Inspiration for updates and enhancements to Azure come from many places, including from user experiences. Many users leverage the Azure feedback tool, where they can leave comments, concerns and suggestions regarding Azure tools. One topic to receive a lot of attention over the past quarter is Azure Log Analytics changes. To meet the suggestions of users … Read more
New Signature is proud to announce the addition to a brand-new service bundle that that brings accelerated services, greater value and complimentary services to your cloud migration. Our Cloud Migration Accelerator offers a free migration of your servers to Microsoft Azure when you hire New Signature to manage your cloud environment for you, which will ensure that your … Read more
For folks in the security space, time moves slowly. Many of us who have been in the industry for years learned the old-fashioned way that no system is perfect, and that at best, any security measure merely delays the amount of time an attacker can gain access. Techniques honed over years that used to deal … Read more
What is Modern IT Management? Since the introduction of Windows-as-a-Service, Microsoft has been urging enterprises to move away from their traditional IT management ways. So what is traditional IT management, and why do enterprises need to change and adopt a Modern IT Management approach? Traditional IT is a device-centric, rather than user-centric approach, in which … Read more
Transitioning from Windows 7 to Windows 10 is not a matter of if, but when, and a lack of planning will, inevitably cost more and create additional last-minute stress. With the end of life date for Windows 7 set for January 2020, your organization has one calendar year to prepare, and there are a number … Read more
This year at the 2018 RSA Conference, Microsoft made a huge announcement in terms of security with the introduction of Azure Sphere, a highly-secure micro-controller platform for internet-connected devices. Right now, we understand how our device security functions on our desktops and mobile devices, but what about our smart TVs, our WiFi-enabled kitchen devices, or … Read more
It’s not always easy to stay up-to-date with the continuous updates and enhancements that Microsoft rolls out for all the Office 365 tools. While New Signature can certainly help manage these features for you, we are also here to help pass on education surrounding the newest and more helpful updates within Office 365, and get … Read more
Every day, Microsoft developers are working to improve and enhance Microsoft Azure to create a better experience for every user. It can be difficult to keep up with every new feature and change, so we try to stay abreast on any changes and relay important updates to our clients and Azure users. Here are just a … Read more
The future of your team’s productivity is in Microsoft 365. It delivers the best in cloud-based collaboration tools such as: Windows 10 Office 365 Skype for Business Microsoft Teams OneDrive SharePoint It also layers that toolkit with enterprise-class security with Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS), which helps your team work from anywhere on any device … Read more
Don’t miss out on all the new opportunities to optimize, properly manage and protect your Azure environment. We are constantly helping clients overcome the complexity and fast-paced nature of the cloud by providing global managed services around the clock, and committing to ongoing education. We watch out for all the newest features being rolled out by the Microsoft … Read more
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced their latest offering surrounding Microsoft 365, Microsoft Managed Desktop (MMD), focused on providing a managed Windows 10 solution directly to customers. This initiative “brings together Microsoft 365 Enterprise, device as a service, and cloud-based device management by Microsoft.” MMD will be offered to select set of customers on a subscription basis … Read more
Every year in June, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is thrown in LA. During E3, Publishers, developers, CEOs and gaming related personas talk about their respective upcoming consoles, titles, plans, and strategies. Gaming is an increasingly large business, overtaking the movie industry around 2010 and continuing to boom from there. The growth only continues as the mobile market matures, allowing folks to game outside the confines of their 4 walls … Read more
The past month has given way to a number of large-scale updates for some of Azure’s tools. Specifically, Microsoft has rolled out sets of updates for Azure Security Center, Azure Site Recovery and Power BI that will help to enhance and elevate experiences. Microsoft development teams push out updates and enhancements continually as new ideas … Read more
Over the last year, Microsoft Teams has been on a meteoric path within the Office 365 ecosystem, both in terms of the number of organizations using the service–over 200,000 organizations in 181 different countries–and the continual release of new features to the platform. This includes the most recent announcements this week, such as background blur … Read more
Over the past month, Microsoft has rolled some new features and capabilities for Azure SQL that will enhance database needs for businesses across the globe. New Signature works monthly to update our thought leadership blog to include the most important Azure updates that you can leverage for your business. Here’s a close look at some … Read more
New Signature is proud to announce that we have met the requirements of the newly launched Microsoft Azure Expert MSP Program. As customers move to the public cloud with increasing pace, they need partners with a deep level of cloud expertise and experience to guide them. Inclusion in the Microsoft Azure Expert MSP program is awarded to … Read more
Microsoft Teams Direct Routing was recently announced for general availability for all Office 365 customers. Direct Routing allows organizations to use their existing telecommunications provider or PBX equipment to enable employees to make and receive telephone calls in Microsoft Teams. Organizations now have two different scenarios to choose from that will enable dial-tone calling for Microsoft Teams. Direct … Read more
As Microsoft winds down its fiscal year and looks toward 2019, we have seen some pretty large and dynamic feature updates to Azure, including an Azure app, along with Azure maps. At New Signature, we work to stay constantly abreast with Azure enhancements and pass along what we feel are some of the biggest highlights each month with our … Read more
As Microsoft begins to roll out features that enhance the extensibility of Teams, we are able to experience more cohesive collaboration in one centralized setting. Development teams are working to create all the granular tasks and controls that we have been waiting for, and New Signature is here to help boil down and evangelize the newest and best updates … Read more
New Signature experts have the ability to take your IT solutions from conception, planning and strategy, through a solution build and implementation and then help you operate that solution with optimization and proper administration over time. When we look at the Azure platform’s management best practices, there are three main areas that businesses must review … Read more
Microsoft Azure is fluid, and the experts at Microsoft are constantly taking feedback into consideration as they roll out new features. At New Signature, we always watch for the newest and most impactful updates and relay them to our customers. Over the past month, Microsoft has changed some items that help to enhance your experience … Read more
