Microsoft will no longer release security updates for SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 after July 9, 2019. Remaining on legacy infrastructure exposes your business to security threats, makes you non-compliant with regulations, and is more costly to operate.

Microsoft 365 is a bundle of Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS). Microsoft 365 is the parent product of Office 365 and was created to bundle all of Microsoft's 'a-la-cart' productivity, mobility, and security tools into one, so that as a customer you only have to think about buying one tool instead of having to educate yourself on the hundreds of different tools and features.

• Microsoft 365 vs Office 365 Pricing
• Microsoft 365 vs Office 365 Features
  
  • Enterprise Mobility + Security 
  • Windows 10 Enterprise

Azure AD Connect is a Microsoft tool designed to meet and accomplish your hybrid identity goals. It lets you connect your on-premise Active Directory to Azure Active Directory, providing the following features:

Office 365 Business Premium is by far the most common product among SMBs while Office 365 E3 has become the standard for enterprises, which Microsoft describes a 300+ employees. There a 9 additional features with Office 365 E3:

1. Maximum number of users
2. Exchange Online Inbox Size
3. OneDrive for Business Storage Size
4. Shared Computer Activation
5. Office 365 Data Loss Prevention
6. Office 365 Calling Plan + Phone System Compatibility
7. Unlimited Email Archiving
8. Office 365 Cloud App Security
9. Office 365 Message Encryption

Most of our customers and partners ask us about the approval process for government organizations wanting to be on Microsoft Government Community Cloud (GCC). It's hard to find any reading materials online and even when you call Microsoft's sales number the reps aren't equipped with the knowledge either, so I'm writing this to clear the air!

A successful Zero Trust strategy requires seamless and flexible access to applications, systems, and data while maintaining security for both users and the resources they need to do their jobs. It requires being cloud-ready, starting with identity, and then taking steps that will help secure all areas of your environment. Here's what you need to implement for Azure AD Identity Protection:

When you bring on a new hire does your IT team spend time having to configure that person's computer and then does the new hire has to spend the next 7 days setting up their accounts and apps? Isn't this boarding process frustrating? Welcome to Windows Autopilot.

In our last blog post, What is Microsoft EMS? we gave an overview of the 6 tools that make the Enterprise Mobility + Security suite. In this post we'll dive into the 13 specific differences between the EMS E3 and E5 licenses, so that you can decide which version you need.

Microsoft launched the Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) in March 2014, in an effort to transition from 'bolted-on' security to 'built-in' security. It was a huge bet at the time, as EMS was meant to bring enterprise-level security that Fortune 500 companies were using to small and medium businesses (SMBs).

The team at BEMO came up with the most important questions to ask any business owner or company executive when determining their risk of a data breach. These questions, which can be answered in under 5 minutes, are meant to identify whether a business has the infrastructure to identify, classify, prevent, and if necessary, re-mediate the most common cyber-attacks.

With 81 percent of data breaches being due to weak, reused, or stolen passwords, turning on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all of your apps is necessary. In this article we'll show you how to setup MFA for your Office 365 account paired with the Microsoft Authenticator smartphone app.

A few weeks ago we wrote about the 4 types of Microsoft Active Directory, Azure Active Directory being one of those four. In this article, we'll explore the 3 licenses that you need to know about within Azure AD exclusively. The three Azure Active Directory licenses are: Office 365 edition, P1, and P2.

No company on the planet can beat Microsoft's value to schools and education organizations. Between school-specific applications, heavily discounted pricing, and free on-site training from the Microsoft Retail staff, schools nowadays receive technology and help that none of us had growing up ask kids. In this post we'll go over everything school's should know about Microsoft and how they'll revolutionize your school.

I was approached by the Head of IT for a 70-something person company via LinkedIn, wanting an independent review of their environment. I thought sure, let's schedule a call to go over the details. This guy's company had an IT infrastructure of the future; the most well-prepared lead I had ever dealt with! Everyone in the company worked from home, connecting through a remote desktop, multi-factor authentication (MFA) was turned on for everyone, and they were all managed by Azure Active Directory (AD). On top of all that they already had tools to monitor their environment. This was going to be the quickest and easiest penetration test we had ever done! 😁

For the last six months at BEMO we have been migrating a lot of Domain Controllers to Azure. During our discovery calls with the customers, it's obvious there's a lot of confusion about all the different options around Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory (AAD), Hybrid Azure Active Directory (Hybrid AAD), and Azure Active Directory Domain Services (AADDS). Below we'll explain their differences in order to help you decide what you need.

Most people are still unaware that Microsoft provides domestic and international calling plans for businesses through Office 365's Microsoft Teams. What's the benefit of moving your business's phone to Microsoft? How much does it cost? Let's dig into it below!

Microsoft is now pushing companies to adopt the Microsoft 365 product line, which bundles Office 365 with Windows 10 and their cybersecurity tools dubbed Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS). There are 3 versions, Microsoft 365 Business, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5. This post describes every feature to help you determine which version you need for you business.

Cata is our newest addition to BEMO. He is joining Bruno and Harpreet on the implementation team as a Cybersecurity Engineer. Cata has known the founders, Joel and Bruno for a very long time; having worked together in Microsoft's Hardware division in the late 1990's. In fact here's a picture I dug up of them below in 1998!

Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) for Office 365 and Azure is a great solution created by Microsoft to enable users to change and reset their passwords by themselves, saving IT a lot of time. Self-Service Password Reset allows users to both change their existing passwords or their forgotten ones. This feature works both with Azure Active Directory and On-Premises Active Directory synced using AD Connect.

Microsoft will stop providing mainstream support for the Windows 7 operating system on January 14, 2020. From that day on, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows 7. Companies that remain on Windows 7 will instantly become non-compliant and subject to cyber-attacks from the list of common Windows 7 vulnerabilities.