microsoft’s new partnership: Redefining and personalising the fan experience

Join the conversation at Envision

Digital technology is changing not just how organisations operate but how leaders lead. Join us at Envision, where executives across industries come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities in this era of digital disruption. You’ll hear diverse perspectives from a worldwide audience and gain fresh insights you can apply immediately in your organisation.

Connect with leaders across industries to get relevant insights on leadership in the digital era.

About the author

As a lead spokesperson for innovation within the media industry, Stuart has played both sides of the fence having started his career as a BBC Journalist before moving into a number of roles in media production. From here the pull of technology innovation took him into development and R&D, then corporate strategic management and change consultancy for some of the biggest media brands around the globe.

Over the last 20+ years, Stuart has helped deliver major business transformation having held significant change roles at companies ranging from the BBC, Endemol Shine Group, to Sony.

Passionate about the transformation technology can bring, Stuart is now an Industry Lead for Media and Telecommunications within Microsoft, where he relishes any opportunity to offer his entrepreneurial spirit and natural storytelling ability to challenge organisations to ‘refocus the lens’ in order to create a successful impact through the adoption of innovation.

The post 5 benefits of cloud technology for media companies and how to migrate appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Balancing security and remote working

To help the property market operate, HMLR caseworkers need to be able to update and maintain the Land Register. This was challenged when the onset of COVID-19 severely hindered caseworkers’ ability to continue their work as they weren’t able to get to the office. Therefore, a solution was needed to ensure caseworkers could work from home whilst securely maintaining and updating the land register.

Microsoft and HMLR already work together to help empower employees with productive and collaborative tools. Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) was quickly identified as a potential remote working solution. It provides the caseworkers with a virtualised Windows 10 desktop that can be accessed from any device. All the applications that the caseworkers depend upon to maintain the register are accessible remotely. The architecture of WVD has meant the solution has been able to be rolled out to 5,500 caseworkers in a matter of weeks.

The caseworkers are the foundation of operations and are instrumental in HMLR’s commitment to their core value: ‘Your Land and property rights; guaranteed and protected’. To continue this commitment, HMLR had to feel confident that WVD and Microsoft could be trusted with sensitive data. WVD separates the caseworkers work environment from the user device. This reduces the risk of sensitive data being left on a personal device. At the foundational level, HMLR can deploy a number of Azure security services without deprecating the performance of the desktop. Additionally, WVD service benefits from the security investments made in the Azure platform. This includes a multi-layered intelligent approach, with security built by design.

Deploying Windows Virtual Desktop for secure remote working

Once HMLR knew that WVD would help securely enable remote working and provide an agile user experience, they moved onto the next step. Technical teams were quickly established to create an initial WVD proof of concept for 20 users. WVD was then rolled out to a further 1,000 case workers. A total of 4,500 users are in scope for the first wave of deployment.

HMLR’s tips to balancing security and remote working

1. Start with a proof of concept to make sure it works well for the few before rolling it out to the many.
2. Keep security in mind when building the infrastructure from the ground up, make sure you use secure designs and best practices.
3. Leverage automation tools in Azure to build and deploy instances quickly.
4. Take advantage of the marketplace and native tools to deploy apps and services within hours.
5. Embrace the challenge head-on with a can-do attitude and open culture.

In their own words

“The implementation of a new Azure platform and specifically, Windows Virtual Desktop, has been vital to our ability to maintain critical business services and keep this area of the UK economy moving during the COVID-19 crisis. The solution has not only allowed our staff to keep processing vital casework but has also opened up opportunities for further transformation in the future.”

I am extremely proud of what the team have achieved in such a short timescale. To design and implement such an important solution and scale it up for the entire organisation in challenging circumstances has been nothing short of impressive! This has only been achievable through focussed talent and the use of modern, flexible technology available in the Azure platform.” – Andy Crawford, HMLR Principal Technical Architect 

“We have really benefited from the ability to build new infrastructure from the ground up. This has enabled us to deploy at speed, using secure designs and best practice without concerns about impacting existing infrastructure. The automation tools within Azure have enabled us to build and deploy instances quickly, enabling us to scale our platform from a few hundred users to thousands with limited effort.” – HMLR Infrastructure Engineer 

“The ability to leverage marketplace and native tools have given us fast access to products that in the data hall would take weeks to implement. Using templates, we have been able to deploy them in a few hours. As our entire engineering workforce switched to home working for the first time, Microsoft Teams and the Azure Portal enabled us to carry on as if we were in the same office and maintain our momentum of delivery. We could not have imagined going from 0 to a 4,500 user environment in such a short time.” – HMLR Infrastructure Engineer 

A word from Microsoft

Deploying a new secure remote working solution quickly isn’t an easy task. But when you have one that focusses on the employees first, you’re more likely to have a successful deployment. HMLR did this by using WVD to make it easy for employees to access the network and access the information they need securely, and quickly.

