If you’re reading this blog, you likely already know that we have a close partnership with Microsoft, one that’s designed to help you work faster and smarter. We’ve seen incredible growth of Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform just in the past year. This momentum is driving massive investment in people and breakthrough technologies that will empower organizations to transform in the next decade.
Microsoft has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in the cloud and app development to power business transformation across markets and industries and help organizations solve challenging problems.
As 2019 draws to a close, here are four things you should consider for your business in 2020:
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Power BI
Have you been thinking, “What is Power BI and is it important for my business?” Well, then you have landed on a goldmine of information that will help you answer just that! Power BI is a business analytics solution that lets you visualize your data and share insights across your organization or embed them in your app or website. Power BI enables you to connect to hundreds of data sources and bring your data to life with live dashboards and reports. Any time, Anywhere, Anyway.
Power BI continues to add a large number of data analytics features. Here is a quick list of a few essential features:
- Artificial Intelligence – Use image recognition and text analytics, create machine learning tools, capabilities, and models integrated with Azure Machine Learning.
- Quick Insights – Create subsets of data and automatically apply analytics to data sets.
- Common Data Model Support – Standardized and extensible collection of data schemas (relationships, attributes, entities, etc.)
- Cortana Integration – Allows for a verbal query using natural language through Cortana and Microsoft Digital Assistant. You can now ask the platform questions and get answers!
- Customization – Import new tools for custom visualizations and reporting.
- Data Catalog – Easily search, use, and reuse queries with this feature.
Power BI is a very hot commodity for businesses. Within 2019 alone, VOX ISM has held 4 sold out Power BI events and have assisted 700 customers with their Power BI journey.
2. Security
Cybersecurity for your business has a systematic approach – one that works just about every time. The reality is that most companies often falsely feel “protected” simply because they have not yet been attacked.
However, another truth is that 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses, and 60% of those businesses attacked by cyber criminals end up going out of business. A recent study also shows that 2/3 of SMBs still don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place, and within Canada alone, a data breach could cost a business up to 6 million dollars. The stakes are high and taking the right steps to keep your data and business safer is crucial – now more than ever! Whatever the size or complexity of your business, you need to have a cybersecurity strategy.
3. Teams
A ConnectSolutions Survey revealed that 77% of remote workers report greater productivity while working off-site. This is one of the perks of the internet; we don’t need to be on-site to be working. Emails, software, documents, etc. are now accessible from anywhere.
This has led to a new concern that businesses have to collaborate effectively. While Skype for Business has multiple features, such as live conferences, it may not fit all the needs of your team. Let’s say you need to communicate with a specific group about a specific project on a recurrent basis, you might need to return to emails to keep track of all that has been shared and done for that project.
Some applications, like Slack, have tried to fill the void, and are having some success. But regardless of all the interesting things Slack can do, one thing remains concerning, and that is security. That’s where Microsoft Teams comes in.
With 20 million users increasing 50% per quarter, Microsoft Teams is another Microsoft Product you should look out in 2020. Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool that provides global, remote, and dispersed teams with the ability to work together and share information via a common space. You can utilize awesome features like document collaboration, one-on-one chat, team chat, and more. Microsoft Teams is also fully integrated with many other Office 365 services, such as Skype, SharePoint, Exchange, and Yammer, Dynamics 365 CRM and ERP as well as other non-Microsoft application.
Don’t fall behind! Join a growing revolution of smart connected businesses!
Empowering people and businesses are a mission that we don’t take lightly. None of us at VOX ISM could ever hope to reach that objective without a vast set of partnerships with curious and passionate people who seek to deeply understand technology and its power to transform individuals, businesses and industries. Facilitating connections, sharing our technologies and partnering to create solutions to real-world challenges is why we create the many event experiences we host. We invite everyone to join us to learn and grow, join us to connect with your peers, join us to get the answers you need so that you can deliver the solutions that can help propel your digital transformation.
Visit our events website: voxism.com/events
Blog post by Paul Roman Latoza – Business Development Coordinator
Paul Latoza graduated from the Aviation Safety Management and Operations program at Seneca College. Shortly after graduation –Paul began his career in the transportation industry before moving onto Marketing and Project Development for a non-profit organization.
With his experience in the transportation industry, he is hoping he can bring his communication and organization skills to assist businesses optimize their success in the changing digital landscape. On the weekends, Paul loves spending time with his family and friends.