Microsoft works towards digital transformation

At its annual Microsoft Ignite conference, Microsoft unveiled its latest services and products designed to assist organisational digital transformation.

The aim is to address challenges such as security amid an increasingly complex and dynamic threat landscape, as well as the need to balance end-user preferences with technology investments that scale and deliver value.

As part of the announcement, it was revealed that Adobe will be bringing its marketing cloud to Microsoft Azure and making it the preferred digital marketing solution for Dynamics 365 Enterprise.

“Core to our mission to empower every person and organisation on the planet is democratising AI for every person and organisation to help solve society’s most pressing challenges,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “To do this, we’re infusing intelligence into everything we deliver — from the agent to applications, services and infrastructure.”

A range of security enhancements have therefore been added to Microsoft products, including Windows 10, Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. Some of the enhancements include:

• The addition of Windows Defender Application Guard, powered by virtualisation-based security technology to prevent malicious code from moving across employee devices and the corporate network;
• Windows Defender advanced threat protection and Office 365 ATP now share intelligence mutually across both services;
• Office 365 advanced threat protection will be extended to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for business;
• Office 365 threat intelligence provides alerts and information on the origination of specific attacks;
• Outlook for iOS and Android is now fully powered by the Microsoft Cloud for Office 365 commercial users;
• Enterprise Mobility + Security E5 expands security to help the transition to mobility and cloud.

Microsoft will preview new skills for its personal assistant and AI agent Cortana, including health insights and reminders. In addition, Office 365 will receive cloud-powered intelligent capabilities and Microsoft has deployed a new AI-enabled virtual agent across all of its US support centres to improve customer experience.

Advances in Microsoft cloud infrastructure provide a path towards an AI supercomputer in the cloud. Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 offer management across the data centre and cloud for software-defined data centre features, while Azure monitoring abilities, combined with operations management suite updates, will help IT manage cloud and on-premises assets from one place.

Microsoft is also using the world’s largest deployment of custom-developed field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), spanning 15 countries and five continents. These FPGAs could be used to accelerate AI to near real time, making Azure the foundation for the world’s first AI supercomputer.

Free training and educational resources will help ensure that IT professionals have the requisite expertise to help companies complete their digital transformation. The Microsoft Technical Community is an online community that brings together IT professionals, MVPs and experts to exchange ideas, build connections and share best practices.

Microsoft also announced that it has signed a global agreement with Renault–Nissan Alliance to advance connected driving experiences worldwide. They will work together to develop next-generation mobility services for cars powered by Microsoft Azure that will improve personalisation, advanced navigation, predictive services, remote monitoring of car features, external mobile experiences and over-the-air updates.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Melpomene