UK Ministry of Defence on the frontline of cloud-based data protection with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection

By Ron Markezich as written on blogs.office.com

Today, providing security on any front requires a willingness to adopt leading-edge technologies. So it’s great to see the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in the United Kingdom assume a leadership role in their decision to adopt the Microsoft Cloud, as well as Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection and Customer Lockbox from a Microsoft U.K. data center.

According to Mike Stone, chief digital and information officer (CDIO) at the Ministry of Defence, Microsoft cloud services bring world-class reliability and performance to its operations in a way that fits perfectly with its digital transformation agenda:

“The MOD chose Microsoft cloud technologies to support our transition to a more cost-effective, modern and agile organisation. Microsoft offers the security, privacy, control and transparency that meets our stringent criteria for cloud services—all available from data centres in the U.K. Additional cloud-based services such as Advanced Threat Protection provide us with complementary capabilities to keep our employees productive and our network secure.”

Mike’s statement resonates with any highly regulated government entity that must find the right balance between enabling employees with anytime, anywhere data access while ensuring security.

Now that MOD mailboxes will be protected with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, staff will stay productive and secure around the clock. That’s because, despite the escalating severity and complexity of today’s malware, Advanced Threat Protection offers better protection and control. Additionally, with Customer Lockbox, the MOD gets full visibility and control of their customer data during service operations, which can help them meet compliance obligations.

Aligning its vision for digital transformation with the Microsoft Cloud, the MOD gets the best of both worlds—productivity-enhancing agility in a highly secure online environment. I’m happy to see that by empowering staff to achieve its goals in our rapidly evolving digital world, the MOD is entering a new era of heightened performance—at home and abroad.

Microsoft looks sexy again, and, at the moment, a little more innovative than Apple

By Mark Sullivan as written on news.fastcompany.com

After seeing the lineup of products Microsoft just announced it's hard to deny that the company's hardware group has got its game on. Microsoft has brought the Surface design approach to the desktop with the new Studio all-in-one, which has a screen that kneels down into a "drawing board" mode on the desktop. The Studio can also be controlled with a new kind of rotary input device called the "Dial" that sits on the display calling up digital menus on the touch screen around its base.

Apple is at a very different place in its history than Microsoft and its Surface line. But, I think, Microsoft gets points for taking some shots at offering people—in this case designers and other creative types—some new ways of doing their daily work. Microsoft, starting with last year's Surface Book, has been wooing the creative community that has long been Apple's domain. A year from now we'll know a lot more about how Microsoft has fared at winning those hearts and minds.

In the meantime, the people in the Surface Group, led by Panos Panay, seem like they're having fun. They're taking risks, not just coldly calculating market wants and answering with incremental features that already exist in other products. Meanwhile, in Cupertino, Apple will hold a press event to announce some new Macs tomorrow. We're already fairly sure we'll be seeing cool new OLED touch bar that will digitize the line of function keys at the top of the keyboard. Apple is still a deeply innovative company. I'm just glad to see that Microsoft is making a game of it.