News & Events

Upgrading Customer Identity: Why It’s Time to Move from Microsoft B2C to Entra External ID

EEID (Entra External ID) isn’t just a new platform, it’s a strategic shift towards sustainable, future-ready identity architecture. It prioritises long-term stability, automation, and seamless integration with Microsoft Entra. For organisations still relying on IEF (Identity Experience Framework), the next 12-18 months are critical for mapping your migration, before B2C’s end of life becomes an operational risk.

Microsoft September 2025 Updates: Smart, Safe and Seamless AI Adoption for Your Business

Microsoft closed out the September quarter with some of it’s most transformative announcements designed to help organisations unlock new levels of productivity, intelligence, and control.

Data Privacy in The age of Generative AI: Why Policies Matter

AI’s power to transform work is obvious: faster content, sharper insights, and better automation. Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-5, Gemini and Claude have become everyday tools for millions of professionals, making work easier and more creative. However, this same accessibility hides serious risks, especially for companies that handle customer or business-confidential data. Once sensitive information is entered into a publicly available LLM based application, control is lost.

Smart and ethical ways Not-for-Profits can use AI in fundraising

Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now, but for many fundraisers it still feels like a vague buzzword, exciting in theory, intimidating in practice. The truth is, AI is already reshaping how not-for-profits connect with supporters. When used responsibly, it can reduce admin, strengthen donor relationships, and make fundraising more sustainable. Here’s how not-for-profits can approach AI in practical, ethical, and donor-centric ways.

You Paid for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Now Make It Pay You Back

Rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot is a big move. But here’s the thing: if your people don’t know how to use it, you’re not getting your money’s worth. Research shows up to 70% of tech rollouts flop, not because the tools don’t work, but because no one’s using them properly.

AI in schools

When used responsibly, AI doesn’t just make schools smarter. It makes them kinder, fairer, and more focused on what really matters: helping every student thrive. In my previous blog, I explored why responsible and ethical AI matters, but I looked at it from a broad perspective. This time, I want to turn our attention to schools, where the risks are significant, but the opportunities are even greater. When used thoughtfully, AI can support learning, reduce administrative burden, and help teachers reclaim time for the human parts of teaching, like mentoring, creativity, and care.

Important Update: Microsoft to Retire Cognitive Services and Azure ML for Power BI Dataflows by September 15, 2025 

In July 2025, Microsoft announced a significant change that will impact organisations using AI and machine learning within Power BI Dataflows. Cognitive Services and Azure Machine Learning integrations will be fully retired by September 15, 2025. 

What’s new in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (May 2025) 

There is a fresh wave of innovations available in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Version 10.0.44 will be available from next month, June 2025, it’s time to have a look at the suite of enhancements now available to you. 

Important changes coming soon affecting your Microsoft Dynamic 365 Licensing 

There are some important changes coming to how Dynamics 365 F&O licenses are managed, and it’s something every business needs to be across. Microsoft is introducing a more active approach to license enforcement, with all user licenses needing to be assigned directly through the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre.

The Importance of Microsoft Security Solutions for Compliance

In today’s digital landscape, where data breaches and regulatory scrutiny are ever-present threats, organisations face an uphill battle in safeguarding sensitive information and maintaining compliance with evolving standards.

Quorum Celebrates Winning the Microsoft ANZ 2024 Security Partner of the Year Award

In a landmark achievement, Quorum has been named the winner of the prestigious Microsoft ANZ 2024 Security Partner of the Year Award. This accolade highlights Quorum’s excellence and innovation in delivering top-tier cyber security solutions, utilising cutting-edge Microsoft technologies and platforms.

Reflections from RSACON 2024: The Transformative Power of AI in Cybersecurity

Our team recently attended @RSACON in San Francisco, and it’s amazing what a difference a year makes. Last year, AI was more of a buzzword than a focal point in discussions about improving our defence capabilities. This year, however, AI completely dominated the week, marking a significant shift in the industry’s approach to cybersecurity.

Automate Order And Invoice Processing To Save Time And Money 

Without systems, a business can quickly spiral into chaos – becoming highly inefficient and leaving the door wide open to compliance, financial and even reputational risk.

Watch now: Unlock the Potential of OpenAI webinar

Without systems, a business can quickly spiral into chaos – becoming highly inefficient and leaving the door wide open to compliance, financial and even reputational risk.

What is a Governance Document and why do you need one?

Without systems, a business can quickly spiral into chaos – becoming highly inefficient and leaving the door wide open to compliance, financial and even reputational risk.

Drive Pledge to Impact with Microsoft’s Cloud for Nonprofit and Klevr Grants Management [PART 2 of 2]

The Klevr Grants solution offers two key components: grant-seeking and grant-making. The Klevr Grant solution presents an opportunity for nonpofits to enhance their work with these expert solutions.

Drive Pledge to Impact with Microsoft’s Cloud for Nonprofit and Klevr Grants Management [PART 1 of 2]

Drive Pledge to Impact with Microsoft’s Cloud for Nonprofit and Klevr Grants Management: understanding the opportunity for your organisation.

How Viva Connections is changing the game for frontline workers and NFPs

Community, aged care, and home health workers who operate in the field have long been given the short end of the stick when it comes to technology.

Quorum Named Finalist in Microsoft Security Excellence Awards 2023

Quorum is proud to announce that we have been named a finalist in the Security Trailblazer category in the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards 2023! This prestigious recognition honours our success and impact in the security landscape during the past 12 months.

How To Increase Employee Engagement With Microsoft Viva

Microsoft Viva is a natural next step in the merged optimisation of SharePoint and Teams. The new features add a greater touch of care, personalisation, and precision to each user’s experience, which helps maximise engagement and promotes harmony in operations, on the management and personal level.

