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Businesses are amassing enormous amounts of data, more than they know what to do with. Most are just using it to put together dense periodic reports explaining "what" happened too long after the fact to be of much use. Modernizing your digital workplace by moving to Azure and utilizing its AI technology can help you get a handle on your data and graduate from "what" happened to "how" it happened and, finally, to what "will" happen to inform what you should do all within a relevant period of time.

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FINNING digitally transforms its operations with IoT apps on Azure cloud

FINNING, the world's largest Caterpillar dealer, started its digital transformation journey with customers in mind, but soon realized that its own operations were seeing just as many benefits as its clients. Not willing to turn down an opportunity to improve, FINNING quickly learned that the data obtained from customer-facing solutions enabled it to gain insights into internal processes and become even more efficient. Watch this video to learn how Azure IoT can have game-changing solutions that push forward internal process optimization and enhance customer satisfaction.

SitePro Part 1

SitePro gained a competitive advantage by combining onsite sensors and data collection with online data processing and management using Microsoft Azure. As a result, they were able to provide faster and more effective service to their customers, which in turn strengthened the offerings of their customers. It's a win for everyone.

Shift your business into overdrive. Subscribe today.

More than ever before, organizations are augmenting human skills, ingenuity, and business acumen with data analytics, productivity, and enterprise solutions to gain a competitive edge. Subscribe today to stay informed on how solutions like Dynamics 365, Power BI, and other Microsoft services and solutions are enabling modern businesses to take the lead over competitors and finish first in the marketplace.

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Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17% in 2020

According to Gartner, Inc., the world's leading research and advisory company, the worldwide public cloud services is forecast to grow 17% in 2020. This is significant projected growth and a good indicator that the cloud is reliable, trustworthy—and necessary. Have a look at this report, which also forecasts infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to grow 24%--the highest growth rate across all market segments. The report attributes the growth to "the demands of modern applications and workloads, which require infrastructure that traditional data centers cannot meet." Read the press release and summarized findings here.

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Finishing first with Renault Sports Formula One and Dynamics 365

To monitor every aspect of performance, a Renault Sports Formula One race car is outfitted with over 200 sensors that generate more than 35 billion data points over a typical race weekend. Since two or more sensors can be matched to form around 20,000 different virtual channels, cars relay an enormous volume of data back to the Renault Sports team during races and tests. By pairing Azure-based Dynamics 365 for Operations with Microsoft Power BI, the Renault Sports team can bring up and track this data in real time, enabling them to make exact modifications and adjustments at lightning speed to squeeze more performance out of the car. Watch this short video to see how the Renault Sports Formula One team capitalizes on the features of Dynamics 365 for Operations and Microsoft Azure to make its cars faster than ever and reach the finish line first.

Learn how to modernize your apps and data on Azure

Break down the cloud journey with four stages of the process—starting with a pre-migration assessment and then looking at migration, post-migration, and optimization. Microsoft Azure has you covered with tools created specifically for you.

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Breakthrough teamwork tools: 4 tips to identify what works for you

This eBook is for customers who are ready to achieve even more with their successful teams. Collaboration and easy communication are increasingly important—especially as more people are working from home. In this eBook, you can take a deep dive and read how to use teamwork tools like Microsoft Teams to empower your employees to do even more. Chapters cover communicating without effort, being more productive through better integration, customizing features, and working with confidence.

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Why Migrate with Azure?

With Microsoft Azure Migration Program (AMP), customers receive prescriptive guidance for a step-by-step approach for a path to the cloud from start to finish. The program delivers technical skill building to ensure your organization can successfully adopt Azure; best practices for a step-to-step approach from start to finish; Azure engineering support for data and infrastructure foundations; expert guidance from specialized migration partners; free Azure tools to help you efficiently execute migrations; and cost effective offers to help you save money before, during, and after migration. All of this, available to all Azure customers, scaled through specialized migration partners. Contact us for more information or assistance in migrating.

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Making choices with data and AI

How do we, as human beings, make decisions? While most people would like to believe that they take a rational, calculated approach by considering all the variables, research shows that we go with our "gut feeling" instead about 95 percent of the time. In his Forbes article entitled "Making Choices With Data And AI," author Mark Robinson discusses the proper role of AI in human decision making. AI shouldn't be making decisions for us, he contends, but rather, guide us by interpreting the data at hand and presenting the facts and variables surrounding a given choice—effectively balancing out our "gut feeling" with rational objectivity. Read the full article to learn how AI-assisted decision making can help guide your business toward greater growth and success by mitigating human bias in choice.

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Empowering remote work with Microsoft Teams

In this infographic, discover suggestions to empower remote employees as they use Teams to embrace online communication, stay focused, share content, and stay connected.

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7 ways AI can help improve decision making for marketers

No longer just science fiction, AI has the potential to radically change just about every aspect of modern life, especially business. From automating simple tasks to more complex feats like uncovering insights from massive volumes of unstructured data, AI is fast emerging as one of the centerpieces of digital transformation, not least of all for its ability to assist with critical business decisions. View the infographic to discover seven ways how AI can help drive better decisions for marketers, and for businesses in general.

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5 Ways to Be More Efficient While Working From Home

This article from Entrepreneur, highlights five ways remote workers can be more efficient at home. Tips to optimize time away from the office include establishing a routine, determining priorities, eliminating distractions, and more.

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Lizo | Digital transformation in the oil & gas industry: seamless scaling and automatic updating

Our final video in the Lizo series shows how a business can push the boundaries of what's possible for a data-driven company. To do this, they needed to be as agile and informed as possible. See how companies can move to Azure to enjoy the freedom and possibilities of the cloud.

