Modern technology has enabled farmers to obtain impressive yields that sustain entire populations while allowing them to become as efficient as possible with their available resources. However, most of this technology is dependent upon stable electrical grids, large-scale aqueducts, and a steady fuel supply, all of which are not readily available to millions of farmers around the world.

One of these farmers is Monica, who depended on a water well located on her property as her only water source to sustain both her farm and her family. To make matters worse, climate change made rain increasingly scarce in her region of Kenya, Africa, which further decreased her available water supply and forced her to work harder just to maintain her current yields. Thankfully, just as things seemed impossible, digital transformation provided her with the solution she needed to secure a better future.

In this video, you’ll learn about Monica’s story and how, thanks to solar-powered Microsoft technology, she was able to automate her entire irrigation system, gain access to accurate weather forecasts, and obtain more income year round.

In any type of organization, ensuring the resilience of your applications is a top priority. In other words, protecting your data against any and all threats is important, but certifying the recoverability and safety of your data in case of an incident can be just as crucial to guaranteeing the continuity of your business.

This is especially important for public entities and governments, whose records include the data of millions of citizens, providers, and classified documents. For these organizations, constantly optimizing business processes to ensure the security and resilience of all their devices, platforms, and applications must become a vital part of their overall digital strategy.

In this video, you’ll gain insights into how the City of Houston, Texas leverages Microsoft technology to constantly improve the reliability of their data and increase the effectiveness of their public services.

Regardless of how skilled you are at creating shopping lists or how well you know your local supermarket’s floor layout, you’ll most likely be revisiting the same aisles in search of items you missed. In other words, shopping for groceries is far from becoming the most time-efficient activity on people’s to-do lists—or at least that’s how it was until digital transformation came along. Now, thanks to the IoT and cloud technology, grocery retailers are discovering innovative ways to streamline their customers’ shopping experiences and increase revenue by providing relevant offers based on their unique profile.

In this video, you’ll learn how Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain, is using its Scan, Bag, Go solution to help consumers navigate its retail stores in the most efficient way possible. You’ll also watch how IoT devices and Microsoft technology integrate seamlessly to enable convenient features such as self-checkout, a real-time subtotal count, and personalized advertising within the store’s digital shelves.

In most of our homes, we utilize and depend on the cloud in multiple ways every single day—think online banking and shopping, social media, email and doorbell video cameras. “It might be the first time in history that our habits at home have outpaced how we function at work,” writes Tyler Bowman in his Forbes article, “It’s 2020. Do You Know Where Your Digital Future Is?”

Bowman addresses three main lingering concerns in the corporate world, including generational divide. “Millennials are driving a market disruption that many CEOs are grappling to embrace,” Bowman adds, however, that this difference does not need to result in irreconcilable work practices and values. His suggestions for embracing the disruption support his main point, which is it’s just a matter of time before our cloud utilization at work catches up to our already existing cloud dependency at home.

Read this article for interesting perspective on the corporate cloud in 2020 and beyond.

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The benefits of AI are undeniable, yet the technology itself is still not widely seen as a surefire investment by a large percentage of today’s decision makers. As a matter of fact, a recent study revealed that only 40 percent out of 1,500 executives have stated that they’re currently executing one AI initiative, or are in the process of doing so. There are multiple reasons for this— among them, a shortage of AI professionals, plus challenges when calculating profitability —but the real silver lining is that the fight for greater inclusion of AI-driven projects starts by bringing solid arguments to the boardroom.

In this article, you’ll read about four evidence-based and time-proven cases you can use to push forward the execution of your artificial intelligence initiatives.

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It’s been made clear that focusing on their customers’ experiences is every retailer’s top priority. However, part of the reason why this challenge is so complex is due to the logistics of running a retail business. Backend logistics, manual tasks, paper-intensive procedures, and item return processes are just some of the factors that decision makers and employees must manage daily, which takes away time from strategy or innovation.

Thankfully, emerging technologies are enabling businesses to automate the least creative aspects of their daily operations. This, in turn, empowers their workforce to truly focus their attention on what really matters: their customers. In this article, you’ll learn about the 6 most defining and value-adding tech trends available for retailers at the turn of this decade.

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According to Verizon’s Mobile Security Index (MSI) 2020, 39 percent of organizations admitted that they’ve experienced a security compromise involving a mobile device. This becomes much more concerning when you consider that the average loss from a successful business-email compromise attack is nearly $130,000. However, despite the risk and huge losses, only 13 percent of enterprises have adopted regular security screening, data encryption, need-to-know access, and no default passwords corporate wide.

So why are companies actively putting themselves at such risk, and what solutions are currently available to protect them from the latest security threats? Learn the answer to these questions and obtain greater insights into today’s mobile cybersecurity landscape in this article.

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in European law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside of these areas.

To meet General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, Microsoft has implemented technical (tooling) and organizational measures (processes) to ensure that data processing is in accordance with GDPR privacy regulations. The actual path will be different for every organization, but general resources are available in a Service Trust Portal that Microsoft has created for customers to get started.

This white paper provides a good overview of GDPR and includes many links to sites with more specific information for associated topics. Contact us if you have questions!

View: SQL Server and Azure SQL Database GDPR Guidance Paper

Today, artificial intelligence is becoming essential to the daily operations of the world’s leading enterprises. This integration has allowed subsequent breakthroughs in AI to trickle down into other industries and smaller-sized businesses, allowing them to reap the benefits of technological advancement and automation. Thanks to this snowball effect, artificial intelligence is no longer the work of science fiction, but a relevant and necessary tool that can help you achieve previously unattainable business opportunities and increase efficiency like never before.

In this infographic, you’ll learn more about the history of Microsoft’s AI breakthroughs to gain a better perspective on how your current initiatives can be complemented or enhanced by Azure AI.

View: Begin your artificial intelligence journey with Microsoft

It’s no secret that the retail industry has evolved significantly since the turn of the century. Heavily influenced by the digital business revolution that took every industry by storm, retailers have seen perhaps one of the most drastic changes in their customer base than any other type of business. So, what are the defining factors that have driven change in the way the retail industry operates? Find out by reading this infographic.

View: The retail industry is evolving