Microsoft news – Page 139

Posted on January 9, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Retail 2020: Your next grocery run or closet refresh may be powered by Microsoft and our customers embracing tech intensity

As we embark on a new year (a new decade, in fact!) and look ahead to next week and another National Retail Federation conference and expo, I am inspired to pause and reflect for a bit on the successes of the past year. And the highlights that first come to mind are not from Microsoft but rather from our customers and partners – those retailers and companies supporting the retail industry with technology that have truly embraced our industry’s new normal – constant disruption – with fresh thinking and innovation.

We often hear that every company is becoming a software company, and this feels especially true for the retail industry right now, as many across fashion, fast-moving-consumer goods, food service and more are building their own net new digital capabilities.

Shelley Bransten, corporate vice-president, Retail and Consumer Goods — Shelley Bransten.

We refer to this concept as tech intensity – not only using technology for technology’s sake, but also using it to build net-new capabilities to propel your business forward. And it’s why we believe that the next big innovations aren’t going to come from technology companies but rather be driven by retailers as they work to find new paths to revenue, keep up with customer demands and ultimately reimagine their businesses.

According to a study we recently conducted on the global impacts of this concept of tech intensity, more than half of retailers are already doing this – building first-party IP with advanced digital technologies – and the vast majority believe that doing so is the most effective way to build a competitive advantage, particularly in the areas of customer experience and delivery of goods and services.

Taking a new technology-enabled approach to business is the formula for retail success today, and between Microsoft and our global network of partners, we’re helping our retail customers do just that to address some of their greatest opportunities. All our technology and partnership investments are deeply rooted in the four critical priority scenarios our customers have told us they want most from Microsoft:

Know your customer
Empower employees
Deliver on an intelligent supply chain
Reimagine retail

We call these our priority scenarios, and here are just a few examples of customers and partners bringing them to life.

Know your customer: Deliver unforgettable experiences that make you stand out from the crowd

Retail begins and ends with the customer, and it’s so important that retailers use technology in ways that create new, engaging experiences that keep them coming back time and time again.

H&M

Our work with global fashion retailer H&M Group extends across different pieces of its business, including fueling new customer experiences. But one area of collaboration with the company that is currently top of mind for me is sustainability. H&M Group has a strong focus on sustainability, with a vision to lead the change toward a circular and renewable fashion industry, and because of this H&M launched a garment recycling program in its stores in 2013 with the goal of preventing customers’ unwanted clothing from ending up in a landfill.

Recently, and with the help of Microsoft Azure and partner Ombori, H&M reimagined its garment recycling program in the U.S. with new “smart” recycle bins that offer engaging experiences to customers. The new bins are outfitted with an Ombori digital screen that serves up discount codes and engagement opportunities (pictures, social prompts, etc.) to customers who donate, and digital scales within the bins allow each store to quantify the impact its customers are having in real time.

And collecting garments in stores is only one of many H&M Group sustainability initiatives; join me Jan. 13 at NRF 2020 to hear from Arti Zeighami, head of advanced analytics and AI at H&M Group, about how the company is working for a global fashion industry where sustainability and AI go hand in hand.

An Intermarche storefront. — Intermarché is partnering with Microsoft, Accenture, SGS and Transparency-One to provide a more personalized customer experience.

Intermarché

France’s third-largest grocer, Intermarché, prides itself on living its motto: “Mieux produire, mieux consommer, mieux manger,” which translates to “to produce, consume and eat better.” Through a partnership with Microsoft and partners Accenture SGS and Transparency-One, the grocer is leveraging data from “farm to fork” to help improve every Intermarché customer’s understanding and ability to measure and control the impact of his or her own consumption.

By implementing Azure Machine Learning and eventually other Azure AI services, Intermarché will be able to personalize offers to shoppers based on their dietary preferences (for example, low-cholesterol diets, gluten-free diets and more) as well as provide more transparency into the supply chain of its organic products, making healthier, sustainable living affordable and accessible.

dunnhumby

UK-based partner dunnhumby, a leader in customer data science, works with leading retailers and consumer-goods companies to use data science to help them deliver better shopping experiences for their customers. And we’re thrilled that, through a global strategic partnership, dunnhumby will move its customer insights products – used by the likes of Tesco, Unilever, McDonald’s, Nestle and many more – to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Combining dunnhumby’s tools, such as Shop on Lab, with the Azure cloud platform will allow many more retailers and consumer-goods companies to unlock and share insights into their businesses. The processing power of Azure and the machine learning data science of dunnhumby can offer the right insights at the right time, so action can be taken quickly on company performance, new trends and innovation, brand switching and loyalty.

Empower your employees: Enable your people with the tools to deliver extraordinary customer service

Retail associates are often the first point of contact for customers, so it’s important that they’re armed with the right information and training to provide the best experience possible.

The exterior of a Walgreens pharmacy. — A partnership between Walgreens Boots Alliance and Microsoft is helping WBA to cut costs, improve operations, modernize business processes and train employees.