“What has really stood out, has been the attitude of all the members of the HMLR team who have designed and implemented a robust and working solution in a timeframe that has enabled HMLR to continue to operate. Given the unprecedented circumstances that we are currently in, this achievement is even more impressive. The HMLR team have embraced the challenge head-on and persisted when faced with setbacks and have taken the opportunity to learn from each step, which will stand them in good stead for the future.”

– Matt Spender, Accounts team, Microsoft.

Find out more

Learn more: Discover the benefits of Windows Virtual Desktop

Read more: Empower employees for secure remote work with Windows Virtual Desktop

Watch the on-demand webinar: The benefits for WVD and how to start your journey

Tools to empower your development team

Read the documentation: How to get started with Windows Virtual Desktop

Explore the learning path: Deliver remote desktops and apps from Azure with Windows Virtual Desktop

About the author

The post Her Majesty’s Land Registry empowers employees with secure remote working appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Like many Trusts up and down the country, it has faced significant resource challenges, with ever-increasing demand on services and limited budgets.

But when it comes to organisational investment, the Trust’s community care services have become a key beneficiary.

The community team have long been stretched. Parts of the patient’s record were recorded manually, via spreadsheets. So the Trust decided to overhaul its legacy system – paper files and all. A new Electronic Patient Record System was put in for patients in the community via the EMIS Web platform system. This platform provides fast and secure online access to patient data while helping to integrate primary, community, and hospital care services.

Finding the right device to support mobile care

The next challenge was to equip community nurses with the right device. One that would enable flexible, mobile, and patient-centric working, while letting caregivers make the most of EMIS Web’s joined-up tools.

To inform its selection, the Trust engaged in a formal evaluation process.

First, mobile teams would need a practical device that was light, portable and extremely easy to use on the go. This meant laptops were largely disqualified. The right device must be discreet, and not intrude on the nurse-patient relationship. And for long, hard shifts an all-day battery life was a must.

The Trust also needed a single device system, which could be used across all applications to ensure resources are used to their full potential. And the IT team needed a secure device that could be managed remotely with ease – ideally, even configurable and wipeable remotely.

Another key requirement was ensuring access to the full range of tools. This disqualified a well-known competitor device because, although it would support EMIS Mobile – which provides a diary view for the next two days – it failed to support all Trust applications under their distinctive operating system platform.

In principle, Microsoft Surface Pro satisfied all of the community care team’s key requirements, including portability, usability, and compatibility with the full EMIS Web system.

But would it measure up in the field? To trial Surface Pro, selected users were given devices and asked to complete questionnaires. These included questions about weight, portability, screen display, usability, and battery life.

Team responses were evaluated and, with Surface Pro proving the best tool for the job, the Trust deployed 400+ devices to its community care workers.

Improving productivity

The community care team – newly empowered to provide higher-quality patient care with greater efficiency – has contributed to this positive story. And Surface Pro has played its part in helping them improve processes, productivity and care.

For example, staff now have rapid, secure access to all the patient records and team details they need, from appointments to shift rotas. Remote collaboration is easy. And, with real-time note-taking removing the need to write up notes at close of day, each nurse saves on time which can now be spent seeing patients.

Managing change: care teams and new tech

1. Check devices vs. systems. Make sure tech devices work across all the systems you’ll need and that the right software versions are in place.
2. Carry out a formal evaluation. Design and implement a phased evaluation process, and be sure to involve your staff in it. There’s no substitute for trailing candidate devices in the field.
3. Don’t stop training prematurely. Deploying tech is always a milestone, but ongoing training and support are equally important. Don’t underestimate the team’s training needs as Surface Pro becomes integrated into their daily work.
4. Keep it under review. What works for one team member may not work for another, so keep talking about new tech in relation to performance and process. Constantly evaluate success and be ready to manage practical adjustments for care teams.

Maximising The Impact Of UK Firstline Workers On Surface With Microsoft 365

Find out more

Empower employees and streamline operations

Connected care

About the author

Danish Jafri is the Community ICT Programme Manager and is responsible for deployment of Electronic Patient Records in the Community Services at Wye Valley Trust. With an MSc in Forensic Computing, he is a dynamic, commercially aware and highly skilled programme manager. He has a strong track-record in implementing large-scale IT infrastructure projects and systems of engagement that transform operational performance. He leads large teams of up to 100 and whole organisations through major systems implementation and organisational change projects whilst ensuring service, process, and operational improvement.

