It’s lights out and away we go in Miami! PC Game Pass has signed up with BWT Alpine F1 Team for one incredible challenge this weekend, from May 6 through 8 at the 2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix — a challenge only the fastest fans will be able to accomplish.
All week long, BWT Alpine F1 Teams Twitter and Instagram channels will show fans what to expect with the Fast Track to PC Game Pass Challenge ahead of the inaugural 2022 Miami Grand Prix. Numerous QR codes will be placed on the surface of both A522 cars — all waiting to be scanned by your mobile device for your chance at 1-month, 3-months or 6-months of PC Game Pass.
On Friday, May 6, the challenge begins when the A522 hits the track for practice for the very-first time in Miami, with 1-month of PC Game Pass available to win. Alongside this, Xbox and PC Game Pass will be taking over BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Instagram channel, with special guest Sonja (@omgitsfirefoxx) posting live from the team’s garage in Miami!
Be warned: catching one of the codes is no easy feat and will be the test of a true pro! If you want to risk your chances at a bigger prize, wait until Saturday’s Qualifying session and scan the QR codes to unlock 3-months of PC Game Pass. And on Sunday, it’s 6-months of PC Game Pass! All motorsports’ fans, whether tuning-in on TV or in-person, will need lightning-fast reflexes and a locked-in “catch it if you can” mindset while the A522 cars flash by. QR codes will unlock PC Game Pass for new members only and you can only redeem one code — so redeem wisely.
If you are at the track, fans can try to grab a custom PC Game Pass x BWT Alpine F1 Team t-shirt with a retro design inspired by the undeniable energy and liveliness of Miami. Lastly, on Saturday, BWT Alpine F1 Team will introduce a very special surprise on their social channels which PC fans don’t want to miss. Stay up to date on the latest by following @AlpineF1Team, #GamePassHasPCGames or #PowerYourDreams across all social media platforms!
BWT Alpine F1 Team Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer said, “We’re very excited to work on this unique collaboration with our partner PC Game Pass at the first-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend in Miami. The digital world is continually evolving and, as a Formula 1 team, it is vital to remain at the forefront of this forever changing landscape. It’s great that we can work in unison with the Xbox team on something like this and it’s only made possible through our esteemed partnership with Microsoft.”
Microsoft is a long-time valued partner of the BWT Alpine F1 team. We at PC Game Pass are honored to celebrate with both Microsoft and BWT Alpine F1 Team in Miami and are thrilled to bring an exhilarating gaming experience to one of the most electrifying sports in the world today.
“Large organizations are really good at assimilation to build large workforces that inadvertently shave away the beautiful, unique edges and what the neurodivergent community often refers to as their ‘spiky profiles,’” Shukla says. “But it’s the spiky profile you want to retain and support to allow that innovation to rise to the surface.”
Hiren Shukla (photo courtesy of Shukla)
Companies seeking neurodivergent talent often recruit through informal networks and relationships with local universities, nonprofits and advocacy groups — a time-intensive process for both recruiters and job seekers. The neurodiversity job site fills a need for a large-scale, national marketplace with a broad range of jobs, employers and people.
Recently, the site brimmed with listings from small and large companies for software engineers, graphic designers, financial analysts and more. Job seekers can create a profile, upload a resume and connect with employers directly.
Everly-Hall, who was diagnosed with autism in her 40s, says the platform would be helpful if she had to look for work again.
“I could be myself and say this is who I am,” she says. “It would cause me less stress knowing I can just say, ‘I’m on the spectrum. You understand this. I understand this.’”
But Everly-Hall is not looking for work because she’s happy with her job at Ultranauts, a rapidly growing software and data quality engineering firm built with neurodiversity in mind. More than 75% of its employees are neurodivergent. The majority are autistic, many have ADHD or dyslexia, and some are non-speaking or hard of hearing.
Kelly Everly-Hart and her dog Rockie (photo courtesy of Everly-Hart)
When Everly-Hall interviewed with the company in 2015, she disclosed her autism and found her interviewer to be patient and understanding. Seven years later, she still appreciates the supportive workplace, which includes a mentor who helps her interpret social subtext, and the chance to become a leader, an opportunity she lacked at previous jobs.
“I was really made to feel at ease right away, like, ‘We don’t care you have this disability. What we care about is your experience,’” says Everly-Hall, a senior quality analyst and accessibility consultant who works from home in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Founded in 2013, Ultranauts has designed a “Universal Workplace” that allows employees to fully participate and collaborate with colleagues who are different than them. It reduces hiring barriers by not requiring specific degrees or a certain number of years of experience. It favors skills assessments over chatty interviews to determine job fit.
Employees, who work remotely across 30 states in the U.S., are encouraged to communicate in their preferred mode — writing, speaking, being on camera or off. Leadership communication is explicit and transparent to reduce ambiguity and anxiety.
