With that in mind, here are the Inspire announcements that caught my eye:
The Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform will serve as the expanded front door for many organisations, as well as being the first and main contact experience due to the pandemic. Data#3’s Business Applications Development team has previously delivered Contact Center solutions based on the Dynamics 365 platform, however there was a lack of native integration with Microsoft’s other cloud platform offerings to make the experience of the customer service agent simpler.
The announcement of the Digital Contact Center Platform addresses many of the solution silos in existing Contact Center solutions. By leveraging the new AI capability of voice-to-text, an agent can provide more effective self-service with live or virtual agents. As Data#3 also has a strong Modern Work practice, we can integrate Teams Voice solutions for Contact Center and build rich analytics solutions through our Data & Analytics practice to support effective decision making.
The introduction of the Excel live feature extends the ability of team members to collaborate in real-time on Excel workbooks. Instead of sharing a spreadsheet through screen sharing – with participants watching someone edit in real time – a team can effectively collaborate on the workbook together in real-time, enhancing remote collaboration.
Microsoft has put a lot of emphasis on the remote meeting participant in their development efforts as a result of the pandemic and shift to remote working, a trend which looks set to continue into the future. These enhancements are evidence of Microsoft’s shift in focus to ensure both room-based participants and remote participants have an equally rich meeting experience.
AI-powered cameras from certified OEM partners provide a more equitable experience for those that are joining Teams meetings remotely with attendees that are in a meeting room. This solution allows attendees that are in the meeting room to be more easily seen and, as updates to this feature roll out, there will even be multiple streams of attendees in the meeting room so they will appear in a similar format to the remote attendees, making for a more inclusive meeting.
The Microsoft Viva announcements demonstrate that Microsoft will continue their investment into this employee experience platform. With remote working teams resulting in reduced personal interaction, building virtual communities and personal connection and well-being is important going forwards.
Data#3 also has a large ecosystem of third-party ISV vendor partners, so the ISV Success Program will be important in building joint solutions for our shared customers. We already participate with Microsoft in the Commercial Marketplace, with the ability to set up cloud sandboxes to evaluate solutions and technical and business resources beneficial to our customers in order to ensure the application is the right fit for their business.
We were also very excited to have been named as the worldwide Microsoft Surface+ Partner of the Year. This has been an exceptional year for Data#3 in terms of accolades. What a fantastic achievement to take home the worldwide Surface + Partner of the Year award, just one month after being named the worldwide Microsoft Device Distributor/Reseller Partner of the Year.
This award is testament to the work we do every day to combine Surface devices with security and modern management solutions for our customers. We look forward to continuing our work in helping customers to deliver their digital future.
For more information on how exactly Data#3, Australia’s leading Microsoft partner, can help you leverage their capabilities to deliver your digital future, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here.