Microsoft Partner

Transition from Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint): A Comprehensive Guide

Significant changes are on the horizon for users of Microsoft Stream, the video management solution within the suite. Effective April 15, 2024, Microsoft will retire Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint). This transition is not just a mere update but a transformative shift towards a more efficient way of managing and sharing videos within Microsoft 365 Why the Shift? Stream (on SharePoint) is designed to enhance collaboration and accessibility, allowing users to manage videos as easily as they would any other file across Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. The integration is a step forward in making video content more accessible and manageable within organizations, creating a central hub for uploading, sharing, discovering, and interacting. Preparing for the Transition To ensure a smooth transition, organizations must take a proactive step to prepare for the retirement of Stream (Classic). Here's a comprehensive guide on what needs to be done: Audit Your Video Collection: Begin ...

2024-03-06T19:36:57+00:00

2023’s Top New Microsoft Teams Features

Microsoft Teams continues to lead the way with its innovative features. The October 2023 update introduces a suite of enhancements designed to streamline workflow, improve efficiency, and foster better connectivity. Let’s delve into these groundbreaking updates! 1. New Microsoft Teams App Microsoft has reimagined the Teams app, focusing on performance, reliability, security, and IT management. This overhaul has resulted in a platform that’s faster, smarter, and more user-friendly, ensuring a seamless experience across various tasks. 2. Meet App The Meet app is a centralized hub for all your meeting-related activities. It simplifies the preparation process and makes catching up on past meetings a breeze, boosting overall efficiency. 3. Live Translated Transcript Breaking language barriers, the live translated transcript feature supports over 30 languages. Available in Teams Premium, it ensures inclusivity and accessibility in global meetings. 4. Collaborative Notes in Teams Mobile This feature transforms the way meeting notes are taken ...

2023-12-08T16:18:02+00:00

Migrating to Azure with Confidence

You’ve already envisioned the benefits: you know migrating to a cloud-based hosting platform can boost the performance of your organization’s computing infrastructure. You can see how it’ll improve efficiency, save time, and reduce costs. And you’re prepared to join the hundreds of thousands of other businesses, large and small, that have already chosen Microsoft Azure for its service quality, security, reliability, and global reach. But there’s no getting around it: migrating to the cloud entails significant organizational change. To make the best possible use of the Azure platform, you need to understand its unique attributes and keep them front of mind throughout the migration process, and beyond. Fortunately, Microsoft offers an extensive set of tools and services that can help ease and simplify migration. And as a Microsoft partner with extensive experience helping our clients shift existing applications to the Azure platform, Red Level can ensure that you’ll take advantage ...

2023-02-16T16:01:15+00:00

Tech Stack Showdown — Top Five Stacks Compared

Why might you want to read about tech stacks? We can think of two primary reasons: You're a developer. You want to keep current. Skip right to the comparison. You're not a developer. You have a digital project and want to understand what you're getting into. Stick with us a bit. We'll explain this in plain terms first. Section 1. Explanation What the heck is a tech stack? A tech stack is a set of tools, programming languages, and technologies that work together to build digital products or solutions like websites, and mobile or web apps. Some people call them Solutions Stacks, but it's the same thing. Netflix is built on a tech stack. So are Airbnb, Facebook, WebMD, Wikipedia, and just about any major digital tool or app you use. Stackshare is a great online tool to discover which tech stack a major company is using. Here is WebMD's ...

2023-02-16T16:01:20+00:00

Microsoft’s Response to Education Institutions

Technology can play a vital role in reducing the impact of COVID-19 on people and organizations. Many schools and universities have moved to online courses to ensure everyone is still receiving an education during this time. Microsoft has introduced extended free trials and resources for clients to use to maintain collaboration, productivity, and security. Here is Microsoft's response for education institutions: New, Extended Free Trials for EDU Customers Office 365 A1 – Free versions to all educational institutions:  This version provides unlimited chat, built-in group and one-on-one audio or video calling, 10 GB of team file storage, and 2 GB of personal file storage per user.   You also get real-time collaboration with the Office apps for web, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. No restrictions for # of users. Get started for free Technical documentation Microsoft Teams for Free (Individuals and IT roll-out – in Office 365 A1 above):  Provides unlimited chat, built-in ...