The post Managing digital transformation in community care appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Without the right tools, it can be difficult to manage projects. And if those tools don’t communicate effectively to each other, that makes it even harder. Using tools within Microsoft 365 helps streamline processes and keep employees on the right task. They also work together to ensure projects run on time.

We spoke to three Microsoft employees from different areas of the business to find out what their main challenges are in their day to day job and how they’ve tackled it.

1.      Create a hub of centralised information

The average worker spends nearly 20 percent of the work week looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks. In many cases, information is spread out across disparate sources. We often find ourselves jumping from files saved to the desktop to specific SharePoint sites or as attachment within emails.

More often than not, information that isn’t stored on the cloud but on individual hard drives can cause considerable grief for project managers who collaborate frequently with others.

“Planning a marketing campaign has multiple dependencies, within my team and externally. Without the use of a dedicated project management tool it can be challenging to pulse check the status of each task and follow up when needed. Emails alone do not provide a holistic view of the project, especially when there are multiple versions of documents floating around,” says Alissa Warne, Digital Marketing Manager at Microsoft.

“Switching to Microsoft Project and ensuring that my main stakeholders also use it, centralises information so I only have to check one place for what needs to be done and what is completed. It also holds others accountable for their deliverables by sending them notifications.”

Project for the Web can help to provide visibility of the project’s current status through the Roadmap feature. This allows you to highlight specific project tasks or activities from several projects and share with different stakeholders.

Additionally, Project for the Web is embedded in Microsoft Teams. This makes it even easier for team members to see project status, task assignment, and any updates. Plus, it’s all in the same space where they communicate and collaborate. That means they can spend more time performing the work they need to do instead of switching between applications.

2.      Personalised assistants with AI

“Working in marketing you’d think that it’s all big campaigns and glamorous events, but as a product marketeer, I spend a lot of time managing projects. Projects means people, which means calendars,” says Hasan Javed, Microsoft Product Marketing Manager for Firstline Worker and Microsoft 365.

Finding the right time to meet between busy co-workers and customers can be difficult. Between finding time to brainstorm, map out the next quarter’s priorities, or plan events with partners, and even to answer emails from that ever-growing inbox. To help him effectively schedule his time, Hasan turns to Cortana, his virtual assistant.

“I can now email Cortana and ask her to schedule my meetings, book me a meeting room and set up a Teams meetings, all in one simple click. Cortana has improved my productivity by automating tasks that I, and 99 percent of people I know, hate doing. Thank you, Cortana, you’ve made my complex projects, just a little easier.”

Cortana not only can help manage your calendar, but can also remind you of your commitments, even if it’s just remembering to pick up milk on the way home. You can base your reminders on time, a location, or even people. This makes it easy to keep track during busy times, or when you have a full diary.

3.      Using analytics to organise your time

Jose Cortes, is a busy commercial executive at Microsoft. He often finds it challenging to strike a healthy balance between his work and personal life. Particularly with a young child and jam-packed schedule.

Effective time management and prioritisation of important tasks are key here.  He breaks his workload down to weekly chunks and prioritising tasks based on what will deliver the most impact. Doing this, Jose is able to determine how to effectively use his work day. He no longer has tasks that spill over into personal time.

“This is one of the most important things that Microsoft’s culture has taught me, in addition to having a growth mindset. Usually it is very easy to fall into executing tasks you enjoy doing, but not necessarily make impact in what you do. For instance, I sometimes find myself helping other colleagues or replying to emails in some topics that interest me. However, if at the end those email responses are not generating any value to my customers or my organisation, I’d park that email for a while. I focus on what really brings value, such as preparing for a negotiation with a customer. When I find some spare time, I take care of those other emails.”

Jose also credits AI-infused applications with helping him reclaim time back in his day. He uses the My Analytics feature within Microsoft 365.

“It not only lets me know how much time I’ve been multitasking in the past week, or who are the people I collaborate with the most, but also remind me of pending tasks or responses based on emails I sent to customers or colleagues. Where you say, for instance, ‘I’ll update you next week’ or ‘I’ll send you that email tomorrow,’” He says.

“When it sees you are getting too many meetings or calls together in a specific day, it books Focus Time in my calendar. This is technology really helps me make a difference at work and in my personal life.”

Tools like Microsoft Project enable Jose to have an overall view of all the current projects and what is on track or late. Project for the Web, in particular, highlights what tasks are overdue in different colours. This makes it easier to follow up at a glance. He can also use Power Automate to generate an automatic report with all overdue tasks.

