Expert insights on Microsoft Azure, Cloud Architecture, and Enterprise Technology
29 articles
So, I came across an article earlier in the week from Computing, with the rather bold title of “Large firms sour on AI adoption”, and this got me to thinking, is this really the case and is it really that unexpected. Over the past few years, AI has been the at the forefront of most… Continue Reading →
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Deep Dive: Teams Gets Smarter (and Friendlier) with Its August Updates It’s been one of those weeks where every conversation seems to circle back to AI and context. From client strategy sessions to internal architecture reviews, the same question keeps coming up: How do we make AI useful, not just impressive? That’s why this week’s updates… Continue Reading →
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This week’s updates across Microsoft Cloud reflect a clear direction: deeper AI integration, stronger security, and scalable innovation. From Copilot’s expanding agent capabilities to Azure’s Agent Factory and Microsoft Research’s Dion optimizer, the pace of transformation is accelerating. I’ve curated the most impactful updates from Microsoft’s own blogs and documentation—and taken a deeper dive into… Continue Reading →
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Introduction: From AI Hype to Practical Enablement Over the past year, I’ve had countless conversations with clients and colleagues about the promise of Microsoft 365 Copilot. The excitement is real—but so are the challenges. How do we scale Copilot across departments with different needs? How do we manage costs without slowing innovation? And how do… Continue Reading →
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In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, staying ahead of threats requires constant innovation and adaptation. Microsoft has once again demonstrated its commitment to empowering security operations teams with the introduction of a groundbreaking update to its cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform, Microsoft Sentinel. Announced in July 2025, the new Microsoft Sentinel data… Continue Reading →
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This week’s entry for Reaching for the Cloud slightly differs from the usual content I publish. It is unrelated to security or cloud strategy/technology and is more focused on a personal challenge or journey. About a week or so ago, someone made (probably a flippant) comment, indicating that they expect me to attain all the… Continue Reading →
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Brad Smith from Microsoft recently shared a blog post titled ‘Microsoft’s New European Digital Commitments (https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/04/30/european-digital-commitments/). This broad whitepaper covered a range of topics, including data centre expansion to provide scale for AI services and announcements around digital resiliency, security, encryption, and data and privacy commitments. However, two key points caught my attention: First, Microsoft… Continue Reading →
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IBM produces two reports every year focused on cybersecurity: the X-Force Threat Intelligence Index and the Cost of a Data Breach Report. Both are invaluable sources of data for anyone interested in cybersecurity. The first of these reports, the Threat Intelligence Index, was released on April 17th. While I have not digested everything it contains,… Continue Reading →
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In general, enterprise adoption of Generative AI, has probably not been as rapid as most people were expecting. There are several reasons for this, some of which I have discussed previously, such as concerns over data security, privacy, bias etc. One area that I have not really covered previously is around use cases, I think… Continue Reading →
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Are the data security challenges of today different to those of the past? Introduction One of the areas impacting the adoption of Generative AI (substitute Generative for Agentic if you prefer) is that organisations are concerned about the status of data security across their estate, especially in the unstructured areas where AI can arguably provide… Continue Reading →
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As regular readers will know, I have posted on several elements of this topic previously, but I decided to wrap this up with a more holistic (I do dislike that word) view, based on my experience of working in this area for the past 15 years or so. What is Failure, or to put it… Continue Reading →
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Following a request from the UK Government to enable access to encrypted data stored in Apple’s iCloud (1), Apple has announced that its Advanced Data Protection feature, which offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud users, will no longer be available to new users in the UK (2). This feature will eventually be removed for existing users,… Continue Reading →
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