Walgreens Boots Alliance

Almost a year ago, we announced a partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) to transform health care delivery. Today we’re sharing updates on how we are making progress with this partnership. Cloud modernization is well underway, helping WBA to recognize cost efficiencies in the cloud in several ways.

WBA is migrating on-premises data warehouses into Azure Synapse Analytics, improving operations and modernizing business processes. The company is also using Azure Synapse to analyze vast amounts of data in real time while applying machine learning to get insights that help associates provide customers with the products they want while preventing unsold inventory from cluttering the back office.

We’re also working together on two new pilot projects to enable more empowered employees and better customer insights in Walgreens stores. WBA is currently testing a new way for store associates to receive training on new scenarios presented in stores where it carries fresh food products – such as culling produce, executing curbside grocery pickup and more – via an immersive mixed-reality experience using Microsoft HoloLens 2 and a training solution from partner, Altoura.

The mixed reality training replaces document-based training, lowers costs traditionally associated with getting employees up to speed on new processes and ensures employees have access to the latest and greatest training in real-time to better serve customers.

Additionally, to better understand Walgreens’ customers and their needs, the company is conducting anonymous footfall tracking via carts and baskets with Microsoft partner Acuity’s Atrius system. The Atrius system helps Walgreens better understand the consumer journey using Bluetooth low-energy beacons to learn how customers are navigating its new format stores and using that information to better optimize the shopping experience for consumers.

Deliver on an intelligent supply chain: Close the gap between demand and fulfillment to delight your customers

So much of customer satisfaction rests in ensuring that you have the right products in the right place at the right time, and infusing data-driven intelligence into your supply chain can help make all the difference.

Mars, Inc.

For most consumer-packaged goods companies, sales spike during holiday season due to investments across the marketing and sales mix, from online display advertising to in-store physical displays. This past fall, Mars Inc., a global manufacturer of confectionary and other food products, decided it was time to gain deeper insights into an age-old problem of tracking where its product displays went after they left the warehouse.

Previously, Mars was only able to track the number of displays it produced and how many left its warehouses for retailer destinations. To help tackle this problem, it found the right partner with Footmarks, which designed its beacon- and gateway-based display tracking solution with Azure IoT Central to deliver secure, simple and scalable insights into what happens once displays begin transit.

With the Footmarks solution, Mars is now equipped with information on how many displays were in warehouse, how many were in transit, where they were headed, when they were put in market and how long they remained in use. With this insight, sales teams were able to access live updates to ensure displays were at the right stores, ensuring customers were always able to find their favorite snack foods when they were shopping.

Reimagine retail: Imagine the impossible and then make it happen

Consumer demands are changing, and retailers need to evaluate how they can change, too – from the experiences they create for customers to their core business models – to succeed and compete in today’s industry climate.

A grocery aisle featuring a Hershey's display. — AWM Smart Shelf solutions create compelling experiences for customers around the world.

AWM

AWM is powering the future of autonomous shopping with AWM Frictionless, a Microsoft Azure-based solution that provides a seamless shopping experience by allowing consumers to shop as normal and then check out by simply walking out of the store, bypassing the traditional checkout process. AWM Frictionless is already deployed at several multi-billion-dollar retail organizations in the U.S. and Mexico, with hundreds more expected to come online in 2020.

Other Azure-powered AWM Smart Shelf solutions have been deployed in 16 countries around the world for scenarios such as demographic reporting, on-shelf inventory intelligence and custom shelf-edge LED displays that support ads, electronic shelf labels and planogram functionality.

Trakomatic

Trakomatic is a Microsoft partner in Asia that is digitizing brick and mortar stores with its Azure AI-based solution that provides more personalized, VIP-caliber shopping experiences to customers. Once a shopper opts in by signing up for the service, she has the option of adding her photo image to her profile. If she does, Trakomatic’s video analytics, AI-powered facial recognition and intelligent sensors, all on the Microsoft Azure cloud, do the rest, recognizing her as she enters the store and personalizing the experience – from targeted offers and digital signage that changes based on her preferences to alerting store associates so that they are prepared to provide the VIP experience she expects.

Visit us at NRF 2020

I’m inspired each and every day by our customers’ and partners’ innovation and can’t wait to see how they will reimagine retail next. To see more of this kind of innovation in action, visit us next week at NRF 2020. And be sure to check out more details on our latest retail innovations on the Official Microsoft Blog.

Top photo by Getty Images.

Posted on January 9, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Expanding our vision for retail with Dynamics 365 at NRF 2020

Retailers experienced more change in the last decade than nearly any other industry, a trend that is not likely to slow as we enter 2020. The only certainty in the new decade is the need for technologies that help retailers stay nimble, relevant, and anticipate customer needs and shopping preferences.

As my colleague Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, Retail and Consumer Goods Industries, shared in a blog post today, consumers are driving the future of retail—from when, where, and how they engage with a retail brand to demands for higher standards in data privacy and secure shopping. Technology will usher in a new era of intelligent retail experiences across every storefront, physical and digital.

