What is Microsoft Flow?

Microsoft Flow is a service that essentially connects things to other things, and triggers actions based on criteria. For example, I could connect my OneDrive for Business to my Outlook email and say if I get an email with an attachment, then automatically save the attachment to a folder in my OneDrive for Business. If this, then that. It’s pretty clever.

You can connect Flow to a huge number of services, and there are a few different price plans (including a free tier) to suit your needs.

Detecting negative emails

If Microsoft Flow is the glue to connect things together, then the Microsoft Cognitive Services provide the intelligence that will turn you into an email pro. In this example, we’re going to use the text analytics capabilities (specifically the “detect sentiment” feature) to detect the sentiment of incoming email. The Cognitive Services are powerful because they don’t need any code to be useful. I include them in my flow (the recipe is below), and they return a score between 0.0 and 1.0.

Emails that come back with a score closer to 1.0 would be generally positive, and ones with a score closer to 0.0 would be generally negative. I can then tell Microsoft Flow that any emails returned with a score of less than, say, 0.4 should be flagged in my inbox for me to follow up on as a priority.

The Cognitive Services, like Flow, have a free option and paid options. You’ll need to sign up for them and get an API key to plug into Flow. This is very simple and just takes a few clicks – no coding required. Head to the Cognitive Services website, under APIs, and then Text Analytics. Follow the steps to get your keys:

Once you’ve configured the Cognitive Services to get your keys, and you’ve created the recipe like the example below, you’re done! Save the Flow, sit back and relax.

Things to note

• Since I’ve not been running this Flow for very long, I don’t know that 0.4 is the best score. I think it might be a little low, and I may edit the flow to make the number 0.5 or 0.6.

Helpfully, there are some options to make this easier. I went scouring the web for something free, simple and easy to find all files where the path length would exceed the limit for OneDrive for Business (256 chars). A user by the handle “deadlydog” had posted some PowerShell script to Stack Overflow that looked like it might do the job.

In the spirit of building on the great ideas of others, I’ve taken deadlydog’s initial solution and extended it slightly to include a character limit. I figured someone running this script is more interested in the files longer than the limit rather than every file path length. I’ve also altered it to output to a CSV file since that might be more useful when it comes to manipulating the data in Excel or Power BI should you have large numbers of files that exceed the limit.

Sample PowerShell Script

$pathToScan = "C:\Some\Directory"  # The path to scan and the the lengths for (sub-directories will be scanned as well).
$outputFilePath = "C:\temp\PathLengths.csv" # This must be a file in a directory that exists and does not require admin rights to write to.
$writeToConsoleAsWell = $false   # Writing to the console will be much slower.
$maxLength = 256 #Max path length. Script will record paths equal to, or longer than this.

# Open a new file stream (nice and fast) and write all the paths and their lengths to it.
$outputFileDirectory = Split-Path $outputFilePath -Parent
if (!(Test-Path $outputFileDirectory)) { New-Item $outputFileDirectory -ItemType Directory }
$stream = New-Object System.IO.StreamWriter($outputFilePath, $false)
Get-ChildItem -Path $pathToScan -Recurse -Force | Select-Object -Property FullName, @{Name="FullNameLength";Expression={($_.FullName.Length)}} | Sort-Object -Property FullNameLength -Descending | ForEach-Object {
    $filePath = $_.FullName
    $length = $_.FullNameLength
    $string = "$length,$filePath"

    # Write to the Console.
    if ($writeToConsoleAsWell) { Write-Host $string }

    #Write to the file.
    if ($length -ge $maxLength) {$stream.WriteLine($string)}
}
$stream.Close()

By running this with the appropriate permissions you should generate a CSV with a line per file broken out by path length and full path. This will make it easier to identify potential problems when synchronising with OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online.

It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since 2010. We can now provision entirely reimagined productivity scenarios in seconds. We can give our customers access to their data, applications and their customers anywhere, anytime and on any device. We’re very much in the middle of the “digital transformation” movement. The pace of change doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon either, with machine learning, artificial intelligence and bot technologies all promising to continue to redefine what it means to provide IT services both as a customer and as a partner.

Knowing where to start helping your customers on this journey can be difficult, but I’m sure you’d agree that leaving them where they are today, on rapidly ageing technology, does nobody any favours.

What is Small Business Server 2011?

It’s worth taking a moment to remind ourselves what SBS 2011 included:

• Designed and priced for small businesses with up to 75 users, very much in the Small and Mid-Sized Business – SMB – space.