Running your business within Microsoft Azure puts you at a competitive advantage to other companies that are not moving forward with the cloud. However, have you ever wondered if your cloud environment is optimized, or wondered if you’re getting the most value from your solution? New Signature has developed a survey to gauge your in-house … Read more
As we move toward a more adoptable version of Microsoft Teams, New Signature is focused on purveying all updates as Microsoft rolls them out. Over the past quarter, there have been many useful additions to the Teams space, as well as the development and implementation of retention policies for the Teams client. These retention policies allow … Read more
Azure’s connectivity to Power BI can elevate your ability to make quick and informed business decisions based on data, make predictions with stream analytics, as well as enable you to look back and analyze your company’s long-term trends. As we look back on the past month, there are dozens of new updates to Azure, but there was … Read more
So, you’re ready to move your business into the modern world of cloud computing. Congratulations! New Signature applauds and supports any business that transitions to the cloud because it offers the best avenue for long-term success. As a cloud-first company ourselves, we are committed to educating our communities and clients about cloud transformation, and how to arrive to the … Read more
In one sense, most intelligence is artificial. Human’s didn’t evolve to understand calculus or design computer chips – those skills are a very recent addition to our abilities. While they are useful, they are not essential to the ongoing survival of humanity. Many species get by without calculus and are very successful nonetheless. The robots … Read more
If you’re on the hunt for new insight, or tips and tricks around your Microsoft technologies, considering joining New Signature for one of our free online and in-person learning opportunities. … Read more
It’s been one year since Microsoft announced its launch of Teams, groomed to become its powerhouse collaboration tool. Teams is slated to engulf Skype for Business and redefine intelligent communications for modern businesses. Last month, Microsoft pushed out a new roadmap for Teams, including the ability to make external calls, plan video conferences with 80+ … Read more
When most companies start using Azure, they normally ask the question ,“Is our data safe in Azure?” This is a very important question, but another question that is rarely asked is “How can Azure increase our security?” Microsoft has invested billions of dollars into Azure to ensure that it is physically secure, from earthquakes to … Read more
In the Microsoft world, the phrase “cloud solution provider” has been floating around the air. But what does it mean? Isn’t any company that offers cloud solutions a Cloud Solutions Provider? Not when it comes to Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers, (CSP) and the deep value that they can offer their customers. From strategy and managed services to escalated support and … Read more
Can you afford to close the doors of your business? How long can your systems be down before it hits your bottom line? The simple answer is zero minutes. You can’t have downtime without paying a price, and New Signature champions for our customers and all businesses owners to understand and prepare themselves to achieve … Read more
When migrating to Azure, most companies want to simply move all their servers into Azure. Most of the time, this is a first step before migrating to other services, but for most servers it is the final destination. So which way is the best to migrate whole servers into Azure? Azure Site Recovery (ASR) is, … Read more
In 2017, our experts worked to contribute 26 blogs, one for each letter of the alphabet around all things Microsoft. We covered topics ranging from Office 365 to quantum computing and even Xbox. Now you can view this 26-part-series easily on our ABC Blog webpage. It’s optimized to filter by technology and service area. You … Read more
Financial organizations are looking very different today than they did in decades past. Brick-and-mortar presences are dwindling, and financial institutions are facing surmounting pressure to create a more involved and robust customer experience while still adhering to rapidly changing regulations and protecting customer data. Internally, financial institutions need high-quality analytics to predict risk, as well as … Read more
Once a company decides to dip their toes into Azure, the biggest question they must answer is “How should we migrate to Azure?” This question is often answered by a simple migration of some or all their servers into Virtual Machines in Azure. This might be a quick and relatively simple way to migrate, but … Read more
What was arguably considered the biggest announcement coming out of Ignite 2017 was Microsoft’s strategy to pivot from Skype for Business into Teams, along with the rebranding and reconfiguration of Skype for Business into a more integrated and optimized collaboration platform. New Signature has been utilizing Teams internally since its debut with great success, and we have spoken to the exciting future of Unified Communications on our blog ever since the big announcement this past summer. … Read more
Just this past week, Microsoft Azure turned eight years old, and in those eight years, we have seen amazing growth come from Azure, as it is now one of the largest of Microsoft’s service areas. Azure has a 56% year-over-year growth, showing the major exodus of businesses from strictly on-premises infrastructures to cloud environments, and since 2014 … Read more
Last year, around March, Microsoft began to put together the components for a new service with a particularly lengthy code name. The details were fuzzy at first, but as we participated in the beta program, the goal seemed clear: to create a single suite, consisting of all the key cloud-powered collaboration, management and security systems … Read more
As the manufacturing industry moves toward what experts refer to as Industry 4.0, we understand more and more how technology can affect manufacturing operations, streamline production, reduce costs, and bring data alive through stream analytics and the power of IoT. Manufacturing businesses struggle to compete unless they can cut down on timely and costly production … Read more
Digital transformation, while democratizing innovation and spurring exponential growth brings its share of challenges as well. Organizations today are assailed with competing priorities of managing global and diverse workforce, delivering constant innovation, increasing business productivity, complying with stringent data transparency and privacy regulations, and protecting from sophisticated cyber threats. Internet has unleashed the connected network … Read more
New Signature is called upon to develop IT business solutions for various purposes. We develop solutions around unified communications, infrastructure, collaboration, and more, while leveraging Microsoft technologies. For one company, Rogers Communications, a Canadian communications and media company that supplies cable television, telephone and internet services, they sought to bring connectivity and engagement to their … Read more