Next week, at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show, Microsoft will demonstrate Dynamics 365 solutions as part of the breadth of our company’s offerings, that will power retail innovation in the next decade. These applications unify customer experiences across every commerce channel from physical to online stores and pop up shops to subscription services as well as unlock AI-powered insights from the back office to the frontline to deliver exceptional, personalized customer experiences.

This vision for the future of retail is spotlighted by new features and product releases announced today:

Dynamics 365 Commerce, generally available on February 3^rdis a modern omnichannel commerce solution that unifies back office, e-commerce, in-store, and call center and simplifies the integration of new emerging channels.
Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection, featuring two new capabilities to reduce fraud and related costs while improving the buying experience: loss prevention and account protection, available for preview on March 2^nd.
Dynamics 365 Connected Store is an application that combines AI-driven insights and IoT-connected sensors and cameras to empower retailers with real-time observational data to improve in-store performance, coming to preview later this calendar year.

Deliver insightful shopping experiences

Omnichannel retailing is now the standard for success in the market. For too many retailers, however, the slow adoption of technology to support the model has hampered progress toward truly unified cross-channel shopping experiences that bridge physical and online channels.

At NRF, Microsoft will demonstrate a modern, flexible cloud commerce solution that powers rich, customer-first experiences at all touchpoints. Dynamics 365 Commerce, slated for general availability on February 3^rd,is an evolution of our Dynamics 365 Retail offering and delivers a comprehensive omnichannel solution to unify back-office, e-commerce, in-store, and call center experiences.

Spotlighted features for the February 3^rd launch include:

Native e-commerce capabilities, featuring built-in web authoring and development tools to create engaging, intelligent digital storefronts, plus a connected marketing and commerce platform for seamless management of content, assets, promotions, inventory, and pricing across channels.
Native integration with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection.
AI-moderated ratings and reviews and intelligent customer recommendations for more personalized customer experiences.

Dynamics 365 Commerce customers are finding new ways to build brand loyalty, optimize operations and supply-chain efficiencies, and deliver better business outcomes. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the third-largest premium wine company in the United States, leverages Dynamics 365 Commerce to provide a seamless customer experience across all three direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce, brick and mortar, and clubs, and across the different brands in the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates portfolio. With a full end-to-end retail solution, Ste. Michelle can put the customer at the center of the buying journey and provide more personalized and timely customer recommendations and experiences from the tasting room to digital touchpoints.

“From the moment a consumer visits one of our wineries or tasting rooms, joins one of our clubs, or decides to purchase products online, we want to remove all sources of friction that come between the consumer and the perfect wine choice.” – Francis Perrin, Chief Marketing Officer for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

Learn more about Dynamics 365 Commerce and watch an on-demand webinar for a closer look at Commerce in action.

Protect your e-commerce business and customers

Even for global e-commerce leaders, it’s not always easy to safeguard millions of transactions and deliver the best possible shopping and purchasing experiences at the same time. The accelerating shift toward omnichannel has increased the threat of fraud-related losses. And greater exposure to theft or improper discounting can introduce more pressure on the already thin margins in brick and mortar stores. In fact, fraudulent transactions globally account for over $175 billion in fraud-related costs every year.

In 2019, Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection to help reduce fraud and its related costs, increase revenue, and deliver better buying experiences with lower friction and more support.

Today we’re announcing two new capabilities for Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection—both available for preview on March 2^nd—to help prevent loss and mitigate risks for merchants, leveraging the power of big data and ethical AI to provide a best-in-class fraud solution for omnichannel merchants:

Account protection helps retailers recognize patterns related to fraudulent e-commerce activities during account creation or attempted hijacking. Account protection uses artificial intelligence to aid in decreasing the costs of account fraud by helping to reduce the number of fraudulent accounts, in turn protecting the businesses’ reputation and improving customer experiences and satisfaction.

Account protection can help retailers improve the bottom line by reducing fraud activities and friction throughout the customer journey, improve business reputation by preventing negative exposure due to fraudulent activity, and increase customer satisfaction by protecting customer authenticity and privacy.

Loss prevention helps reduce fraud in brick and mortar stores and boost revenues at the retailer by providing insights around returns and discount fraud. By using data from commerce systems and the power of AI, loss prevention helps merchants decipher patterns of losses from returns, improper discounts, merchandise mishandling, and inventory turn-over.

Loss prevention helps provide anomaly reporting and actionable insights that allow retailers to gain visibility into specific business functions which may require additional controls. In addition, loss prevention can help reduce the manual effort needed to determine the business entities and functions which are at risk.

BESTSELLER, the international clothing and accessories company, is leveraging Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection to reduce fraud-related losses across its 70 markets spanning most of Europe, the Middle East, Canada, India and globally via e-commerce. BESTSELLER uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection to spot patterns of activity that suggest fraud and work to remedy the situation within its stores. After a successful pilot deployment, BESTSELLER is rolling out Fraud Protection across its stores in Europe, and eventually the world. The company projects that it will save millions of dollars as a result, while also boosting BESTSELLER’s core value of trust.

