Microsoft and Box Launch Outlook Plug-in for Hybrid Cloud Access

Microsoft's latest work to make your computing experience ubiquitous is an Outlook plug-in for Box to easily access your cloud files. Speaking of access -- the company also had a long, public reckoning with hackers accessing users' email. ALSO: a survey shows IT pros aren't worried about automation taking their jobs, Microsoft expanded their IoT portfolio with a new acquisition, shadow IT can be actively monitored with new Windows Defender ATP services and Microsoft announced their Surface Hub 2S.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Enterprise Security Woes: Staffing Problems, Lack of Planning

IBM's fourth annual cybersecurity survey shows that organizations aren't spending on the people or processes they need, despite rising financial stakes. Also this week: Microsoft brings improved collaboration to the nonprofit sector; the Algorithmic Accountability Act takes aim at AI bias; and blockchain makes your lettuce safe.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

G Suites' Core App GMail Launched 15 Years Ago, Changing Google

The cloud-based email service has become the core element of Google's G Suite productivity suite, and although it still lags behind competitors for key features, its importance at Google will likely remain unchanged. ALSO: Microsoft continues to push computing out to the edge with new IoT partnerships, Amazon Web Services is expanding in South America and Microsoft also wants to teach students about AI.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Slack Adds Tighter Integration with Microsoft's Office 365

“We’re going to be all about bringing your core office productivity into Slack,” said Ellie Powers, Director of Product and Platform at Slack. “What we’re doing is being really focused on bringing to Slack the ability to integrate more deeply with Microsoft products.”
by Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

G Suites' Core App GMail Launched 15 Years Ago, Changing Google

The cloud-based email service has become the core element of Google's G Suite productivity suite, and although it still lags behind competitors for key features, its importance at Google will likely remain unchanged. ALSO: Microsoft continues to push computing out to the edge with new IoT partnerships, Amazon Web Services is expanding in South America and Microsoft also wants to teach students about AI.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Continues Expansion of Collaboration Capabilities

The company brought live event capabilities to two corporate communications tools. Also this week: Amazon wants to help bring deep learning to containerized computing and IT pros are getting frustrated with siloed information.
by Richard Hay, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Machine Learning Digs Deeper into Azure with Custom Vision, Anomaly Detector

Microsoft's quarter of product announcements underscores its commitment to the cloud, its investment in machine learning as a core component of the modern enterprise, and an expansion of its focus on firstline workers who may not always have high-speed connectivity to the cloud.
by Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Research Report: The State of IT Salaries

It’s good to be a data center professional — sometimes. This report summarizes the finding of our survey of 548 IT and security professionals gauged compensation trends among technology professionals, by examining salaries, bonuses, tenure, job satis
by Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Collaboration Tools Are Not Without Vulnerabilities & Risks

Information overload is growing each day as group workplaces ping us relentlessly. Managing these increasing instances of awareness is a critical necessity to avoid security issues and burnout. Also: the Microsoft Security Graph is expanding its security partners, the NSA wants consequences for cyberattacks, and there are more remote workers.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft's New Security Services Hit Cloud-centric & AI Notes

Its new Azure Sentinel service posits that only cloud-based SIEMs can handle the volume of threats besieging threat-based computing -- and it'll use AI to help with the job. Also: Workplace by Facebook reminds us it's a player in collaboration services; the Internet of Things has come for edge computing; and AI could help workers besieged by constant interruption.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Security Continues to be a Key Subject Across the Technology Spectrum

There are very few days when security does not touch some aspect of the enterprise -- from customer data to end-user systems. As the annual RSA conference approaches, companies are pushing their security innovations. Also: we learn about the most common apps deployed across enterprises, Dropbox is going multi-team, and Google is dropping the cost of their cloud-based speech-to-text services.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft's Windows 10 Development Process Changes

Changes to Microsoft's Windows 10 development process might indicate the software giant is listening to its customers about the brisk pace of semi-annual feature update releases. Also: the Zoho Office Suite gains AI enhancements, healthcare and IT was the focus this past week at the annual HIMSS19 conference, and Slack wants third-party developers to embrace their platform.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

The Big Contributors to Microsoft Cloud Success? Its Partners

This week, Microsoft revealed how channel partners drive their commercial revenue growth. Also: Google's AI is now training spam filters to do better, Google's teaming up with hardware makers to promote Hangouts for commercial customers and we have the dates for Microsoft BUILD later this year.
by Richard Hay, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

The Big Contributors to Microsoft Cloud Success? Their Partners

This week, Microsoft revealed how channel partners drive their commercial revenue growth. Also: Google's AI is now training spam filters to do better, Google's teaming up with hardware makers to promote Hangouts for commercial customers and we have the dates for Microsoft BUILD later this year.
by Richard Hay, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Releases Multiple Security Focused Features for IT Pros

This week Microsoft has continued bolstering security for their various IT-centric products and services. Also this week: there is now a G Suite Certification available for people who want to show how cloud-ready they are, plus a new Alexa Skill aimed at customer relations management.
by Richard Hay, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Releases Multiple Security Focused Features for IT Pros

This week Microsoft has continued bolstering security for their various IT-centric products and services. Also this week: there is now a G Suite Certification available for people who want to show how cloud-ready they are, plus a new Alexa Skill aimed at customer relations management.
by Richard Hay, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft and Google Announce Collaboration Tool Changes

Well-known collaboration tools are getting renamed or retired. Also this week: how you can help with GitHub's work around open source sustainability/transparency, Microsoft's making it even easier to migrate to Azure,
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Google Cloud Platform Shares About Security Trends to Watch in 2019

Per the search giant, IT Pros and system admins must mitigate risks for phishing, malware, and ransomware risks. Also: more workers will use virtual employee assistants in their daily jobs over the next couple of years, support for Azure Migrate is now available for Azure Government customers, and there are updates for SharePoint migrations and Cisco's Webex Teams software.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

What we Got Right (and Wrong) in Our 2018 Predictions

The ITPro Today team looks back to the claims we made on the cusp of 2018 to see how they panned out this year.
by Christine Hall, Richard Hay, Nicole Henderson, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Study Shows Disconnect Between Firstline Workers and Management

A Forrester Consulting survey conducted on behalf of Microsoft exposes a distinct disconnect between firstline workers and managers. The numbers show that managers believe they are providing the necessary tools for their workers but that is not the perception of those who work in public-facing positions. However, there is opportunity to improve the situation across IT. Also, in another survey from Pega Systems, it seems balance and consolidation is needed with those tools so that workers can be more productive.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools