Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Shipping company navigates to the cloud, boosts security, cuts operating costs by 50%

Qatari shipping and maritime company Nakilat has one of the world's largest fleets of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, transporting LNG from Qatar to global markets. To increase its competitive advantage, Nakilat wanted to improve employee productivity and mobility, without compromising on data security. It uses Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Cloud App Security to deliver highly secure cloud-first workplaces—shipboard and in the office. Nakilat also adopted the Microsoft Azure platform to optimize its operations and improve business continuity, reducing operating costs by 50 percent. See more in this video.

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Why smart data strategies will drive the evolution of retail

When e-commerce and online retail first appeared, many people—including some experts—speculated that it signaled the beginning of the end of brick-and-mortar retailers. For a moment, there was near agreement that physical stores were a thing of the past, but this was a misconception. As with other overblown predictions, the so-called end of retail stores didn't happen. Instead, the industry was taken over by a new breed of tech-savvy retailers that harnessed the power of digital transformation and analytics to create unified, alluring experiences for today's consumers. Retailers are still adapting to this new, digitally driven business model, but most are already reaping the benefits that the new digital ecosystem offers. In this article, you'll learn about the challenges that retailers can face in analyzing their business performance, and what they can do to improve on their data-driven initiatives.

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Microsoft Threat Protection stops attack sprawl and auto-heals enterprise assets with built-in intelligence and automation

Attackers will cross multiple domains like email, identity, endpoints, and applications to find the point of least resistance. Today's defense solutions have been designed to protect, detect, and block threats for each domain separately, allowing attackers to exploit the seams and threshold differences between solutions—leaving the business vulnerable to attack. Microsoft Threat Protection stops attack sprawl and auto-heals enterprise assets with built in intelligence and automation. Read on to learn more.

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Monday, January 25, 2021

Deliver a modern customer journey with Microsoft

In a retail industry increasingly dominated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices, digital transformation, and review-based shopping, modern consumers are never short of options for evaluating and purchasing their favorite products and services. While these tools foster remarkable shopping experiences, they also challenge retailers, who must become increasingly innovative in their approaches to consumer-facing solutions and strategies for process optimization. In this infographic, you'll see how Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions can be employed during each of these stages to increase employee satisfaction and create revenue-generating experiences.

View: Deliver a modern customer journey with Microsoft

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Enrich your customer, manager, and employee experiences. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Effective retail solutions provide stakeholders with relevant information and insights. Whether you're building shelves that help shoppers find curated offers, apps that give insights into business performance, or work tools that empower employees to do more with less, you must also provide the data that each user needs to make better-informed decisions. Subscribe now to learn more about how you can create high-impact solutions that elevate customers' shopping experiences through the power of Microsoft Retail Solutions.

View: Enrich your customer, manager, and employee experiences. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Greater Security

Greater security at lower cost with the expertise and power of Microsoft security solutions. Learn more about simplifying and fortifying with Microsoft security.

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Kennametal embraces Microsoft cloud strategy to drive business innovation

Kennametal has invested heavily in Microsoft cloud technologies as part of its digital transformation journey to reduce costs, increase productivity, and empower workers to deliver superior results for their customers. In this video, see how they utilize Microsoft Azure cloud platform and services to Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications to Microsoft 365 productivity, security, and mobility tools. Kennametal believes that Microsoft resources will help the company fulfill its business promises.

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Vision of innovation

Among the objectives of digital transformation is making information more accessible to those who need it, whether they're consumers, decision-makers, or employees. The retail industry is no exception, and businesses have taken advantage of many innovative solutions to enrich their stakeholders' experiences by using customer-facing applications and digital workplace tools. Retailers now have better insights into how their customers perceive their brands, and these businesses are able to make more-informed decisions. In this video, you'll discover how industry leader Kroger is using Microsoft technology to empower its consumers, employees, and CPG providers with unique digital solutions.

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Monday, January 18, 2021

How to Become a Leadership Influencer

Blending the concepts of "social influencers" with "thought leaders," Tom Popomaronis states that a new breed is emerging. A "leadership influencer" still shares knowledge and philosophy through various channels but also demonstrates a rare skill—the power to inspire. Popomaronis shows you where to begin if you haven't published anything yet. He suggests, for example, you could start by writing about favorite quotes and the lessons you associate with them. Eventually, you'll focus more on your industry expertise. The point is, you need to start somewhere. It doesn't matter what you call yourself—but if you can inspire others with your content, you're one step closer to "leadership influencer." Read "How to Become a Leadership Influencer" by Tom Popomaronis.

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Tuesday, January 12, 2021

How to Turn Your Business Goals into a Strong Social Media Strategy

Social media plays an important role in marketing. Not only does it cost very little, but it's a quick way to get valuable content to large audiences with a personal touch. Social media platforms are non-negotiable, but are you effectively utilizing them to meet your business's goals? In her article, "How to Turn Your Business Goals into a Strong Social Media Strategy," writer Elissa Liu states that too many businesses fail to connect their goals with a complementary strategy—instead, they shoot from the hip and post or share what is convenient or what they think their targeted audience may like. There's little follow-up and return on investment is unknown. Instead, Liu suggests you create a strategy to meet a clearly defined goal. For example, if one of your business goals is to improve customer service, look at how you process complaints and questions. Some people are okay making a phone call, but others might prefer sending a comment through Facebook messenger. Liu points out that customers need several avenues to complain or question—and they expect timely responses. Do you know your response time on social media? Is it clearly defined within your company and is it tracked? It's obvious reading this that social media response time affects customer service—but it's amazing how many businesses do not utilize social media platforms with this understanding. Use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to improve your customer service, if that is one of your business goals. Read Liu's entire article for great tips on translating your business goals into social media goals!