“By identifying fraud and loss quickly with Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection, we’re boosting business outcomes and building a culture where our core value of honesty is practiced by everyone every day.” – Kim Guldager, Senior Program Manager at BESTSELLER.

Learn more about Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection in the first in a series of deep-dive blog posts.

Help bridge digital and physical worlds

With real-time observational data about customer movement or the status of products and store devices, there’s tremendous opportunity to gain a better understanding of the retail space and improve in-store performance. Microsoft is dedicated to helping retailers adapt and optimize physical retail spaces to meet new levels of customer expectation.

Available in preview later this year, Dynamics 365 Connected Store helps retailers both understand how customers use the retail space over time, as well as monitor real-time activities from checkout line queues to shelf voids to help frontline workers deliver exceptional customer service.

Connected Store can optimize the shopping experience in real time through triggered alerts based on real-time data from video cameras and IoT sensors and also provides longer term insight that can illuminate patterns and opportunities that lie within the day-to-day occurrences of a retail space.

Marks & Spencer, for instance, is using Dynamics 365 Connected Store to capture observational data from customer behavior across multiple stores worldwide, and over a period of time, to identify patterns and trends. This unlocks the opportunity to predict inventory needs and replenish stock levels in real time, all to create first class experiences for the customer.

See what’s in store for retail and technology

Microsoft, along with our global partner ecosystem, is dedicated to enabling intelligent retail by empowering the industry with the tools to unlock the full potential of customers, employees, and data. Together with the solutions highlighted above, NRF attendees can see demonstrations of our portfolio of business applications which will include Supply Chain Management, Customer Insights, and Power BI dashboards for frontline workers to the back office. We’ll also be showing our new mixed reality solution, Product Visualize, that lets sales representatives place a 3D digital twin of a product in their customer’s environment.

Get the full story

For those attending NRF, stop by the Microsoft booth for immersive demonstrations of our full range of retail solutions, attend deep dive sessions, network with us at the FQ Lounge, and more. View the agenda for all the ways to engage with us at NRF.

We also invite you to view our latest research, the Retail Trends Playbook 2020 for more insights into emerging trends that will help empower retailers to create exceptional, insightful shopping experiences for customers.

Posted on January 9, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Gears 5 featured in Evanescence new music video ‘The Chain’

Last fall, we celebrated early access for Gears 5 Ultimate Edition with the television debut of “The Chain” during the NFL Season Opener. Today, transcendent, two-time Grammy Award winning rock band, Evanescence, has released the full official music video “The Chain,” their first new rock recording in eight years. Directed by frequent collaborator, P.R. Brown (My Chemical Romance, John Mayer, Green Day), the piece blends powerful, epic performance visuals with footage from Gears 5. Watch it above, and listen to the song on all digital streaming platforms here.

Kait Diaz’s journey to discover herself in Gears 5 is brought to life by Evanescence’s haunting rendition of “The Chain,” one that evokes the feeling of standing together in solidarity against adverse and unknown forces, even those coming from within. The partnership with Gears 5 also begins a new journey in what is expected to be a very active period for the band as they get set to tour on the international stage.

On March 29, Evanescence’s spring tour dates commence with a performance at Download Festival in Tokyo, Japan. Shortly thereafter, the group will embark on a massive co-headline tour of Europe and the U.K. with Within Temptation that runs from April 4 to May 1. You can check out all of the band’s tour dates and purchase tickets at Evanescence’s website here, and fans can also keep up with what the band is working on by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Evanescence is currently working on new original music, which will start rolling out in 2020 in advance of their highly anticipated fifth full-length studio album.

If you haven’t experienced Gears 5’s five thrilling modes and deepest campaign ever, jump in on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For the latest on Gears 5 and the Gears franchise, stay tuned to Xbox Wire and follow Gears on Twitter @gearsofwar.

Posted on January 9, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Boosting the global fight against mosquito-borne diseases

Australia’s Far North Queensland has been declared essentially dengue-free for the first time in about a century, following an intensive release campaign. Other targeted efforts are making strong progress in Asia and South America, where authorities have long tried to wipe out mosquito populations with insecticides.

“Our Wolbachia method is natural and self-sustaining,” Green says. “As a large-scale public health intervention, we believe that this a cost-effective way. The evidence so far is that it can sustain itself in local populations for up to seven years. And we expect it will continue.”

How machine learning and AI will help take the fight global

The Program’s data science partner, Gramener, is developing machine learning for the AI model. It will tap the Program’s existing release point records as well as many other datasets on human population densities, land use, industrial sites, weather, and other variables. Satellite imagery will be a big part of mapping out large urban areas with strategic and granular accuracy.

The aim is to have the ability to pinpoint multiple impactful release points within blocks of as little as 100 square meters.

