What's New Here?



As corporations spread and branch out across the globe, it’s clear that the modern workplace is transforming. Employers are looking to adapt with solutions that will empower their people with innovative technology to address the growing demands and challenges of the Digital Age.
Seeking to address the commercial needs of businesses of all sizes — from the largest enterprise to the smallest business — Microsoft recently announced Microsoft 365, a complete business solution bundled with Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security.

Microsoft 365

The business-only package (sorry consumers, this is not for you) comes in two versions — Enterprise and Business — for large organizations and small-to-medium size businesses (SMB) respectively.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise

The enterprise option comes in two versions as well (E3 & E5). Built on the foundation of the Secure Productive Enterprise, 365 Enterprise replaces it and empowers employees to work creatively, efficiently and securely.

Straight from Microsoft’s blog, Microsoft 365 Enterprise:

Unlocks creativity by enabling people to work naturally with ink, voice and touch, all backed by tools that utilize AI and machine learning.
Provides the broadest and deepest set of apps and services with a universal toolkit for teamwork, giving people flexibility and choice in how they connect, share and communicate.
Simplifies IT by unifying management across users, devices, apps and services.
Helps safeguard customer data, company data and intellectual property with built-in, intelligent security.

"We use Microsoft 365 Enterprise to foster a modern and highly secure workspace for employees empowered by teamwork and collaboration—everything we need to succeed in a global, digital market." - Bobby Berry, Senior VP, Business Solutions, Fruit of the Loom

Microsoft 365 Business

The SMB option, made for smaller organizations, supports up to 300 users, integrates Office 365 Business Premium, and includes three new applications that are part of the Business Premium pack. We’ll get into these shortly, but for informational purposes they are: Microsoft Listings, Microsoft Connections and Microsoft Invoicing (additionally, MileIQ, Microsoft’s mileage tracking app, will also be included). 
Also from Microsoft’s blog, Microsoft 365 Business:
Helps companies achieve more together by better connecting employees, customers and suppliers.
Empowers employees to get work done from anywhere, on any device.
Protects company data across devices with always-on security.
Simplifies the set-up and management of employee devices and services with a single IT console.
"We need creativity to push that next thing. We use Microsoft 365 Business, it’s all the things we need in one place." - Heyward Garner, Chief Operating Officer, Garner Food Company.

New Applications Coming to Office 365 Business Premium

Let’s get acquainted with the three new applications bundled with Office 365 Business Premium and, by extension, 365 Business.

Microsoft Listings

It’s a fact that a good way to get discovered is by listing your business online. Unfortunately, the listing process is time consuming. Here to help you out, Microsoft Listings lets you publish your business information on top sites like Facebook, Google, Bing and Yelp, and will help “get your business discovered online by new customers.” And when you update your information, the changes automatically occur across the different websites.
 

Microsoft Connections

Microsoft Connections is an easy-to-use marketing service that will help you “drive more sales with simple email marketing tools.” As we know — or should know — email marketing is of great use in lead generation and closing sales. Well, with Connections you’ll be able to create professional-looking email marketing campaigns, manage subscribers by segmenting them into different target groups, and track open rates, clicks, new sign-ups, new customers, and more.


Microsoft Invoicing

A very important part of running a business is time management. You have to get estimates and invoices out on time, and you also have to account for other things like pending payments and their processing. The problem comes when your information gets jumbled in all the different systems you have to use. With Microsoft Invoicing, you can create professional invoices and “get paid fast with hassle-free invoices and online payments.” It works with PayPal and, by using a connector to QuickBooks, can sync customer and catalogue data and even transfers invoicing information to your account.


Extra: MileIQ

MileIQ, Microsoft’s mileage tracking app (iOS and Android), will also be included with Office 365 Business Premium. This tool is especially useful for those whose occupation requires travel with their personal cars, such as those who make customer visits or attend partner meetings, as its automatic drive detection and mileage logging allows for a hassle-free experience.

Extra: Office 365 Business Center

Sort of an extra but not really, Office 365 Business Center offers a central location where you can manage your applications. It provides easy access to your business applications and data with a unified dashboard where you can view key metrics such as total outstanding invoices, number of appointments, invoices and payments being created or updated by employees, impressions and more. It also has an activity feed that lets you stay up-to-date with everything and, even better, once you connect an app and sync information, the same is automatically recognized in other apps.


Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to grow your business, Microsoft 365 is there to help you out by simplifying your sales process and increasing your revenue. You’ll be able to virtualize your desktop with intelligent applications while safeguarding your corporate data on all devices. More than that, you and everyone you work with will be empowered to be creative and work together, securely. 
For additional benefits of adopting Microsoft 365, take a look at the Forrester Total Economic Impact Study (commissioned by Microsoft) for Business and Enterprise.



Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft 365

Posted by Sophina Dillard No comments



As corporations spread and branch out across the globe, it’s clear that the modern workplace is transforming. Employers are looking to adapt with solutions that will empower their people with innovative technology to address the growing demands and challenges of the Digital Age.
Seeking to address the commercial needs of businesses of all sizes — from the largest enterprise to the smallest business — Microsoft recently announced Microsoft 365, a complete business solution bundled with Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security.

Microsoft 365

The business-only package (sorry consumers, this is not for you) comes in two versions — Enterprise and Business — for large organizations and small-to-medium size businesses (SMB) respectively.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise

The enterprise option comes in two versions as well (E3 & E5). Built on the foundation of the Secure Productive Enterprise, 365 Enterprise replaces it and empowers employees to work creatively, efficiently and securely.

Straight from Microsoft’s blog, Microsoft 365 Enterprise:

Unlocks creativity by enabling people to work naturally with ink, voice and touch, all backed by tools that utilize AI and machine learning.
Provides the broadest and deepest set of apps and services with a universal toolkit for teamwork, giving people flexibility and choice in how they connect, share and communicate.
Simplifies IT by unifying management across users, devices, apps and services.
Helps safeguard customer data, company data and intellectual property with built-in, intelligent security.

"We use Microsoft 365 Enterprise to foster a modern and highly secure workspace for employees empowered by teamwork and collaboration—everything we need to succeed in a global, digital market." - Bobby Berry, Senior VP, Business Solutions, Fruit of the Loom

Microsoft 365 Business

The SMB option, made for smaller organizations, supports up to 300 users, integrates Office 365 Business Premium, and includes three new applications that are part of the Business Premium pack. We’ll get into these shortly, but for informational purposes they are: Microsoft Listings, Microsoft Connections and Microsoft Invoicing (additionally, MileIQ, Microsoft’s mileage tracking app, will also be included). 
Also from Microsoft’s blog, Microsoft 365 Business:
Helps companies achieve more together by better connecting employees, customers and suppliers.
Empowers employees to get work done from anywhere, on any device.
Protects company data across devices with always-on security.
Simplifies the set-up and management of employee devices and services with a single IT console.
"We need creativity to push that next thing. We use Microsoft 365 Business, it’s all the things we need in one place." - Heyward Garner, Chief Operating Officer, Garner Food Company.

New Applications Coming to Office 365 Business Premium

Let’s get acquainted with the three new applications bundled with Office 365 Business Premium and, by extension, 365 Business.

Microsoft Listings

It’s a fact that a good way to get discovered is by listing your business online. Unfortunately, the listing process is time consuming. Here to help you out, Microsoft Listings lets you publish your business information on top sites like Facebook, Google, Bing and Yelp, and will help “get your business discovered online by new customers.” And when you update your information, the changes automatically occur across the different websites.
 

Microsoft Connections

Microsoft Connections is an easy-to-use marketing service that will help you “drive more sales with simple email marketing tools.” As we know — or should know — email marketing is of great use in lead generation and closing sales. Well, with Connections you’ll be able to create professional-looking email marketing campaigns, manage subscribers by segmenting them into different target groups, and track open rates, clicks, new sign-ups, new customers, and more.


Microsoft Invoicing

A very important part of running a business is time management. You have to get estimates and invoices out on time, and you also have to account for other things like pending payments and their processing. The problem comes when your information gets jumbled in all the different systems you have to use. With Microsoft Invoicing, you can create professional invoices and “get paid fast with hassle-free invoices and online payments.” It works with PayPal and, by using a connector to QuickBooks, can sync customer and catalogue data and even transfers invoicing information to your account.