New Signature offers the best solutions, leveraging Microsoft technologies to drive modern businesses forward. In fact, not only does New Signature offer so much, but they also offer nothing. Zero. How can that be? Check out our list of ways that New Signature brings you absolutely zero. Zero worries about scaling up. Both Office365 and … Read more
It’s clear why the exodus from on-premises infrastructures to cloud environments is happening, and while Azure offers multiple layers of business benefits, its benefits are best-realized when your Azure environment is optimized to perform at its peak through expert management. New Signature is here to help plan, build and operate the best and most optimized … Read more
Azure Files offers fully managed cloud file shares and extends the ability of organizations to share files across on-premises and the cloud. With support for industry standard SMB protocol, this service is truly cross-platform and can support mounting as file share from any client that implements SMB 3.0 with encryption. Azure Files was initially launched … Read more
It can be challenging to imagine the future. New technologies, materials and ways of communicating all tend to make it tough to envision where we will be in ten years. Three Requirements There are three common ways to think about devices in our environment and how we’d manage them in a truly modern way, regardless of the underlying … Read more
We speak to a lot of customers about Yammer, often as part of a wider conversation about the Office 365 E-suite or collaboration and productivity in general. One key theme across the majority of customers who are evaluating Office 365, or starting their migration to it is “Why do I need Yammer?”. Ask 10 IT … Read more
The retail industry has changed immensely over the past few decades. Online shopping is beginning to edge out on brick-and-mortar establishments, and the ability to order products and have them delivered quickly is creating a large demand in shoppers for retail establishments to keep up with their fast pace and demand for seamless, easy and … Read more
Since the recent Ignite announcement indicating Microsoft Teams will evolve as the primary client for intelligent communications in Office 365, you may be wondering what is going to happen to the financial investment made in certified Skype for Business phones. “I just purchased 200 IP phones optimized for Skype for Business. Will I have to purchase new IP Phones … Read more
“Can I change the default sharing behavior for shared links in Outlook?” this was a question posed to me on a recent training course. The short answer is, yes, you can now change the default sharing behavior when a shared link to a file stored in SharePoint Online, or OneDrive, is attached to an email. … Read more
Infrastructure transformation projects have undergone a dramatic change in the way they are approached, managed and implemented compared with 3 years ago. The now-traditional approach in which IT infrastructure solutions are architected, built, migrated and then transitioned into operational support using waterfall milestone-based tracking are becoming a thing of the past. With the advent of … Read more
In response to our recent post on Intelligent Communication: The Evolution of Microsoft Teams where we announced Microsoft’s vision to shift from Skype for Business to Teams as a one-stop experience, many customers have asked for guidance on ensuring their journey leads to a successful outcome. We are well aware change takes time; as such, … Read more
One of the key facets of Office 365 is its ability to unify a variety of IT products. Whether you’re collaborating within the Office suite or trading in your 3rd party conferencing solution for Skype for Business, Microsoft has made the point abundantly clear: Office 365 truly unifies businesses and makes them function better together. Did you know that Microsoft has also … Read more
Small and medium-sized manufacturing has typically not taken to Microsoft Azure and Office 365, and I have often wondered why, as the savings can be huge. Take, for example, a fictional B2C company that makes log homes, with office and manufacturing hours of 8am – 5pm EST M-F, sales times of 8am – 8pm EST, … Read more
In the past, companies needed assistance when updating and improving their various Microsoft systems. Or perhaps they were deploying a new (at least to them) Microsoft product in their environment, and needed outside technical expertise to make sure it was deployed properly. This created a tremendous opportunity for companies that could provide that technical expertise. … Read more
At the intersection of business and technology is the modern workplace. Your technology needs to keep up with evolving business needs, distributed teams, and an increasingly complex threat environment. The way employees work is based on the way we lead and manage, as well as the technology and tools we provide them. With Microsoft tools, we are able to help your business manage itself better, work smarter … Read more
Microsoft has been drinking their own champagne of late, bringing a rapid, agile development process to their modern communications suite, Microsoft Teams. With their latest announcement, we have seen customers (and employees) alike ask: what is the future of Microsoft Teams? And where does Skype for Business fit in? It’s important for folks who tuned into the announcement … Read more
Remember when purchasing software required a drive to the store, when it was sold in a box? Long gone are the days of maintaining the same static software until a new version was released, or until you decided to purchase something different, typically forced out of the status quo because your current version was no … Read more
Companies that focus on communications and media have a unique set of needs and requirements. They strive to keep customers up-to-date on the information they are continually pumping out. They strive for timeliness, flexibility and adaptability across a myriad of different devices. Likewise, their employees are looking for a lot of the same ideals: flexibility … Read more
Containers have been around for many, many years. The technology for containers has been inside of various Operating Systems for almost 15 years or more. In the past, we had one physical server and we would run one application on each physical server. Then the industry embraced server virtualization where many Virtual Machines (VMs) would … Read more
For most of the last decade Microsoft has been impacting server rooms with its free and easy to use Windows Hyper-V virtualization software, enabling IT departments to maximize their use of expensive Servers and storage. Virtualization has also made creating new servers and testing environments quicker to implement, making server creation as simple as a … Read more
Digital Transformation – A Human Challenge That two-word phrase; those 21 characters; all the buzz and hype—DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION—it is everywhere, but what does it really mean and how will it affect your organization? To put it in the simplest of terms, Digital Transformation means embracing digital technologies. It is the outcome, the effect, of digitalization. The process of … Read more
Imagine you’re a physician assistant. Your patients frequently transition from a hospital bed to a post-acute center for recovery and to allow the hospital to treat more critical patients. You spend three mornings per week treating patients at the clinic, and the rest of your time at the hospital. It’s important to you, and to the patient’s quality … Read more