• Includes Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, WSUS 3.0 with SP2.

• “Pre-cloud”. Designed for the on-premises world before the public cloud solutions we have today had matured.

SBS 2011 offered customers a brilliant “business in a box” that gave them all the services they’d need to be a modern and productive business in a pre-cloud-first-mobile-first world. Unsurprisingly, it was hugely popular.

Why move?

Software has a shelf life. In a cloud world, software gets updated all the time. There are no major migrations or upgrades. Instead, patches and features are continuously integrated so that the end-users always have the latest functionality.

In an on-premises world, it’s slightly different. Microsoft has a well-documented product lifecycle for its on-premises services and software. In terms of SBS 2011, the table below shows the lifecycle status for each of the component features:

Note that this is assuming that each feature is fully patched to the latest service pack;  this won’t be the case for every customer. Even so, they’re all out of mainstream support with the clock ticking for the end of extended support. 2020 might seem like the distant future but when you have several customers all requiring some kind of migration work it’s amazing how quickly those deadlines will be on top of us.

Lifecycle isn’t the only consideration. As trusted advisors and technology partners for small businesses, there’s a value element. By allowing customers to continue to use SBS 2011 without a plan to move to a modern cloud platform you could be considered to be ignoring a huge opportunity to add considerable value. You could help them to work anywhere, anytime. Transform their approach to security. Reduce their costs of running IT. From a business perspective, you also miss out on the benefits of building a valuable annuity stream and risk your long-standing customer relationships being usurped by a competitor who’ll transform your customers before you get a chance.

You’ve got three options

In my view, there are three ways to respond to this opportunity:

1. Do nothing. This would be bad. It ignores both the impending problem and the opportunity. It under serves your customers and discredits you as a partner.
2. Do it yourself. All the tools are there, across Office 365 and Azure to be able to build an SBS equivalent service in the cloud. This takes time and effort, and a degree of risk. Understandably, many partners don’t have the resource to take that risk and therefore end up back at option 1.
3. Script and template. Automating and building repeatable IP is the sweet spot for partners. We’ll explore further on in this post an example of some scripts you can use to take the pain out of moving customers to the cloud. Using them can reduce your time-to-value, can de-risk projects and crucially help you create a predictable, packaged set of offerings for your customers.

The SMB Solution Template

The SMB Solution Template was created by Microsoft in collaboration with Inovativ. It pulls together a simple user interface running a selection of PowerShell scripts and JSON templates to easily guide you through the process of provisioning a fully working Office 365 and/or Azure environment.

This freely available solution allows you to take some very basic customer information, select from a choice of pre-defined packaged options (which you have control over), and in just a few minutes have the scripts build the framework. Once they’re done you’re left in a position to be able to perform a content migration, finish any specific customisations for the customer and then deliver a completed project.

The solution was designed to be easy to use, and highly reusable but they aren’t meant to be the end of the support you get. There are other resources to help:

• SMB Cloud Enablement Guide: https://aka.ms/cloudenablementguide

• Follow the online learning materials on the UK Partner Upskill site: https://aka.ms/upskill

• Azure Mentor Program: Access to pre-sales support. Work with your PSE or PCDM Microsoft contact for info.

Template Walkthrough

Hans Demeyer, one of my colleagues from Microsoft’s Western Europe subsidiary has recorded a great 5-minute walkthrough of the solution:

Next Steps

Now that you’ve seen the template in action, it’s time for you to grab it and try it out yourself. It’s available from a couple of different sources:

• https://github.com/Inovativ/SMBblueprint-Docs – GitHub repo.
• https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/SMBBlueprint/8.1.0.2 – PowerShell Gallery

You’ll need to ensure that you have all the PowerShell modules installed to manage Office 365, SharePoint Online, Azure, etc. In addition, you’ll need to ensure that you have the necessary subscription information and delegated administration rights in order to run the scripts successfully.

Once you have all of this in place, you’re all set to start building your own packages. You may want to consider your own small, medium and large deployment offerings based on some standardised infrastructure and pricing. You can then go to market with a simple offer along the lines of “your entire small business in the cloud for £X per user, per month”.

Customers appreciate a clear cost model that’s predictable and offers them high value for money. From these starting points, you can cross-sell and upsell additional services and premium add-ons that enhance your value as a partner, and empower the customer to be more successful in how they use the technology available to them. This is particularly true as you look towards newer services like Dynamics 365, and new features like Microsoft Bookings, Staff Hub and Microsoft Teams.

