Episode 347 – All your Entra.news with Merill Fernando

Episode 347 – All your Entra.news with Merill Fernando

In Episode 347, Ben and Scott sit down with Merill Fernando to discuss the tools and content Merill is building to support Microsoft Entra customers.

Merill is a Principal Product Manager in the Microsoft CAT team with a focus on Microsoft Graph for Identity and brings his experiences working with Microsoft Entra customers to the masses.

In the conversation, we explore Merill’s various contributions to technical tools aimed at simplifying complex processes when working with the Microsoft Cloud. His creations include CMD.Ms, a tool that streamlines access to different Microsoft services; Azure AD Exporter, a tool that exports your entire Microsoft Entra ID configuration and Azure AD B2C into JSON files; and Graph X-ray, a Chrome extension that converts API calls into code in your preferred language. Lastly, He highlighted the ‘Weekly Dose of Microsoft Entra’ newsletter as an ideal resource for keeping up-to-date with relevant news, blog posts and videos. To learn more from Merill and keep up with Microsoft Entra news, sign up for his newsletter at entra.news.

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Episode 346 – Expanded cloud logging for everyone

Episode 346 – Expanded cloud logging for everyone

In Episode 346, Ben and Scott discuss how some of the recent attacks on Microsoft 365 customers have led to Microsoft, in partnership with CISA, offering expanded cloud logging capabilities to all customers for no additional charge.

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Episode 345 – Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive

Episode 345 – Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive

In episode 345, Ben and Scott discuss the upcoming Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive services, as well as the pricing and value of Microsoft Co-Pilot. Microsoft 365 backup and Microsoft 365 archive services will provide users with options for backing up data in Microsoft 365, including SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. They also discuss the benefits this will have on purchasing backup service directly from Microsoft, as well as how third-party backup providers can take advantage of this announcement.

They also discuss how Microsoft 365 Archive, will complement Microsoft 365 Backup by offering cold to cool data storage for inactive data in Microsoft 365. This service aims to provide cost savings for storing older content while maintaining administrative search capabilities and other functionalities.

The conversation then moves on to the pricing and value of Microsoft Co-Pilot. They discuss the potential benefits of using Co-Pilot for tasks like drafting proposals or generating meeting notes. However, they also express concerns about the pricing compared to existing licensing models and whether the value delivered by Co-Pilot justifies the cost. They speculate on how organizations might justify the expense based on time savings and productivity gains. Overall, they express a mix of excitement and skepticism about Copilot and emphasize the need to see it in action before fully evaluating the value.

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Episode 344 – The paradox of choice as a SharePoint Developer with Andrew Connell

Episode 344 – The paradox of choice as a SharePoint Developer with Andrew Connell

In Episode 344, Ben and Scott invite Andrew Connell, SharePoint developer extraordinaire and founder of Voitanos on the show to talk about your options when it comes to developing modern web applications that interact with SharePoint and Teams. There’s a lot to unpack here – when or even should you build a SharePoint app? Is it better to just build and deploy web apps that you can control end-to-end? Listen in to find out.

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Episode 343 – Microsoft Entra: The Podcast

Episode 343 – Microsoft Entra: The Podcast

In Episode 343, Ben and Scott start to tackle the great renaming of Azure Active Directory to Microsoft Entra ID (or MEID). Except for the places that it didn’t get renamed. It’s not confusing at all.

They discuss the implications of the rename and the potential confusion it could cause, as well as explore new product announcements related to Microsoft’s foray into the security service edge market. They also provide resources for understanding the rename and navigating Microsoft Intra. Overall, they have some frustration with the renaming exercise, but acknowledge that it probably is a good thing and when it comes down to it, is largely a just a rename of the service.

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