As a team of experts committed to innovation, New Signature continues to pioneer in the areas of IoT and Advanced Analytics. We know that data has more potential than ever before when a business is functioning as a connected enterprise. But what does that truly mean? Does it mean your company tracks statistics and measure success? Yes. Does it mean … Read more
It can be difficult to buy something without knowing it works well. That’s why we, as consumers, love samples. Whether it’s toying around with the latest tablet at the store, or picking up a sample of food from a tray to taste-test it. There is a value in understanding exactly what a product or service … Read more
Using Our Own Software First Here at New Signature, we often say we are “drinking our own champagne!” (the exclamation point included, of course) to refer to our practice of deploying early code from Microsoft in our production environment before we do so at a customer. By contrast at many firms, especially technology firms, one often … Read more
Too many choices. It is great to have choices. But having too many can become overwhelming. We’ve all been at the grocery store and had the same thought; seriously, how many different types of peanut butter does one really need? Office 365 has entered this world… not the world of peanut butter, but the world of … Read more
Executive Vice-President of Products Brian Bourne worked with Microsoft to put forth a white paper around cloud security, released this month, and you can have access to the full white paper by registering here. In the paper, Bourne discusses cloud structure options, potential security concerns when functioning in the Cloud, along with security responsibilities for … Read more
Cloud adoption has been a top infrastructure trend in 2016 and will continue to be throughout the coming 2017 year, as companies are realizing the added value and efficiency that a cloud environment delivers. The top reasons, according to a recent report by Gartner, is that companies are investing in and implementing cloud solutions to take advantage of IT modernization, cost savings, innovation, and agility, among other benefits. But, as … Read more
Microsoft recently announced Seamless Sign On with Azure AD for Password Sync or Pass Through Authentication (PTA) organizations. SSO allows users on domain-joined computers which can contact a domain controller to authenticate with Azure AD via ADAL without typing in their password. The end user experience is very similar to that of an organization that … Read more
In 2016, the New Signature Advanced Analytics team reached both Silver, and now Gold Competency status through Microsoft, reinforcing New Signature’s ability in developing transformative IoT (Internet of Things) and analytics solutions for businesses of all sizes and across all fields. This gold-level competency is New Signature’s 20+ competencies across the Microsoft technologies and services. … Read more
The New Signature Cloud Management Portal (CMP) for Microsoft Azure (https://portal.newsignature.com/) provides financial governance and VM performance/cost optimization for enterprises with a Microsoft Azure Enterprise Agreement (EA). We have a number of enterprises actively using our CMP. Some of these customers have entered into a new EA after their EA had expired. For new EAs … Read more
New Signature has the ability to assist customers from all sizes and fields of business. When Davis Construction was looking for a Microsoft partner to consolidate and improve their communications structure, New Signature was their top choice to help their dispersed locations migrate to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system. With permanent and … Read more
Portals. No one knows what they are, but everyone knows they need one. At very high level a portal is simply a web site that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way. In a corporate setting this gets modified to a web site that brings together all the information you need to … Read more
Knowledge is power. It may sound trite, but humanity has come to dominate the world using this tool alone. Humans lack natural weapons, have no natural protection from the elements, and enter life as helpless infants. But our unique brains allow us to acquire, use, and communicate knowledge, and this advantage alone has allowed us … Read more
The reasons are there and the rationale is sound: you know that implementing Identity and Access Management (IAM) into your organization needs to happen. Now, you wonder, how? Every organization is unique in its requirements, processes and policies, so at New Signature we approach the implementation of IAM by analyzing the situation and determining how … Read more
Why invest in Identity and Access Management (IAM) for your organization? The most obvious answer is to protect your company’s data and reduce risk. Using technologies like Azure AD Premium, Cloud App Security, Azure Identity Protection and Microsoft ADA, your organization is able to protect data by ensuring access for only those who require access, … Read more
What is Cloud App Security? Let’s start with the Microsoft explanation of what’s in the service: Cloud App Security is a critical component of the Microsoft Cloud Security stack. It’s a comprehensive solution that can help your organization as you move to take full advantage of the promise of cloud applications, but keep you in … Read more
In late September, more than 23,000 Microsoft users gathered in Atlanta to attend Microsoft Ignite, and over five days the company made dozens of significant product announcements. Previously, we covered some of the exciting news around SharePoint and Office 365, but the announcements didn’t stop there. This post covers some of the game-changing infrastructure releases … Read more
As we discussed in the prior entries of this series, Microsoft has recently enhanced the EMS offering by adding more services into the bundle and adding an additional tier. This post will focus on the Azure Information Protection P2 (AIP P2) portion of the suite. What is in the Azure Information Protection? Let’s start with … Read more
It’s been a very interesting year and half in the world of SharePoint. There was some uncertainty on how it fit in with Microsoft’s mobile first, cloud first vision. But the one thing recent events have highlighted: SharePoint is back in the spotlight, a focus for Microsoft and will remain that way for the foreseeable … Read more
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security E5 is a new offering that was announced in July 2016. This is the beginning of a series of blog entries that will cover the new components of this offering: Identity and Access Management, Information Protection, and Identity-driven Security. Before we dive into what’s new, it may be helpful to understand the … Read more
As we discussed in the last entry, Microsoft has recently enhanced the EMS offering by adding more services into the bundle and adding an additional tier. This post will focus on the Azure Active Directory Premium P2 (AADP P2) portion of the suite. What is in the Azure AD Premium P2 tier? Let’s start with … Read more
As part of our ongoing commitment to product and service development, New Signature has added new features to its exclusive Cloud Management Portal (CMP) in order to enhance the user experience and provide increased capabilities and deeper insight for clients. Among the newly-released functions are: Filter your Usage & Billing reports by Azure Resource Group … Read more