“The advantage we have is not from individual team members being exceptional, but in bringing together different brain types, information processing models and perspectives, and forging collaborative teams,” says Rajesh Anandan, Ultranauts cofounder and CEO.
Rajesh Anandan (photo courtesy of Anandan)
Neurodiversity also strengthens the workforce at Microsoft, which has hired about 200 people across engineering and business disciplines through its neurodiversity hiring program.
“By adjusting the front door of our interview process, we are finding incredible talent that we previously may have been missing out on,” says Barnett. He hopes more employers will join the job site to enrich the talent at their companies and the lives of neurodivergent people.
For Jason Ross, the platform is a major step in supporting people who have struggled like him.
Before landing a cybersecurity job recently, Ross, who has autism, spent many demoralizing months searching for work and many years getting fired from job after job while trying to navigate workplace dynamics.
“It’s very hard when you want to do well at this thing and you can’t do well at this thing to the point where can’t support yourself,” says Ross, who lives in Virginia and has a master’s degree in cybersecurity studies.
He never discussed his autism at previous jobs but made a bold move this time and disclosed to his new manager. He’s following a mentor’s advice to be upfront and simply tell people he doesn’t “excel in social nuance.” He’s nervous and hopeful about the opportunity to work.
“I’m not less than. I’m different and that’s OK,” Ross says.
He’s also excited about the job site, which he and other neurodivergent people helped shape with their feedback and lived experiences.
“It’s a phenomenal resource,” he says. “It’s made for us, by us. That level of understanding, baked in from the jump, is a meaningful distinction for this platform versus going on any general job platform and throwing your resume into the world.”
One in four small to medium-sized businesses has experienced a security breach1 in the past year and lacks the resources of large enterprises to protect themselves
REDMOND, Wash. — May 2, 2022 — On Monday, Microsoft Corp. announced the general availability (GA) of the stand-alone version of Microsoft Defender for Business. Defender for Business brings enterprise-grade endpoint security to SMBs, including endpoint detection and response capabilities to protect against ransomware and other sophisticated cyberthreats.
In April 2022, Microsoft surveyed more than 150 small and medium businesses in an online quantitative survey in the U.S. to better understand changing SMB security needs. The survey found that more than 70% of SMBs think cyberthreats are becoming more of a business risk. That concern is well-founded — nearly one in four SMBs surveyed reported experiencing a security breach in the past year.
Despite facing similar risks as enterprises, SMBs often lack access to the right resources and tools, including specialized security staff. Many SMBs still rely on traditional antivirus solutions for their security. Although 80% of SMBs state they have some form of antivirus solution, 93% continue to have concerns about increasing and evolving cyberattacks.
“Microsoft believes in security for all,” said Vasu Jakkal, CVP, security, compliance & identity at Microsoft. “We are proud to further deliver on that vision today. With the GA of Defender for Business, SMBs will get greater protection with simplified security to help them better protect, detect and respond to threats.”
Defender for Business comes with built-in policies to get customers up and running quickly. The automated investigation and remediation capabilities in Defender for Business help automate the type of work handled by dedicated SecOps teams, by continuously detecting and automatically remediating various threats.
“Automated investigation and remediation are a huge part of the product,” said Adam Atwell, cloud solutions architect at consulting firm Kite Technology Group. “It’s just happening in the background. Defender for Business makes our security so simple.”
Defender for Business is also included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, our comprehensive security and productivity solution for businesses with up to 300 employees. Customers can also choose to buy it stand-alone for $3 per user, per month. Additional support for servers is planned later this calendar year with an add-on solution.
Microsoft Defender for Business product features:
Threat and vulnerability management helps prioritize and focus on weaknesses that pose the most urgent and highest risk to business. Proactively build a secure foundation for your environment by discovering, prioritizing and remediating software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Attack surface reduction options help minimize attack surface (i.e., places where your company is vulnerable to cyberattacks across your devices and applications), leaving bad actors with fewer ways to execute attacks.
Next-generation protection helps prevent and protect against threats with antimalware and antivirus protection on devices and in the cloud.
Endpoint detection and response provides behavioral-based detection and response alerts so that you can identify persistent threats and remove them from your environment.
Auto-investigation and remediation help scale security operations by examining alerts and taking immediate action to resolve attacks for customers. By reducing alert volume and remediating threats, Microsoft Defender for Business enables customers to prioritize tasks and focus on more sophisticated threats.
Defender for Business and Microsoft 365 Business Premium give partners new opportunities to help secure customers at scale with value-add managed services. Both solutions integrate with Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, which was made generally available on March 1, 2022, so Microsoft cloud service providers can view security incidents across tenants in a unified portal.
Additional resources
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
1 In April 2022, Microsoft surveyed more than 150 small and medium businesses in an online quantitative survey in the U.S. to better understand changing SMB security needs.
