Rob Quickenden | Technology and AI Blog

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January 8, 2020

Microsoft Teams and Outlook get tighter integration to ease adoption to Teams

#MicrosoftTeams and #Outlook integration was announced and Ignite last month and is getting ready to start rolling out this January. This will include three features designed to help users more…
Read more: Microsoft Teams and Outlook get tighter integration to ease adoption to Teams
January 7, 2020

Need a New Year Resolution? How about improving your Productivity Score?

Need a New Year Resolution? How about improving your Productivity Score in 2020? #Microsoft365 #Collaboration #ModernWorkplace
Read more: Need a New Year Resolution? How about improving your Productivity Score?
December 19, 2019

From Zero to cyber-security Hero. How Microsoft became a Leader in Security.

From Zero to #Cybersecurity Hero: How #Microsoft have been crowned leaders by #Gartner across 5 #security categories.
Read more: From Zero to cyber-security Hero. How Microsoft became a Leader in Security.
December 17, 2019

2020: Hello Surface Hub 2X. Powered by the new Windows 10X?

After abruptly ending production of the original SurfaceHub in 2017, Microsoft originally announced the Surface Hub 2 in April 2018 with an impressive marketing video. In September 2018, we learned…
Read more: 2020: Hello Surface Hub 2X. Powered by the new Windows 10X?
December 12, 2019

Want your own dedicated server in Azure.. Now you can!

An Azure Dedicated Host provides a single-tenant, physical server that can be used to host your #Azure virtual machines for either #Windows and #Linux
Read more: Want your own dedicated server in Azure.. Now you can!
December 6, 2019

How Microsoft is further advancing its Unified Threat Protection

Microsoft Threat Protection now unifies your incident response process by integrating key capabilities across Microsoft Defender ATP, Office 365 ATP, Microsoft Cloud App Security, and Azure ATP which is powered…
Read more: How Microsoft is further advancing its Unified Threat Protection
November 20, 2019

<40p a day gets you Microsoft Teams Voice

Microsoft 365 Business Voice ….is a cloud-based phone system built and priced specifically for small and medium businesses which was announced at Ignite earlier this month and is available now.…
Read more: <40p a day gets you Microsoft Teams Voice
November 6, 2019

There’s a myth that #Microsoft doesn’t “do” #security… Think again..

The myth that Microsoft isn’t a security vendor continues… led mainly by the traditional security appliance vendors and organisations that are still predominately on premise and therefore defend their data…
Read more: There’s a myth that #Microsoft doesn’t “do” #security… Think again..
November 4, 2019

#Ignite2019 Day 1 – Key Announcements

Today saw Day 1 of Microsoft’s Annual Ignite conference in Orlando. As expected there was a lot of hot (mainly Teams and Azure) news announced first thing and after reading…
Read more: #Ignite2019 Day 1 – Key Announcements
October 31, 2019

The best tools to help you find and book your Meetings

While not so much of a problem between one or two people, when you are trying to arrange meetings or conf calls between a larger number of people (especially cross…
Read more: The best tools to help you find and book your Meetings
October 28, 2019

PowerPoint Coach – come on – we all need this tool!

So, I have a couple of presentations coming up in the next couple of weeks and I have been dying to test out the #PowerPointCoach. So before we head off…
Read more: PowerPoint Coach – come on – we all need this tool!
October 26, 2019

Microsoft has won the long awaited US JEDI contract worth $10B.