If you’ve listened to me speak in a work context at all, you’ll know I’m a big advocate of Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) and its older sibling, Model-View-Controller (MVC), along with Inversion of Control / Dependency Injection. I babble on about them incessantly. One of the reasons for my incessant babbling enthusiasm is that these encourage an … Read more
On September 15, New Signature, Microsoft, and Hershey brought together executive Internet of Things (IoT) thought leaders from various industries, including construction, manufacturing, specialty chemicals, and food production, to present the newest developments in IoT innovation and provide a collegial platform for industry leaders to discuss ways to get started. This event reflects the strategically … Read more
Today we live in an always-on, always-connected world. Technology is ubiquitous and omnipresent in both our personal and professional lives. It comes as no surprise that technology is the #1 priority for CEOs. In a recent survey of CEOs, 86% believed technology would transform their business more than any other global trend in the next … Read more
Managing identities and enforcing user access across multiple channels in an enterprise often leads to a tug of war. Organizations’ leaders need to maintain and adhere to compliance policies that are based on organization, industry and federal requirements while trying to ensure workers remain efficient. It’s a tricky spot for CIOs and CISOs who are … Read more
While the cloud is responsible for creating many new technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) is not actually one of them. In itself, IoT is not a new concept. Microsoft claims that “almost 20 years ago, MIT professors described a world where ‘things’ (devices or sensors) are connected and able to share data”. However, the … Read more
The New Signature events team developed a learning webinar around the dynamic Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) technology. The webinar provides insight into the mobile security landscape of business, and can help you identify if and how your business would benefit from mobile management capabilities through EMS. It also touches on some of the important … Read more
Digital transformation is a driving force for today’s organizations, and the question of migrating to the public cloud has become one of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. In many cases, businesses start the journey to the cloud with development testing (dev/test) or backup and recovery scenarios. Moving critical business applications is still often viewed as a … Read more
“There are two kinds of organizations: Those who’ve been hacked and know it and those who’ve been hacked and don’t know it. ” – Chad Fulgham, former CIO of the FBI By now, the numbers have become numbing. Cyber-security incidents are daily news, with reports of escalating impacts and costs that are sometimes measured in … Read more
A salesperson is only as good as the information he or she has about what’s being sold. In highly competitive industries, like automotive sales, the right details about a vehicle can either close a deal or send a prospect off the lot. This necessity to improve productivity by putting the right information into the right … Read more
Integrating cloud solutions or transitioning to a fully cloud-based IT environment does not make the need for good design, build and operations services obsolete. With technology capabilities advancing at an ever-increasing pace, applying the right approach to the Cloud and hybrid solutions has become critical. Design and deployment mistakes can lead to costly adjustments later … Read more
Your business uses the Cloud, and you’ve chosen Microsoft Azure as your platform. Its tools and flexibility have increased your productivity, opened new possibilities and helped you to provide great service to your customers. But as you continue to access more of Azure’s resources, your usage has grown and, with it, the complexity of its … Read more
In June 2015 Microsoft announced their plan to locally host Microsoft Cloud services in Canada and today they’ve delivered on that promise. I am excited to announce that the Microsoft Cloud is now officially open to power even more Canadian businesses! The launch of Microsoft datacentres in Canada is a historic event. It marks the … Read more
One situation we run into quite frequently is remote users who have no idea that their password is getting ready to expire. When the password does expire, they are limited in how they can go about changing it. We have put together a solution where MIM would send out password expiration notifications at periodic intervals … Read more
Back in April I asked with Windows Phone Continuum, will you need a tablet at all? Now that I’m running a Lumia 950XL and a Continuum dock, the answer? Yes, you still need a tablet. I’m disappointed. I had my Lumia 950 XL pre-order in early. It was a good sign that the phone comes … Read more
Last November, Microsoft released a new way to configure Yammer single sign-on, that doesn’t require an additional Relying Party Trust in ADFS. The new method, called “Office 365 sign-in for Yammer”, allows for tighter integration between Yammer and O365, and has your Yammer sign-on piggyback on your existing O365 sign-on provider. Here’s the blog post … Read more
Xamarin Forms provides us with a set of tools that allow us to develop mobile applications for multiple platforms efficiently without sacrificing quality. By utilizing a common library, code is able to be reused in each of the mobile platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, Windows Phone), reducing both development time and testing time. This allows the … Read more
A lot of our clients ask us whether they should use Nintex or InfoPath for their forms and workflow needs. I thought I would write a quick summary comparing them. Before I start, as a general rule imason now recommends Nintex. Microsoft has announced that InfoPath is being retired. InfoPath will still be supported and … Read more
The Xamarin Test Cloud is a cost effective tool for testing cross platform enterprise mobile apps written in any language. These UI tests are written in C#, and automate real world user actions. These actions include tapping, swiping, rotating, pinching and zooming to name a few. After all of the test cases have been prepared … Read more
Subaru Canada has a wealth of information about their cars. From detailed product imagery to walk-through videos, the marketing team manages and publishes this information for its dealerships through a SharePoint digital asset management system. But can sales people on the showroom floor easily access and share that information with prospective customers? The short answer … Read more
At imason, we use Xamarin to build enterprise mobile applications. Why is Xamarin a great enterprise mobile app platform? It fits within our organization because we’ve always worked with the Microsoft stack of technologies and programmed with C#. Xamarin provides a platform for us that enables programming entirely in C# and sharing the same code for iOS, Android, … Read more
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online & Yammer integration are not very usable. We don’t recommend turning on integration yet, despite the improvements coming in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1. We are a big Yammer user (and implement it for other companies), so this isn’t a comment against Yammer. I do recommend using Yammer to enable … Read more