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Team Xbox is proud to honor the contributions and significance of the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community. As a second-generation Asian American, I am excited to not only pay tribute to our culture, customs, and traditions, but to celebrate the creators and players who share our passion for increased Asian representation and inclusion in games. Asians and Pacific Islanders are a richly diverse set of communities, representing a myriad of histories and heritage. We are celebrating this month by amplifying the many voices, stories, and expressions of Asian and Pacific Islander life that have influenced culture, society, and gaming today.
At Xbox, we are committed to creating a safe place where everyone on the planet can experience the joy of gaming, while championing the unique and diverse content made by innovative Asian and Pacific Islander creators who illuminate the positive role of gaming in their lives, as well as the power of respectful representation in games. This also includes broadening the perspective that careers and opportunities in gaming are welcome to all people, and that our industry will so richly benefit from seeing more creators in gaming who represent players around the world.
Why does increased API representation matter? Nearly half of the 3B+ gamers on the planet are in Asia (source). When it comes to gaming, the Asian and Pacific Islander community is influential, playing an impactful role as players, creators, and spectators. Asian American households own more video game related products than the entire US population (source). We strive to celebrate a global community and the many dimensions of the people within it. We endeavor to see more Asian and Pacific Islander characters in games telling our authentic stories and representing our vast cultures.
We invite you to join us in this celebration of culture and contributions from the Asian and Pacific Islander community. Here are some of the ways Xbox plans to honor this community in May:
Gaming and Impact with Microsoft Rewards
Microsoft Rewards members in the United States can earn and donate points to organizations supporting the Asian and Pacific Islander community with Xbox. The organizations below will be featured on console throughout May:
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC: Advancing Justice – AAJC works through policy advocacy, community education, and litigation to advance the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all.
AAPI Equity Alliance: AAPI Equity Alliance (AAPI Equity) is dedicated to improving the lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through civic engagement, capacity building, and policy advocacy.
Stop AAPI Hate: Stop AAPI Hate advances equity, justice, and power by dismantling systemic racism and building a multiracial movement to end anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate.
Xbox gamers can earn Microsoft Rewards points in various ways, such as playing or purchasing games after downloading the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox. Earn points and redeem them for real rewards. Join us today and donate through Xbox.
Xbox Plays Livestreams Celebrates Asian and Pacific Islanders in Game
In celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Xbox Plays will be dedicating our livestreaming content in May to this community, featuring Asian and Pacific Islander protagonists in games, developers, content creators/streamers and nonprofits. Follow us on our Xbox Twitch Channel and don’t miss any of the action!
Xbox Ambassadors Showcase Asian and Pacific Islander Gaming Community
In the Xbox Ambassadors community, we are dedicated to sharing and amplifying community voices. So, in celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we asked those who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander in the Xbox Ambassadors community how games with diverse representation have impacted them and to share their stories about being a member of a gaming community. Here are their stories.
Discover Games Curated by Asian and Pacific Islander Communities at Microsoft
At any time, Microsoft Store on Xbox or Windows visitors and Xbox Game Pass members can access games selected by Asian and Pacific Islander communities at Microsoft, reflecting the vast diversity of East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander cultures.
Check out the Xbox games and Windows games collections spanning creators, leads, cultures, Asian American creators and leads, plus games with audio, interface, and subtitles translated in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Life is Strange: True Colors (Rated M and Available with Xbox Game Pass) – Alex Chen, the first Asian American protagonist in this award-winning series, uses her psychic power of empathy to try to solve the mystery behind her brother’s death. The story explores the importance of self-care and includes same gender relationship options.
Sable (Available with Xbox Game Pass) – Guide Sable through her Gliding; a rite of passage that’ll take her on an unforgettable journey. Written by Meg Jayanth, who is Indian, and music composed by Japanese Breakfast, headed by Korean American, Michelle Zauner.
Hoa – Inspired by Vietnamese art and culture, Hoa is a beautiful puzzle-platforming game that features breathtaking hand-painted art, lovely music, and a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.
Apex Legends– Playable characters include Rampart, who is voiced by British-Indian actress Anjali Bhimani, and Makoa Gibraltar, a symbol of strength for Pacific Islander and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Elden Ring (Rated M) – A fantasy action, role-playing game adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki in collaboration with fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin.
View the collections in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Visitors to both the Xbox and Microsoft Store on Windows can find Asian and Pacific Islander community picks by searching for “API Heritage” and related terms. Content is subject to availability by country.
New Gamerpic, Profile Theme, and Avatar Items
In partnership with the Asian and Pacific Islander community at Xbox, we’re introducing a new gamerpic, profile themes, and avatar items! The gamerpic and profile theme will be available on console and the Xbox PC app. Get your avatar items here.
343 Industries Celebrates APIHM with New Nameplate and Emblem
The 343 Industries Team is celebrating APIHM with new content in Halo Infinite Lone Wolves: Season Two! During the month of May, any players logging into Halo Infinite will receive an exclusive nameplate and emblem celebrating APIHM.
Learn more about all that Xbox is doing to engage our communities at the Xbox Community Hub.
