Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Explore ways to use Azure AI tools to build cloud-native apps that elevate customer experiences and drive business growth.

Get the e-book Using AI to Build Intelligent Apps that Delight Customers to read how four enterprise companies are using Azure AI to deepen customer satisfaction, drive immediate business results, and position themselves for long-term success.

Read the e-book to:

• See how to accelerate innovation by streamlining development and offering intelligent services that work across data types, environments, and skill levels.
• Discover why intelligent apps are beloved by customers and why they outperform traditional apps in flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency.
• Explore case studies from Microsoft customers and see the Azure solutions they’re using to gain a competitive edge.

Download the eBook here:

• DOWNLOAD: eBook, “Using AI to Build Intelligent Apps that Delight Customers” (.PDF)
  https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-using-ai-to-build-apps-that-delight-customers.html?lcid=en-us

Are you using Microsoft Defender for Office 365? Hopefully, you’re aware of the “Configuration Analyzer”.

Configuration analyzer in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps you find and fix security policies that are less secure than the recommended settings. It allows you to compare your current policies with the standard or strict preset policies, lets you apply recommendations to improve your security posture, and view historical changes to your policies. 

There are 3 new improvements made to the Configuration Analyzer:

New Recommendations:

1. Safe links Policy: Create Custom safe links policy.
2. Outlook: Configure External tag in Outlook.
3. Anti Phishing Policy: Enable First contact safety tips.
4. DKIM: Configure DKIM and SPF for your domains.
5. Built-in Protection Policy: Remove Built-in protection exclusions.

New Flyout Experience:

• Clicking on a recommendation will now open a flyout that has brief detail about why we are making the recommendation as well as targeted links to documentation to learn more about.

Exporting the Recommendations:

• A new Export button should appear when you select one or multiple recommendations. Clicking on the Export button will download the selected recommendations as a CSV file which can be shared with your external partners who might not have access to your environment.

View the announcement post here:

• BLOG: Updates to Configuration Analyzer in Microsoft defender for Office 365
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-defender-for-office/updates-to-configuration-analyzer-in-microsoft-defender-for/ba-p/4043087

Some folks have heard me use the generic term, “AI Czar”, as in an individual designated as the point of contact for knowledge, strategy & guidance around the use of artificial intelligence within a municipal entity.

Well, many organizations are taking this to a leadership level with a CxO title: The “Chief AI Officer”.

A quote for Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s Corporate VP of Modern Work & Business Applications:

In the midst of the #AI boom, a new leadership role is emerging: the rise of senior executives devoted to AI. This piece from The New York Times showcases Mayo Clinic‘s pioneering decision to appoint a Chief AI Officer, Dr. Bhavik Patel. Leading groundbreaking AI initiatives at Mayo Clinic, Patel is spearheading efforts to revolutionize healthcare. This move mirrors a trend seen across various sectors, with companies like Florida Blue and Accenture also appointing executives to spearhead AI endeavors.

From hospitals to law firms, the rise of #AILeadership positions signals a new era of innovation. As industries race to the potential of AI, executive roles such as Patel’s become crucial in navigating the transformative power of this technology. Dive into the full article to explore how companies worldwide are embracing AI leadership to shape the future of their respective industries.

Read the New York Times article Jared is referencing here:

• Hottest Job in Corporate America? The Executive in Charge of A.I.
  Many feared that artificial intelligence would kill jobs. But hospitals, insurance companies and others are creating roles to navigate and harness the disruptive technology.
  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/technology/us-jobs-ai-chatgpt-tech.html
  (https://archive.ph/FCHZ2)

Customers must migrate off the legacy Log Analytics agents (Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA), Operations Management Suite (OMS)) by August 31st, 2024 to remain supported.

Action required
Please be sure to plan appropriately to ensure you have ample time to complete the migration. All legacy agents need to migrated to Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) by August 31, 2024.

Resources to help you:

• Learn about Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) migration:
  Migrate to Azure Monitor Agent from Log Analytics agent
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/agents/azure-monitor-agent-migration
• Migrate using migration tools:
  Tools for migrating to Azure Monitor Agent from legacy agents
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/agents/azure-monitor-agent-migration-tools
• Ask your Unified Enterprise CSAM about the “Proof of Concept for Monitoring Workloads” value-based delivery (Datasheet Page 1 image to the left)

As announced last year, after March 31, 2024, any classic Teams users that haven’t updated to new Teams will be automatically updated to new Teams. ‌It only takes one click to update to new Teams. Users can easily pick up and resume exactly where they left off in classic Teams and their chat messages, Teams and channels, and apps will appear in new Teams.