I’d really like to hear how you get on with these templates or any questions you may have, in the comments!

There’s nothing new about the idea of transformation. Businesses have been evolving and responding to change since they first appeared. That we refer to the current period of evolution and disruption as “digital” points only to the fact that Information Technology (for example, machine learning, the Internet of Things, big data, etc.) is the enabler and accelerator for business changes instead of steam power, electricity, the combustion engine or even the printing press. Some think of this as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Yet, the question of how to navigate and survive this period of transformation still looms large in the minds of business leaders, technologists and digital transformation peddlers alike. Certainly, there’s no quick answer.

Change of mindset

“Your customers are transforming without YOU“

Instead of seeing transformation obstacles and inhibitors and trying to find ways around them, I prefer to view this as a period of huge opportunity. The chance for everyone to innovate, differentiate and survive into the future by creating and adding more value to customers and employees.

Of course, not everyone can survive and it’s not an exaggeration to say that some of the biggest, most successful, businesses around today will not be here in a decade thanks to their inability to innovate or differentiate from the smaller, more agile competition. Small businesses now have global reach and are unencumbered by the weight of a large corporate structure holding them back from trying new things, from surviving.

No matter how you decide to view this period if you do nothing then keep in mind: your customers are transforming without YOU.

The democratisation of tools

There’s a close link between digital transformation and cloud, and many could be forgiven for thinking that they’re one and the same. A clear and well-defined cloud strategy is crucial to any digital transformation plan, but it’s about more than simply shifting traditional IT into someone else’s data centre and saving money.

In the last 18 months, many technologies that were previously out of the reach of many businesses due to cost or lack of skills have not only become available but they’re cheap, easy to use and often overlooked. By taking technology such as machine learning and creating simple but powerful “off the shelf” services such as the Cognitive Services APIs that Microsoft offers, even the least technical person in a company can start to build powerful applications that can make a real difference to a business. It’s these newer platform services, connected to the existing data that businesses are sitting on, that can help a business evolve to thrive in a mobile first, cloud first world.

Betting on tomorrow’s world

We all need to start somewhere. Building bots and developing complex machine learning algorithms to enhance your services takes time. For many small businesses, the barrier for entry may seem too high – but it won’t for long. Whilst you may not have the completeness of vision to know exactly what you need to do today, there are some quick projects you can undertake that will fuel your ambitions:

• Take some company data and connect it to Power BI to create an information-rich dashboard.
• Import your FAQ content into a QnA bot and create a powerful and simple chat bot for your employees or customers.
• Empower your shift workers to be more in control of their work life by implementing Microsoft StaffHub.

Digital transformation doesn’t have to be expensive, difficult or scary. After having a go at trying some new ideas, I’d love to hear from you in the comments about how you’re approaching things.

It’s just gone 5:00am where I am in Seattle, WA. I fly home later tonight after soaking up a week with thousands of other members of Microsoft’s technical community at an internal event called TechReady. Needless to say, the content shared is highly confidential but is motivating, inspirational and truly awesome. It’s as a result of this shot of technical excitement that I decided to build a Q&A bot. What’s even better? I did it in less than an hour with zero code and so can you! Read on to find out how…

Disclaimer

I am not a proficient developer. In fact, I find code scary. I can be dangerous with HTML, CSS, Python, and I’ve even been known to toy with VisualBASIC and C# in the past but one thing I don’t call myself is a developer. This is important to note because when I first looked at this I naturally assumed it would be technically complex, time-consuming, and require a PhD in machine learning. As you’ll see, it doesn’t.

I’m expecting to update this post several times with more context and detail. When I built the Bot I didn’t have writing a blog post in mind and therefore didn’t write out the steps or take screenshots. Since a few people have asked how I did it, I’m writing it up. There may be gaps, and if there are please let me know in the comments.

Lastly, the Bot I’ve built is rudimentary. It’s awesome and fully working, but to take it to the next level I can see the need to start adding some custom code and development. I provide what I did here purely “as-is” to help you get started.

Introducing jamesbmarshallbot

I needed a purpose to build a Bot, and since I’m often asked fairly simple and common questions and am often setting an “OOF” (Out of Office) response I thought that a “virtual James” that people could ask questions of would be a great proof of concept and might even help keep my inbox manageable whilst I’m out with customers and partners.