“We want to target the areas where our intervention is needed most,” Green says. “We will be able to release Wolbachia mosquitoes where they will have the most effect with analysis at a countrywide scale instead of at a neighborhood scale. Our ambition is to be able to look at a whole country and run the model over all its urban areas and let it give an unprecedented snapshot of where we can have the most impact.”

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Joppa says machine learning and AI are potent tools for not-for-profits that want to tackle big challenges but have limited resources.

“The World Mosquito Program started with the objective of figuring out how to attack a problem. In this case, they worked out how to neutralize the disease-carrying ability of mosquitoes. Then they worked out where they needed to release these mosquitoes.

“They started collecting tons of data. It then became a really messy data problem as they tried to compare a bunch of different data sets to work out where they could be most efficient.

“Ultimately, this is where machine learning comes in. It allows you to take all of that data, abstract it down to a single estimate of probability and map it out. It is cost-effective, and it is super scalable. Instead of figuring out data visualization and analytics for one particular area, you can now do it for an entire city, for an entire country, for the entire world.

“That is because the data sets they are using are globally generalizable. One model that works here can work everywhere.”

Top imagery: Wolbachia mosquitoes are released in rural Fiji.

Posted on January 8, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Government data protection—earning and retaining the public’s trust with Microsoft 365

Citizen confidence in government institutions and public servants depends on trust. Citizens need to trust that the individuals and agencies representing them will act in good faith to protect their interests. Whether it’s the safety of food, medications, infrastructure, information, or national security, the sustainability of the social contract between the government and its constituents requires persistent attention to retain the public’s trust.

For governments to function, the flow of data on a massive scale is required—including sensitive information about critical infrastructure, public safety, and security. The higher the stakes in data sensitivity, the more attractive the information is to malefactors for reasons that range from financial gain to political influence. It should come as no surprise that the security of government information systems is subject to constant attempted attacks.

Until recently, the prevailing paradigm for system security was to protect the perimeter—that is, protect the network’s entry and exit points, typically through firewalls or virtual private networks (VPNs). This model is built on implicit trust that access is legitimate by default for anyone inside the perimeter. The basis for this implicit trust in traditional network security is becoming obsolete in the wake of changes such as the expansion of the mobile workforce, the rapid growth in digital data, the proliferation of shadow IT, and the rise of cyberattacks. Today, more and more organizations are pivoting to a Zero Trust model for security where all users and devices—both inside and outside the network—are deemed untrustworthy by default and the same security checks are applied to all users, devices, applications, and data.

Security considerations for government institutions

Consider the information needed by social workers employed by a child protection agency to do their job promoting the safety and development of at-risk children, some of the most vulnerable citizens in society. To screen a child for investigation requires judgment based on quality information. To take a child into protective custody requires even more exacting discernment. Before a court makes a final decision to remove a child from their family, multiple professionals from various agencies need to conclude there’s reasonable cause to believe that the health, safety, or welfare of the child is at risk. In order to make these important decisions, the stakeholders need appropriate access to the relevant information across functions and agencies. And they need to coordinate with each other.

A social worker may be a civil servant or a contractor using an agency-supplied device or a personal phone. They may be inspecting environments where children live or go to school, or they may be taking information from healthcare providers or law enforcement. The range of information they interact with is diverse and extensive, and its transmission across relevant agencies is made more complex by compliance standards pertaining to data protection and privacy.

Some questions governments ask themselves to support the free and trusted flow of information to empower social workers include:

What data do social workers need to do their jobs?
Should access to relevant sensitive information apply at all times, or would it be appropriate to impose time limits?
What information is safe to store on personal devices—for example, photos that are relevant to the case?
What to do if the identity or the device of a social worker becomes infected through malware?

This can potentially wreak havoc on data privacy or the safety of the vulnerable population they are trying to serve and could open the agency up to civil liability if not properly protected.

Given these questions and the complexity of cybersecurity concerns and data privacy, it’s hard to justify an approach that is premised on implicit trust and unfettered access to sensitive data. In addition to trust considerations, public sector organizations also need to enable productivity and collaboration. Striking the right balance between productivity and security need not be all or nothing.

The Zero Trust model

The Zero Trust security model adheres to three pillars:

Explicit verification of every access request.
Use of least privileged access with just-in-time adaptive risk-based access policies.
Assume breach mentality to minimize potential damage to, or loss of data from, additional parts of the organization.

In our example, all information requests would be treated as though they originate from an uncontrolled (external or compromised) network. But this need not impede the social worker’s productivity. With the right governance, social workers can and should have access to the relevant information. Governing parameters might include restricting access to information about non-clients. Another parameter may be to set access expiration dates, or determine which devices are eligible for access. If a device or an agency worker’s identity becomes compromised, their access can be mediated by identity management or data governance rules that enable productivity while being mindful of security.

For an agency to retain its commitment to the constituents it serves and uphold data privacy standards, implicit trust within a data estate no longer makes sense. An end-to-end Zero Trust approach aims to build security into the entire digital estate, across your identities (usernames and passwords), devices, network, infrastructure, applications, and data.