The U.S. Congress in 1999 officially designated May as National Military Appreciation Month, and at Microsoft we mark this as a time to recognize and celebrate the employee military community globally. In this moment I remember my own grandfathers. My dad’s father served as an infantryman in World War I. The tri-corner folded flag presented to us at his funeral is encased steps away from my desk at home. My mom’s stepfather served as a paratrooper in World War II. The map he carried with him of the 1943 invasion of Sicily, where he jumped behind enemy lines, hangs just a few feet from my desk as well.
Both my grandfathers were enlisted soldiers who volunteered and served with distinction during times of great conflict. Both shaped my views of military service — that it is driven by courage, honor, and love of country and fellow citizens.
It’s why, when I was asked to serve as one of the executive sponsors for Microsoft’s Military Employee Resource Group (ERG), I happily but humbly accepted. I have had the privilege of interacting with many who have given distinguished military service around the world and who are also committed Microsoft employees. Many in Microsoft’s military community are veterans and others still serve today, in reserve corps for their countries. They commit weekends to training. They accept the responsibility of periodic deployments, some weeks and even months in duration. They, along with active-duty peers, are at the ready to be called to serve by their country. They are also outstanding colleagues who have made a choice to apply their well-earned skills and capabilities at Microsoft. We are better as a result.
I aspire to be an ally to Microsoft’s military community. This means committing to learning so I can gain a greater degree of empathy for the experiences and perspectives of those who serve. It means being an advocate for the community and working actively to value veterans’ experiences. And it means doing my part for the community when called upon — following their example of service, even if in very small ways.
Here I offer a few reflections on my own learning journey and the journey we’ve been on at Microsoft, which I hope might provide encouragement to others who strive to be allies to the military community:
Express sincere appreciation for the service and sacrifice of veterans and those serving today. Of course, our gratitude is not what motivates service — the veterans and service members I know are motivated by duty, honor, love of country and fellow citizens. Those who serve know that their responsibility is 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Readiness and preparedness never get to take time off. We can express our gratitude by being willing to listen and learn more about the experiences of the military community, and by remembering and acknowledging their service not only during times of conflict in the world but at all times.
Celebrate and support military community members in their careers after active service. Microsoft employs thousands of veterans and reserve service members in many countries around the world. We strive to be world class in our policies and benefits that support military community employees. For example, during reserve deployments in the U.S., we provide salary continuity by supplementing the difference between military and Microsoft pay, and we continue benefits coverage such as employee and dependent health care. And our benefits programs have supported over 600 employee deployments in 18 countries outside the U.S. in just the past five years. Beyond our company programs, our managers take special care to appreciate and leverage skills and experiences gained in military service, and support team members called to reserve duty. This commitment at an individual and team level gives me immense pride.
Appreciate that the military community can experience world events in significant and distinct ways. The conclusion of the Afghanistan war, for example, had profound meaning for so many who served during that 20-year conflict, and especially so as 13 U.S. service members gave their lives during the final drawdown and exit. It was a privilege at that time for our Military at Microsoft ERG leadership to share a message of acknowledgment and thanks to our community: “To those who have served or are serving, whether with boots on the ground or from afar, to those who have supported family members in service, you have our deepest gratitude. We were tragically reminded in recent days of the great risk taken by those who serve. Like so many before them, we will not forget those who gave their lives. We honor them as heroes.” Along with critical support at key moments, the ERG — which is global and also encompasses active local chapters such as the Australia New Zealand chapter — is there for the Microsoft military community day in and day out, year-round. The military experience continues to evolve, and Military at Microsoft ERG helps employees connect, navigate, and grow.
Serve those who have served. This year’s theme for Military Appreciation Month at Microsoft is “Appreciation Beyond Words.” I deeply hope that our military community experiences in tangible ways that their service is recognized. A wonderful example, one of immense pride for so many of our employees, is the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA). Established nine years ago, MSSA has provided a practical and intensive training curriculum that has helped prepare over 3,000 transitioning military service members for their next career. Over 400 Microsoft employees have committed their personal time to serving as mentors for MSSA participants, yet another example of serving those who have served.
Military Appreciation Month gives us an opportunity to recognize those who make such significant commitment to their countries and fellow citizens. On behalf of employees at Microsoft and everyone who shares deep appreciation for the courage, commitment and sacrifice of those who serve, thank you.
What kind of sorcery is this!? Xbox has teamed up with Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” in U.S. theaters May 6, to create a limited-edition custom Xbox Series S console and Xbox Wireless Controllers inspired by key characters from the film.
The customized Xbox Series S console features Gargantos, the giant, green, one-eyed octopus from another dimension who is one of the film’s most dangerous villains. In addition to the console, Xbox is revealing wireless controllers modeled after four of the upcoming film’s main characters: Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), as well as Wong (Benedict Wong), and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). Each controller will feature distinctive and recognizable components and textures from the characters’ costumes.
