At the Alcoa plant in the distant coastal town of Fjardaal, Iceland, employees relied on a magnetic board to assign and trade shifts, while standard email was used to communicate critical information from one shift to the next–both of which required people to be physically present to retrieve messages or confirm changes in shift assignments. The adoption of Microsoft Teams transformed these otherwise manual tasks into a workflow better suited to a new generation of digitally savvy Alcoa employees who all carry smartphones. With Teams, company-wide announcements are now made with the confidence that everyone will see them via their devices, regardless of location, while operational information is quickly disseminated and passed along from one shift to the next to improve processes, safety, and efficiency. Watch the video to see how Teams is delivering the future of communication to a new generation of Alcoa plant personnel.

On average, sellers work with 6.8 stakeholders and 16 colleagues per deal, which makes sales cycles very long and extremely complex. To further complicate matters, today’s sellers are on twice as many teams as they were a few years ago.

Clearly, legacy methods of storing and accessing customer information, tracking the status of deals in progress, collaborating with mobile colleagues, and maintaining a “big picture” view of every moving part are not sufficient for today’s on-the-go sales professionals. That’s where Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides a competitive advantage.

Watch this short video to learn how Dynamics 365 can help modernize seller productivity with a simpler, more streamlined way to build sales momentum, close more deals, and boost productivity.

Team synergy is critical to ensuring the success of a project. But this isn’t just a matter of putting people together in a project and expecting results. An active effort must be made to ensure everybody is well aware of their role, scope, and how to collaborate so that all teams can create a methodology that pushes the project forward on time and within budget.

In this video, you’ll learn how Finning, the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer, has created a culture of collaboration with their digital transformation partner to drive successful IoT initiatives, and how they made it all possible by using Azure IoT.

The number of connected IoT devices in 2017 was 27 billion, and by 2030 it’s expected to grow to 125 billion. This means that the functionality and use scenarios for the IoT will continuously expand and permeate across all areas of consumer products, therefore improving the lifestyles and health of users worldwide.

But exactly how are IoT devices being used in the consumer product space to increase customer satisfaction and make businesses more efficient? Read this article to gain an accurate perspective into the reach that the IoT will have in the consumer product space and how businesses will leverage IoT devices to drive innovation across the industry.

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In the face of growing class sizes and an increased population of differently abled students, our educational systems are constantly scrambling to meet students’ needs. Microsoft education solutions can aid school districts in this task by improving student learning and outcomes and increasing teacher satisfaction. This e-book examines the positive impact of assistive technologies in Microsoft 365 Education on participating school districts, and how an integrated education solution can save money, increase effectiveness, and reduce IT burdens.

View: Microsoft accessibility and assistive technologies for education