Business

How to optimise for the new world of hybrid work

Published

2 years ago

November 7, 2021

The work environment has changed in a post-COVID world, making it imperative for business owners and employees to seek new ways of working to achieve common goals.

There is already a remedy to help businesses transition to this new work environment, according to Microsoft Influencer Events Team.

Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft in his opening remarks at Microsoft Ignite 2021 discussed how Microsoft and the Microsoft Cloud are at the cutting edge of helping organisations and their employees and customers navigate the major trends of this new time: How to optimise for the new world of hybrid work; how to help customers build hyperconnected business; how every business can become a digital business; how to protect everything with end-to-end security.

“At Ignite, we are introducing more than 90 new services and updates and will feature tech sessions that dive into news and demos from: Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Microsoft 365; Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Industry, Apps, and Data Marketing; Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud & AI; Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president, Security, Compliance, and Identity.”

News highlights

Powering the metaverse. The Microsoft Cloud provides a comprehensive set of resources designed to power metaverses – there will be more than one! At Ignite, we are making two important announcements that continue the evolution of the metaverse: Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces. Now in preview, this product provides a new perspective on the way people move and interact with nearly any space, from the retail store to the factory floor, and how they manage health and safety in a hybrid work environment; Mesh for Microsoft Teams. This bridging of communication methods makes human presence the ultimate connection. Now, everyone in a meeting can be present without being physically present using personalized avatars and immersive spaces that can be accessed from any device, with no special equipment needed.

Translating AI breakthroughs for customers. Large scale artificial intelligence models are now becoming platforms, creating ambient intelligence – digital environments that are responsive and aware of a user’s needs.

Azure OpenAI Service. This new service will give customers access to OpenAI’s powerful models in addition to the security, reliability, compliance, data privacy and other enterprise-grade capabilities built into Microsoft Azure. Microsoft also is offering Azure OpenAI Service customers tools to ensure outputs the models provide are business-appropriate and we are monitoring how people are employing the technology to assure it is being used correctly.

Building a trust fabric. As we continue to explore hybrid work, hyperconnected business, multi-cloud/multi-edge computing and zero trust security, there’s one key element that connects them: the ability to have a digital ecosystem where trust between parties can be established in real time.

Teams Shared Channels allows users to invite an external team to join a channel, schedule a shared channel meeting and collaborate on files.

Chat with Teams allows users to chat seamlessly with people outside of a work network. Teams users at work can chat with any Teams user with a Microsoft personal email address or phone number and remain within the security and compliance protocols of their organization.

Important Updates

Microsoft Loop, a new app that moves freely across applications, enabling teams to think, plan and create together. You can organize everything you need for your project – files, links and data from other apps – into a single workspace. It is easy to use portable components to complete work in chat, meetings or documents, knowing that the content always stays in sync. The Microsoft Customer Experience Platform, a marketing solution that puts organizations in control of their customer data to personalize, automate and orchestrate customer journeys.

Context IQ, a set of capabilities that will further integrate collaboration, sharing and communication in the flow of work across Dynamics 365, Office 365 and Teams. Several major updates across Azure, including how we are helping customers manage data and applications across hybrid and multicloud environments with Azure Arc, new, best-of-breed security solutions for small businesses with Defender for Business.

Business

CBN sells dollar to BDCs at N1,021/$1

Published

12 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Trends Admin

CBN sells dollar to BDCs at N1,021/$1

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a $10,000 sale to each licensed Bureau De Change (BDC) operator nationwide.

The apex bank has made its second intervention this month.

The CBN detailed the action in a circular issued to the President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators (ABCON).

BDCs can purchase dollars at a rate of N1,021 per dollar.

CBN sells dollar to BDCs at N1,021/$1

Business

Dangote refinery further drops diesel price to N940/litre

Published

14 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Trends Admin

Dangote refinery further drops diesel price to N940/litre

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced a further reduction in the price of both diesel to N940 per litre.

This is coming a few days after the refinery reduced diesel price to N1,000 per litre.

It also gave a new price for aviation fuel, pegging it at N980 per litre.

It disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, saying the diesel price change of N940 is applicable to customers buying five million litres or more from the refinery, while those purchasing one million litres or more will pay N970.

It said this marked the third major reduction in diesel price “in less than three weeks when the product sold at N1,700 to N1,200 and also a further reduction to N1,000 and now N940 for diesel and N980 for aviation fuel per litre”.

Speaking on the new development, Anthony Chiejina, head of communication, Dangote Group, said the new price was in tandem with the company’s commitment to alleviating the effect of economic hardship in Nigeria.

“I can confirm to you that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has entered a strategic partnership with MRS Oil and Gas stations, to ensure that consumers get to buy fuel at affordable price, in all their stations, be it Lagos or Maiduguri,” he said.

“You can buy as low as one litre of diesel at N1,050 and aviation fuel at N980 at all major airports where MRS operates.”

He said the partnership would be extended to other major oil marketers.

“The essence of this is to ensure that retail buyers do not buy at exorbitant prices,” he said.

“The Dangote Group is committed to ensuring that Nigerians have a better welfare and as such, we are happy to announce this new prices and hope that it would go a long way to cushion the effect of economic challenges in the country.”

Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ajayi Kadiri, said the decision “to first crash the price from about N1,750/litre to N1,200/litre, N1,000/litre and now N940 is an eloquent demonstration of the capacity of local industries to positively impact the fortunes of the national economy.

“The trickle-down effect of this singular intervention promises to change the dynamics in the energy cost equation of the country, in the midst of inadequate and rising cost of electricity.”

Aviation

Dana Air grounds plane after runway incident, 83 passengers on board

Published

17 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Trends Admin

Dana Air grounds plane after runway incident, 83 passengers on board

Dana Air says it has grounded its airplane that skidded off the Lagos airport runway on Tuesday.
The affected aircraft, a McDonald Douglas (MD-83) with registration 5N-BKI, had 83 passengers on board, it added.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa, however, said all the 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight disembarked safely without injuries.
He said in a statement that the airline decided to ground the plane to allow for proper investigation into what caused the accident.
The statement read in part, “Dana Air regrets to inform the public of a runway incursion involving one of our aircraft, registration number 5N BKI, which was flying from Abuja to Lagos today, 23/04/24.
“We are relieved to confirm that all 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight disembarked safely without injuries or scare as the crew handled the situation with utmost professionalism.
“We have also updated the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on the incident, and the aircraft involved has been grounded by our maintenance team for further investigation.
“We wish to thank the airport authorities, our crew for their very swift response in ensuring the safe disembarkation of all passengers following the incident, and our sincere apologies and appreciation to the passengers on the affected flight for their patience and understanding.”