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Microsoft Viva Connections

One of the major issues facing companies during the pandemic, and in the broad sphere of remote work, is the lack of connection among team members. Companies are doing everything they can to make teams feel like teams, as opposed to a set of disparate and far-flung individuals, but this is a large challenge with very few solutions. Microsoft’s Viva Connections plans to answer this challenge, however, by offering a single-place gateway for the digital workplace.
The software is built to simulate multiple points of interaction, from town hall meetings between employers and employees to other communities built with the idea of camaraderie in mind. The software will provide a feed of information which helps connect other apps and software to Microsoft Viva. The content found on the platform can even be adjusted based on roles in the company, so employees always have the information and resources they need.

Microsoft Viva Insights

The pandemic has also led many workers to feel burned out and dispassionate about the work they do. Viva addresses this through Insights software, which is designed to give employees their time back through innovative solutions. It offers personal wellbeing advice to every member of your team using Workplace Analytics and MyAnalytics, streamlining the information through Microsoft Teams.

The software considers the type and urgency of the projects team members are working on and will schedule breaks for them to destress and refocus their mind. The software will be integrated with Headspace to help employees find their own time and work in their own manner to bring about efficient and effective work no matter what project is being worked on. 6th Street consulting can help your business integrate this component of Microsoft Viva with no hassle and in optimal time.

Microsoft Viva Learning

In the modern age, information is one of the most important resources available. Viva Learning was designed to help companies develop a culture predicated on knowledge and learning, to help them retain talent and keep up with the pace of a rapidly evolving world. Viva Learning was designed specifically to meet the needs of employees who have said that they would stay with their current employer if such a culture of learning and personal development was established.
The software allows employees to easily discover and share everything related to their occupation and current projects, from training courses to microlearning content. Viva’s central hub is instrumental in helping employees share resources with each other and educate one another on more efficient and practical methods to accomplish the work they are currently doing.

Microsoft Viva Topics

Finally, there is the issue of redundancy of information within companies. Microsoft ran a poll and found that employees spend approximately seven weeks per year trying to search for or recreate information which exists elsewhere in the company. This time is usually intensely tedious and distracts from the tasks at hand daily. Viva Topics was made to combat this problem, allowing employees to search for and find information more easily within their company’s database.
The software uses a highly advanced AI to organize content within the company and is sophisticated enough to sort this content into relevant categories, such as “projects,” “products,” “processes,” and “customers.” When your employees need to search for prior information, they will be able to find it at a snap of their fingers thanks to Viva Topics.
6th Street Consulting can help your company integrate this technology for your employees and keep you on the path toward innovation and quality service at a breakneck pace.

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Microsoft Teams and Azure are not new tools to enterprise organizations but their usefulness in today’s world where remote working is more and more common cannot be underestimated.

Cloud-based to work anywhere, anytime

All office workers know the value of Microsoft Office products for creating and sharing documents, presentations, datasets, and more. They know Microsoft is THE option when you need a secure computing environment that is still flexible and user-friendly.

But the casual user may not realize exactly how Microsoft is changing the way modern enterprise organizations are doing business.

Power users of Microsoft 365 know exactly how useful this software is for enabling collaboration no matter where team members are based. The powerful combination of Office 365 and Windows 10 means that enterprise organizations that use Microsoft 365 can enable worker productivity no matter where team members are based.

When you add Microsoft Teams to the equation, you are able to take your team’s productivity to new heights. With security features that enterprise organizations need along with the file sharing and collaboration tools they want; Microsoft Teams allows for real-time collaboration that you may have thought could only be achieved with in-person meetings.

Reach new heights with Azure

Sometimes, though, the robust suite of Microsoft products does not meet the specific, unique needs of your organization. That is where Microsoft Azure comes in.

Microsoft Azure is not a set piece of software. It is an ever-expanding set of cloud-based computing services available to anyone who wants to run an enterprise on the internet without having to install and manage hardware or server software.

Migrating your servers, apps, and databases to Azure means that you can save money by not having to have or maintain hardware to enable cloud-based computing in your enterprise. The virtual nature of Azure also means no unexpected downtime and it is easy to scale up or down as needed.

Azure is the platform that modern enterprise organizations need to enhance their work and truly embrace cloud-computing for their workforce.

