Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams Capabilities Roadmap Available !

Microsoft during last month Ignite event announced, Microsoft Teams becoming the Primary client for Communication and Collaboration in Office 365. Today Microsoft published more details on their Planned Roadmap for adding Skype for Business capabilities to Teams.

Download the Roadmap here: Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams Capabilities Roadmap

Access the Official Microsoft Tech Community post to know more: Roadmap for Skype for Business capabilities coming to Microsoft Teams now available

Be sure to participate in the upcoming Microsoft Teams "Ask Microsoft Anything" on October 25th, at 9 AM PDT and a live broadcast on October 27th, at 9 AM PDT on Teams On Air to hear the product team discuss the roadmap in more detail and have your questions answered.

Get started with your Microsoft Teams Journey today with the help of  Microsoft FastTrack.

Add-on Read:

New usage reports for Microsoft Teams is now available :  New usage reports for Microsoft Teams   

Configure Azure Multi-Factor Authentication settings in Azure Portal - Public preview

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication Configuration settings are now available in the Azure Portal (in Public Preview).  MFA settings are manged in the Azure Classic Portal, the PFweb portal, and now finally they are getting included in to the Azure Portal. This is an expected change as Microsoft is working towards simplifying the Admin Experience for Azure AD, and also announced recently that by November 30, Azure AD admin experience in the classic Azure portal will be retired.

Access the documentation here: Configure Azure Multi-Factor Authentication settings - Public preview

Not all features are completely available yet in the Azure Portal and we still rely on PFweb Portal as outlined in the documentation.

Additionally, Read the following Blog post from MVP Sander Berkouwer on this topic with more detailed updates: Azure Multi-Factor Authentication is now in the new Azure Portal (in Public Preview)

As of today we don't have any major updates on this topic from Microsoft Product team, and expecting they will soon publish the same in the upcoming days along with the GA date.

You can read my blog post to know more on Azure MFA with latest updates here: Let's Learn Azure Multi-Factor Authentication today!!!

Update:

Microsoft recently updated the retirement date for Azure AD Admin experience in the Azure Classic portal to January 8, 2018.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Azure Essentials - Free Training

Microsoft launched the new Azure Essentials Free training Programme, the best place to get started with and Learn more about Azure.This is a new addition to the list of existing Learning resources for Microsoft Azure and helpful for IT Professionals and Developers both new to Azure and already work on Azure.

Access the Content here: Azure.com/Essentials 

Additionally, Review the newly launched Microsoft Tech Academy in Microsoft Tech Community site for more resources, This newly launched Tech Academy unifies Microsoft’s learning and readiness platforms for IT Professionals and Developers into a single place.

Access Tech Academy here: Microsoft Tech Academy

Start your Learning Journey today !!!

IT Roadmap Planning Tool for Microsoft 365

In today's world of Digital era, more and more Organizations are embracing Digital Transformation to adopt new ways of connecting people, data, and processes to create value for customers. Microsoft 365 product suite comprising Office 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security and Windows 10 provides rich set of features to support the Organizations in their Digital transformation Journey.

Microsoft recently released the new IT Roadmap Planning Tool for Microsoft 365 currently in Preview to benefit Organizations in their Digital Transformation Journey to explore the available options, prioritize and target what they want, and build long-term set of deployment and configuration plans. This Roadmap Tool is built around Microsoft 365 services for deployment, configuration and management. It displays options and levels for core capabilities spanning teamwork, creativity, device management, identity, security and more.

IT Roadmap Tool is available for usage in two ways. Light version of the IT Roadmap tool  is available for anyone to try. The full version of the Tool is available to Microsoft partners as part of the Business Value Programs.

You can access the Light version of the Tool here: IT Roadmap for Microsoft 365

More details are available in the Official Microsoft Tech Community post here: Introducing the IT Roadmap planning tool preview

Access the Microsoft Mechanics Session to explore the full capabilities of the Tool.

Watch here: Introducing the IT Roadmap planning tool: A new way to build tailored implementation plans

Review https://transform.microsoft.com for additional resources.

Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Adoption Guide

Microsoft team published adoption guides for Microsoft 365 and Office 365 in their Microsoft FastTrack Center. These guides are essential for Organizations planning to adopt these services by understanding the right adoption approach for successful deployment and usage.

Download here: Microsoft 365 End User Adoption Guide

Download here: Office 365 Adoption Guide

Access the Microsoft FastTrack site for more resources.

New Azure Exams Announced !!!

During Microsoft Ignite 2017 event, Microsoft team announced their plan to develop three new Certification exams for Azure.

These 3 New exams are aligned to the skills required for the Modern IT Job Roles identified by the Azure Team.

• For Azure Stack Operators - Exam 537: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack
• For Azure Solutions Architects - Exam 539: Managing Linux Workloads on Azure
• For Azure DevOps - Exam 538: Implementing Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions

The exams will be added to existing certifications for Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA): Cloud Platform, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Cloud Platform and Infrastructure, and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD): App Builder. 

Exam 537: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack will release in January. The remaining exams will follow a bit later in 2018.

You can access the Official Announcement post here with more information: Announcing New Azure Exams And Certification Path Recommendations for Azure Job Roles

You can utilize the Azure Training and Certification resource, other essential learning resources specified in the above site and Choose your Learning path today, and get prepared for the New Azure Exams.

Be sure to read this post to know the retirement timeline for the existing Exams and their new replacements: Exam Retirement Update for October 2017

Update:

Exam 70-534: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions is getting retired and replaced by a new Exam 70-535 (Proposed /Tentative) with few significant changes in the Exam objectives.

Read the below post to know more: Microsoft retires exam 70-534 and replaces with a new exam 70-535 (tentative name)

Additionally, Microsoft team further expanded their Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) with the addition of two new tracks: Cloud Administration and DevOps

Read this Blog post to know more: Expanding the Microsoft Professional Program to drive impact

Follow Microsoft learning @MSLearning and read the Born to Learn blog for the latest updates.

Microsoft Ignite 2017 Sessions on demand !

Microsoft Ignite 2017 completed last week successfully with a ton great announcements across all major Microsoft Technologies. The excitement is still on following the event, and now its time for us to revisit the great announcements and download the Sessions on demand and watch out for the latest updates in the upcoming days.

Though I have not attend the event in person, I watched the keynote sessions online on day one,  through which got a glimpse of the latest innovations and the upcoming Roadmap, following this I received active updates through-out the event and round the clock from fellow Microsoft MVPs, Microsoft Product Teams and Technical Enthusiasts direct from the event via twitter tweets, Tech Community posts and live blogs. I am thankful to all of them for sharing the latest updates timely through which I was able to get to know the latest news and share those updates with the fellow Community members.

Some of the Key announcements related to Office 365 are below:

• Vnext announcement of Office 2019, Exchange Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2019.
• Microsoft Teams to replace Skype for Business Client in Office 365 over time. 
• New Office 365 Admin capabilities, Security & Compliance updates and Analytics & Reporting enhancements. 
• Most awaited Multi-Geo Capabilities for OneDrive, SharePoint Online and Exchange Online.

Also we had some major announcements on Microsoft 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security, Microsoft Azure, Azure Stack and much more.

Not to forget some great announcements on Microsoft's new Mantra for Digital Transformation "New Era of Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge" spreading across the innovations in Artificial Intelligence, Serverless Computing, Machine Learning, IoT, Mixed Reality and the future with Quantum Computing.

You can get to know more by reading the information available in Official Channels like Microsoft News Center,  Office Blogs, Enterprise Mobility and Security Blog, Azure Blogs etc. and also through the Articles and Blogs of well known Microsoft MVPs and Technical Enthusiasts in the Community.

Access the dedicated Microsoft Tech Community Space to view all the sessions on demand here:  Microsoft Ignite Content 2017

You can also access the On demand sessions on Channel 9 now: Microsoft Ignite 2017

Download the Recordings and slide decks using the PowerShell script created by MVP Michael De Rooij here: Get Microsoft Ignite session information or contents

Access the related Microsoft Mechanics videos here: Microsoft Ignite 2017 - Microsoft Mechanics Live!

You can further read the latest news on the Microsoft Tech Community spaces dedicated for each of the Technology.

Stay tuned for more updates...