‌Note:

• The classic Teams for Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) will reach the end of availability on June 30, 2024.
• Windows Server 2016 is not supported with new Teams. VDI Customers should plan to update to Windows Server 2019 (10.0.17763) or Windows Server 2022 (10.0.20348) or higher to get started on their new Teams journey. For details on VDI system requirements, visit this page.
• The auto-update timeline of March 31, 2024, will not impact Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) and Surface Hub devices.
• Users of the Teams Windows desktop app must have Windows 10 version 10.0.19041 or above to access new Teams. The prerequisites for new Teams can be found here.
• If you are using the Admin-controlled policies for manage the New Teams client rollout, as outlined in Upgrade to the new Teams using policies, know that these policies will no longer be honored at the start of April, apart from your VDI users, and the following changes will happen:
• New Teams will be installed and become the default client. The toggle to return to classic Teams will still be available if needed.
• In mid-May, any users remaining on classic Teams will be switched to new Teams, and the toggle to return to classic Teams will no longer be available. We’ll attempt to uninstall classic Teams, currently after a period of 14 days.

Action:

• With March 31, 2024, being less than two months away, we ask that if you are still on classic Teams, to update to new Teams as early as possible.
• Know that starting from this month, any classic Teams users who haven’t updated to new Teams will see an informational banner to remind them about the timeline for the auto update.
• We recently introduced the new Teams usage report in the Teams Admin Center. The client usage report gives customers an overview of the Teams desktop clients in use within their organization. It highlights platform (Windows or Mac), app version, and user type (preview or production) to help customers better understand the current state of their user’s desktop clients. Please try out the usage report tool.

Resources

• User experience before and after March 31, 2024
• Auto-update announcement

Kijo Girardi, a security escalation engineer with Microsoft wrote a PowerShell script he calls, “MDE Tester”. MDE Tester tests the following features:

• Microsoft Defender SmartScreen
• Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard, Network Protection
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, URL Indicators
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Web Content Filtering

Get his PowerShell script here:

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tester
  https://github.com/LearningKijo/MDEtester

Interested in Microsoft Surface or Windows AI?

Microsoft will be running an online event on March 21 entitled, “Advancing the new era of work with Copilot – Tune in here for the latest in scaling AI in your environment with Copilot, Windows, and Surface.”

The event is rumored to highlight the upcoming Surface Laptop 6 & Surface Pro 10, slated for later this month.

• Date/Time:
  March 21, 2024
  9:00AM PT

• Registration/Viewing:
  “New Era of Work” – Online – March 21, 2024
  https://modernworkannounce.event.microsoft.com/?ranMID=24542

Wish you could view recordings of the PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst instructor-led training?

ON DEMAND INSTRUCTOR-LED PL-300
Well, now you can with the On Demand Instructor-led Training Series.  There are several trainings available but this one, PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst, is quite remarkable, going through 13 modules – everything in the course.

Check it out below:

• PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst – On Demand Instructor-led Training Series
  1. Course Introduction (1 of 13)
  2. Discover Data Analysis And Getting Started With Building Power BI (2 of 13)
  3. Get Data In Power BI (3 of 13)
  4. Clean, Transform, And Load Data In Power BI (4 of 13)
  5. Design A Data Model In Power BI (5 of 13)
  6. Introduction To Creating Measures Using Data Analysis Expressions In Power BI (6 of 13)
  7. Optimize A Model For Performance In Power BI (7 of 13)
  8. Work With Power BI Visuals (8 of 13)
  9. Create Dashboards In Power BI (9 of 13)
  10. Identify Patterns And Trends (10 of 13)
  11. Create And Manage Workspaces In Power BI (11 of 13)
  12. Manage Datasets In Power BI (12 of 13)
  13. Implement Row Level Security (13 of 13)

PL-300 LEARNING PATH:
This may be useful in concert with our written “Learning Path” training for PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst:

• Get started with Microsoft data analytics
• Prepare data for analysis with Power BI
• Model data with Power BI
• Build Power BI visuals and reports
• Manage workspaces and datasets in Power BI

There are other learning paths for Power BI beyond the PL-300 training, such as:

• Create and use analytics reports with Power BI
• Develop dynamic reports with Microsoft Power BI 
• Consume data with Power BI
• Introduction to Power BI administration
• Power BI for Tableau users

Search for more at:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/browse/?terms=power%20bi&resource_type=learning%20path

We’re honored to be named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection Platforms.