Microsoft 365 helps governments on the Zero Trust journey

With Microsoft 365, governments can take immediate steps towards a Zero Trust security model. The first step in building a secure environment is explicit verification of identity. Phishing is one of the most common types of cyberattacks. It can lead to a user’s credentials being compromised and opens the doors for attackers to steal valuable information. Sensitive data may be what cybercriminals want, but an identity breach is often the preferred tactic to get to the data. Protecting identity and managing access is therefore a pivotal first step in a cybersecurity strategy. This is because identity can act as the new control plane that connects all the organization’s data dispersed across multiple applications, on-premises and in the cloud, and accessed by multiple devices and users.

Getting identity management right is a defensive imperative and it can enable an organization to save time and resources. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a powerful identity management solution that helps modernize access management and provide end-to-end visibility across the entire digital estate by connecting all applications and services to a single control plane. This is key to implementing a Zero Trust model because setting policies to define the right user experience at each access request ensures users are allowed the least privileged access necessary to perform their role. With Azure AD, organizations can also deploy a variety of passwordless authentication solutions from Windows Hello to FIDO 2.0 keys, further strengthening their access security.

Another pillar of the Zero Trust model is the principle that policies define how devices are used in the workplace; this is important as employees increasingly use their own devices at work. Under Zero Trust, the “health” of the device is a gating variable for access policies. With Microsoft Intune, mobile application management and mobile device management (MDM), part of the new Microsoft Endpoint Manager platform, organizations can verify and make the health of the device a precondition to access data. MDM enables comprehensive remote management of mobile devices, including remote data wipe if needed.

10 tips for enabling Zero Trust security

Widespread adoption of public cloud services and the growth of a mobile workforce have rendered perimeter-based security models obsolete.

The final pillar of Zero Trust addresses the need to govern access by network to prevent lateral movement in the event of a breach. Microsoft 365 offers many services to help monitor and detect threats and protect sensitive data:

Microsoft Cloud App Security detects unusual behavior across Microsoft and third-party cloud apps. It can identify high risk usage and remediate automatically to limit risk to an organization.
Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) provides continuous, real-time detonation capabilities to find and block threats, including malicious email links and attachments.
Microsoft Defender ATP protects endpoints in real-time by detecting and responding to threats.
Azure ATP detects risky and suspicious user activities and generates alerts.
Azure Information Protection provides controls to help secure email, documents, and sensitive data no matter where it’s stored or whom it’s shared with.

What makes Microsoft unique is the native integration of all these services allowing for holistic security management across each of the Zero Trust pillars, resulting in an orchestrated response to protect agencies’ digital estates end-to-end. This also serves to simplify the Zero Trust journey by eliminating the complexity of trying to make multiple different cybersecurity solutions work together that were not designed to integrate with one another.

Microsoft services are enhanced by the powerful insights captured by the Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph—the centerpiece of Microsoft’s differentiation in cybersecurity—which reasons over more than 8 trillion security signals from 1.2 billion end points and hundreds of millions of identity, email, and document transactions. Microsoft employs unique human and artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of these vast and complex cybersecurity signals to connect the dots to find the signal in the noise.

Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph

Advanced analytics link massive amounts of threat intelligence and security data to provide you unparalleled threat protection and detection.

Learn more

Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, better organized, and increasingly sophisticated. Governments recognize the seriousness of these concerns and are searching for solutions to update their security posture in the new cybersecurity era with limited budgets and insufficient skills.

Microsoft 365 provides best-in-class productivity apps while protecting identities, devices, applications, networks, and data. With Microsoft 365 security services, governments can take confident steps in the direction of a modern, Zero Trust security environment.

Learn more about Zero Trust and Microsoft 365 and government. Also, see how Microsoft Security solutions can support your journey.

Posted on January 8, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Sea of Thieves passes 10M player mark

We’re
excited and humbled to share that Sea of Thieves has now been played by
more than ten million players, reinforcing its status as the most successful
new IP from Xbox this generation.

It’s
mind-blowing to think of that many people setting sail on the Sea of Thieves,
and it’s all been made possible by the support and passion of our fantastic
community.

For
everyone at Rare, the Sea of Thieves community represents the very best
of what gaming can be. It’s home to players from more than eighty different
countries, bringing together gamers on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC
and creating countless stories and moments that people can treasure. Seeing
these stories shared through social media or other community spaces is
something that inspires the team every day. To every person who’s played Sea
of Thieves, thank you.

Our community will be at the centre of our January update – ‘Legends of the Seas’ – which will be available to all players for free from Wednesday January 15. Not only will this update celebrate our community and its stories, it will also feature two limited-edition gifts to mark our 10 million player milestone. Log-in to the game between January 15 and 22 and claim a free custom sail and a special new emote.

Once again, on behalf of everyone at Rare I’d like to say thank you to everyone who’s been on this journey with us so far. The best news is that we’re just getting started and have big plans for the coming year. See you on the seas!