In addition, fans can enjoy the action with Fortnite Chapter 3: Season 2’s Battle Pass which includes Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Strange. With the Chapter 3 Season 2 Battle Pass, you can unlock Doctor Strange and the Conjure Weapon Emote, Spellwork Scimitar, and more!
About Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness“
In Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.
The film is directed by Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Scott Derrickson, and Jamie Christopher serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Michael Waldron. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” releases in theaters on May 6, 2022.
As highlighted in the recent release of our 2022 Work Trend Index1, organizations around the world are adapting to new ways of working, which means they’re faced with a new challenge: how to bring together culture, technology, and space to make hybrid work work. The tools we use every day need to be flexible and inclusive to empower people of all different needs to be productive from anywhere, at any time.
This month, we’re adding new features across Microsoft 365 to improve accessibility, support flexible workstyles, streamline routine tasks, and offer more ways to make your voice heard. We’re also launching new capabilities in Windows 11 and Windows 365 to help make hybrid work a little easier. Let’s dive into what’s new.
A more inclusive, seamless working environment
Support neurodiversity in the hybrid workplace
Notification overload can be disruptive, especially for employees with conditions like autism and ADHD. We’ve been working to cut down the noise by providing more ways to customize which notifications Microsoft Teams shows you and when, and new ways to protect time with Microsoft Viva Insights. We’ve also added new capabilities to support and improve reading and writing like text prediction options, voice control tools, and accessible authoring features—great for everyone, but a true game changer for workers with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
The To Do Windows app now supports smart recognition of due dates, reminders, and repeat information from the task title.2 Now you can simply use natural language—like submit project report on Friday or follow up with client on Tuesday at 1 PM—and To Do will automatically recognize and highlight the dates, times, and repeat information and add it to your task accordingly. Update your Windows To Do app to version 2.66 or above to get started.
Get more out of Yammer
We’ve released a series of updates to Yammer that help make it easier to find what you need, share ideas, and customize to your preferences. First, community members can now upvote a response if it’s a helpful or useful contribution to the question, making it easier for others to find answers. You can now also bookmark a conversation to see the post and its replies later. Finally, dark mode for Yammer web will be available soon.
Switch between accounts in Microsoft 365 web apps with a single click
Switching between user accounts can disrupt your flow of work when you need to sign out and sign back in again. Beginning this month, we have started adding support for multiple work and personal accounts on Microsoft 365 web apps in the same browser, enabling you to seamlessly switch between the accounts with a single click. Just add your accounts to the account manager on the top right of a Microsoft 365 web app to get started. Learn more about this new feature in the Tech Community blog Announcing account switching for Microsoft 365 web apps.
Work securely from anywhere with Windows 11 and Windows 365
Flexible work requires technology that’s built for a hybrid world. Earlier this month, we shared the latest Windows 11 and Windows 365 features that are designed to empower new ways of working. We’re bringing the power of the Microsoft Cloud and familiarity of the PC together, giving you an even more seamless Windows experience without sacrificing security.
Drive productivity and hybrid collaboration with Windows 11
With Windows 11, you can easily organize files you are working with in File Explorer by tagging them as favorites and using tabs to quickly access those you need.
New capabilities like automatic framing, voice clarity, background blur, and eye contact create more natural hybrid meeting experiences.3Live captions provide a more inclusive hybrid work environment for the deaf or hard-of-hearing communities, as well as language learners. Finally, we added snap assist for touch to help people organize windows in predefined layouts on Windows tablets or two-in-ones.
Empower hybrid work with Windows 365, the world’s first Cloud PC
With Windows 365, employees can stream their entire Windows experience from the Microsoft Cloud, enabling them to access their personal settings, apps, and content securely on any device.
Windows 365 Boot enables users to sign in to Windows 365 at start up—no need to sign in to the local operating system first. Windows 365 Switch will enable users to move between the Windows 365 Cloud PC and the local desktop just like they do between different desktops today in the Task switcher. The Windows 365 app provides users with another way to access their Windows 365 Cloud PC from the taskbar or Start menu. And for those times you need to work offline, like on an airplane or in the field, Windows 365 Offline enables uninterrupted work, with an automatic sync as soon as you reconnect.
Empower IT with modern management
Managing devices for a dispersed workforce and keeping them up to date presents unique challenges for IT departments. To help, we’ve added Windows Autopatch, a new intelligent managed service designed to keep Windows and Office software up to date automatically, to Windows Enterprise E3 at no additional cost. Learn more about this announcement on our Tech Community blog post Get current and stay current with Windows Autopatch.
In addition, we are launching a new communications function in Microsoft Endpoint Manager that empowers IT to send targeted organizational messages directly to employees across various surfaces in Windows 11, including on the desktop or lock screen. Learn about this new cloud-managed capability and more in this Tech Community blog post The endpoint manager’s guide to what’s coming in Windows 11.