Extra: MileIQ

MileIQ, Microsoft’s mileage tracking app (iOS and Android), will also be included with Office 365 Business Premium. This tool is especially useful for those whose occupation requires travel with their personal cars, such as those who make customer visits or attend partner meetings, as its automatic drive detection and mileage logging allows for a hassle-free experience.

Extra: Office 365 Business Center

Sort of an extra but not really, Office 365 Business Center offers a central location where you can manage your applications. It provides easy access to your business applications and data with a unified dashboard where you can view key metrics such as total outstanding invoices, number of appointments, invoices and payments being created or updated by employees, impressions and more. It also has an activity feed that lets you stay up-to-date with everything and, even better, once you connect an app and sync information, the same is automatically recognized in other apps.


Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to grow your business, Microsoft 365 is there to help you out by simplifying your sales process and increasing your revenue. You’ll be able to virtualize your desktop with intelligent applications while safeguarding your corporate data on all devices. More than that, you and everyone you work with will be empowered to be creative and work together, securely. 
For additional benefits of adopting Microsoft 365, take a look at the Forrester Total Economic Impact Study (commissioned by Microsoft) for Business and Enterprise.



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Build intelligent, mission-critical applications using a scalable, hybrid database platform that has everything built in—from in-memory performance and advanced security to in-database analytics.” - Microsoft SQL Server 2016

The Latest Microsoft SQL Server Features

Have you made the upgrade yet? If not, upgrading to the latest Microsoft SQL server results in brand new features and enhancements to previously included features from past versions, so you might want to make the switch. For example, some enhancements include:

In-Memory OLTP (In-Memory Optimization): Performance for transaction processing, data ingestion and data load, and transient data scenarios is improved.

Always On Available Groups (SQL Server): A high-availability and disaster-recovery solution that provides an alternative to database mirroring (for the enterprise).
There are other enhancements, of course, but because our main focus today is on the completely new, here are some of the latest Microsoft SQL features.

Always Encrypted

Always encrypted protects your most sensitive information, such as your social security or credit card number, that’s stored in Azure SQL Database or SQL Server database. It’s also perfect for encrypting data inside client applications without actually divulging encryption keys to the Database Engine. In this way, there’s a much-needed separation between the people who own the data and those who manage it.


Row-Level Security (RLS)

With RLS, users can control access to rows in a database table. Because this simplifies the design and coding of security in your applications, you can implement restrictions on data row access. This means that if you have a customer that needs access to certain data, you can opt to control their access to relevant data.

Stretch Database

Stretch Database allows you to migrate cold data (rarely accessed data) transparently and securely to the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Some benefits are that it:

Provides cost-effective availability for cold data: Stretch warm and cold transactional data dynamically from SQL Server to Microsoft Azure with SQL Server Stretch Database.

Doesn’t require changes to queries or applications: Access your SQL Server data seamlessly regardless of whether it’s on-premises or stretched to the cloud. You set the policy that determines where data is stored, and SQL Server handles the data movement in the background.

Streamlines on-premises data maintenance: Reduce on-premises maintenance and storage for your data. Backups for your on-premises data run faster and finish within the maintenance window.

Keeps your data secure even during migration: Enjoy peace of mind as you stretch your most important applications securely to the cloud. SQL Server’s Always Encrypted provides encryption for your data in motion.


Dynamic Data Masking (DDM)

Because DDM limits data exposure by masking it to non-privileged users, users can designate how much of their (sensitive) data to reveal. For example, you can choose to ‘mask’ every digit except for the last four of a social security number. It can also be used with existing applications and is complementary to other SQL Server security features, like auditing, encryption, etc.


