Microsoft Ignite: News and trends for the digital workplace.

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1 Insights Microsoft Ignite: News and trends for the digital workplace. At Ignite 2018, Microsoft highlighted new products and current trends in more than 1,350 presentations. Campana & Schott once again attended the event this year and has summarized the impressions surrounding the digital workplace below. The main news at a glance: Artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an integral part of the digital workplace. Many small AI services support daily work routines by transforming e.g. tasks and deadlines from s into the corresponding task and calendar entries, translate spoken and written language into the target language or transcribe speech in audio conferences and store it in the audio record, so that contents can be found using the search function. The personalization of the digital workplace for each employee continues to progress. First, personalized and contextdependent contents are displayed on the basis of Microsoft Graph and intelligent algorithms. Second, employees can increasingly decide themselves which specific user interface is used to access contents via mobile or via desktop. The technology for the next big wave of business process automation in the context of the digital workplace is available now. Using the Microsoft Power Platform, departments can now provide no-code solutions and in this context can also integrate both AI services as well as third party systems. Business process automation is becoming increasingly datadriven, which means that business processes are activated by data and not human interaction. The Cloud is the enabler for many innovations, and the v arious services within the Microsoft M365 platform are coalescing more and more. On the other hand, many companies face the challenge of fundamentally modernizing their IT, and they must implement the appropriate integrated programs to be able to utilize the added value of the new technological options.

2 2 Microsoft 365 Convergence of previously isolated products into a platform With Microsoft 365, Microsoft aims to design an integrated and seamless work environment that promotes collaboration and makes it more efficient. The integration of individual Microsoft services is supposed to create a continuous user experience. To this end, Microsoft offers a new platform that is continuously expanded and influenced by new technological trends. Existing tools are innovated with new functions, and new services are created. With the innovations presented at Ignite 2018, Microsoft continues the approach that was ushered in a few years ago, with a special focus on Microsoft Teams. Central components of Microsoft 365 Better together An integrated platform with services for dedicated addressee groups Even as services are merging and end users are able to select the appropriate front end / tool in many cases, ultimately the application areas of these services can be roughly delineated on the basis of dedicated addressee groups. Microsoft Teams Inner Loop: Communication and collaboration within the core team. Yammer Outer Loop: Communication across the entire organization. Microsoft Outlook: Targeted personal communication. Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive and Stream form the central content repository for the different contents and of course SharePoint is still the tool of choice for Intranets and collaboration portals. Application scenarios for M365 services

3 3 Microsoft Teams Central components of daily collaboration Since its launch in 2017, Microsoft Teams has become the fastestgrowing Microsoft product, as measured by distribution and user numbers. Teams performs a double role on the Microsoft platform because it delivers not just a telephony and meeting component but also a collaboration component. Microsoft has announced big innovations for the telephony and meeting function, with a particular focus on the use of AI technology. For example, Teams supports the transcription of speech, whereby the audio and video files can be searched using key words. Microsoft s vision for meetings in the future includes numerous AI-supported functions, such as live translation of spoken text. In addition, with respect to video telephony, Teams will also offer the option to blur the background and to activate the Driving Mode. With Mobile Sharing, participants can join web meetings from their Smartphone, without having to access a desktop device. This means that presentations can also be shared while traveling. In addition, Microsoft announced a collaboration with device manufacturers in the area of web conferencing. For example, users with Cisco systems will be able to participate without any problems. Based on proximity detection (Proximity Join), conference hardware can be added to meetings as soon as the person with the mobile devices comes near the location. There are also numerous innovations as well as deeper integrations with existing services in the collaboration segment. Using Tabs, Yammer and SharePoint can be easily integrated into Teams; the same goes for applications provided on the basis of the SharePoint Framework (SPFx). With regard to governance, key innovations include the template function, differentiated administration role and the integration of the data loss prevention function, which means that Teams is now suitable for corporate use. The current innovations also drastically expand the Teams user groups: Microsoft has positioned Teams as the new central front end for the Firstline Worker; Shift Management is the first small application to move from StaffHub to Microsoft Teams. Yammer Massive investments and clear positioning for the Outer Loop In the future, Yammer will continue to play an important role on the Microsoft platform for the digital workplace, and it is clearly positioned as the service of choice for the Outer Loop. Current and announced investments also target a better integration of Yammer into the platform, e.g. in SharePoint via the new Web Part and in Teams via Tab. For company-wide events such as employee meetings, Yammer offers the option of organizing such meetings from the invitation to video streaming including interactive discussion. The best feature in this context: The recording is automatically stored in Stream and transcribed, so that specific passages can be found using the search function. As before, documents in Yammer are saved in an associated SharePoint library by default. In this way, they can be accessed for ediscovery and Data Loss Prevention purposes. The company is working very hard on fully integrating Yammer into the platform, so that the geo-location of Yammer data will also be available in the future.

4 4 SharePoint Modern Intranets and central data repository Share Point remains the technology for company portals and central data management. To this end, numerous Microsoft services for SharePoint are connected. In addition, there is a lot of focus on intersectional functions such as security, artificial intelligence and expandability. SharePoint Online as the central link of M365 Key innovations in the Intranet segment include: defining communication sites as root sites, mega menus for navigation, expanded design options and re-usable page designs, more options for titles and footers, as well as personalized and targetoriented Web Parts. Hub sites receive new functions to improve the organization of the Intranet. They include the option of displaying upcoming events aggregated from all sites. The connection and reorganization of existing sites into one hub site and the creation of new sites will be specifically supported in the future. Documents will be enriched with additional insights into the use and the document itself, as well as the required reading time, which is displayed in the File Card. Another improvement is the central asset library, through which e.g. central corporate images can be made available everywhere. The option to manage retention labels with meta data such as departments or categories will still be expanded in Also added is an analysis of these labels for an improved governance function. Team Sites will be even more closely linked with Teams in the future. Hence Team Sites and Teams can be connected with one click, and the navigation between Teams and SharePoint is embedded directly on the site. The folders to which Team Channels have been assigned will be labeled so they are easier to see. template for existing lists, a new location column and improved conditional column formatting without code. The predictive indexing of lists up to 30 million items will be available by the end of this year. In the area of lists and libraries, automation is facilitated with the intensified integration of the Microsoft Power Platform. The new SharePoint App, which features a revised layout, makes it easier to access contents while on the road. The Find tab with optimized search and better overview is the highlight in this context. Another improvement is the seamless access to a document library in the app. Additionally, news across the organization will be available in the future and will be displayed in the News tab. Using mentions function, contents can also be easily shared with colleagues in the mobile app. With the option of displaying SharePoint Framework Web Parts in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft delivers an important piece of the puzzle for the integration of SharePoint and Teams. In addition to the innovations for SharePoint Online, the global availability of SharePoint Server 2019 for October this year was also announced at Ignite. Working with SharePoint lists will be more user-friendly in the future. This includes the creation of new lists based on the

5 5 OneDrive Accessing documents while on the road OneDrive remains the central tool for accessing documents from any location. The recently rolled out Sync Client is further improved with the option for Known Folder Move; it will be available for SharePoint Server 2019 in the future. The Fileson-Demand function will be rolled out for Mac and SharePoint Server Flexible work from all devices is facilitated with increased support for Office Lens and camera uploads. Meta data can be directly added to uploaded images and PDFs. In addition, the overview of shared documents is intuitively sorted in the mobile app by date / the sharing parties. Microsoft Power Platform Digitization of business processes Microsoft combines its Cloud applications Flow, PowerApps and Power BI under the name Power Platform. PowerApps and Flow are seamlessly connected to the O365 platform, and represent the primary technologies for depicting business processes in the digital workplace. With a focus on the No Code, Low Code principle, the digitization of business processes is moving closer to the consumer, so that the business value can be realized more quickly. Numerous connectors that are continuously expanded are available for integrating data and systems. The further professionalization and enrichment of the platform with AI was also introduced at Ignite. While there were not any big surprise innovations, the applications have become more mature for their long-term use in the O365 environment. The performance of the form solution for Share- Point through PowerApps is generally increased, and the availability of Rich Text fields is enabled. The Checker function supports users with creating apps, forms and workflows, since errors can be detected very quickly. In the future, custom controls and the responsive design of the apps will allow for the further personalization of the applications. The Flow-Launch Panel is now available for OneDrive, and administrators will be able to approve site creation queries using Flow in the future. Company-wide use is supported with an increased emphasis on Auditing and Governance. Activities in PowerApps can now be tracked in the O365 Audit Center, and Application Lifecycle Management is also promoted. Key components of the Microsoft Power Platform