Simplify what it takes to protect your endpoints in the cloud
We announced our vision for advanced endpoint management and shared our plans to introduce a series of premium solutions over time in Endpoint Manager that will help organizations increase endpoint security, improve user experiences, and reduce the cost of ownership of your digital estate. Remote help for Windows is the first of these solutions, launched for general availability on April 5, 2022,and is featured in the new Microsoft Mechanics video about Windows cloud management.
Govern data across your entire data estate
To meet the challenges of today’s decentralized, data-rich workplace, we’re introducing Microsoft Purview—a comprehensive set of solutions that help you understand, govern, and protect your entire data estate. This new portfolio combines the capabilities of the former Azure Purview and the Microsoft 365 Compliance solutions that users already rely on, providing unified data governance and risk management. Learn more about Microsoft Purview in the video Go Beyond with Microsoft Purview.
Empowering the future of modern work
As the future of work unfolds, Microsoft 365 is continuing to help organizations and teams embrace a flexible work model. No solution is better positioned to support the needs of a hybrid workforce than Microsoft 365. Be sure to check back next month, when we’ll be sharing the news from Microsoft Build, our annual developer conference.
We are excited to share two new investments in Microsoft Dynamics 365 supply chain portfolio that we are launching in preview. We had announced a partnership between FedEx and Microsoft, in January of 2022, to launch a cross-platform, logistics-as-a-service solution for brands. This partnership is now in preview. As e-commerce is exploding, businesses are challenged with growing their brand affinity while operating profitably to meet their consumer expectation like delivering orders in two days and offering a seamless returns experience. To achieve this, we are combining data insights from FedEx with order insights from Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management so that brands can optimize their transportation, and proactively overcome delays and disruptions enroute to deliver customer orders on time, in a cost-effective manner.
This partnership will also bring a powerful returns management experience to Dynamics 365, including hassle-free returns options at over 60,000 FedEx drop-off locations, convenient at-home pickups, printer-less QR return labels, and no-box returns. Ultimately, Microsoft and FedEx’s intelligence-driven logistics return services will empower brands with end-to-end visibility of customer returns while also allowing them to update consumers in real-time on the status of their return and refund generation.
Next, we are also excited to announce that we will launch embedded Microsoft Teams collaboration within Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management in preview on May 15, 2022.
This enables hybrid supply chain teams to seamlessly connect over chat, share screens for discussion, post updates on issues in Teams. On top of improving communications, users will also be able to collaborate by sharing sales orders, return orders, and fulfillment order tracking data more effectively, all without exiting their flow of work within Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management. These capabilities help build a hyperconnected business that empowers people to collaborate as one business, everywhere—so people can thrive wherever, and however, they work.
Digital transformation of supply chains
We recommend three initiatives to kick start the digital transformation of your supply chains for a resilient and sustainable future—enhancing supply chain visibility, improving collaborative capabilities for better decision making, and designing sustainable operations with a circular economy in mind. You can achieve this by surrounding your existing supply chain and ERP systems without replacing them. Let us dive deeper into these areas and get a sneak peek into how some of our customers are transforming their supply chains.
Enhancing supply chain visibility
It is easier said than done to get real-time supply chain data across the value chain. At Microsoft, we have been investing in bringing new capabilities within our Dynamics 365 Supply Chain portfolio to market over the last year to really help organizations enhance visibility into every aspect of their value chain.
With the latest enhancements to Inventory Visibility Add-in, a highly scalable microservice for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, companies can pull inventory from multiple third-party systems, allowing them to create a single, global view of all inventories. By creating one pool of global inventory from which all orders can pull, companies can often increase inventory accuracy and thereby maximize sales opportunities. Plus, when coupled with the soft reservation capability, sales order fulfillment can avoid over-selling, effectively mitigating the risk of missed sales opportunities that may challenge some organizations.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is the number one Coca-Cola bottler in Africa and the eighth largest globally by revenue.
“CCBA is currently implementing a set of Dynamics products including Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management with Inventory Visibility, Field Service, and Customer Engagement products. CCBA envisage using Inventory Visibility to provide critical parts availability to field service technicians and to validate in near real-time the sales demands generated from Dynamics Customer Engagement. It will also be a key component of CCBA’s integrated Advance Warehouse Management solution. Eventually, all the orders and inventory journals will be synced or directly created in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management for financial and logistics processing.”—Elmar Els, Enterprise and Integration Architect, Coca-Cola Beverage Africa (CCBA).
Improve decision making with enhanced collaboration and a data-first approach
From a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft in March 2022, we learned that over one-third of supply chain and operations leaders surveyed are taking steps to improve productivity through system and process improvements to mitigate future challenges.1 While it is imperative to generate insights from real-time supply chain data, the ability to act quickly on these insights is a whole different ball game. Organizations need to collaborate effectively across the different functions globally and with external suppliers and logistics partners to proactively overcome disruptions so that the orders can be delivered on time.