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Mobile solutions for retailers: Off the shelf or private label?

As mobile devices became more user-friendly, media-focused, and accessible, consumers gain always-on access to the benefits of digital transformation. Such devices also provide retail businesses with the tools to create more-personalized experiences tailored to each user's unique preferences and shopping habits. But the benefits don't stop there. Retailers have realized that digital technology can be as useful for customer-facing applications as it is for internal processes, and they've started employing it to help their workers provide immediate solutions to customer issues. While mobile solutions have become crucial tools for employees, they pose a new challenge for retailers: Should they choose private-label or off-the-shelf devices? In this article, you'll learn about the pros and cons of each to help you decide which works best for your business.

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RapidDeploy helps first responders defend public safety with Azure Sentinel

RapidDeploy creates its Cloud Aided Dispatch systems to help first responders act quickly to protect the public. There's a lot at stake, and the company's cloud-native platform must be secure against an array of serious cybersecurity threats. So, when RapidDeploy implemented a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system, it chose Microsoft Azure Sentinel, one of the world's first cloud-native SIEMs. See the full story in the video below.

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Securing the hybrid cloud with Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel

Infrastructure security is top-of-mind for organizations managing workloads on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid. Azure Security Center provides unified security management by identifying and fixing misconfigurations and providing visibility into threats to quickly remediate them. Azure Sentinel collects data from Azure Security Center. Learn more about this integrated and efficient solution in this article.

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The virtuous cycle of retail

In business, a virtuous cycle is a set of recurring processes in which the objective of each is to increase the beneficial effect on the next. Not so long ago, the typical purchase pattern was linear. Further, it involved very few steps from the time consumers first learned about a product or service to the time they purchased it. With the arrival of digital transformation, though, both online and brick-and-mortar retailers are adapting to a new virtuous cycle, one in which personalized experiences are the norm and digital customer service tools play crucial roles in making or breaking a purchase every step of the way. In this infographic, you'll learn how digital technology has driven retail's virtuous cycle and get insights into how you can improve your customers' experiences via Microsoft Retail Solutions.

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Monday, January 11, 2021

Microsoft Sentinel

Azure Sentinel is intelligent security analytics for your entire enterprise. Collect data, detect threats, investigate incidents, and rapidly respond with Sentinel.

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Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Merchandise and customer service have traditionally been the main focus of the retail industry's portfolio. Digital transformation now allows retailers to expand on their main capabilities and develop innovative solutions that boost their bottom line, as well as that of their partners and clients. Digital is reshaping retail into a more diverse, tech-infused industry where innovation is king and disruption creates new collaboration opportunities. Subscribe now to learn how to get the most from your existing retail applications by leveraging Microsoft technology to diversify your service portfolio.

View: Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

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Simplify and fortify with Microsoft Security solutions, wherever you work. For more insights, news, and features, subscribe to our channels now.

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St. Luke's University Health Network secures digital health transformation with Microsoft 365

St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) looks to the cloud to define a new way of providing health services of its ten hospitals and 300 sites across ten counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This video outlines how the health network embarked on a digital health transformation journey using the Microsoft 365 productivity cloud to empower more than 15,000 employees. The intuitive tools protect sensitive information in cloud applications, simplifying security with interoperable solutions to save time while enhancing the hospital network's security posture. In turn, this optimizes health team collaboration and improves patient experience.

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Retail as a service

Innovative solutions that increase revenue and generate industrywide disruption are the Holy Grail of digital transformation. Developing such solutions isn't simple, though. It requires accurate insights, significant research and development (R&D), and a stable, accessible platform that can make the solution easily available to partners and clients. The effort can be well worth it, as groundbreaking applications can open up new revenue streams, enable complementary capabilities, and foster long-lasting partnerships that can elevate a business to new heights. In this video, you'll learn how the Kroger Co. technology division is leading the industry by leveraging Microsoft tools to provide its own innovations as a new offering: retail as a service.

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How to 'Spring Clean' Your Website with Content Auditing

You know the importance of periodically cleaning out your closet, your car, your emails, and your file folders. Not only do you create a cleaner, more orderly space, but you inevitably discover items you didn't know you had, perhaps even misplaced valuables. It's the same with your company's website. How often do you invest time to examine the content of your website? The first step, writes Syed Balkhi in "How to 'Spring Clean' Your Website with Content Auditing," is to set a clear goal: want to increase audience engagement or improve your SEO results or another specific goal? Once you know your goal, you can look at your pages and posts with a lens that supports accomplishing it. For example, if your goal is to increase audience engagement, you need to determine which topics your visitors are most interested in, and then filter your current content accordingly. Balkhi includes tips on how to create a content inventory (and why you need one) and then how to take action to reach your goals. Read this article—and get ready to clean!

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Monday, January 4, 2021

Navigate data protection and risk in the cloud era

Microsoft invests in compliance and risk management to help your customers more easily protect and govern their data, address regulations and standards, and mitigate insider risks. The how-to guidance article announces new capabilities in Microsoft 365 that use machine learning and intelligence to help your customers address compliance and risk management in their organizations.

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