Ways to interact

Right now you can speak to the Bot in three main ways:

• Skype – as a contact you chat within the client.
• Microsoft Teams – as a bot you chat with via the web or desktop app.
• Web chat – a simple web portal chat interface.

It’s actually very simple to support channels like FaceBook Messenger, Slack, Telegram and even services like Twilio but I haven’t activated those for now.

You will need…

Actually, you won’t need very much but here’s a list that might help:

• An Azure subscription. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, you can get £150 of free credit by signing up for a trial.
• Questions. This isn’t strictly required, but if you have a bunch of URLs to FAQ pages it’s very easy to train the Bot on those questions automatically. As you’ll see, you can add your own but a pre-existing bank of “question and answer pairs” can save some time.
• Refreshments. Diet Coke is my preference, but grab yourself a drink.

High-level Steps

I will cover these steps in more details as I update this post. In summary, the steps you’re going to take are:

• Create the initial Q&A bot using QnA Maker.
• Train the Bot with pre-existing FAQs and customer questions, and we’ll test to make sure they’re being answered correctly.
• Create a Bot using the Azure Bot Service (in preview), to which we’ll hook up the Q&A Bot we just made.
• Configure the Azure Bot Service and Q&A Bot to work together, it’s a few clicks and some copy-and-paste.
• Configure Channels for the Bot to be interacted with.
• Start chatting!
• [Optional] Create an Azure Web App to host a simple page with the web chat embedded in it.

At a high level, it’s “as simple as that”. You can chat to mine if you like! Some questions to ask:

• “How are you”?
• “What is CSP?”
• “Are you single?”

I’ve built mine to have learned from the CSP FAQ. In theory, any of the questions there should get an answer from the Bot. My next task is to go through and re-train the Bot to understand more “natural” questioning, and of course, add more question-and-answer pairs to make it even more useful!

Creating the Q&A bot

The first step is to sign up for the QnA service. Once you’re in, head to “Create new service”. You should see a simple form to fill in that looks like this:

Training and testing the bot

After creating the bot, you’ll be able to view all the question & answer pairs that have been detected. This view below shows the ones picked up from the CSP FAQ page. There are over 200 pairs!

Creating an Azure Bot Service

I’ll assume that if you’re this interested in creating a bot you’ll have signed up for an Azure subscription or you’ll have an existing one that you can use. If you don’t, you can get £150 free Azure credit by signing up. Once you’re into your Azure portal, create a new Bot Service by searching the Azure marketplace for “bot service”, you should see it listed in the results:

This should pop up a box that’ll allow you to select your QnA Maker bot:

Configuring the channels

Once you’re connected up you’ll go to the Bot Service configuration page that’ll default to the code view. Don’t worry, this is a zero code walkthrough so you won’t need to fiddle here (unless you want to!). We’re interested in the “Channels” tab:

Since I’ve already built my bot, a number of channels are already activated. It’s in this section that you can select which channels you want, and turn them on or off as required.

Start chatting!

Further Reading

It goes without saying that I’m not a genius. I did reference some online materials to help put this all together:

• Create Bot from FAQ page with no coding – a little light on detail, but the last step helped me make the bridge between QnA Maker and Azure Bot Service.

Power

This is my number one fear. It’s pretty irrational since I’m going to a big city with lots of places to charge my devices if I run low. Still, you can never have too many batteries. Before Christmas, I’d invested in the Omnicharge. I’m still really excited by this device as it’ll charge almost everything I use in one unit; however, it hasn’t arrived. Such is the risk of investing in a crowdfunded campaign.

I’m sure the Omnicharge will be good when it comes, and it is different from the Zendure thanks to its 230V power options, and option to charge my laptop, etc. For now, it’s all hinging on the A8.

Productivity

I actually use the Pen quite often to sketch out notes more effectively than I can type them, and the option to easily switch between the two is pretty handy. It’ll be the first time I’ve used it in a conference-style capacity so we’ll see how well it fares. My previous favourite for this was my trusty Lenovo X220.

Communication

The phone itself has a great battery (and I’ve obviously got the battery fatigue issue covered above), beautiful screen and a great camera. It’s only when you pair that with the apps that it really comes into its own. Some of my top picks:

• Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Office Lens
• Skype and Skype for Business
• Microsoft Teams, and Outlook Groups
• Power BI
• Dynamics AX (for expenses)
• OneDrive

The full list is long. When the Surface Book isn’t appropriate to use the iPhone 7 Plus is a very capable companion.

What’s in your bag?

What devices do you take with you to keep you going? Let me know in the comments!