6 6 Firstline Worker Development of previously unused potential Microsoft has discovered the potential of the firstline workers (who account for 80 percent of the workforce) and wants to better integrate this group into the company-wide work environment. This promotes the spread of a common corporate culture. To this end, the integration of the StaffHub platform into Teams by October 2019 was announced at Ignite. Teams now targets firstline workers with an overview view with all important information about outstanding tasks, co-workers and the function for the independent management of shift schedules. The integration of Yammer and Stream provides options for tutorials and accessing the community. The Microsoft platform offers particular promise for the on-boarding process. With an Office365 Plan, which is directed specifically at firstline workers, Microsoft now targets a group that has long been ignored. Microsoft also believes that there is great potential for the use of Mixed Reality in this area. One scenario includes the workers that work in customer service directly on location. They can use Mixed Reality to add remote experts and thus obtain information to ensure that repairs or maintenance activities can be completed quickly and without problems. These tools can be displayed when using HoloLenses in the work environment. Mixed Reality will also be added to meetings in the future, and thus offers new ways of collaboration. Microsoft introduced SharePoint Spaces in May. They make it possible to create Intranets in 3D, leading to an entirely new user experience. Workplace Analytics Optimizing work habits The introduction of Workplace Analytics offers the added value of an overview of collaboration in the company. Now, patterns can be identified and efficiency can be increased based on these patterns. Administrators can create analyses, whereby more data sources will be added in the future. The objective: to improve work habits in the teams and to make them more efficient. MyAnalytics allows each team member to analyze his or her own conduct. The analysis offers insights into how working hours are used every day, and the people with whom an employee communicates the most. The data may only be seen by the respective employee. The Nudges function forms a part of MyAnalytics. It aims to improve workers conduct and daily work routines with reminders and information. For example, employees receive information if meetings overlap, so that they can plan time for preparation, or if tasks are overdue. Security & Compliance Cyber attacks cost companies more than $ 1 million a day. To address these increasingly sophisticated attacks, Microsoft relies on increasing linkages between the various security mechanisms and the use of Big Data and AI functionalities. In this context, Microsoft processes more than 6.5 trillion signals relevant to security every single day. One focus area of the last few months has been the further development and harmonization of Security & Compliance components. At Ignite, Microsoft presented a password-less future, which makes it possible to log into all Microsoft 365 services without passwords and thus minimizes the risk of an attack. Another innovation is Microsoft Threat Protection, which combines all services, from Client and Office 365 to Mobile Device Management, in order to protect the data against attacks. AI functions provide a higher degree of automation in this context. In addition, the information protection services are standardized and expanded through the support on mobile devices. They receive the function of uniform labeling management across all services. The harmonization aspect also becomes evident in the presentation of the central Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Center. Daily operations are simplified by combining all administration components. Moreover, the company also announced the expansion of the Secure Score to the Enterprise Mobility Suite and Azure Services; it now covers Microsoft s entire Cloud spectrum. The Secure Score is a good benchmark for implementing security-relevant services and processes for Microsoft 365.

7 7 Other announcements Administrators benefit from a new Microsoft 365 Admin Center with individually designed dashboards. The configuration of functions is adapted to the daily routines of each administrator. At Ignite, Microsoft Search was introduced as the future search function across all Microsoft services. It is based on Bing s AI technology and is personalized with Microsoft Graph. Search results deliver internal company information, paired with knowledge from the Web. The new Microsoft Search function delivers the added value for more relevant and personalized search results. Search is introduced with a search box on Windows, Office, Outlook and all Cloud services, and the Bing search machine also displays internal search results once activated. Conclusion The current transformation of Microsoft as a company is especially evident in the Modern Workplace segment: An environment of side-by-side isolated product teams that competed with each other and that pushed developments with little focus on the customer has been replaced with an integrated and consistent platform that is based on concrete customer requirements. The Microsoft 365 innovations that have been introduced represent a steady enhancement of the existing strategy. The new functions make Microsoft 365 a first-class platform for all areas of modern communication and collaboration that is ready to be used in companies. Integration, consistency and a clear commitment to privacy and data control for the customer represent a real differentiating feature compared to the competition. Campana & Schott Campana & Schott is an international management and technology consultancy with more than 300 employees at locations in Europe, the US and Canada. For more than 25 years, we have been passionately assisting companies in managing complex change processes - with proven methods, technologies or simply the right people. The passion for all facets of human collaboration in organizations and projects has driven us since the beginning. Further information: Campana & Schott GmbH Graefstr Frankfurt T info@campana-schott.com