Final Thoughts

The latest Microsoft SQL Server features offer you a lot more scalability, advanced security, and is supported by SharePoint Online. With it, you can:
Develop intelligent applications for online transaction processing (OLTP)
Protect sensitive data such as credit card or social security information
Mask data to non-privileged users
Keep data secure during migrations
A lot more

If you’re still unsure as to whether or not you should make the upgrade, consider what Rohan Kumar, Director of SQL Software Engineering, and Bob Dorr, Principal Engineer of SQL Server Support, have to say:

“With our focused investment in performance and scale, simply upgrading to SQL 2016 could bring 25% performance improvement. SQL 2016 supports 3X more physical memory than previous versions.” - Rohan Kumar

“SQL Server 2016 running on the same hardware as SQL Server 2014, 2012, 2008, 2008 R2 or 2005 uses fewer resources and executes a wide range of workloads faster.” - Bob Dorr
Feel free to download the official Microsoft SQL Server 2016 eBook to learn more about what you can gain from it. Best of luck!


Here Are the Features You’ll Get When Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2016

Posted by Sophina Dillard No comments



Build intelligent, mission-critical applications using a scalable, hybrid database platform that has everything built in—from in-memory performance and advanced security to in-database analytics.” - Microsoft SQL Server 2016

The Latest Microsoft SQL Server Features

Have you made the upgrade yet? If not, upgrading to the latest Microsoft SQL server results in brand new features and enhancements to previously included features from past versions, so you might want to make the switch. For example, some enhancements include:

In-Memory OLTP (In-Memory Optimization): Performance for transaction processing, data ingestion and data load, and transient data scenarios is improved.

Always On Available Groups (SQL Server): A high-availability and disaster-recovery solution that provides an alternative to database mirroring (for the enterprise).
There are other enhancements, of course, but because our main focus today is on the completely new, here are some of the latest Microsoft SQL features.

Always Encrypted

Always encrypted protects your most sensitive information, such as your social security or credit card number, that’s stored in Azure SQL Database or SQL Server database. It’s also perfect for encrypting data inside client applications without actually divulging encryption keys to the Database Engine. In this way, there’s a much-needed separation between the people who own the data and those who manage it.


Row-Level Security (RLS)

With RLS, users can control access to rows in a database table. Because this simplifies the design and coding of security in your applications, you can implement restrictions on data row access. This means that if you have a customer that needs access to certain data, you can opt to control their access to relevant data.

Stretch Database

Stretch Database allows you to migrate cold data (rarely accessed data) transparently and securely to the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Some benefits are that it:

Provides cost-effective availability for cold data: Stretch warm and cold transactional data dynamically from SQL Server to Microsoft Azure with SQL Server Stretch Database.

Doesn’t require changes to queries or applications: Access your SQL Server data seamlessly regardless of whether it’s on-premises or stretched to the cloud. You set the policy that determines where data is stored, and SQL Server handles the data movement in the background.

Streamlines on-premises data maintenance: Reduce on-premises maintenance and storage for your data. Backups for your on-premises data run faster and finish within the maintenance window.

Keeps your data secure even during migration: Enjoy peace of mind as you stretch your most important applications securely to the cloud. SQL Server’s Always Encrypted provides encryption for your data in motion.


Dynamic Data Masking (DDM)

Because DDM limits data exposure by masking it to non-privileged users, users can designate how much of their (sensitive) data to reveal. For example, you can choose to ‘mask’ every digit except for the last four of a social security number. It can also be used with existing applications and is complementary to other SQL Server security features, like auditing, encryption, etc.


Final Thoughts

The latest Microsoft SQL Server features offer you a lot more scalability, advanced security, and is supported by SharePoint Online. With it, you can:
Develop intelligent applications for online transaction processing (OLTP)
Protect sensitive data such as credit card or social security information
Mask data to non-privileged users
Keep data secure during migrations
A lot more

If you’re still unsure as to whether or not you should make the upgrade, consider what Rohan Kumar, Director of SQL Software Engineering, and Bob Dorr, Principal Engineer of SQL Server Support, have to say:

“With our focused investment in performance and scale, simply upgrading to SQL 2016 could bring 25% performance improvement. SQL 2016 supports 3X more physical memory than previous versions.” - Rohan Kumar

“SQL Server 2016 running on the same hardware as SQL Server 2014, 2012, 2008, 2008 R2 or 2005 uses fewer resources and executes a wide range of workloads faster.” - Bob Dorr
Feel free to download the official Microsoft SQL Server 2016 eBook to learn more about what you can gain from it. Best of luck!


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