There will be some celebrations tonight Yes..is a battle to win one of the biggest contracts in the cloud, #Microsoft has won the sought-after #JEDI cloud computing contract with the…
Read more: Microsoft has won the long awaited US JEDI contract worth $10B.
October 23, 2019

Did you know there’s a “Business” version of the SurfaceProX

With all the news and media about Surface Pro X, it’s easy to miss that Microsoft have also released a dedicated business version called… Well Surface Pro X for Business…
Read more: Did you know there’s a “Business” version of the SurfaceProX
October 2, 2019

Look was announced at the #SurfaceEvent 2019

Microsoft announced a lot of new and updated products today at the 2019 #SurfaceEvent. Surface Laptop 3https://youtu.be/o3IQ1JrXnV8 Surface Pro 7https://youtu.be/V4Hwi3o2X0E New… Surface Pro X (ipad competitor)https://youtu.be/v5SFBpMiaiQ Surface Neo (foldable)https://youtu.be/fssZICsV4Rg Surface…
Read more: Look was announced at the #SurfaceEvent 2019
September 27, 2019

The Microsoft Whiteboard just got better

What’s Microsoft Whiteboard? Microsoft Whiteboard allows Windows, SurfaceHub and iOS (Android coming soon) to Create freely and work naturally – giving ideas room to grow with Microsoft Whiteboard. Transform your…
Read more: The Microsoft Whiteboard just got better
September 25, 2019

Another critical step to preventing Identity and Information Theft…

One of my earlier posts talked about how enabling Multi-Factor Authentication across your organisation can dramatically reduce your risk of attack/breach or data theft by Identity Compromise however after reading…
Read more: Another critical step to preventing Identity and Information Theft…
September 24, 2019

New AI capabilities promise to transform the physical retail space

OK so a short blog this time and about something I don’t usually write much about… Dynamics Microsoft have announced 2 major and significant new features coming to its #Dynamics…
Read more: New AI capabilities promise to transform the physical retail space
September 20, 2019

How to quickly prevent 99.9% of attacks on your users’ accounts

Cyber-attacks aren’t slowing down, and it’s worth noting that many attacks have been successful without the use of advanced technology. For even the largest, most security averse company, all it…
Read more: How to quickly prevent 99.9% of attacks on your users’ accounts
September 20, 2019

What are organisation-wide Teams in Teams?

Organisation-wide teams provide an automatic way for everyone in a small to medium-sized organisation (up to 5,000 users) to be a part of a single team for collaboration and notifications.…
Read more: What are organisation-wide Teams in Teams?
September 19, 2019

Private channels for Teams are finally here.

Getting very excited about Private Channels for Teams and after seeing a great preview of this and seeing the impending release date – I wanted to share some info…
Read more: Private channels for Teams are finally here.
August 29, 2019

What it means to be a #WindowsInsider #MVP

I am proud to share with you that last night, I finally received the official Windows Insider MVP Award from Microsoft, for my contributions in the Windows development life cycle…
Read more: What it means to be a #WindowsInsider #MVP
August 20, 2019

Microsoft has a new SMS Organiser app and it’s brilliant

Microsoft has launched (in preview) an SMS Organizer app for Android devices. Why? Well, other messaging apps like WhatsApp are really good at things like sorting messages and adding some…
Read more: Microsoft has a new SMS Organiser app and it’s brilliant
August 14, 2019

You can now include system audio in Teams meetings

August 2019: Up until now (well, yesterday in my experience, it has not been possible to share your “system audio” when sharing or presenting content such as a video or…
Read more: You can now include system audio in Teams meetings
July 31, 2019

Microsoft finally puts the Nail in Skype for Business Online’s coffin

We knew it was coming and it’s actually taken longer than many people thought, but just 2 years after the first debut of Microsoft Teams, Microsoft has announced the Skype…
Read more: Microsoft finally puts the Nail in Skype for Business Online’s coffin
July 16, 2019

Planning your Teams deployment… Don’t forget the Video

Teams is not just for chat and content sharing. A recent Nemertes’ “Workplace Collaboration: 2019-20 Research Study” of more than 625 organisations, found that almost two thirds (64%) of participants…
Read more: Planning your Teams deployment… Don’t forget the Video
May 28, 2019

Why you should be using Azure Identity Protection

Why? The move from traditional on-premises IT solutions to cloud services has seen a dramatic change in the way that systems are managed and controlled. The access to services from…
Read more: Why you should be using Azure Identity Protection
May 24, 2019

What are Flow and Power Apps all about ?

