The recent week-long Microsoft Ignite event has brought us numerous announcements and conferences related to the IT space and the company’s products and services. As a part of this year’s event, the company provided an 87-page document that lists over 170 announcements. Here are the seven most important ones!
The Microsoft logo is pictured during the annual Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, ... [+]
#1 Improved Resource Management via Azure
After spotting a gap in the resource management space, Microsoft improved their cloud resource management tool Azure to provide a clean and organized environment for its users.
As one of the first big cloud vendors, Microsoft has come up with a single platform that makes resource management easier, even on competitors’ cloud services such as AWS and Google Cloud.
#2 Project Cortex Is Officially Launched
Microsoft’s knowledge network known as Project Cortex is officially launched. The network uses machine learning technology to analyze documents and contracts in a company’s repository.
Upon analyzing the data, Cortex displays them in other Microsoft apps such as Outlook or Teams. This data analysis tool makes document management easier for businesses and individual users as well.
#3 Microsoft Launches Endpoint Manager
With BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) becoming such a popular trend lately, IT departments are struggling to maintain online security within a single company or network.
Microsoft’s recently launched Endpoint Manager will allow companies to manage all devices they give out to employees, including PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This will not only improve security but also modernize companies’ deployment strategies.
#4 Microsoft’s Edge Browser Gets Improved
After losing too many users to other search engines (mainly Google Chrome), Microsoft has decided to update their Edge browser. The update is focused on the privacy features of the browser in hopes to increase online security.
The most recent Edge Browser update will be available on January 15th when its users will be able to browse the internet more securely. Focusing on the privacy features is equally as important as focusing on the browser speed, making this a significant move for Microsoft in this space.
#5 The Release of the Web-Based Version of Visual Studio
Microsoft’s Visual Studio is a development environment that allows users to make changes to code within GitHub in a quick and simple manner. When using the Visual Studio, developers don’t have to set up their IDE locally, which makes the whole process faster and simpler.
Microsoft has announced the release of their online or web-based version of the Visual Studio, which will make the software more accessible to developers across the globe. All they will need is a good Internet connection to access this development environment.
#6 Microsoft Launches Power Virtual Agents
Microsoft has also launched their Power Virtual Agents, a simple tool for building chatbots without using any code. This new tool uses Azure’s machine learning data and visual interface technology to build chatbots.
In other words, the Power Virtual Agents allows users to create chatbots without having much experience in coding and technology. With this tool, anyone can come in and create a bot in no time.
#7 Cortana Becomes a Productivity Assistant
Last but not least, Microsoft has pointed toward the new direction in which their voice assistant Cortana is heading. Besides adding a male voice to the system, the company has turned Cortana into a productivity assistant that will help users get more work done.
The assistant will handle simple yet important tasks such as reading the user’s emails out loud or summarizing their calendar. This new update is supposed to fill the need for a more productive personal assistant on the market.
In addition to all the mentioned announcements, it is also important to mention that Microsoft has launched their Managed Meeting Rooms at the cost of 50$ a room per month.
With many new projects and tools being launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, we can surely expect more innovations from Microsoft going into 2020 and beyond.
