Providing customers with world-class productivity tools sometimes requires both innovation and acquisition, a combination of all the features and capabilities our best minds can develop and those Microsoft chooses to add through the strategic purchase of technology that others have created.
Microsoft recently announced two new business deals that demonstrate the value of using thoughtfully acquired technology to help build, improve or enhance superior products.
The first is the announcement last week that Microsoft has acquired Mobile Data Labs, an innovator of intelligent productivity solutions for mobile professionals, including the MileIQ app that automatically calculates business miles and makes it easier for users to file accurate tax deductions. With the new insights available from Office 365 and the Office Graph, the Mobile Data Labs team will continue to build outstanding mobile productivity solutions as part of the Microsoft family.
The second is the announcement, made just a few days ago, that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Secure Islands, an Israeli company that is an innovator in advanced information protection solutions. The Secure Islands acquisition accelerates Microsoft’s ability to help customers secure their business data no matter where it is stored—across on-premises systems, Microsoft cloud services like Azure and Office 365, third-party services and any Windows, iOS or Android device.
In addition to these advances, Microsoft made three announcements this week that are especially important to their European customers and partners. First, in late 2016, Microsoft will begin delivering commercial cloud services from UK-based data centers and will offer their UK customers local data residency. Second, Microsoft announced completion of the latest expansion of its data centers in Ireland and the Netherlands, which serve as cloud-computing hubs for European customers. And third Microsoft announced a first of its kind innovation from a global hyper-scale cloud provider, in that access to customer data stored in these new datacenters will be under the control of T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, an independent German company acting as a data trustee. Microsoft will not be able to access this data without the permission of customers or the data trustee, and if permission is granted by the data trustee, will only do so under its supervision.
These new cloud offerings and expanded facilities will provide customers with more choice and increased opportunities to innovate more quickly, enabling new growth for local economies. Meanwhile, Microsoft will continue to work on new ways to improve and enhance Office 365 and their other cloud services.
Below is a round-up of some key news items from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella: 6 tips for better productivity using Office 365 and Windows 10—Speaking at the Future Decoded conference in London, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella share six of his favorite Office 365 and Windows 10 productivity tips.
10 Microsoft Office 2016 features you’ll love—Get the lowdown on some of the best features of Microsoft Office 2016, from real-time co-authoring to simplified document sharing.
University getting ready to adopt new email system—Learn why Western Michigan University chose Office 365 for its students, faculty and alumni.
As far as pre-Black Friday deals go, Microsoft nailed this one—Find out more about Microsoft’s latest Work & Play holiday bundle, which includes Office 365, Xbox Live Gold, Skype Wi-Fi + Unlimited World, Microsoft Assure and a $60 gift card—all for $150.
How to Successfully Migrate to Office 365—Discover how small and medium-sized businesses can improve productivity and efficiency by migrating to Office 365.
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