Over the last year or so, the message from Microsoft has been Cloud First, Mobile First. “You’re going to love the cloud!” “You’re going to move everything to the cloud, and access it on mobile devices!” Resistance is futile. Not exactly music to most of our enterprise customer’s ears. In April, Microsoft confirmed that SharePoint … Read more
Microsoft’s bet on Delve is starting to pay off for customers by bringing a unique approach to social connections and collaboration. Imagine you are the new guy in the office. You don’t know anyone or what the team is working on and you need to get up to speed for the next team meeting in two … Read more
One of the biggest challenges that I have had with OneDrive for Business is simple: the sync client just doesn’t work reliably. OneDrive for Business (OD4B) sync client allows users to sync Office 365 document content down to their personal device. This is a key use case for transitioning to the cloud, because users expect … Read more
At the start of May I attended the Microsoft Ignite conference in Chicago and observed some key things that I wanted to share. Microsoft is a very different company today than what they’ve been in the past and it is important to understand how they’ve changed and why it should matter to you. Microsoft is … Read more
One of the key messages during the Microsoft Ignite conference was that the way we collaborate is changing dramatically, especially as more companies transition to Office 365. Attending several case studies focused on governance and adoption cemented my view that a Office 365 Change Management strategy is necessary in order to successfully launch a tool that … Read more
What did I see at the Microsoft Ignite conference that got me excited? There were a lot of great new announcements and progress on so many fronts. But what’s really going to change the way teams of people work, how they connect, collaborate and share knowledge? The answer for me was Office 365 Groups. This … Read more
Microsoft hosted 23,000 IT professionals in Chicago May 4th – 8th, and imason sent 9 people. According to my Microsoft Band, I walked 37km in five days! Here is a summary of the key themes I saw. … Read more
I did my first presentation last week entirely from my phone. The best part? The audience couldn’t tell. Miracast connected my Windows Phone to the projector via a Miracast adaptor. The Office App pulled the presentation I had been working on down from One Drive for Business. With my phone in landscape mode, you couldn’t … Read more
Ignite is looking like it is going to be a fantastic conference but at over 700 sessions, parsing through that number can seem like a daunting task. To help keep your head from spinning, I have put together a list of specific sessions to attend at Microsoft Ignite for both IT decision makers and implementers. Just … Read more
With Microsoft’s big Ignite conference only 2 weeks away, the announcements on the Office blog are coming out at a rapid pace. Today, we were given tangible insight into the release of the next version of on-premises SharePoint Server 2016: “Today, we are confirming that SharePoint Server 2016 will become generally available in Q2 2016, … Read more
It is hard to estimate how much it costs to build a mobile app. There are so many variables – platforms, devices, languages, orientations, features, security, backend connectivity, deployment, and testing. The list goes on. So, what will your Enterprise Mobile App cost to build? Often requirements for the app are determined iteratively. Feedback from … Read more
The Inside Scoop on Selecting and Deploying Business Process Automation in SharePoint and Office 365 The sphere of Microsoft-based Business Process Automation continues to evolve. Microsoft recently updated their guidance around Infopath and FoSL as part of their Evolution Of SharePoint blog, announcing Infopath Forms Services support will continue in the upcoming release of SharePoint 2016. Some … Read more
I’m back from Microsoft Convergence, the Dynamics conference Microsoft hosts for its customers and partners of the complete suite of Dynamics products. That includes a Dynamics CRM and set of ERP products like Dynamics AX, GP, NAV, and SL. The conference really drove home for me how I think technology competition will change in the … Read more
Is your company looking to roll-out Office 365? Do you know what you are hoping to achieve by moving to the cloud? What is your company’s experience with planning and implementing these types of initiatives? What has to happen this time around in order to hit a home run? Simply put, how will you know if it … Read more
How do you allow enterprise mobile applications access and still keep the attackers out? One of the biggest challenges to delivering enterprise mobile solutions is connecting to enterprise data. Customers and employees need access to their data to be productive. Since mobile solutions mean access from anywhere, how does an enterprise mobile app always have … Read more
In the last week Microsoft released a public preview of the OneDrive for Mac software. The software is currently in the beta testing stage and is not yet finalized. This means that things might change between now and when the product is finally released; it also means that installing this beta version is not for … Read more
Is your company looking to shift their investment in SharePoint to Office 365? Are you looking for a strategy to motivate and measure adoption, engagement and time-to-value? If you haven’t made up your mind yet, let’s look at the why, the how and the what of Office 365 implementation. … Read more
How to launch on 4 mobile platforms in 1 day… Green Shield Canada (GSC) wanted to raise the bar on mobile. The requirements: create an enterprise mobile app that lets members manage their health and dental plans from wherever they are, on any mobile device they’re using, in whichever official language they choose. They also wanted members to … Read more
Over the past few weeks, the subject of xRM has been coming up more and more. And, almost as often, its mention is met the usual reply: “xRM…what?” But this is good news for companies looking to adopt a new CRM system, especially if they need a solution that will help different levels in their … Read more
German poet and philosopher, Friedrich Schiller once said, “Time flies on restless pinions — constant never.” This is especially true in the world of Information Technology where new Operating Systems, new hardware, new concepts and platforms are constantly changing the landscape of our environments. Microsoft is scheduled to end support for Windows Server 2003 in … Read more
When investing in enterprise mobile apps, it’s more than just click and install. It’s a whole new buying experience. Are enterprise mobile apps that much different than the consumer apps we’ve all become accustomed to? “Yes, without question they are. And, in many ways too,” says Jamie Fraser, imason’s Mobile Practice Lead. Jamie shares four technical challenges … Read more
How to turn cross-platform apps into cross-platform user satisfaction. If you’re staying ahead of the curve in terms of technology, you’re probably building enterprise mobile apps that target Windows, iOS, and Android platforms. Having the vision is great, but there are some significant technical challenges to overcome. … Read more
Earlier this year, Gartner claimed that smartphones, tablets and mobile apps would revolutionize the world of CRM. And although this may be true, Sage UK claims that adoption has been slower than expected, possibly due to the fact that many companies don’t fully realize the benefits to fully integrating their front and back end systems. … Read more