2023-02-16T16:01:23+00:00

Top 7 Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts

We developed a series of Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts to help answers our client's everyday questions on Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Some of the biggest and most frequent questions are around:   Where do I start?   What do we need to do first?  Where should we go from here?  We've just bought Office 365, we've just moved to Teams, or were moving to SharePoint, what do we do first?   Based on these questions, we developed a series of Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts to help provide answers.  Microsoft 365 Immersion Experience Quick Start Office 365 is way more than just email. Microsoft 365 is cloud storage, integrated voice, integrated messaging, file sharing, document collaboration, video sharing, and so much more. This quick start is perfect for anyone who is looking at Office 365 and wants to make sure that it’s the right fit for them. It is also ideal for companies that have just deployed Office 365, and want to ensure they are using it to the fullest. Office 365 Power Up Quick Start Dig into all the different layers of Office ...

2023-02-16T16:01:24+00:00

Use Exchange Online Protection to Protect Your Business Against Online Threats

Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a service that is hosted by Microsoft as email security for your organization it's always on filtering spam, in addition to removing malware and viruses, so you don't have to. What is Exchange Online Protection Service?  Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is a cloud-based email filtering service that helps protect your business against online threats, including spam and malware. How can it be used? Exchange Online: Built-in to Office 365 email subscription Standalone Scenario: Protection for your existing on-premises email server Hybrid deployment: Protection for both on-premises and cloud mailboxes EOP provides several convenient services, and there is no software to install. It is built-in and ready to go for Office 365 subscribers. For Exchange Hybrid and Standalone environments, all that is needed is to point your MX records (records that allow the internet to know how to reach you by email) to exchange online protection ...

2023-02-16T16:01:25+00:00

Identity Challenges for Today’s Organizations

As we move into a cloud-first world, identity protection is becoming more necessary and prevalent. A cloud-first world has a lot of benefits, but it also comes with its challenges. Identity Challenges for Today’s Organizations The explosion of apps on-premise and BYOD and external users outside your corporate network are coming in, and those could be customers, vendors, partners, contractors, whoever is needing access to collaborate share data. The result of that there’s been an increase in identity attacks, and for most organizations, they lack the visibility and control. Increases in identity attacks and lack of visibility and control is leaving organizations vulnerable. Some organizations have protocols in place to watch out for suspicious activity. However, organizations may not have the time to go and proactively review every log.  The lack of visibility and control has been a big struggle we have seen for businesses of all sizes. Evolving data ...

2023-02-16T16:01:25+00:00

Modern Workplace Summit Delivers Business Insight to Michigan Companies

The modern workplace is coming into its own as more and more companies jump on board with advancements in technology and tools that digitally enable the workforce. Where the conference room used to be the meeting hub, now digital collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams effectively lead virtual “in-person” meetings. Where note pads, folios, and pens dotted tables in boardrooms, now e-pads and screens replace paper with Microsoft OneNote as the preferred mode of notetaking. Red Level, along with Microsoft, recently hosted the Modern Workplace Summit to help focus Michigan businesses on their evolution to the modern workplace. “Continual change is the new normal. New systems and practices sweep away old ones with almost predictable regularity,” said David King, President and CEO of Red Level. “Our annual Modern Workplace Summit tackles the necessary efficiencies everyone needs to smoothly transition as a digital workforce.” Power Summit for IT and Business Leaders Alike ...

2023-02-16T16:01:25+00:00

Protect Against Spoofing

Office 365 Exchange Online is a robust email platform, but it’s still vulnerable to cyber-attacks. One such attack is spoofing. Spoofing is when somebody with malicious intent sends an email to trick you into thinking that the email is coming from someone you know within your organization or someone you receive emails from regularly. For example, I received one last week from someone that appeared to be from Amazon for Business the email was telling me to reset my password to click to verify and asking me to put in my credentials. It looked very similar to an Amazon email. It had the Amazon logo, and the form was professionally done. However, I do not have an Amazon for Business account, so I knew it was a spoofing attempt. Here are a couple of examples of what you might see when someone has sent you a spoofed message: The display ...

2023-02-16T16:01:26+00:00