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If you're like most organizations, you've probably already invested in data technologies for the express purpose of uncovering actionable insights from your business data. But have you given any thought as to how these technologies can complement one another over time to create a truly agile and responsive data solution--one that not only provides insights today, but can accommodate changing business needs and conditions tomorrow? Subscribe now to learn how Microsoft Power Platform--comprising Power BI, Power Apps, and Microsoft Flow--can help you build the foundation for an end-to-end data analytics solution that's got you covered in the present and the future.

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Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together

More frequently than ever, consumers are utilizing apps for news, food, information, social networking and more. Of course, the cloud forms the core of the app economy and small to medium businesses need service providers that support their financial needs and requirements. In his article, "Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together," Prabhakar Jayakumar writes that 90% of all data used over the last two years was created using an optimized data management tool. For digitization to progress, modern app development requires efficient data management and processing. The app must engage users and generate content, "and then process the data generated to garner insights, which can enhance the performance of the app or brand," writes Jayakumar. He adds that this is where cloud service providers can be of great help, in setting up databases to be quick and fail-proof. In short, Jayakumar sees service providers can help SMBs deploy applications quickly and cost-effectively: "Less coding, limitless scalability, exceedingly fast deployments, and fool-proof security are the pillars of tomorrow's app economy, powered by the cloud." Read Jayakumar's entire article and contact us for cloud migration support.

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Airport security officer-turned-developer helps Heathrow book a faster journey to digital transformation

At Heathrow Airport, an airplane takes off every 45 seconds and nearly 80 million passengers are served annually, making it the busiest airport in Europe. As you might imagine, daily activities involved in running the airport--such as baggage handling, security, maintenance, and the like--add up to a staggering volume of paperwork that requires an equally staggering number of hours to complete. Amidst the bustle, one security officer identified a way that Heathrow could save both time and resources by digitizing certain security processes. He researched several Microsoft Power Platform blogs, taught himself how to code, and used Power BI, Power Apps, and Microsoft Flow to create a suite of apps that has not only saved 288 hours in data entry and eliminated 11,000 sheets of paper for security operations, but has also helped Heathrow Airport leap forward on its digital transformation journey. Watch the video to see how airport security officer Samit Saini helped transform Heathrow--and his own career--using Microsoft Power Platform.

Run effective meetings with Microsoft Teams

This video is a virtual class on running meetings with Microsoft Teams, led by a Microsoft training specialist. In this class, you'll learn how to schedule and manage Teams meetings end-to-end. You'll see how to access meetings and content easily and assess which devices will work best. The video also covers how to use Teams before, during, and after your meeting to create the best experience for your remote team.

Discover the benefits of modernization and save with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

Check out the ways in which Azure SQL Database Managed Instance is designed to provide you with exactly what your business needs so you can save money without missing a beat.

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Get started with Microsoft Teams quick start

This quick start guide is full of information to help you make the most of Microsoft Teams. With this tool, your employees have a shared workspace for conversations, files, and meetings. Everyone can be more engaged and effective, even when working remotely. Review this guide to access actionable tips for better connection, collaboration, and productivity.

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Unblocking Teamwork: four tools and strategies to improve collaboration

This Microsoft eBook goes into detail about key tools and strategies to help customers overcome blockers and improve collaboration using Microsoft Teams. These tips can easily be adapted and applied to remote work. Suggestions include streamlining tools and apps, making virtual meetings more efficient, and improving version control.

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Digital transformation isn't what you think it is--so what is it?

When the same phrase is used so frequently and over an extended period of time, two things typically happen: first, it officially achieves buzzword status; and second, it begins to lose its meaning. Among the tech industry's pool of du jour buzzwords, perhaps none is more prominent and overhyped--if not misunderstood--than "digital transformation." In his insightful Forbes article entitled "Digital Transformation Is Not What You Think It Is," author Jamie Notter argues that it is culture, and not digital, that today's organizations should focus on when it comes to digitally transforming themselves. In other words, identify what cultural changes will help make your business successful, then adopt technology to support and advance those goals. Check out the full article to get Mr. Notter's unique take on what "digital transformation" really means for your business--and more important, what it really entails.

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Introducing Microsoft Teams: empowering remote work

This flyer highlights some of the key features in Microsoft Teams that allow customers to stay connected, collaborate, and increase productivity—all in one place. The flyer also offers ideas on how customers can use Teams to make remote work more efficient and even fun.

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Lizo | Digital transformation in the oil & gas industry: improving on-site safety

Safety is a priority for companies, especially those working in industries where a few seconds can mean a significant deficit for thousands of customers. This time we show how companies such as Lizo partner their apps with Microsoft Azure for instant status updates of facilities and equipment that are vital for site operators to maintain safety around the globe. Their customers funnel real-time data from multiple sources into a single platform. Their facility oversight is improved, their operations are more efficient, and the workplace safety is right where it should be—at the top. Watch this video to see how other data-driven companies could partner with Microsoft Azure to offer cloud-based software solutions to customers who need real-time response.

Prioritize culture during digital transformation

For many organizations, digital transformation means integrating digital into every facet of the business, making digital the focus of every activity and process. But is that really the right approach? For a growing number of businesses, digital is increasingly being viewed as an enabler of broader business objectives rather than the end state or goal. In other words, many businesses are identifying what cultural changes need to take place to bring about success, and then adopting digital technologies to achieve that success. Like digital transformation itself, this shift in mindset is a journey--starting with recognizing the obstacles to digital transformation, the key attributes of a true digital culture, and how to overcome the former to become the latter. View the infographic to see what the journey's all about.

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9 ways to make working from home more joyful - The Aesthetics of Joy

This article offers nine ways to create a workspace and routine to make working from home a more joyful, sustainable experience. Suggestions range from self-care to workspace set up to breaks. Read the article for all the ideas.

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