Enabling productivity

These project management challenges are common to all of us. But by adopting digital tools and smarter working habits, it can contribute to the successful delivery of the project.

Using a cloud-based project and portfolio management solution will go a long way in helping employees align, prioritise, and optimise their projects. And once they harness these tools, it will give them the time they need to focus on adding value to the business, their roles, and creating an innovative, collaborative culture.

To find out more about selecting the right project management tool for you, check out my earlier blog. Or, read more about Project for the Web.

About the author

Paulina is a new Microsoft Aspire hire who just graduated from the University of Cambridge, where she completed her MBA. She is currently part of the Modern Workplace business group in the role of Product Marketing Manager for Project and Visio. She localises the benefits and uses of these Microsoft solutions to UK market. Paulina has a green belt in lean six sigma. She also has a strong belief in the search for constant improvement in everything we do. Be it learning a new language, improving at a particular sport, or just being smarter about the way we work.

The post 3 ways to tackle project management challenges and be more collaborative appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

However, with a growing population to house, increasing pressure to boost its green credentials, and a skills shortage to mitigate, the architecture, engineering, and construction sector must take drastic steps to boost its output and get on the front foot.

This is why organisations must empower employees with modern tools and apps to transform and stay competitive. Here are five ways firms can knuckle-down and meet the challenges of today’s tough environment.

1.      Put projects under the microscope

Accurate and up-to-date budgeting and scheduling is a perennial challenge. Projects regularly run into unforeseen difficulties that require deviations from the estimated cost and schedule. For example, sub-optimal soil conditions that necessitate a change in material or design. More often than not, these problems are detected too late, which limits companies’ ability to respond proactively.

A company can use data and communication to its strengths here. By monitoring projects ahead and in real time and using technology to make it easier for teams to communicate, you can quickly identify the root causes and implement remedies immediately and efficiently.

2.      Get a digital make-over

Construction is among the least digitised sectors in the world, according to MGI’s digitisation index. In Europe, construction ranks last. However, the benefits of digitisation are exponential. For example, the use of virtual reality and simulation can help to identify potential problems during the design and engineering stages, and enable a more in-depth experience of a building early-on.

British engineering firm Atkins saw a 95 percent time improvement after implementing parametric design techniques in the water infrastructure industry.

Digitally enabled procurement and supply chain work flows can allow for more sophisticated logistics management and just-in-time delivery. Dynamics 365 This makes it easier for employees to have oversight over the supply chain and pre-empt issues or shortages.

Technologies like mobile connectivity can boost productivity by facilitating real-time communications between stakeholders across disparate locations. Frontline workers are empowered with flexible devices such as the Surface, which offers 4G connectivity. This makes it easier for them to communicate, collaborate, and remain productive wherever they are.

3.      Establish lines of communication

A seamless flow of information among stakeholders throughout an entire project lifetime, for example, through building information modelling (BIM) or a centralised cloud platform, can speed up delivery, mitigate against disputes, and improve forecasting and budgeting. It also produces a continuous build-up of knowledge that can be usefully applied to subsequent projects – even if that project is unique. Given the largely sequential construction process favoured at present, in which project owners, designers, constructors and suppliers input at different stages of the project, past experience is often lost and a sophisticated construction planning approach is near-impossible.

4.      Optimise existing processes

Improving efficiencies to existing techniques can have lasting effects on productivity. For instance, adoption of “lean” principles has been shown to reduce completion times by 30 percent and cut costs by 15 percent. Institutionalising value engineering and moving away from custom scopes for each project toward standardisation and repeatability can contribute to an uptick in productivity by up to 60 percent.

Dynamics 365 integrates data and apps to help streamline processes from planning to cost and revenue forecasting. By removing common silos found in organisations, Dynamics 365 lets employees get an overview of the information they need, when the need it.

5.      Put the spotlight on talent

Without the right people supporting and driving organisational and cross-industry initiatives, change will not be successful. Construction and engineering companies must therefore focus much of their effort on attracting, retaining, and up-skilling talent.

They must also focus on fostering a culture that is innovation and skills-oriented. This is particularly pertinent at a time when one in five construction workers are approaching retirement age and young people’s perception of the industry is low. As firms move to adopt new technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence, they will need specific skills to help power them.

Because more and more jobs are requiring digital proficiency, it’s important to support your employees in gaining new skills. At Microsoft, we’re committed to helping organisations build these skills. That’s why we’ve created the Digital Skills programme that offers courses from basic literacy to advanced cloud technology skills and even how to maximise the AI opportunity.