Posted on January 8, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

‘Disinformation on steroids’: Latest Tech Talk explores new cyberthreats

Threat intelligence is often spoken about as being a key pillar of cybersecurity. But what is it and why is it so important?

In our latest #TechTalk, John Lambert, Distinguished Engineer and General Manager of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC), explains how, while all organizations work to manage their security risks in cyberspace, these risks become threats when combined with malicious intent. The goal of threat intelligence is to give organizations context and awareness about the online threats they face and to help them prioritize their responses.

Cybersecurity threats reflect the geopolitical contests, competitions and conflicts occurring in the world, John explains. This means that many organizations face threats from adversaries seeking to cause financial, reputational, or even geopolitical damage. Microsoft studies the most significant threat actors in order to understand the techniques they use, and to build defensive measures into the services offered to customers. Every month Microsoft blocks around five billion attacks – including malware attacks and phishing emails, as well as more targeted threats – by tracking and limiting the actors behind them.

John also discusses how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which can be taught to detect and respond to cyberattacks, is speeding and scaling up Microsoft’s defensive efforts. However, he also warns of the new cyber-challenges that the same technology can bring, particularly in relation to the manipulation of image and speech patterns to spread disinformation via ‘deep fakes’.

In order to respond to the growth and sophistication of cyberthreats, John argues that organizations facing common threat actors need to work together far more proactively and share information to be able to anticipate and defend against common threats. At the same time, individuals can help protect themselves more thoroughly by better managing their passwords and credentials.

Watch the full #TechTalk below:

Posted on January 7, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Satya Nadella keynote and more: 4 must-do’s and 3 trends to watch at next week’s big retail show

Two customers shopping for headphones wearing VR devices

The world’s largest retail conference is fast approaching and we want to make sure you make the most of it. I love going to NRF because not only can we celebrate what went well coming off of our busiest time of year, but we can look forward to an exciting year ahead. I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe we are in 2020! There has never been a more exciting time to be at the intersection of retail and technology. Challenging? Certainly. Opportunity? Lots of it.

In fact, at NRF, I’m thrilled to talk about the opportunity we have as an industry with sustainability during my Retail 2020: The dawn of sustainability big ideas session. I think 2020 is going to be a breakout year for sustainability in retail because consumers are demanding it. We’re going to hear more about how retailers and brands are stepping up and embracing sustainability like never before. You’ll see new concepts from startups who are putting established players to shame and, of course, we’re excited to showcase the latest technology and the role it can play in enabling the industry to be more sustainable.

There are so many more things to see and do at NRF. In between networking and idea-gathering, make sure to carve out some time to check out the following:

Hear Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, in the opening keynote discuss how technology is transforming the retail industry and how to deliver a superior customer experience.
Sign up for a Microsoft booth tour (Booth #4501) and experience the technology as if you were walking inside a store. Whether its solutions for grocery, fashion, back office, out of store or supply chain, this tour will allow you to easily get up close and personal with the Microsoft vision for the future of retail.
Tour our Flagship Microsoft store on 5^th Avenue. At the crown jewel of Microsoft’s retail activations, this 90-minute tour will provide you insights into the vision and roadmap for store technology. You will learn how Microsoft strives to deliver best-in-class customer service and knowledge and hear from select store staff on their various roles and responsibilities, ranging from merchandising, planogram, and inventory to technical support, store management, small business sales, and community development.
Visit the FQ lounge—We’re proud to present ideas on how women can help shape the future of AI and get more girls into STEM. These sessions fill up fast so plan to get there early!

NRF is also a great place to keep an eye on industry trends. Here are a few to keep an eye out for:

Clickstream to brickstream: Transforming the store by bringing the best of digital and in-store together, consumers expect any engagement with a retailer to be seamless.
AI drives ROI: AI is going to be a big one again this year, especially when we think about that seamless experience and being able to personalize products, promotions, and experiences.
Last click to last mile: A laser focus on last-mile delivery to meet the consumer demand for speed and transparency.

I’m excited to showcase Microsoft’s and our partner solutions. I look forward to seeing you at the event where we can reimagine the future of the retail industry, together.

Posted on January 7, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

CES 2020: New commercial devices unveiled by Microsoft partners Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo

As customers think about more about security and mobility, new devices from Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo—announced this week at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas—provide a productive, secure experience for on-the-go professionals.

Acer

Acer introduced the TravelMate P6, a durable, thin-and-light notebook and the TravelMate P2, a modern device for an increasingly mobile workforce.

The TravelMate P6 battery can be charged up to 50 percent in less than 45 minutes making it an excellent choice for professionals on the go. The 180-hinge allows users to lay it flat to easily share the screen. In addition, the TravelMate P6 is certified for Microsoft Teams and delivers crystal-clear videoconferencing via a four-mic array that picks up vocals from up to 6.5 feet away. The TravelMate P6 also offers powerful security features, including Windows Hello, which allows users to sign in using fingerprint or facial recognition.

