In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, Microsoft has established itself as a leading force with its comprehensive suite of cloud services. These services are designed to cater to a wide range of business needs, from infrastructure management to intelligent business applications and productivity solutions. Let’s delve into the three primary types of Microsoft cloud services: Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365.

As AI becomes a more ‘normal’ part of our lives with many tools at our disposal, it does beg the question of what tool is the best to use? When it comes to AI tools, there are many, but for the purposes of this post, we will focus on the popular two: Chat GPT and Copilot in Bing (formerly known as Bing Chat Enterprise). 

Before we continue, let's provide some quick context: in early 2022, Microsft launched an upgraded version of its search engine Bing to include a new powerful AI-driven chatbot that called Bing Chat. In November 2023, Microsoft announced that it was renaming Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise to Copilot to give users a more unified experience.

2020 has undoubtedly been a year we won’t soon forget. From an IT perspective, it has been a year of significant digital transformation. The very core of how many businesses function has taken a dramatic shift. Many organizations have had to scale back on their resources and are struggling to efficiently operate while on a tight budget with stretched and over-worked staff.

As we inch closer to the end of 2020, we must take a moment to step back and reflect on the roller coaster of a year we have had. Disruption has been at the forefront of 2020 forcing businesses to quickly pivot and adapt to new and unfamiliar forms of normalcy. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic will not miraculous disappear once the clock strikes midnight on January 1st 2021. This new reality - this digital transformation - is for the long haul.

During the pandemic, businesses were presented many uncertainties and had to make many abrupt changes to the way they work, testing their limits. Now, as the world begins to go back to work, it becomes clearer and clearer that business following the pandemic will not be business per usual. It is now for a shift towards quickly re-growing business post-pandemic.

Economists predict that businesses may have difficulty bouncing back after the pandemic. The new normal has changed, and so businesses should begin strategizing around this new normal to best reflect the needs of our changing world. Here are some measures your business can take to position your business to flourish post-pandemic. 

The ‘new normal’ is more than a catchphrase at this point. It's a whole new way of life. And the reality is that we really don’t know exactly how our businesses will be affected long-term. However, one thing we can predict is that staying flexible using scalable solutions and creating a solid online presence are two things that will help businesses navigate the current crisis and beyond.

IT organizations have been working hard for the last 20 years developing and updating their Disaster Recovery Plans.  An effective DR plan included strategy for remote working, oftentimes presumed to be caused by a local geographical constrained issue around an office or area. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has global impact and the most readily felt impact on many IT departments pertains to physical distancing.  This includes resources not able to travel to the office, supply chains being disrupted and business processes being changed.  IT departments and organizations that are further along the digital transformation journey are likely to be less negatively impacted by COVID-19.

In my recent blog post, I talked about digital transformation and how CIOs are preparing to support this explosion of internet connected devices. The security around these devices is creating a massive challenge.

In my quest to stay on top of the latest trends in technology innovation, I covered an interesting report in a February 2016 blog post from IDC Canada on how Digital Transformation would shape 2016. The report touched on the CIO role and how it dealt with the current wave of digital transformation. Since that post was published, we have seen this evolution continue well into 2017 and the momentum will only get stronger as we head into 2018 and beyond.  This post serves as an updated perspective on these trends.