A human-centred approach

The most important thing is not to use technology for the sake of it. Think about the goals and values of your organisation. Then figure out how to use technology to reach those. This could be streamlining processes, tracking supply chain, or upskilling your employees.

If this is done with a human-centred approach then your employees will be empowered to embrace digital transformation, leading your organisation to be more productive, collaborative, and creating an innovative culture.

Find out more

Discover how Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help you achieve productivity gains and step into the future of construction.

Find out how to drive down expenses, improve efficiency, and boost customer loyalty with Dynamics 365 Field Service.

Join a Dynamics 365 Training Day

The post 5 ways to super-charge productivity in UK construction appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

But at the same time, there’s a constant drive within organisations to ensure they stick to their budgets, or save costs. A great way to do this is to realise the value of your existing technology investments. In this blog, I’ll share some of the tools that are available to you as part of your Microsoft 365 and Windows 10 subscriptions to engage your workforce and help your organisation be more productive.

Productivity from day one

Windows Autopilot is a self-service cloud deployment platform in Windows 10. Using Windows Autopilot, IT admins can remotely deploy and configure devices in a zero-touch process right out of the box, whilst utilising your Microsoft 365 and Windows 10 investment.

This means all new users need is their credentials and a device. When they log in, all the tools and apps they need to work are automatically downloaded. They can get started on the important work sooner. No longer do they have to sit waiting for multiple downloads, or login approvals for the IT team.

For your IT team, this means they no longer have to maintain custom images and drivers for every device being used. This reduces the amount of time that IT needs to spend on these processes and the amount of infrastructure that they need to maintain them.

Leveraging cloud-based services, Windows Autopilot can reduce the overall costs for deploying, managing, and retiring devices. It can be managed remotely by tools such as Intune, Windows Update for Business, and the System Center Configuration Manager. This means the whole lifecycle of your organisation’s devices are looked after.

Get Surface devices ready-to-go

The single and best way to use your Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 subscriptions and Windows 10 Enterprise is to deploy Surface through Windows Autopilot.

Surface devices and Microsoft 365 work together to give your employees the freedom to work their way. It makes it easier to collaborate and communicate while being protected by the best modern security and manageability platform we have.

With Surface devices, you can choose to register your devices at the time of purchase when purchasing from a Surface partner enabled for Windows Autopilot. New devices are shipped directly to your frontline employees, with a clean build. When employees turn it on for the first time, they are automatically enrolled and configured.

Windows Autopilot automatically sets users up with a Surface that contains all the apps and tools they need to do their work. This means employees are immediately productive right from day one. For those that work remotely or for frontline workers, this means they don’t lose time waiting for a device – they’re able to hit the ground running.

This also lets your organisation’s IT team implement new, agile methods of device management and distribution without having to spend time setting up each device individually.

Empower your employees

Organisations that provide employees with the tools and apps they need outperform those who don’t. 63 percent of employees using these apps said they increased their personal productivity. They are also four times more likely to report their organisation as a desirable place to work.

To unleash these gains, make sure you’re empowering your employees from their very first day with the tools and apps they need by investing in the inbuilt features of Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 subscriptions and Windows 10 Enterprise.

By deploying devices through Windows Autopilot, organisations are empowered to achieve more, quicker. And by using Surface devices, your employees will have the freedom to work their way on flexible and secure devices.

When Surface is paired with Autopilot, it makes for a positive complete out-of-the box experience – giving your employees the confidence knowing they have everything they need to accomplish their personal and business goals from day one.

Licensing requirements

Windows Autopilot depends on specific capabilities available in Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 subscriptions. It requires Windows 10, Azure Active Directory and an MDM service such as Microsoft Intune.

Software requirements

• Windows 10 version 1703 (semi-annual channel) or higher.

The following editions are supported:

• Windows 10 Pro
• Windows 10 Pro Education
• Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
• Windows 10 Enterprise
• Windows 10 Education
• Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC

Networking requirements

• Ensure DNS name resolution for internet DNS names
• Allow access to all hosts via port 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), and 123 (UDP/NTP)

Find out more

Microsoft 365 Enterprise documentation and resources

About the author

Gareth aims to connect people with the tools they need to thrive, so that they feel inspired to contribute and have a sense of belonging to the community around them.

With over a decade of experience in the IT industry, technology adoption is the single biggest driver for him.

As a Surface Specialist at Microsoft, Gareth has the opportunity to showcase best in class technology to a wide variety of customers with the goal of producing meaningful outcomes for all.

The post How to make the most of your existing tech investments: Microsoft 365 and Windows 10 appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.