Background When I first got my Azure Visual Studio credit, $120 seemed to go a long way. I could, have a Domain Controller running 24/7, and a site-to-site VPN running. With plenty left over for all the other things I needed to do. In 2023 I was working with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and needed […]
Author: timhayward
Microsoft 365 and Intune: The 2026 Device Management Evolution
Intune Suite features coming to Microsoft 365 in 2026 and why this matters. When Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 E5, it was clear what it was intended to do. Consolidate customers vendor eco-system. This was clear by the investments in areas that clearly step on competitors toes, for example, Microsoft 365 E5 comes with: Microsoft 365 […]
Your Teams Call Recording Policies Probably Don’t Do What You Want
Teams Convenience Call/Meeting Recording Firstly, I want to highlight this applies to the convenience call recording feature in Teams. There are two types of call recording, compliance, where the business controls the recording of calls, this may be for phone calls, Teams calls, or meetings. Whatever the use case, this will be done by a […]
Commsverse 2025 Reflections
It’s been just over a week since Commsverse and I’ve finally found a bit of time to get my reflections and thoughts on the event. Firstly, Commsverse remains my favourite event of the year. I can’t really put a finger on one single reason, it’s a combination of multiple, small compounding elements: Who should go […]
Azure Virtual Desktop with Nerdio
A Modern Approach to Desktop Virtualisation on Steroids! Reflecting on a recent Nerdio training course, it’s clear just how far Microsoft’s virtual desktop offering has come since its early days as Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). Not only has AVD matured into a solid, cloud-native platform, but when paired with Nerdio, it becomes a truly compelling […]
Microsoft Teams: “Prevent Screen Capture”
Raising the Bar for Meeting Security Screen sharing has become second nature for most Teams users-whether you’re running a client pitch, collaborating on a budget, or delivering a quarterly review. But with the convenience of sharing comes with risk: how do you keep sensitive content safe from exfiltration, especially when a simple screenshot can turn […]
Enabling Windows Recall
Introduction For a few weeks I’ve been trying to get Windows Recall working on the Surface Pro 11 since it was released to the Release Preview insider ring. First, I ensured my device (Intune managed, demo tenant) was enrolled in the Release Preview ring. It was, along with a VM on MacOS, and all the […]
There is always the option of your client doing nothing
Professional Services: Overcoming the ‘Do Nothing’ Option What do we mean by doing nothing? It’s essentially maintaining the status quo or deferring a decision. In this post, we explore why clients often choose inaction over adopting professional service engagements, and how you can effectively address this challenge. Businesses selling commodity products typically have one advantage: […]
Viva Amplify, how is it licensed?
Background The first response to my latest post on Viva Amplify was “Shame it requires an additional subscription, and not bundled in the E3/E5 SKU”. With every additional add-on SKU for a Microsoft 365 service there is always the question of whether the capability should be a core offering. In this post we’ll answer the […]
Microsoft Viva Amplify, the unsung silver bullet?
Introduction I’ve been toying for weeks with how to start this series on Microsoft Viva Amplify. At its core, it’s a mechanism of communicating with colleagues. As a discreet offering on its own that can be a tough sell. From the CxO level, there can be a perception that internal communications is already handled, communications […]