Innocent-seeming emails can contain infected file attachments, links to websites hosting malicious code that can execute in dangerous ways, and phishing scams designed to obtain your credentials in order to impersonate you, your business and potentially steal or damage your data.

In the last few weeks, I’ve seen a flurry of activity about weak passwords, the top silly passwords from 2016 and all sorts of advice about how to keep your identity safe online. I also attended an event focused on cybersecurity and was amazed at the number of small businesses who’d fallen victim to some kind of attack (typically ransomware). In this post, I’ll cover my top 5 password security tips to help you and your business stay protected.

5. Pick a good password

I say good rather than strong because when people think of strong they default to difficult-to-remember and that leads to people doing silly things like writing their password down somewhere. A good password is one that’s easy for you to remember, distinct from other passwords, difficult for attackers to guess and one that you won’t feel the need to write down.

There are some great online guides around that talk about how to make a good password from the BBC’s guide on using your favourite song lyric, to how to generate a super secure passphrase with a simple six-sided dice.

4. Never write your password down

It might seem obvious, but if you need to write your password down you really need to go back to #5 and pick a good password. Offices are littered with sticky notes containing usernames and passwords, Word documents on servers with everyone’s details, etc. It might seem convenient to have them all written down somewhere “just in case”, but it’s a huge security risk and something many auditors pick up on immediately.

You might be thinking that an attacker wouldn’t have access to your desk or the file on your shared drive, so how would they be able to use that information?

Physical access is one thing, but if you have your password stored on your computer and you fall victim to a malware attack or your credentials are phished, etc. those files can be compromised and could lead to your digital assailant getting access to more of your data that they’d otherwise get.

3. Tell nobody. Mum’s the word.

Nobody ever needs to know your password. Not even your best friend. If you’re ever asked for it, alarm bells should ring and you should always decline and ask for more information about why the person is asking.

IT administrators do not need your password to conduct their tasks – they can achieve what they need with the tools they have as administrators. Likewise, service providers such as your bank, favourite online shopping website, or social network never need to know your password. If you receive any kind of email, phone call, letter or any request to provide details of your PIN or password then always err on the side of caution and say nothing.

But hey, you’re running a business. You need to get things done. You need to be able to access a colleague’s data (such as their email). If this sounds like you, try utilising the features of the technology to enable this, rather than sharing usernames and passwords.

For example, Office 365 allows you to delegate access and create shared mailboxes so that users can have common access, such as in the case of an assistant managing the mailbox of their director. Also, Microsoft Azure AD allows you to provide access to SaaS applications (such as the company Twitter account) without needing to share passwords. It’s secure, safe, and simple.

2. Turn on multi-factor authentication (where possible)

Many services now support what’s known as “multi-factor authentication”, or “two-factor authentication”. This means something in addition to your username and password. It’s usually a code generated by an app on your smartphone or sent to you by text message to ensure that it’s definitely you accessing your account. The benefit is that even if someone steals your password they won’t be able to sign in as they won’t be able to generate the unique code known only to you to complete any attempt to sign in.

Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Google, Apple and many many other service providers support these features. If you haven’t turned them on already you should go do it NOW! Or maybe after reading the rest of this post.

With the rise of fingerprint readers on smartphones, it’s even easier to approve login requests – you just need to swipe your phone and you’re in!

1. Consign “I forgot my password” to the history books

Often the number one request into IT helpdesks is to reset a forgotten password. Even if the other four points above have been followed, you’re only human and it’s normal to forget things. Having been the guy responsible for resetting passwords for people in the past, I can tell you that being able to give people the power to reset their own password is like a week of Christmas Days all at once.

Self-service password reset tools, such as those offered by Microsoft’s Azure AD Premium service, allow users to set some challenge questions (such as your mother’s maiden name, the city you were born in, etc.) that they can answer at any time in order to regain access to their accounts. There’s no need to phone anyone or write anything down, and it works any time of the day or night. All you need is access to the Internet through a web browser; and the answers to your questions, of course!

0. Only use trusted devices to access your stuff

You’ve probably got at least two devices that you use to run your business: a laptop and a smartphone. Maybe you’ve got a tablet and a desktop computer, too. You’re logging into your stuff on everything because it’s convenient, and who could argue with that?

When you’re using your devices, you’re in control. You know if they’re up to date, you know what software is installed, you know who else has had access. The same isn’t true for somebody else’s device. Before you log in on a different device give a thought to whose it is, whether it’s secure, and whether you trust the owner. Never save your password on shared or public devices, or on a device that isn’t yours. This is because there may be malicious software running on the device that is capturing your credentials and leaving you vulnerable to a cyber attack.