I was in a client meeting earlier today and we were talking about process automation, their journey to Microsoft 365 and shifting workloads from on-premise to cloud. During the meeting,…
Read more: What are Flow and Power Apps all about ?
May 23, 2019

Citrix VDI support for Microsoft Teams is just weeks away

At the Citrix Synergy event yesterday, Citrix announced the long anticipated optimization pack for Microsoft Teams for both the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. This long awaiting announcement builds upon…
Read more: Citrix VDI support for Microsoft Teams is just weeks away
May 15, 2019

New WannaCry-type exploit threatens XP, Server 2003 and Windows 7… What do you need to do?

Microsoft has started warning users of older versions of Windows desktop and Sever to urgently apply a Windows Update today to protect against a potential widespread attack similar to the…
Read more: New WannaCry-type exploit threatens XP, Server 2003 and Windows 7… What do you need to do?
May 14, 2019

Microsoft announces Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for Windows E5 customers.

As most people know, Windows 7 is going out of support January 14, 2020. Whilst there are now (according to Microsoft, 850 Million devices running Windows 10), and many many…
Read more: Microsoft announces Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for Windows E5 customers.
May 14, 2019

Skype for Business Online Plan 2 being retired – what you need to know?

Microsoft have recently announced that after July 1st 2019, organisations will no longer be able to purchase Skype for Business Online Plan 2 as a standalone license and customers actively…
Read more: Skype for Business Online Plan 2 being retired – what you need to know?
May 13, 2019

How to do the things you used to do in Skype..in MicrosoftTeams

As I have the pleasure of working with more and more organisations on the adoption and deployment of Microsoft Teams (and in many cases the migration from Skype for Business…
Read more: How to do the things you used to do in Skype..in MicrosoftTeams
May 8, 2019

Windows 10 is getting a full Linux kernel later this year.

At Microsoft Build this year, Microsoft annouced another bold move in embracing it s once enemy/competition Linux by announcing plans for a full Linux kernel to be rolled into Windows…
Read more: Windows 10 is getting a full Linux kernel later this year.
May 7, 2019

Microsoft announces ‘Fluid Communication Experiences’ coming soon to Office 365

This week at Build (Microsoft’s annual developer conference), Microsoft announced the “Fluid Framework” a new software development kit (SDK) designed to help developers build faster and more flexibly distributed apps…
Read more: Microsoft announces ‘Fluid Communication Experiences’ coming soon to Office 365
April 30, 2019

Microsoft and Dell launch VMware-Microsoft Azure Partnership

Microsoft and Dell have together announced a new partnership between themselves to deliver the full VMware cloud infrastructure natively in Microsoft Azure. The partnership will allow customers to deploy and…
Read more: Microsoft and Dell launch VMware-Microsoft Azure Partnership
April 30, 2019

Surface Hub 2: The Latest Update Annoucements

With the plethora of new information circling around the hugely Microsoft Surface Hub 2 since their New York event and annoucnment of availability and pricing back on the 17th April.…
Read more: Surface Hub 2: The Latest Update Annoucements
April 23, 2019

Admins can now restore files from Teams and Sharepoint

Microsoft has started rolling out File Restore for SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, a feature that allows Office 365 administrators to restore any files or folders deleted from the two services…
Read more: Admins can now restore files from Teams and Sharepoint
April 23, 2019

Reducing the SecOps ‘noise’ with Microsoft Threat Experts

St George’s Day… Today’s tip… Two new cloud-based technologies, Microsoft Azure Sentinel and Microsoft Threat Experts, have recently been unveiled in efforts to reduce the “…noise, false alarms, time consuming…
Read more: Reducing the SecOps ‘noise’ with Microsoft Threat Experts
April 17, 2019

Microsoft Officially unifies labeling across Office 365 and Azure IP

Yesterday, after months of “preview testing”, Microsoft announced the “General Availability” (GA) of their Azure Information Protection (AIP) unified labeling client. Sorry remind me – what is AIP? Azure Information…
Read more: Microsoft Officially unifies labeling across Office 365 and Azure IP