From the Forrester study, it’s clear that transformation is taking place across the entire customer journey, with nearly a third of businesses wanting to improve their operating model by making processes more streamlined across the board. To achieve their goals, companies require a tactical focus on being data-driven, improving the customer journey, and driving operational efficiency at scale.1
Peet’s Coffee is a California-based brand that delivers craft coffee and tea. They offer a variety of products—from a single cup to k-cups, capsules to whole beans—for sale in its stores, online, and in the supermarket.
Pre-2020, Peet’s Coffee ran the business on a dated and highly customized, on-premises system and Excel spreadsheets. The company had reached the point where the legacy system was near the end of its life and, after a rigorous software selection process, found Dynamics 365 to be the most comprehensive solution for a multi-channel organization with the best flexibility to adapt to the unique needs of coffee production.
“…Dynamics 365 gives us the cloud-based architecture we require to support the growth requirements of the business. The combination of Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Azure cloud services provides Peet’s with a scalable and supportable technology foundation for the future.”—Allan Smith, Chief Information Officer, Peet’s Coffee.
By the early days of 2020, Peet’s Coffee had begun a digital transformation process by implementing Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. But what Peet’s Coffee couldn’t have planned for was the dramatic shift in demand that stay-at-home orders would create with the onset of the pandemic. Suddenly, Peet’s Coffee saw sales volume from its traditional channels, wholesale and coffee shops, plummet, while direct-to-consumer (DTC) and grocery channel sales surged 2x. Peet’s Coffee radically modified its implementation plan for Dynamics 365 to support immediate business needs. Ultimately, Peet’s Coffee adopted a new business model (DTC) and pivoted to supply grocery demand while successfully completing the implementation.
“…with the pandemic…it has been a heck of a year. I’m pleased with the investments we made. I’m pleased with the Blue Horseshoe relationship. I’m glad Dynamics 365 is live at Peet’s. But I wish we had done it earlier.”—Eric Lauterbach, President, Peet’s Coffee.
Reverse supply chains and circular economies
One way that manufacturing organizations are improving sustainability is by standing up circular economies. Circular economy, or circularity, is rooted in reverse supply chain management, which deals with what happens after a product’s useful life.
Setting up these circular economy flows can be challenging without an agile and composable supply chain management application. The Microsoft Circular Center program uses Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Microsoft Power Platform to facilitate the reuse and recycling of servers and hardware within our datacenters, which is part of our commitment to achieving zero-waste and carbon-negative operations by 2030. To date, the Circular Centers model has achieved 83 percent reuse and 17 percent recycling of critical parts while contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions by 145,000 metric tons CO2 equivalent.
“We were looking for a warehouse management system that would allow us to model all the product flows that we needed while also connecting to datacenters and other systems used to manage our cloud assets. Dynamics 365 had all these functionalities to build exactly what we needed.”—Anand Narasimhan, General Manager of Cloud Supply Chain Sustainability, Microsoft.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain solutions enable organizations to create a digital supply chain that connects global teams, suppliers, and logistic partners for end-to-end visibility and frictionless collaboration. Our agile and composable Supply Chain solutions unify siloed data sources in real-time to detect opportunities, predict and overcome disruptions, and deliver sustainable competitive advantage. Reach out to learn more or get started with a free trial of Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management.
Sources:
1- A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft. March 2022.
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Today, the White House announced that the United States and 60 other governments have signed a new Declaration for the Future of the Internet. As the world grapples with so many technology challenges, this Declaration represents a vital step at a critical moment. At Microsoft, we applaud the White House for its leadership, we are grateful for such broad global support, and we look forward to doing our part in supporting the Declaration’s principles.
As I read through the Declaration, there are few aspects that jump out as not just important but incredibly timely.
First and most broadly, the Declaration, using its own words, “reclaims the promise of the internet in the face of the global opportunities and challenges presented by the 21st century.”
This is precisely what the world needs.
Almost three decades ago when I first joined Microsoft, we all looked at the Internet and saw the promise of the digital age. In hindsight, we were too absorbed by the internet’s promise, and we paid too little attention to the potential pitfalls and even perils that would lie ahead. We collectively did too little to solve problems when they were small, and we failed to foresee the potential use and abuse of the internet by the autocrats of the world. As we approach the start of the second quarter of the 21st century, digital technology has become both the world’s most powerful tool and most formidable weapon.
This is a time for new leadership to reset and reclaim a brighter future for technology that is hardheaded and clear-eyed about the challenges we face. And it’s a time when a realistic grounding in technology challenges can help the world move faster and farther to make real a more optimistic vision for the internet’s future. The Declaration not only speaks to this future but provides with specificity the principles that will be needed to achieve it.
Second, while the Declaration embraces an important variety of critical and even timeless values, I think it’s right that it starts with a focus on human rights. Today’s new Declaration rightly grounds this focus on an explicit reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted when the world’s nations came together in 1948. That Declaration was forged by a generation that had not only witnessed but won the most global and terrible war in human history. World War II had claimed the lives of more than 70 million people, more that 50 million of whom were civilians. The generation that won the war rightly came together a year later to sign the Fourth Geneva Convention and adopt one of the most important advances of the 20th century, the proposition that governments must protect civilians even in a time of war.
