5 November 2024, Tue |
5:50 PM
Microsoft showcased more than 90 new services and improvements at Ignite 2021, showcasing the cutting-edge capabilities of the cloud and exploring new ways to connect people, organizations, and ideas.
This year’s annual conference focused on optimizing for the new world of hybrid work, aiding customers in developing hyperconnected enterprises, changing into digital businesses, and securing their digital journeys from beginning to end.
“Every industry in the region has felt the full force of the digital transformation, as enterprises have had to adopt drastically different strategies to keep their organizations secure and stable, requiring them to be technologically flexible,” said Naim Yazbeck, Regional Director, Enterprise and Partner Group (EPG), Microsoft UAE.
He added, “The impactful advantages of the Microsoft Cloud will enable people to safely navigate through today’s digital environment, equipping them with future-proof innovations that empower teams to optimize their productivity and strengthen connections in today’s hybrid workplace.”
This year’s Ignite highlighted three major areas of focus:
The Microsoft Cloud offers a comprehensive set of resources designed to power metaverses through IoT capabilities that allow customers to create cloud-based “digital twins” of physical objects and use AI-powered resources to create natural interactions using speech and vision machine learning models.
Additionally, it links communication technologies that allow people to be present without being physically present through individualised avatars and immersive places that can be accessed from any device, using the newly announced Microsoft Mesh to build a shared sense of presence on devices.
Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces, which provides a new perspective on how people move and interact with nearly any space, from the retail store to the factory floor, and how they manage health and safety in a hybrid work environment, adds to the company’s discovery of opportunities in the metaverse’s evolution.
Microsoft, which has the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer, continues to push the boundaries of what AI technology can achieve. The Azure OpenAI Service, which debuted at Ignite, will give users access to Microsoft’s partner OpenAI’s strong models in addition to Microsoft Azure’s security, reliability, compliance, data privacy, and other enterprise-grade capabilities.
Microsoft is also providing Azure OpenAI Service users with tools to guarantee that the models’ outputs are appropriate for business, and it will actively monitor how people use the technology to ensure that it is being utilized responsibly.
Microsoft is developing the future identity system to connect and enable people, organizations, apps, and smart devices to make safe and secure real-time access decisions. Azure Active Directory (AD) now helps customers with procedures across external collaboration methods, in addition to securing and controlling access.
Microsoft Teams Connect, which was first introduced at Ignite, has been significantly upgraded to help remove even more boundaries and build a boundaryless ecosystem. Users can invite an external team to join a channel, plan a shared channel meeting, and collaborate on files using the Teams Shared Channels feature. Chat with Teams also allows users to communicate with persons outside of their corporate network. Workplace Teams users can talk with any Teams user with a Microsoft personal email address or phone number while staying within their company’s security and compliance rules.
Among the many other improvements to Azure and enterprise security solutions, several notable items and updates announced during Ignite included: Microsoft Loop is a new software that allows teams to think, plan, and create together by moving freely across programs. Users may now consolidate all of their project files, links, and data from different apps into a single workspace. The Microsoft Customer Experience Platform is a marketing tool that allows businesses to personalise, automate, and choreograph customer experiences by putting them in control of their customer data. Context IQ is a set of skills that will improve the integration of collaborations, sharing, and communication in the work flow across Dynamic Dynamics 365, Office 365 and Teams.
