October 2023

Oct 31, 2023   |   Lukas Velush

New Microsoft Smart Buildings Showcase Azure Digital Twins

[Editor’s note: This content was written to highlight a particular event or moment in time. Although that moment has passed, we’re republishing it here so you can see what our thinking and experience was like at the time.] A smart building complex that had its grand opening today at Microsoft showcases the company’s new Azure...

Oct 30, 2023   |   Inside Track staff

Managing user identities and secure access at Microsoft

[Editor’s note: This content was written to highlight a particular event or moment in time. Although that moment has passed, we’re republishing it here so you can see what our thinking and experience was like at the time.] Managing identities and network access at Microsoft encompasses all the processes and tools used throughout the identity...

Oct 27, 2023   |   Lukas Velush

Boosting Microsoft’s migration to the cloud with Microsoft Azure

[Editor’s note: This content was written to highlight a particular event or moment in time. Although that moment has passed, we’re republishing it here so you can see what our thinking and experience was like at the time.] When Microsoft set out to move its massive internal workload of 60,000 on-premises servers to the cloud...

Oct 26, 2023   |   Beth Garrison

Boosting employee connectivity with Microsoft Azure-based VWAN architecture

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in our ongoing series on moving our network to the cloud internally at Microsoft. Whether our employees are in neighboring cities or different continents, they need to communicate and collaborate efficiently with each other. We designed our Microsoft Azure-based virtual wide-area network (VWAN) architecture to provide high-performance networking across...

Oct 26, 2023   |   Alex Fleck

Microsoft workers’ council partnerships boost the company’s product and service rollouts

Ensuring compliance doesn’t have to be a roadblock—just ask the Microsoft workers’ council in Germany. This group of employee representatives has partnered with their employer, Microsoft, to speed up how the company develops and deploys new products and services to its employees, a story that resonates with customers who have similar challenges at their companies....

Oct 24, 2023   |   Nirag Tibdewal

Building resilient and secure virtual labs with Azure Firewall, Azure Container Apps, and Service Bus

Editor’s note: This is the third in an ongoing series on moving our network to the cloud internally at Microsoft.  At Microsoft, our support, escalation, and customer engineers help Microsoft with solution troubleshooting, implementation assistance, integration walkthroughs, and many other complex support needs. Our Microsoft Digital (MSD) team created a virtual lab tool named MyWorkspace...

Oct 23, 2023   |   Inside Track staff

Implementing a Zero Trust security model at Microsoft

At Microsoft, our shift to a Zero Trust security model more than five years ago has helped us navigate many challenges. The increasing prevalence of cloud-based services, mobile computing, internet of things (IoT), and bring your own device (BYOD) in the workforce have changed the technology landscape for the modern enterprise. Security architectures that rely...

Oct 20, 2023   |   Inside Track staff

Understanding Microsoft’s digital transformation

Our Microsoft Digital Employee Experience (MDEE) team builds and operates the systems that run Microsoft, and as such, we’re leading the company’s internal digital transformation. We’re doing this by rethinking traditional IT and business operations, and by driving innovation and productivity for our 220,000-plus employees worldwide. Fueling Microsoft’s digital transformation is improving our ability to...

Oct 19, 2023   |   Lukas Velush

Getting the most out of generative AI at Microsoft with good governance

Since generative AI exploded onto the scene, it’s been unleashing our employees’ creativity, unlocking their productivity, and up-leveling their skills. But we can fly into risky territory if we’re not careful. The key to protecting the company and our employees from the risks associated with AI is adopting proper governance measures based on rigorous data...

Oct 19, 2023   |   Douglas Gantenbein

Deploying Kanban at Microsoft leads to engineering excellence

Microsoft has taken a page from the auto industry to use a process called Kanban (pronounced “con-bon”), a Japanese word meaning “signboard” or “billboard.” It was developed by a Toyota engineer to improve manufacturing efficiency. Microsoft is using Kanban to drive engineering improvement and streamline workflows at Microsoft. In its simplest form, Kanban involves creating...