Almost 75 years later, our generation is being put to a new test. The war in Ukraine is being fought not only on the ground, in the air, and at sea, but literally on the internet as well. As we reported yesterday, the Russian military is waging the world’s first “hybrid war” by combining cyber and kinetic weapons, and, tragically, it is targeting, destroying and killing Ukrainian civilians. All of this is being coupled with a disinformation battle that is being fought on the internet on a global scale. Today’s new Declaration points not only to the urgent technology issues we must address to grapple with the war in Ukraine, but to the many varied human needs that require our generation to step forward and act collectively to protect human rights on the internet.
Finally, today’s Declaration rightly calls for the protection and strengthening of a multistakeholder system of internet governance. This reflects one of the big differences between the worlds of the 20th and 21st centuries. As technology has evolved, governmental leadership is as important as ever. But governments can neither manage the internet nor solve the world’s greatest problems by acting alone. We need new and innovative internet initiatives that bring governments together with NGOs, academic researchers, tech companies and many others from across the business community.
This decade will require that the tech sector mature and adapt to regulation. We equally will need governments that can work together more cohesively and effectively across borders. Today’s Declaration for the Future of the Internet should help inspire us all to help build a brighter future that will benefit the generations that will come after we are gone.
Any day that brings together so many countries to embrace principles of such vital importance is a good day indeed.
What’s new: Strengthening of partner opportunities, expansion into new markets, and enhanced customer experience capabilities
Financial services organizations around the world have been focused on how to best accelerate their digital agendas. At the center of this modernization is the need to better serve their clients and empower employees, while at the same time reducing the costs of running their business. And they need to do this quickly.
The key to digital transformation success is having the ability to make available internal and external data and turn it into analytical and predictive power using cloud and AI innovations.
We designed Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services with those needs in mind and have begun this journey to accelerate transformation in retail banking. Our offering is built on an industry data model to enable institutions to bring data and information flows together with rich insights to enhance customer and employee experiences, optimize business processes, accelerate products to market, and speed time to value. It also comes with a foundation of privacy, security, and regulatory compliance across Microsoft and our partner ecosystem.
We’re continually expanding our Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services offering to help more customers take advantage of these capabilities and drive innovation for responsible growth. To that end, we are excited to share our latest milestones including our partner momentum, expanded market availability, and enhanced capabilities for creating more connected and differentiated customer experiences.
Growth of our partner ecosystem
Our partner ecosystem has been a key component to the success and scalability of Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services. Our partners are dedicated to better serve customers by helping provide more integrated solutions that reduce risk across the ecosystem, identify new opportunities for innovation, and decrease time to market.
Since Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services became generally available in November 2021, we’re thrilled with the interest and support from leading system integrators (SIs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to extend its capabilities. We’ve further partnered with organizations including Accenture, ArganoArbela, ASC, Bambu, BioCatch, Mambu, PwC, Seismic, and Thought Machine to develop joint solutions that deliver a differentiated customer experience, empower employees, and manage enterprise risk with solutions built on our offering. To date, we now have more than 90 partners in our program and more than 25 solutions built on Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services that our customers can take advantage of for their unique needs.
Expanding availability
Microsoft is committed to supporting customers around the globe. Previously available in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, we’re expanding our offering to include another nine countries—Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Further, as part of our commitment to providing a complete product experience, Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services is now available in six languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. We have plans to continue to extend our cloud presence in many more markets and languages in the coming months.
Enhanced customer experiences capabilities
The key to great customer engagements is to continuously improve offerings that add value to the banking experience and more seamlessly connect people, processes, and systems. In our new release, and based on customer feedback, we have focused on continued improvements to Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services’ banking customer engagement capability to deliver differentiated customer experiences.
This capability connects the banking value chain and helps agents personalize every customer interaction with financial understanding to engage with customers on their preferred channel. It intelligently manages service journeys across channels, helping reduce churn and time to resolution. A key new feature, now available in preview for the United States and the United Kingdom markets, is Intelligent Appointments.
The benefits of Intelligent Appointments
Intelligent Appointments are designed to provide customers and banking contact centers with a meeting scheduling experience, online or in-person, that easily and quickly matches the customer’s financial needs with a relevant advisor who is skilled, available, and ready to offer meaningful interactions. This feature leverages Universal Resource Scheduling and the financial services data model for results while connecting seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Teams.
It’s also incredibly easy to set up a smart scheduling experience using Intelligent Appointments. As shown in this visual, process automation is key to offering flexible scheduling, providing anytime, anywhere access, and ensuring that the needs of the business and customer are met:
We are excited about how this series of updates builds on our strong foundation, and for our continued future investment in the financial services industry.
Learn more
To learn more and continuously stay informed about Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services, visit our website.