Learn how Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides AI-powered, industry-leading detection and response across platforms, devices, and IoT:

• Microsoft named a Leader for 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection Platforms
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/01/12/microsoft-is-named-a-leader-in-the-2023-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-endpoint-protection-platforms

Looking for training around Microsoft 365 Copilot? Your first step should be to download the Learning Pathway document which is a 3 page highly-hyperlinked guide to the available training & resources for people undertaking the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365:

• Learning Pathways: Copilot for Microsoft 365 (.PDF, 3 pages)
  https://learning-pathways.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Copilot-for-Microsoft-365-Learning-Pathway.pdf

The following are SELF-PACED LEARNING COURSES for Microsoft 365 Copilot:

• Optimize productivity with Copilot for Microsoft 365 (for business users)
  Course MS-4004—A: Optimize productivity with Copilot for Microsoft 365
• Craft effective prompts for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 (for business users)
  Course MS-4005—A: Craft effective prompts for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
• [COMING SOON] Copilot for Microsoft 365 for Administrators (for administrators)
  Course MS-4006—A: Copilot for Microsoft 365 for Administrators

The following are SELF-PACED LEARNING PATHS that contain multiple learning modules for Microsoft 365 Copilot:

• End Users
  • Get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Introduction to Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Explore the possibilities with Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Optimize and extend Copilot for Microsoft 365
  • Craft effective prompts for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Summarize with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Create and draft with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Edit and transform content with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Ask questions and analyze content with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
• Administrators
  • Prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • MS-012 Prepare your organization for Copilot for Microsoft 365
      • Examine the Copilot for Microsoft 365 design
      • Implement Copilot for Microsoft 365
      • Examine data security and compliance in Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365: Part 1 – Design and prerequisites
      • Examine the Copilot for Microsoft 365 design
      • Implement Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365: Part 2 – Administrative roles and Tenant health
      • Configure administrative roles in Microsoft 365
      • Manage tenant health and services in Microsoft 365
    • Prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365: Part 3 – Threat protection
      • Explore threat intelligence in Microsoft Defender XDR
      • Implement app protection by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
      • Implement endpoint protection by using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
      • Implement threat protection by using Microsoft Defender for Office 365
    • Prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365: Part 4 – Protecting sensitive data
      • Implement data classification of sensitive information
      • Explore sensitivity labels
      • Implement sensitivity labels
      • Explore Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention
      • Implement Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention
  • Extend and manage Microsoft Copilot Studio copilots
    • Manage Microsoft Copilot Studio
    • Set up a Microsoft Copilot Studio copilot for voice
    • Use Azure AI Services for Language in a Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Adoption
  • Discover how to successfully drive adoption of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 in your organization
    • Explore adoption methods and strategies for the adoption of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Envision a successful adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365
    • Onboard and empower your employees to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 efficiently
  • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365 Use Cases
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Executives Use Case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Sales use case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: IT Use Case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Marketing Use Case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Finance Use Case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: HR Use Case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Operations use case
    • Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365: Challenge Use Case
• Development
  • Create copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio – Online Workshop
    • Plan your first copilot – Online workshop
    • Create your first copilot in Microsoft Copilot Studio – Online workshop
    • Authoring 101: writing in unified authoring – Online workshop
    • Build Power Automate flows for your copilot – Online workshop
  • Create Copilots with Copilot Studio
    • Get started with Microsoft Copilot Studio
    • Manage topics in Microsoft Copilot Studio
    • Work with entities and variables in Microsoft Copilot Studio
    • Enhance Microsoft Copilot Studio bots
    • Build effective copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio
  • Create Power Platform solutions with AI and Copilot
    • Build a Power Apps canvas app for a real estate solution with data from Excel
    • Build a canvas app for a real estate solution with Copilot in Power Apps
    • Build flows for a real estate solution using Copilot in Power Automate
    • Create copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio
    • Add intelligence with AI Builder and GPT
  • Integrate external content with Copilot for Microsoft 365 using Microsoft Graph connectors built with .NET

Tech Accelerator for Copilot for Microsoft 365
We recorded 2 days of insights, demos, and deep dives on Copilot for Microsoft 365 in this event called the “Tech Accelerator for Copilot for Microsoft 365”. We had breakout sessions and live Q&A with Microsoft experts—all so you can learn more about how Copilot works, how you can prepare your tenant, strategies to help skill your users and drive adoption, and how you can measure and maximize the impact of Copilot for your organization.

Watch all the recordings at http://aka.ms/AccelerateCopilot. Here are the individual sessions:

Unified Support
For folks with Unified Support contracts, there’s a lot of offerings available – each with different lengths & costs against your proactive credit allocation:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Activation (3 day)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Pilot (3 day)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Optimization (3 day)
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 Extensibility Activation (3-5 day)
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 Extensibility Pilot (2-3 day)
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 Extensibility Workshop (1-2 day)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot for Adoption Acceleration (3-5 day)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Workshop (3 day)
• WorkshopPLUS – Power Platform – Copilot Studio (1 day)

Contact your Unified Support “Customer Success Account Manager” for more details.

Adopting Copilot for Microsoft 365
At a higher level, get all the details on Copilot for Microsoft 365, its functionality, and the Microsoft goal of implementing AI responsibly and ethically. Learn the purpose and functionalities of Copilot for Microsoft 365, the working principles behind it, and its core components.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/collections/0d6so53jrrgpq