Creativity is like a living organism. It requires the right conditions to appear, careful nurturing to become more capable, and a diverse ecosystem to thrive. However, just like any organism, it can disappear in an instant if its environment doesn’t provide the conditions it needs to grow and reach its full potential.

Ironically, nothing generates the mass extinction of creative ideas faster than alienating cubicles. So organizations quickly began to change from the inside to create environments that foster innovation and dynamic work methodologies. With the advent of digital, they realized that not only did physical spaces need to change, but also their digital counterparts. Let’s face it—when was the last time you read a company-wide email reply and thought it was a good thing?

In this video, you’ll learn the inspiring example of how J. Walter Thompson—one of the largest communication agencies in the world—has mastered the art of digital collaboration thanks to Microsoft Teams. From collaborating with the world’s leading experts in prosthetics to give a veteran the ability to once again swim with his family, to simply networking and having fun, you’ll see how Teams is much more than a work tool—it’s a hub for inspiration and creativity.

Cloud adoption is well underway but when it comes to making the move, Microsoft research shows that SMBs lag behind enterprise counterparts. In fact, 96% of enterprises are using the cloud, whereas only 78% of SMBs are following suit.

As you know the cloud can be a game changer for businesses–big and small! This week’s infographic demonstrates the ten most crucial benefits that SMBs report after investing in cloud solutions.

View: The Top 10 Reasons Why SMBs Should Invest in the Cloud

This capabilities guide provides valuable information regarding the key benefits and core capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It reinforces the impact of integrating with Office 365 and includes five insightful competencies.

Leave behind a digital or printed copy with your customers or share on your favorite social media platforms.

View: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: A comprehensive business management solution for SMBs

Allowing employees to access company data from personal devices can be essential to creating work-life balance, but employee-owned devices can also pose security threats. Check out this article for an overview of the risks and benefits of implementing a bring-your-own-device policy.

Contact us for more information on how to help your company secure company data accessed from personal devices.

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By now, you’re very aware of the hugely successful IoT implementations some companies have released into the market. Wearables, smartphones, smart cars, and even smart traffic lights have made headlines across the world. But what about the stuff that doesn’t make headlines? Some IoT applications—such as those we use around the office—may not be as exciting as others, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t as useful or interesting.

In this article, you’ll learn about IoT applications that are revolutionizing the workplace and how each of them can add value to products and services we didn’t even know could be automated. From coffee machines to smart office heat mapping, these are 8 ways your office could be getting smarter in the near future.

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Customer experiences are everything. Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter what you think they are, it matters what the customer perceives them to be. This means that accurately obtaining feedback from them is vital to keeping your business alive and consistently delivering the service that your clients expect from you.

In theory, this is what customer services is for. But your customer services teams are only as effective as the data you give them to work with. You could have the best resources in the world, but if they can’t quickly and accurately access your clients’ data the moment they need it, they’re dead in the water. And so, too, is your business in the long run.

In this article, you’ll learn 5 ways in which CRM software can empower your customer-facing teams with tools to better address client issues and draw insights to create a more empathic service. You’ll also learn how it lowers the cost of each customer interaction by lowering the need to address recurring issues, and how it can become crucial to other departments such as sales, marketing, and development.

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Long gone are the days when the bulk of office communication was made via lengthy, often incomprehensible email threads. Also going extinct—thankfully— are the colossal company-wide emails that were often responded to by recipients using the “reply all” button.

Today’s corporate communication is evolving—not to the Orwellian, drone-like future portrayed in the movies, but toward a more multimedia-focused and casual approach. Nowadays, boring project management software is losing traction to intuitive digital tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams which enable communication and collaboration to happen from a single platform.

In this article, you’ll learn about the major trends that are transforming office communications around the world. You’ll also gain insight into how several industry leaders envision the future of collaboration, and what tools they’re using within their organizations to push forward projects worldwide.

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Although Garner Foods is based in South Carolina, they sell hot sauce and Green Mountain Gringo brand products all over the world. With digital tools, their projects are easily managed remotely, and team members can work from anywhere.

Garner Foods chose to partner with Microsoft 365 Business to easily onboard new employees and to secure company data stored on countless devices. With employees and sales representatives traveling all over the United States, being able to securely work and collaborate from any device has played a huge role in the company’s ongoing success.

Imagine you’ve worked hard to plan and strategize your IoT roadmap. You’ve finally established what devices you want to connect and how you’re going to use that data to drive growth for your business. You’ve also convinced the board and other stakeholders about your strategy and have gotten the green light to begin ASAP. So you’re all set, right? Well, not exactly. What’s missing is one of the most challenging and crucial steps for most companies—one that can completely make or break your entire initiative: choosing the correct platform on which to execute your IoT program.

Ideally, you want a platform that allows devices to connect seamlessly —of course—but you also need flexibility, scalability, security, and the ability to transform data into dashboards to obtain insights.

In this infographic, you’ll learn how Microsoft IoT Central meets all of these requirements while delivering an intuitive and highly customizable UI that can and will adapt to your business, not the other way around.

View: Create a connected business powered by Microsoft

Imagine you’ve worked hard to plan and strategize your IoT roadmap. You’ve finally established what devices you want to connect and how you’re going to use that data to drive growth for your business. You’ve also convinced the board and other stakeholders about your strategy and have gotten the green light to begin ASAP. So you’re all set, right? Well, not exactly. What’s missing is one of the most challenging and crucial steps for most companies—one that can completely make or break your entire initiative: choosing the correct platform on which to execute your IoT program.

Ideally, you want a platform that allows devices to connect seamlessly —of course—but you also need flexibility, scalability, security, and the ability to transform data into dashboards to obtain insights.

In this infographic, you’ll learn how Microsoft IoT Central meets all of these requirements while delivering an intuitive and highly customizable UI that can and will adapt to your business, not the other way around.

View: Create a connected business powered by Microsoft