Jeff Dunmall, talks about the roadblocks to a great customer experience in a mobile world and three ways to remove them to engage with customers wherever they are. What are the secrets to mobile success? … Read more
As sales teams look for ways to engage with prospects in our gadget-dependent workplace environment, mobile might just be the perfect solution. Mobile solutions can enable Sales Reps to customize and prepare content based on their knowledge of clients, which ultimately leads to a pitch that is more memorable and successful. What is Sales Enablement? … Read more
A well-planned CRM strategy will increase any company’s likelihood of success in meeting marketing, sales and customer experience objectives. However, if you’re a financial services firm, here are a few special considerations to take into account when implementing a CRM. Today, in the banking and financial services industry, the customer is empowered with choice. Brand … Read more
The new Microsoft Apportals will allow enterprises to configure Windows 8 experiences to specific employee roles, and automatically provision all the links, apps and app data an employee needs. A portal serves an important purpose: to put all of the pieces of information and each tool you need to do your job into one easy-to-find … Read more
Watch these customer testimonial videos to better understand how Sitrion enterprise social tools are making a difference in a global, 20,000+ person professional services consulting firm. Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments with over 20,000 employees around the world in 43 countries. In 2012, Mercer president and CEO, Julio … Read more
Enterprise portals and intranets play a key role in internal communications and collaboration. How can enterprises portals be used to continue driving increased productivity, as well as enhancing employee engagement? In this 4 min video, Stephen Kearns, Director of Portals at imason, sits down with Eric Adams, VP of Business Development at Sitrion, to talk … Read more
With over 8 million registered users from over 200,000 companies (according to Yammer.com), Yammer has become an enterprise social powerhouse. The Analytics tool was launched back in March 2012 as a built-in solution that tracks the performance and user engagement metrics of your company’s Yammer network. There are 2 main pieces to the Analytics tool: the Dashboard and the … Read more
Should you deploy Microsoft CRM online or on-premise? Here are 5 strong arguments for choosing online over the hosted and on-premise options. When I meet with clients and potential customers who are interested in deploying Microsoft CRM in their organization, one of the most common questions they ask is, “Should I deploy CRM online or … Read more
Cloud computing is fundamentally changing the world of IT, impacting every role, from service providers and system architects to developers and end users. The ability to deploy scalable solutions that are delivered ‘as a service’ over the Internet is not only a major paradigm shift, it also represents a huge opportunity for IT leaders to … Read more
Over 60% of companies in a recent Accenture study are struggling to meet their mobile objectives. New mobile technologies have forever changed how employees connect, collaborate and share information at work. Yet, over 60% of companies in a recent Accenture study are struggling to meet their mobile objectives. While the “mobile first” approach is certainly … Read more
Forrester’s Enterprise Social Platform Rankings Q2 2014: IBM Connections, Jive and Microsoft are the top 3 providers. Here are our comments on the report and on what’s missing. Rob Koplowitz at Forrester recently published a new Forrester Wave report ranking the top 13 enterprise social platforms. imason has been heavily involved in the enterprise social … Read more
The enterprise mobile space is still very much the “wild west” when it comes to strategies, platforms, and successful adoption. Take example the raging debate about HTML5 vs. native, and the big players who are being vocal about successes and failures. As the enterprise mobile space continues to grow and mature, imason has been sharing our … Read more
Learn from four experts at Mercer, Tangerine and imason as they discuss the secrets that have made their companies leaders in social collaboration. Benchmark your company on June 23rd when imason presents The Great People-Powered Business Test, an interactive webinar where four experts showcase the four secrets of collaboration success that have made their companies … Read more
The Spring 2014 release continues to build on the robust foundation of Microsoft CRM 2013, with new powerful and easy-to-use features for the sales, marketing and customer service modules. Software professionals who have managed or been involved in deployments in their organizations, know well enough that when a new release or upgrade is imminent, … Read more
The biggest risk to a successful CRM implementation is the lack of a holistic CRM vision. SugarCRM, an open source CRM that competes with Microsoft CRM, was recently mentioned in a Forbes article by Dan Woods, the CTO and editor of CITO Research, titled “Why Your CRM Implementation Is Quietly Failing”. The article makes very … Read more
For those of you who have yet to see or experience the new Dynamics CRM, it is quite simply a cleaner, faster, and more intuitive interface. Over the last several years, Dynamics CRM 2013 has been a product that Microsoft has invested heavily in. As we learned from senior Microsoft leaders at Convergence 2014 in … Read more
In the era of social customers, experience is the currency on which modern, dynamic businesses must bank. At Convergence 2014, Kirill Tatarinov, EVP of MSFT Business Solutions, told a crowd of over 12,000 attendees that all businesses today, regardless of their industry, are P2P (people to people) rather than B2B or B2C. People, he said, … Read more
What does Microsoft’s recent announcement that InfoPath is being retired mean for the future of forms and workflow in SharePoint? We think it’s a good thing. For a while now, our guidance to clients has been to consider alternatives to InfoPath, such as Nintex. With this announcement, Microsoft has indirectly confirmed our guidance. Even though their … Read more
“Microsoft is putting social, insights, mobile, and the cloud to work to help your organization compete and win.” That was the keynote message delivered by Wayne Morris, CVP of MSFT Business Solutions, Marketing, and Kirill Tatarinov, EVP of Microsoft Business Solutions, at this month’s Microsoft Convergence conference in Atlanta. Convergence is that time of the year … Read more
Microsoft continues to build on its foundation and vision of abstracting (removing) the “technical” from CRM and putting design and execution in the hands of the business experts, which has been one of the goals of Microsoft CRM since its inception. Each new release of Dynamics CRM has consistently built on this vision. And as … Read more
You may not have had a week to dedicate to SharePoint Conference 2014 this year, and so here are the key messages that I lifted from the conference. We’re planning to share a series of posts over the next few weeks that go into more detail, but this article should give you a good overview … Read more
As I talked about in my previous blog post on the future of work, Enterprise Social is a defining factor in the future of how teams of people work together. But as anyone working in the Enterprise Social space knows, there are many skeptics. I am better able to see these skeptical perspectives not as … Read more
