In today’s uncertain economic environment, companies are evolving to achieve better results with less friction and more choice — and they’re turning to their technology providers to help them succeed. At this year’s Microsoft Ignite, our annual conference to connect technology leaders and practitioners with expert insight, training sessions, and cutting-edge tools, we announced more than 100 services and updates for partners to build on this opportunity.
At every layer of the tech stack — whether infrastructure, data, hybrid work, developer tools, or security — we believe the Microsoft Cloud offers our customers best-of-category products and best-of-suite solutions. We know that things become most useful to businesses when they become part of ordinary workflows, which is why we’ve made huge investments in AI technology, Microsoft 365, the Microsoft Cloud, our developer tools, and our security offerings.
The overarching message of this year’s Ignite was “Do more with less with the Microsoft Cloud,” which we explored through five more specific themes. You can learn more about each of these through the leader blogs linked below:
- Build agility, optimize your business, and create data-driven experiences with Microsoft Azure
- Deliver efficiency with AI and automation across your business
- Re-energize your workforce in the office, at home, and everywhere in between
- Accelerate innovation with the world's most complete cloud developer platform
- Protect everything, everyone, everywhere with comprehensive security
In line with these guiding concepts, we are pleased to share the following announcements from Ignite that have the greatest impact for partners:
Microsoft Azure
Our new Partner Ecosystem is now generally available on the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform, bringing additional functionality to already unified databases, analytics, and governance. The Partner Ecosystem connects customers with select cloud-based partner solutions that complement native Azure platform capabilities and gives ISVs an improved foundation to build on. This update enables customers across all industries to leverage Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform capabilities. We will be continuing to add more ISV partners to the platform in the coming months.
The flagship Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP) now helps you plan and deploy cloud security services as you migrate, including support for Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel. Learn more about nominating your customers for AMMP.
With Azure Arc, we have built a bridge that extends the Azure platform so that our customers can innovate across hybrid environments. This adds agility for partners to bring Azure to on-premises, multicloud, and edge environments. Now, you can blend your own enterprise and operational edge investments with our global infrastructure to leverage the best Azure has to offer.
The Azure Hybrid Benefit now includes Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), letting partners deploy AKS on Azure Stack HCI or Windows Server in your own datacenters or edge environments at no additional cost. We’re also bringing hybrid deployment options to AKS with Azure Arc and enabling you to create and deploy new AKS clusters from the Azure portal or CLI. With the new Kubernetes apps, ISVs can create, publish, and manage commercial Kubernetes solutions in marketplace with click-through deployments and flexible billing models.
The Windows admin center, now generally available in the Azure portal, lets customers configure, troubleshoot and perform maintenance tasks with familiar Windows UI and functionality, all without leaving the Azure portal.
With the Azure savings plan for compute, customers may adopt a flexible pricing model that can save them up to 65 percent on compute services, compared to pay-as-you-go prices.
Industry Clouds
Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability is growing, with updates to Microsoft Sustainability Manager empowering organizations to easily record, report, and reduce their environmental impact. New features, now generally available, include an extended data model and Emissions Impact Dashboard for Microsoft 365. To improve reliability for environmental claims and credits, Microsoft is introducing the Environmental Credit Service, a managed service to create a trusted system of record.
Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is responding to employee shortages by simplifying complex workflow management and automating tasks, thereby improving clinician experiences and supporting better patient outcomes. New capabilities include improved patient indicator visualizations, out-of-the-box patient outreach campaigns, and an updated set of standards in the Provider Data Model.
Microsoft 365
For the first time ever, Microsoft Teams meetings will be available natively across certified Cisco meeting devices (beginning with six of Cisco’s most popular devices and three peripherals, with more to come). This marks a new, compelling opportunity for partners to help customers migrate to and configure Teams as their default meeting experience. All certified Cisco devices will be manageable in the new Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal.
Through Microsoft Graph Data Connect, developers and data engineers can gain comprehensive access to previously untapped Microsoft 365 data and turn it into actionable analytics. Users will receive relevant data extracts faster than ever before with Azure Synapse Analytics, which includes:
- Synapse Templates connecting to a multitude of data sources with a timesaving one-click experience.
- Mapping Data Flows cleaning, normalizing, and flattening data into the Parquet format, which is much cheaper and faster to process.
Further updates for streamlining data processes include:
- ISV Flow: ISVs will be able to directly develop analytics apps on top of their customer’s data with customer consent. A new billing model will directly bill the ISVs, rather than the customer.
- New Approval and Consent Experience: Microsoft 365 admins will be able to control data access and availability directly from the admin center.
Developers will also be able to deploy new prebuilt solution templates from key analytics scenarios, including the Organizational Network Analysis Template and SharePoint Information Oversharing Template.
Additional updates such as end-to-end encryption, audit logging in Microsoft Compliance Center, and enhanced user identity obfuscation are built with upgraded security, governance, and user privacy to protect sensitive data. Learn more about everything coming soon to preview on the Microsoft 365 blog.
Recordings from Microsoft Ignite are now available on demand, and it is highly recommended that partners revisit the sessions from Satya Nadella, Scott Guthrie, Panos Panay, Judson Althoff, Alysa Taylor, and Vasu Jakkal. In addition, more than 100 product announcements can be found within the full Ignite Book of News to learn more about how this technology is being used today. Together, we can help our customers seize new opportunities and empower them to achieve more with less through the enhanced Microsoft Cloud.