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We are no stranger to the regulatory issues that can crop up when setting up an employee, or your whole workforce, to work remotely. We have helped many of our clients navigate similar waters. With that in mind, we have compiled our top three tips for healthcare companies trying to maintain HIPAA compliance with a remote workforce:

Encourage employees to set up workspaces apart from other family members whenever possible.

The number one goal of HIPAA is to protect patients’ PHI (Protected Health Information) and ePHI. In the workplace, you as an employer are able to maintain a certain level of control over who accesses what PHI. Now that employees are working from home along with all of their family members and/or roommates, it is harder to maintain control over who is seeing what. Now is a great time to send a reminder to employees that stresses the importance of maintaining a workspace where they are able to protect patients’ PHI and ensure they are the only ones able to see it.

Make online HIPAA refresher courses available to employees.

There is no better time like the present to give employees access to continuing education courses that reinforce HIPAA knowledge and best practices. Microsoft SharePoint is a great platform for making training videos available to employees working remotely, as well as any other HIPAA training materials you would like them to have access to, as a refresher.

Ensure you have a BAA (Business Associate Agreement) signed with any software vendors whose product you are using to communicate PHI.

There are a variety of software solutions available that can help you and your employees maintain connectivity right now, including Microsoft Teams. It is important, however, to note that any vendor that has access to PHI is considered a business associate and you must have a signed business associate agreement (BAA) with them for communication through that software to be considered HIPAA-compliant.

It is important to note that not all software solutions for healthcare communication are equal. Microsoft Teams is listed in Microsoft’s Tier D compliance category, meaning that all of the innovative security controls are automatically activated and it meets the standards required by HIPAA. We can show you all the ways that Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office 365 can help your employees maintain HIPPA compliance while working remotely.

If you or your company need assistance with managing regulatory compliance while working remotely contact our team of experts to get a plan in place to manage your business responsibly.

The post 3 Tips for Maintaining Regulatory Compliance While Working Remotely appeared first on 6th Street Consulting.

Azure’s home page

Microsoft just simplified it to make it more focused on user experience – your user experience. Recent programs now auto-populate at you use the product, so there’s no set list of features decided by Microsoft – it’s all based on what you use the most often. It gets better and more customized the more you use it, and you don’t even have to be proactive about organizing it, it’s all done for you. And at the same time, there’s a static set of resources on the bottom part of the home page, for consistency.

Service information cards

These are the boxes that show up when you hover your cursor over something. For example, when you hover over someone’s name in Outlook – without clicking – it shows you their name/email/position/your latest correspondence with them. Think that same idea, but with your resources in Azure, giving you quick access to common tasks and relevant in-context information.

Global portal search

Azure’s search function is now streamlined, so you can be sure you never lose progress in a task. It allows you to search across all your lists of services, all the instances of your services, offers in the marketplace, documentation and research groups. And no matter where you are in Azure, the global search bar is always right there at the top.

Easy navigation between multiple accounts

All with just one click. Many Azure users have multiple accounts, whether it be a work account and a personal account – or more if you’re contracted. But you can now instantly switch between the two, while the two stay tailored to what you do in each separate account.

Utilizing patterns

Azure can do. A. Lot. But to keep things from getting overwhelming, if you just learn a few basic rules, you can apply them across all of Azure.

Streamlined browsing

It’s now faster and “way more functional,” according to Leon Welicki, Partner Group PM Manager, who delivered this presentation on Azure at Ignite. All your instances are in one place, and now, you can customize what that looks like by easily adding instances right to your list and adjusting the columns as you see fit. You can also quickly export anything you see on your screen. When it comes to filtering and sorting – there are no catches. You know how sometimes you’re in a piece of software and you KNOW what you’re looking for is there but can’t find it? The new browsing system uses more than just basic keywords to help you easily pinpoint the resources you’re looking for

Resource graph explorer

A more advanced tool, this gives you full control of all your Azure data, your subscriptions, resources, etc. Azure offers a fully integrated user experience to let you access the graph explorer right inside the portal. When you find relevant data, you can export it, share it, or pin it for future use.

Create your own dashboards

You can create private dashboards that you can either use for your own functionality or share with others. And you can make/use multiple at one time.

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