This year’s conference kicked off with the much anticipated keynote from the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. From there Jared Spataro (General Manager of Enterprise Social at Microsoft) took to the stage to share the key themes that Microsoft is focusing on currently: Social Cloud Mobile Big Data … Read more
This is the first year in our 14 year history that we have attended the RSA Conference, which might strike you as strange. After all, we’re a company focused on connecting employees with the right information at the right time. And while security has always been a key part of connecting employees, the rise of … Read more
The short answer is: A platform specific experience, tailored to leverage the best features of the user’s platform. This experience provides easy access to the data that is most useful to the user in the format that maximizes their platform. The rise of mobile devices and the growing popularity of bring your own device (BYOD) … Read more
Ensuring that your website is accessible to everyone, and in compliance with WCAG accessibility guidelines, is set to become a core organization challenge in 2014 and beyond. Whenever imason delivers a public facing SharePoint website, accessibility is always one of the core priorities that we focus on. Many of our non-profit, government or large private … Read more
An interconnected business environment necessitates an unparalleled level of collaboration – both inside and outside the enterprise. In most enterprises today, the balance of power has shifted as value chains have given way to value networks. New social technologies have empowered your employees, your customers, and your partners to communicate and collaborate as networks like … Read more
In the digital economy and in the face of changing employee behaviours, organizational complacency is the fastest way to irrelevance. You can no longer afford to run your business the same way you always have. As Dwight Eisenhower said in 1952, “neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of … Read more
Everyday, more and more companies in the enterprise sector are embracing intranet solutions like Microsoft SharePoint, creating an online community for employees to collaborate on documents and locate critical information. Managers & HR personnel have long known the about benefits of transitioning from trading emails or searching through network drives but putting a number to … Read more
There’s a growing divide between the mobile tools you have as a consumer and the ones you have at work – even when you’re trying to accomplish the same task. Let’s say your investment advisor comes to your house to talk about your investments. Ten years ago, this would never have happened. But because banks … Read more
Leading organizations need new knowledge management tools to help support changing patterns of work. As the amount of information created by organizations continues to grow exponentially, most have invested in knowledge management tools that provide document management and collaboration capabilities. Typically, intranets are the portals to these knowledge management tools, bringing together all of the … Read more
“Goodbye Newsgator, Welcome Sitrion” – that was Stefanie Lightman’s (SVP, Corporate Strategy and Global Marketing) blog post earlier this morning. Our partner Newsgator laid to rest a long-time successful brand and took up the unified banner of “Sitrion”, following the acquisition announced last October. You can read more about it from Stefanie’s blog post. In conversations … Read more
On October 30th, imason and NewsGator were pleased to host a webinar with Harry Van Drunen, CIO of Mercer and one of Information Week’s Social Business Leaders of 2013 [1]. Harry joined NewsGator’s SVP of Corporate Strategy & Marketing, Stefanie Lightman, and imason’s Director of Portals, Stephen Kearns, in discussing how Mercer was able to … Read more
The rise of the social web has led to a fundamental shift in the way that all organizations engage with their customers and stakeholders, even those in the healthcare industry. To meet the challenges of ever-increasing competition, the demand for high-quality care, and the need for faster responses to patient queries, many healthcare professionals and … Read more
By 2016, IDC expects the enterprise social software market to grow to $4.5 billion, up dramatically from a mere $800 million in 2011. More and more, it’s obvious that leading organizations are recognizing that social has the power to revolutionize the way we work. These organizations are turning to Yammer as the enterprise social network … Read more
How does Mercer — a top‐ranked, international professional services company — engage over 20,000 employees in more than 40 countries around the world? How does Mercer break down geographic and departmental silos, create a single hub to connect and collaborate with colleagues, and make their CEO accessible to everyone in the company? … Read more
Embracing enterprise social networking can be a big step for any organization. There are a number of tools available and each has a unique set of innovative features and implementation requirements. But every deployment also has a number of common elements that should be considered when thinking about enterprise social. … Read more
As workforces become increasingly mobile, ‘enterprise mobile’ has become an important topic for forward-thinking organizations. Today, mobile devices are generally only used at work for email, calendar scheduling and keeping track of your contacts – and even that workload is a significant challenge. Occasionally, some organizations enable enterprise social capability through tools like Yammer and … Read more
Today’s workplace has never been so demanding. Never before has so much been expected from employees. As your enterprise grows and becomes more dynamic and interconnected, you need to ensure your employees are engaged and have easy access to the information and resources they need to do their jobs. As the following two statistics demonstrate, … Read more
The world is now creating information and knowledge faster than ever before (an estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes per day in 2012 according to Marcia Conner). To put that number in perspective, that’s like every person in the world reading 174 newspapers cover to cover – each and every day for a year. As the proliferation of … Read more
Every enterprise understands the value of harnessing knowledge. As the amount of information created by enterprises has grown exponentially over the past several years, many have invested heavily in desktop-based knowledge management tools that provide document management, resource sharing, and collaboration. But how do you effectively manage so much knowledge in an increasingly mobile world? … Read more
Just a day after I posted Gartner’s “Go With Yammer” Too Simplistic, Microsoft released an update to its social roadmap. Jared Spataro outlined the next few stages of Yammer integration. His message? “Go Yammer!” The same message two days in a row. There is something important here. Here is a quick summary of the points from the roadmap: … Read more
The first time that one of our clients reached out to ask me if they should stop their SharePoint 2010 social intranet deployment because of Microsoft’s looming Yammer acquisition was June.15, 2012. It’s a fair question. Obviously, Yammer overlaps with SharePoint and particularly with the much improved SharePoint 2013. My advice: don’t stop on-premise social … Read more