FabCon, operational resiliency and more
Cloud Direct
Cloud Direct is one of the UK's leading Microsoft partners. We help our customers achieve fearless growth.
Did you know that the earth is slowing down?
Well, now you do.
Sorry, that's quite a dramatic start, but it was a fact that really stood out to me when I picked up 101 Science Facts for Hedgehogs this week... a spine-tingling read.
It's pretty remarkable that each century the earth takes an extra 1.8 seconds to rotate. Some 600 million years ago one day only lasted 21 hours, but now you've got all that extra time to catch up on all things Microsoft – aren't you lucky?! No use hanging around though, so let's get stuck in to...
?? The inaugural European Fabric Conference
??? What the operational resiliency experts are saying
?? Microsoft's trustworthy AI pledge
?? New and improved Copilot
?? Our brand-new LinkedIn Live series
The clock's ticking on those extra three hours...
What's new with Microsoft Fabric ??
First stop, Stockholm. This week, the world's foremost data professional and community collaborators have headed to Sweden for the first-ever European Fabric Conference, or FabCon. This four-day event has seen some of Microsoft's head honchos deliver talks on its full suite of data products, share their knowledge in interactive workshops, and explore the full possibility of everything Fabric has to offer.
Those who weren't able to make it to Sweden were able to watch on from afar, including our Data Practice Lead Dr Victoria Holt FBCS , who I caught up with following the event's premiere keynote speech on Wednesday.
"The unveiling of yet more Fabric capabilities has been really exciting to see," she said. "The focus on security is a reflection of Microsoft's key priorities at the moment, and enables businesses to build even stronger foundations for their data.
"Customers stand to benefit in a number of ways – from increased speed of deployment with Infrastructure as Code entering public preview, to the embedded Copilot making technical tasks much more straightforward and easier to manage."
"We have been helping businesses build stable and secure cloud environments for a long time. Before it was just a case of keeping businesses safe, but now our work is doing much more than that and allowing them to explore and exploit innovative new technologies that, ultimately, will improve their processes make them better businesses."
There's a lot more technical stuff to catch up on – a lot of which, admittedly, confused me a bit... but I guess that's why we appointed one of the UK's leading data governance professionals to head up our Data Practice, and not a little blue hedgehog.
Everything you need to know about operational resiliency ??
Last week, our FSI team headed to The Gherkin to host a second breakfast briefing and explore the importance of operational resiliency with technical leaders from the industry. We were delighted to be joined by James Hardy , former Chief Resiliency Officer at 美国道富银行 , whose engaging and insightful talk did a fantastic job of setting the scene, exploring the challenges, unpicking past examples and outlining the role of resiliency in the industry.
We were also joined once again by 微软 's Yasser Toson , who demonstrated the role that Microsoft plays in managing and maintaining operational resiliency with its range of products, including the newly introduced Azure Chaos Studio and Azure Business Continuity Centre. In fact, we grabbed a quick word with him outside to hear a little bit more...
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If you weren't able to join us at The Gherkin, then you can catch up over on The Learning Hub. You'll be able to watch the full talks and presentations, listen in to questions from those in attendance, and find out what your next steps might look like in becoming a more resilient organisation. You'll have to provide your own breakfast, though.
How Microsoft is creating trust in its AI ??
As AI continues to make an impact on just about everything we do, Microsoft has been eager to reaffirm its commitments to providing customers with safe and trustworthy products to innovate with.
In a new blog post that outlines its three core tenets of trustworthy AI – security, safety, and privacy – we have the opportunity to hear from some of Microsoft's leading voices on the changes it has been, is, and will be making to ensure that AI remains a safe and viable tool to empower your business with. Voices include Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton, Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto, Chief Technical Officer Mark Russinovich, and a whole host of others.
The blog is also packed with examples, definitions, and loads more to learn about how Microsoft is ensuring that its artificial intelligence is a trustworthy tool that will help your business grow better.
Copilot Wave 2 takes off ??
Speaking of Microsoft's AI tools, there's been a few changes to Copilot since we last spoke. Wave 2 has now launched, which has seen a range of customer feedback implemented and acted upon to make for a smoother, speedier, and more telling user experience.
How Copilot is used within M365 apps has been tweaked, Copilot Agents have been improved after their recent launch, and there's now Copilot Pages to make the most of. Oh, and perhaps most notably, Microsoft confirmed that Copilot is now using OpenAI's latest and greatest large language model GPT-4o, putting the world's most powerful AI engine at your fingertips.
ZDNET has done a great job at summarising the updates, so head to their website to get yourself up to date in a matter of minutes and to make sure you're making the most of Copilot.
The Security Lab is open for business ??
Last, but by no means least, is a nod in the direction of our brand-new LinkedIn Live series. Once a month, an expert from the world of cybersecurity will join us in The Security Lab to explain and explore the role Microsoft plays in protecting your business, without holding it back from innovating.
Yesterday, in our very first episode, host Leon Godwin was joined by 微软 's Aileen F. , a hugely experienced technical specialist in the E5 Suite, to look at the capabilities and remit of XDR as part of the Defender suite – if you head over to our main feed, you'll be able to catch up on this.
These intimate, open conversations will take place live each month as we work our way through the full suite of Microsoft security products, to demonstrate both the importance and possibilities of a truly secure business. Next up we'll be chatting to another of Microsoft's technical specialists, Karim Fayad , all about Purview... so keep your eyes peeled!
Right, 10 minutes down, and time to go and make the most of those extra 2 hours and 50 minutes. How did anyone get anything done 600 million years ago?
See you in October,
Eric ??