A Summary of Microsoft Roadmap Updates from Microsoft’s Ignite 2019!
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Microsoft has been busy! At Microsoft’s 2019 Ignite conference, attendees learned about numerous updates to what the company has been doing, along with new/improved tools and technologies. The main focus is at the conference was Azure, including improving Azure Infrastructure, revamping Azure Apps, accelerating Azure Data & AI, and integrating Azure IoT. Improvements also included Microsoft Power Automate & Power Virtual Agents allowing for automated flows and AI-driven solutions.

Microsoft 365 also has numerous updates and additional abilities. Most are focused on the ability to gain applicable knowledge easily, improve core productivity, and provide more developer tools. Security has also been a top priority.

For businesses who implement security measures, Ohio becomes the first state in the nation to implement a law that affords a data breach safe harbor - the Ohio Data Protection Act.

Not a week goes by without hearing about a new data breach. It’s becoming common knowledge that companies, both small and large, are facing the tough reality that it is no longer a matter of if, but really when a company will be affected by a data breach.

Over the years, lawmakers have struggled with constructing effective methods to strengthen the cybersecurity of organizations without mandating one-size-fits-all requirements, which makes it challenging. At the beginning of November, Senate Bill 220, also known as the Ohio Data Protection Act, was enacted into law in the state of Ohio—which represents the first law that accomplishes that goal.

Nobody likes file servers. They are often in a state of chaos and accessing them from a mobile device is nearly impossible. Virtual private networks (VPNs) only work well on PCs and even then, we find users crossing their fingers every time they go to connect. Thankfully there are new options for sharing and collaborating on files. 

Here is a quick primer on some of the best new file server alternatives:

OneDrive for Business/Groups

Exclaimer Cloud - Email Signatures for Office 365

Exclaimer is the premier cloud service for centrally managing and controlling Microsoft Office 365 email signatures. Exclaimer provides users with a standardized high-quality signature when sent from any device. Users can work with either a pre-made template or the drag and drop signature editor to create personalized signatures. Best part: no HTML skills required!

At a time, when there are so many regulations from governments, corporate compliance and third-party regulators, Microsoft is guiding the path to more granular data location controls within organizations on a global scale with their Multi-Geo feature. This feature gives organizations with Office 365 the ability to put their end user’s Office 365 data in different Microsoft data centers across the world and setup unique permissions for each country, and it is now available for Exchange Online and OneDrive for Business. Future releases of Multi-Geo will include support for SharePoint Online and Office 365 Groups.