This month’s What’s New is packed full of exciting AI developments with Microsoft Copilot, their secure integration of ChatGPT throughout M365, and Adobe Firefly, their innovative generative AI for creators! Plus, Microsoft’s Viva Sales with GPT, upcoming Viva Summit customer event, brand new Teams 2.0, Microsoft EDU updates & Intune Suite recap! We also feature SMART at Bett, new Jabra Evolve2 headsets, two new Veeam releases, Veritas Backup Exec 22.1 & new Poly WindSmart earbuds!

 

 

Harnessing the power of AI within M365!

Microsoft have introduced NEW M365 Copilot – an integration of ChatGPT within apps including Teams, Viva, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Dynamics 365 and all NEW Business Chat.

• AI-powered assistant that helps you create high-quality content faster and easier, using natural language processing.
• Generate emails, create presentations, analyse data, summarise meetings, draft documents and more – all using a simple prompt!
• Suggests relevant words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs based on your context and intent, making your writing clear and professional.
• Copilot inherits your M365 security, compliance and privacy policies. Your data never leaves its secure partition and it’s never used for training purposes.

 

 

Boost your sales performance with GPT!

Microsoft have integrated GPT within Viva Sales to generate suggested email content such as replying to an inquiry or creating a personalised proposal.

• Empowers sales teams to work smarter and faster with AI-powered insights and recommendations.
• Integrates seamlessly with Dynamics 365 and other CRM platforms to provide a unified and personalised sales experience.
• Helps sales professionals build stronger customer relationships, optimises their sales processes and helps them achieve their goals.

Register here for Microsoft’s global Viva Summit customer event on April 20th 2023 to hear about all their exciting Viva announcements and roadmaps!

 

 

Welcome to a NEW era of Microsoft Teams!

Microsoft’s BRAND NEW Teams 2.0 is now in public preview, redesigned and built on a foundation of speed and performance to give you a true modern workplace!

• All round better performance – Up to 2x faster and using 50% less memory than the previous version!
• Embedded with Microsoft’s next-generation Copilot AI for intelligent meeting recaps, insights and suggested follow up actions!
• More customisable than ever to match your preferences and your organisation’s brand.

 

 

What’s NEW in Microsoft EDU!

Microsoft EDU have announced their latest updates within education for April 2023.

• NEW Viva Connections for Education – A digital home that centralises all the resources students need in one place.
• NEW Teams Assignments features – Mark assignments as Inactive to help organise assignment lists for educators and students.
• NEW Apps in Channel Meetings – Including Polls to quickly and easily assess how students are doing in real time.

 

 

Microsoft’s NEW in-demand Intune Suite!

We covered the latest Intune updates in February’s What’s New, but given the large number of customer enquiries we’ve had, here are all the details again in case you missed it!

Microsoft’s NEW Intune Suite unifies advanced endpoint management and security solutions into one simple bundle, with Remote Help, Endpoint Privilege Management and advanced endpoint analytics.

• Even better security by reducing attack vectors.
• Simplification through consolidation and automation of IT and security operations workflows.
• Savings through lower management overhead and reduced support costs.

 

 

NEW Generative AI made for creators!

Adobe have launched their first Firefly beta – a NEW family of creative generative AI models that help you create amazing content with simple text prompts!

• Generate high-quality images and stunning text effects for graphics, videos, marketing content, social media posts and much more!
• Generate different models for different needs, then simply tweak as you go to capture your own style and brand.
• Integrates directly within Adobe products, including Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud and Adobe Express workflows.

 

 

SMART at Bett – Lumio & NEW boards!

Pugh’s Business Development Director Mark Price was at Bett 2023 in London where he got some hands-on experience with SMART‘s vert latest interactive displays for education – the GX Series, MX Series and 6000S Series.

It was also great to watch SMART‘s live demos of Lumio and Tool Explorer to see the collaboration and inclusivity benefits they provide within modern hybrid classrooms!

 

 

Jabra Evolve2 – engineered to keep you agile!

Jabra have unveiled their NEW Evolve2 headset series, coming in April 2023 – Evolve2 65 Flex, 55 & 50.

• Enjoy crystal-clear calls with premium Jabra ClearVoice noise-cancelling microphones and powerful speakers.
• Experience maximum comfort with Jabra Air Comfort, a new technology designed to take the pressure off your ears even during all-day use.
• 65 Flex is Jabra’s most portable professional headset with a unique, revolutionary fold-and-go hinged design allowing it to be folded flat and compact.

Read More 

 

 

Modern data resilience for Azure & AWS

Veeam have released NEW Backup for Microsoft Azure v5:

• Immutability support – Users can now store virtual machines (VMs) and Azure SQL backups in Immutable Storage for Azure Blob.
• Enterprise scalability – Scalability improvements that can help you protect large-scale Azure environments through a single appliance.
• Other major enhancements, including Load control for backup repositories and modern authentication for mail servers.

 

Plus NEW Backup for AWS v6:

• Immutability support – Users can now store backups in immutable Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) storage.
• Enterprise scalability – v6 brings scalability improvements to protect large-scale AWS environments with a single appliance.
• Other major enhancements, including GP3 disks support for the appliance and multi-tenant container Oracle databases support.

Read More 

 

 

Powerful, secure data protection for SMBs

Veritas have released Backup Exec 22.1, their latest version offering powerful, simple, secure and unified data protection for SMBs.

• Backup and complete restore of Microsoft 365 data, including Teams and SharePoint Online.
• Single pane of glass protecting your on-premises and SaaS workloads.
• Microsoft Azure Object Lock, Support for Partial VM Restore, Support for New Cloud Storage Regions & more!

Read More 

 

 

Poly’s NEW WindSmart Technology earbuds!

Poly have released their BRAND NEW Voyager Free 60 UC Series true wireless earbuds!

• Innovative WindSmart Technology overcomes windy conditions, offering crystal-clear sound and noise cancellation.
• View your status, charge your earbuds and control your meetings, calls and music with the touchscreen charge case.
• Stay connected and productive with up to 16.5 hours battery life and customise your fit with three sizes of soft ear tips.