The recent past is an indicator that businesses undeniably need a digital setup to do their best, most professional work. Hybrid work segregates into internal communication and collaboration with team members and it also includes external communication and servicing for clients and customers. It encompasses people working remotely and people working from offices. Microsoft is possibly the best solutions provider that can offer answers to the hybrid work needs.
Microsoft is recognized as a Leader in seven different Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ reports, eight different Forrester Wave™ reports, and eight different IDC MarketScape reports. We believe these reports reflect the breadth and depth of our comprehensive solutions across Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Makes Strides In Hybrid Work Solutions
Evolution of MS Teams
MS Teams has over 270 million monthly active users. Businesses all over the world – of all sizes and industries – use and trust the communication and collaboration platform.
The recent enhancement of Teams Rooms, Microsoft is facilitating smoother hybrid work for people working remotely and collaborating with those working from premises.
Microsoft is also recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms Report for 2021. According to the report, Microsoft placed highest in Ability to Execute and is placed higher on both Completeness of Vision and furthest on Ability to Execute than any other company in the Leaders’ quadrant.
Data Insights and Automation
Successfully shifting to hybrid work needs a revamp of existing business processes. This is where Microsoft’s Power Platform comes into the picture. The Power Platform is constituted by Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Apps, which together offer a set of tools that can analyze data, build solutions, automate processes, and even create virtual agents.
Of special note is the Power BI (packaged into Microsoft 365 E5 OR available separately). It is an industry leader in augmented business intelligence, enabling organizations to connect to, visualize, and create actionable insights from simple data.
Forrester has recognized Microsoft as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Augmented BI Platforms, Q3 2021.6 The Forrester Wave™ report states: “It is hard not to consider Power BI as your top choice for an enterprise BI platform, especially if your organization plans to deploy most of its business and productivity applications and store and process most of the data on Microsoft Azure.”
Additionally, the March 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms,7 recognizes Microsoft as a Leader among analytics and business intelligence platforms. For the fourth year running, Microsoft is again positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision and highest in Ability to Execute.
Securing Hybrid Work Environments
Security is an integral part of every Microsoft solution that gets innovated and brought to the market. Here’s how Microsoft provides integrated security for their hybrid work solutions.
Identity and Access Management
Zero Trust security starts with strong identity verification. Microsoft is recognized as a Leader in the 2021 The Forrester Wave™: Identity As A Service (IDaaS) For Enterprise, Q3 2021,8 IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Advanced Authentication for Identity Security 2021 Vendor Assessment,9 and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management.10
Endpoint Protection
There are several diverse devices in any hybrid work environment, not necessarily as prudently secured as a workplace might be. Therefore, Microsoft has rightly deemed it important to secure all endpoints in a digital fabric.
Microsoft is named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms11 and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Modern Endpoint Security for Small and Midsize Businesses 2021 Vendor Assessment.12 From the IDC report: “Microsoft’s momentum in the modern endpoint security market is undeniable and that lends to more customers considering and trialing Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Microsoft Defender for Endpoints.”
Microsoft is also recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Endpoint Security Software as a Service, Q2 2021,13 receiving the highest possible scores in the criteria of control, data security, and mobile security, as well as in the criteria for Zero Trust framework alignment.
Application Usage and Management
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps organizations safeguard against email vulnerabilities that come from inbound mails, links, and collaboration tools.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Email Security, Q2 2021,14 receiving the highest possible score in the incident response, threat intelligence, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions integration criteria, as well as in the product strategy, customer success, and performance and operations criteria.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a leading cloud security gateway (or cloud access security broker) that provides multifunction visibility, control over data travel, and sophisticated analytics to identify and combat cyber threats across your cloud apps, including Microsoft 365. Forrester has named Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Cloud Security Gateways, Q2 2021.15
Extended Detection and Response
Microsoft 365 Defender again made the top ranks in 2021, placing as a Leader in The Forrester New Wave™: Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Q4 2021.16 As the Forrester report states: “[Microsoft 365 Defender] offers robust, native endpoint, identity, cloud, and O365 [Microsoft Office 365] correlation… singular and cross-telemetry detection, investigation, and response for Microsoft’s native offerings in one platform.”
Simplifying Device Management
Agility is an essential part of digital sustenance and hybrid work. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified endpoint management tool that reduces the challenges of managing the varied types and number of devices working in tandem. It strives to provide full endpoint visibility and IT control across platforms, so workloads on IT are simplified, and businesses enjoy a lower TCO.
