Microsoft Ignite – The official Lytix Recap

Microsoft Ignite, the most prominent technology innovation event of the year, hosted by Microsoft, is just around the corner. There has been a lot going on during the past week: this 2021 edition was full of surprises and had some amazing announcements in store. Who else than Lytix to keep you up-to-date with the most recently launched releases in the world of Microsoft?

Power Automate Desktop

Power Automate Desktop, Microsoft’s RPA (Robotic Process Automation) tool for desktop recording, records common or repetitive interactions with applications, either in a browser or in a native application, then can uses those recordings as the basis of an automated process. PAD will be made available to Windows 10 users at no additional cost. The ideal application to automate everyday tasks and free up time for higher-value work.

Microsoft Mesh

Microsoft just announced its new mixed-reality platform called Microsoft Mesh that allows people in different physical locations to join and collaborate on projects from anywhere and using any device including HoloLens, PC, tablets, and smartphones.  

Microsoft Viva

To help people achieve balance, collaborate smartly, and find focus wherever and whenever they need it, Microsoft announced insights and experiences that are part of Microsoft Viva, the employee experience platform built on Microsoft 365 that empowers people and teams to be their best from wherever they work. Microsoft Viva brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an employee experience that integrates seamlessly into the apps you use every day, such as Microsoft Teams.

New Digital Event Experiences For Microsoft Teams

For some people, 2020 felt like the year work and learning moved home. For others, work continued to happen on-site—with the added challenges of staying safe on the job and learning new ways to connect to remote colleagues. But the reality is: 2020 is the year work and learning moved to the cloud. To cope with this change of work environment, Microsoft released a ton of brand-new features for Microsoft Teams during Ignite 2021 as well which will ship later this year for Microsoft Teams. Microsoft PowerPoint Live integration, Microsoft Connect to easier interact cross-tenant and our favorite: easily organizing interactive webinars with up to 1.000 attendees, scalable to view-only broadcasting experience for up to 20.000 participants! Take a look at how customizable registration forms will be available:

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Factory is a fully managed, easy-to-use, serverless data integration solution to ingest your on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud data. You probably already knew this. But what about the product feedback on User Voice? Take a look at the 10 (!) new releases for ADF, fresh on!.

Power BI Premium Per User

The Power BI Premium Per User license lowers the threshold for SME’s with a strong analytical demand willingly to opt in on premium capabilities such as XMLA endpoint support, paginated reports, AI & deployment pipelines, without the necessity of paying at least $5.000 a month. PPU will become available at a price of €16.9 per user/month. Good to know: PPU will reach general availability on the 2nd of April, meaning you can test this license out at no cost whatsoever until then! If you’re interested in the what and how, make sure to check out one our earlier posted blog.

Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge 2021

In the slipstream of Microsoft Ignite, a unique Ignite Challenge program has just been released. The Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge 2021 exists in 7 different challenge, each containing several modules, helping you continue skilling up your technical expertise! Not convinced yet? Well, all participants who complete at least one challenge are eligible for a free certification exam, which can be redeemed to obtain the following certifications. This offer is due on April 1^st, so make sure to grab this opportunity with both hands!

Wrap up

This article summarizes the most recent Microsoft Ignite, hosted virtually. Microsoft has a lot of features, to be released later this year for Microsoft Teams, Viva, Mesh and so on. Eager in how these new technologies could be beneficial for your company, feel free to get in touch with me or any of my colleagues at Lytix.