The TravelMate P2 features high-speed connectivity, all-day battery life, and is easy to deploy and manage. The TravelMate P2 is built with connectivity at the forefront making it a reliable choice for mobile workers. And a wide host of customization options enables the TravelMate P2 to adapt to work on anything.

Both the TravelMate P6 and P2 run Windows 10 Pro. To learn more, visit Acer.com.

Dell

Dell Technologies introduced the Latitude 9510, the world’s smallest and lightest commercial 15-inch PC, which easily fits into a small work bag. At only 3.2 pounds, professionals can travel light without carrying extra weight of battery chargers, adapters, or speakerphone pucks needed for a work day. The Latitude 9510 includes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve battery life based on charge patterns and power usage, as well as launch frequently used applications faster. In addition, users can sign in quickly and securely with Windows Hello.

The Latitude 9510 runs on Windows 10 Pro and will be available globally March 26, 2020. Learn more at Dell.com.

HP

HP announced the HP Elite Dragonfly, the first world’s laptop with built-in Tile technology, which allows users to easily find a lost notebook. Running on Windows 10 Pro, the HP Elite Dragonfly is made with ocean bound plastic material with more than 82 percent of the mechanical parts made from recycled materials. HP Elite Dragonfly with optional Tile integration and HP Sure View Reflect is expected to be available starting February 2020. HP Elite Dragonfly with 5G and latest processor is expected to be available later in the summer. Visit HP, Inc. for more information.

Lenovo

Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X1 Fold, and ThinkBook Plus, both designed to improve productivity on the go.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold offers a new form factor giving professionals—who frequently switch between phone, tablet, and laptop—multiple ways to use the PC without compromising on performance or screen size. Built from a combination of lightweight alloys and carbon fibre and covered in a leather folio cover, the ThinkPad X1 Fold can easily slip into the smallest of bags. Running Windows 10 Pro, the ThinkPad X1 Fold offers the durability and reliability users expect from any ThinkPad.

The ThinkBook Plus features an innovative e-Ink display on the cover, so users can take notes or create illustrations with the digital pen and then sync to Microsoft OneNote. In addition, essential notifications can be received when the lid is closed allowing users to stay focused during meetings. The ThinkBook Plus leverages the power of Windows 10 to quickly launch apps and Smart Power On simplifies Windows Hello authentication with the fingerprint integrated into the power button.

To learn more about these and other devices announced today, visit Lenovo.com.

Posted on January 6, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

CES 2020: ASUS unveils Zephyrus G14 and Ryzen-powered TUF Gaming laptops

ASUS is having a busy day at CES 2020. In the afternoon it announced the Zephyrus G14 from its ASUS ROG brand and new Ryzen-powered TUF Gaming laptops, in addition to the company’s morning announcements of new laptop and desktop computers.

Zephyrus G14

The Zephyrus G14 brings premium innovations to a wider audience with an ultra-slim form factor at just 17.9mm thin and 1.6kg, all without compromising performance. The Zephyrus G14 gaming notebook features RTX graphics for high frame rates when playing popular games, and also lets gamers choose between high refresh or high resolution for their display; the choice of 120Hz refresh rate or WQHD resolution panels allows users to optimize for gaming or creating content. And to deliver nonstop speed, this new laptop is equipped with a ROG-exclusive 4th generation AMD Ryzen processor that has eight cores and 16 threads in a more energy-efficient 35W power envelope.

Making the G14 extra portable are up to 10 hours of battery life, thanks to the ability to charge from compatible Type-C power packs. And the G14 is fine to look at, both aesthetically with subtle styling in Moonlight White or Eclipse Gray, and functionally, with the optional AniMe Matrix display that deepens personalization, enabling users to show custom graphics, animations and other effects across more than a thousand mini LEDs embedded in the lid.

The Zephyrus G14 will be available later in 2020.

ASUS TUF Gaming laptops are known for delivering high performance while standing up to the rigors of life on the go. At CES 2020, ASUS is introducing an all-new TUF Gaming family of laptops focused on further gains in performance, ruggedness and versatility.

TUF Gaming A17

The 15-inch TUF Gaming A15 and F15, along with their 17-inch A17 and F17 siblings, deliver an unprecedented experience for the price. Key to the experience is potent processing power, thanks to a choice between 4th Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile CPUs and upcoming 10th Gen Intel Core processors. NVIDIA Turing-based GPUs up to the GeForce RTX 2060 feed frames into fast displays that refresh at up to 144Hz and use AMD FreeSync technology to ensure smoother, tear-free gaming across a wide range of titles.

Gamers who plan to spend long hours away from an electrical outlet can choose from bigger battery options – despite the smaller size of the units – ranging up to 90Whr, while the compact chassis make the new laptops easy to carry, and rugged, too, with updated military-grade durability testing demonstrating their ability to survive in the field.

For more details on the Zephyrus G14 and the new TUF Gaming laptops, including availability, head over to ASUS Edge Up and the ASUS Newsroom.