2015

This is the latest video, focusing on some of the technology innovations around IoT, holographic technology, and creativity.

2011

Looking back one step, themes around augmented and mixed reality, collaboration and productivity across device form factors, connected customer experiences, IoT are all prevalent if not yet fully realised.

2009

Stepping back even further, to 2009. Those cross-device, cross-boundary collaboration scenarios are still there – the notion of connecting to our data anywhere, anytime. Hands-free interaction with technology gets a feature in this video, and the concept of starting work on one device and picking up on another is there. Interesting that the Surface Dial-type interaction is right there hiding in plain sight! Personally, I love the digital paper that’s featured in this video.

1999

Whilst not technically part of the “Productivity Future Vision” series of videos, and certainly not on any of Microsoft’s official online channels, this slightly longer gem from 1999 shows some of the concepts in mind before we had WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G, broadband, the iPhone, Skype and Windows Hello… I watched this video for the first time in a very long time in writing this post and I’m amazed at how prophetic it is in predicting some of the capabilities we now take for granted. Whilst the Internet might look a little different, and our mobile phones might be a little slimmer, I’d say this 18-year-old concept showcase is eerily accurate.

More often than not I get a follow-up query about where people can watch the video and I’m always scrabbling around to search for and link to it, so as much for my own benefit as yours, here is the longer version:

If you have any questions or thoughts please leave them in the comments or reach out to me via social media.

Office 365 Security

Your data is in very safe hands in Office 365. Microsoft prides itself on its industry accreditations, leading position on cloud security and protecting customer data, and invests heavily in R&D to ensure it is staying one step ahead in keeping your data safe online.

It’s not unrealistic to say that for small businesses and their technology partners achieving this level of investment, security, and scale by building these services themselves is all but impossible. If nothing else, it’s too expensive.

Lockbox

Having a solid process for managing access to customer data is essential when you’re running a cloud service. For this reason, Microsoft adopts a lockbox method to restrict access to customer data for engineers. This access is just in time, and just enough.

An engineer must submit a request along with a clear justification to the Lockbox system at which point a Microsoft manager must approve or reject access before any further action can be taken. It means that nobody – not even Microsoft – gets unfettered access without audit or accountability.

If Office 365 is so secure, why do I need Customer Lockbox?

I speak to lots of customers and partners. I’m always amazed at the variation in understanding there is about Customer Lockbox and what it does. Usually, the conversation starts off trying to evaluate it against the security of the service and that’s where it all goes wrong… Customer Lockbox doesn’t make Office 365 more secure. Instead, it helps to think about some common pain points…

Privacy

Generally, customers want to ensure that there’s as much transparency over access to their data. Privacy is a huge concern in all our lives and anything we can do to limit unnecessary access to data is only a good thing.

Access

When you are using a cloud service there’s an implication that at some point someone other than you is going to need access to your data. Most likely, this will be to address a support request. There’s already no standing access to customer data in Office 365, but wouldn’t it be great if you could ensure that even when you need help from a support engineer there’s no access without your explicit approval?

Audit

In the case of a support request, customers want to ensure that any access to their data is logged and audited.

Office 365 Customer Lockbox

Office 365 Customer Lockbox introduces an additional step in the process of providing access to your data to those who have a legitimate request.

This flow shows how it works from creating a support request, to an engineer being granted access to a customer’s data. Now there are two stages of approval that must be completed: first from a Microsoft manager, and then from the customer. If the customer doesn’t respond, respond in time, or declines the request then no access is granted. It’s this customer approval step that is what we refer to as Office 365 Customer Lockbox.

By approving access, you are granting an engineer just enough access, just in time to support you.

All access is audited and available via the Office 365 Management Activity logs.

Video Overview of Office 365 Customer Lockbox

Take a look at this video from the Microsoft Mechanics team that covers an overview of how Customer Lockbox works, and how to activate it.

Summary

Office 365 is a very secure productivity platform, and privacy is foremost in the minds of many customers. Office 365 Customer Lockbox introduces a step in the approval process beyond the regular Lockbox process to gain access to a customer’s data that requires the customer to explicitly approve or reject access on a case by case basis. It is available as part of Office 365 Enterprise E5, and supplements the existing rigorous processes that Microsoft adheres to when providing cloud services.