First in Australia: Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) Solution

Quorum is proud to announce that we have been named First in Australia: Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) Solution

How Data Storytelling Is Shaping Our Approach To Data

Many solutions we build now prioritise self service capabilities in analytics and business intelligence and have a wide user base. The end users who are generating and extracting insights are not just analysts or data scientists – they are non-technical people at all levels of the business.

Data Cleansing – How Clean Is Your Data?

Many organisations have recognised the value in harnessing their data to make better business decisions. To enable this “data-driven” decision making, in broad terms, organisations are making two key investments. First, workforce training that empowers people with data literacy and second, data projects that enable the organisation to extract value from its data.

Quorum: SOC 2 Type 1

Undertaking the SOC 2 Type 1 audit was an important process for us to demonstrate and prove that our systems and processes for are suitably designed and secured.

What Is A Data Lakehouse?

Although data lakes offer centralised storage for raw data, they can sometimes become unreliable data swamps. On their part, data warehouses are inefficient in supporting varied data types despite the ability to store information that can be used for decision-making. When used together, data warehouses and lakes cause data duplication.

5 benefits of using data-driven education and its impact

There have been many shifts in our world over the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including how and where education is taking place. As we’ve seen, there has been a massive shift towards online education, which comes with its own set of benefits and challenges.

Why Your Business Should Have A Power Platform or power BI

Using such a suite of services makes it easy to unify vast amounts of data and empower the organization. The suite makes it possible for technical and non-technical users within the business to analyse data, create customized apps, and automate many business processes. 

Tellus: The next step in Microsoft teams governance

Tellus is the only product on the market that offers a faster, simpler and safer way for staff to take control of user collaboration needs in Microsoft Teams.

Security Finalist in the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards!

We are excited and proud to announce that Quorum has been named a finalist for Security in Microsoft’s 2022 Partner of the Year awards.

Quorum is a Great Place to Work for the third year in a row!

Our team have spoken and now it’s official! We have earned our Great Place to Work Certification for the THIRD year in a row!

Achievement Unlocked: Advanced Specialisation for Windows Server and SQL Server Migration

We are thrilled to announce that Quorum has achieved the Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure advanced specialisation.  

Quorum is the first Microsoft Partner in Australia to achieve the ‘Modernise Endpoints’ Advanced Specialisation

Quorum’s focus on providing our customer’s with secure access to resources across mobile, desktop and virtual endpoints has seen us achieve the ‘Modernise Endpoints’ Advance Specialisation.

Quorum highly commended at the ARN Innovation Awards

To cap off a year full of achievements, we were thrilled to be awarded highly commended in the Security category of the ARN Innovation Awards in 2021.

The Irreplaceable Role of Educators in Higher Education

In recent years, there’s been debate around whether technology will eventually replace the role educators serve in education. We’re here to give an answer: no.

5 Practical Steps to Set Up Data Governance in your Business

Lack of data governance impedes many organisations from realising their full data potential, and is ideally one of the first steps you should take as you set out on your data journey. Here is a roadmap with 5 practical steps to help you implement it properly…

How to Implement Business Process Automation

There is a significant amount of evidence that proves the benefits of implementing BPA in improving productivity and relieving staff of as much tedium as possible.

How to Deliver Teaching and Learning to Large Cohorts

Keeping students engaged in large cohorts is becoming a higher priority for many universities as they implement more blended learning opportunities, which is why it’s important for universities to understand how to efficiently manage cohorts.

How Learning Analytics Improves Higher Education

Data is the most valuable asset in the world. With how valuable data has become in today’s society, it only makes sense that higher education takes advantage of data and analytics to improve the student experience.

Pros and Cons of Learning for K-12 in Hybrid Environments

As demands grow for innovative tech advancement, more and more schools are being faced with the question of “when is the right time to introduce students to online learning?”. Let’s look at some of the benefits and challenges that come with hybrid learning.

5 Tips for Increasing Student Engagement and Learning

Student engagement and learning are vital for thriving societies. Student engagement measures each student’s interest, optimism, and attention towards class material. High student engagement results in better grades. This end result yields higher retention of class content.

How to Deploy Microsoft Teams with Best Practices

While the use of Microsoft Teams has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, the speed at which the platform was rolled out has left many IT department scrambling to play catch up in terms of governance.

Challenges and Opportunities Facing Schools in a Digital Era

In partnership with Microsoft, we held a roundtable discussion with independent schools to discover how they have used technology over the past 18 months, and what their leaders are most excited about moving forward…

The Future of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Remote learning has been on the rise in the tertiary education space for quite some time, with TAFEs and universities looking to evolve traditional onsite models for almost a decade.

Data in Life and In Business: How I Use Data As A New Dad

There is always a greater purpose for measuring and analysing data. If we can use this advantage to improve our lives and businesses, and those of others, then it’s worth all the effort we put into it.

Give superpowers to your firstline workers with Microsoft Teams

Firstline workers are the visible face of almost every organisation and industry.

Delta Lake: New Hybrid Between Data Lake & Data Warehouse

In the current data space, a new solution is rapidly gaining popularity for its ability to provide the best of both worlds. Delta Lake is a software layer that is applied over a data lake to enhance its capability.

Migrating Data to SharePoint? Avoid these 6 Challenges

If your business is planning a data migration to SharePoint, it’s important to plan ahead. Here are the 6 most common challenges in a SharePoint data migration, and how to avoid them….

Secret to Getting the Most Out of a Machine Learning Solution

Even if you don’t work in a technical field, chances are that you’ve heard of the term “DevOps” which relates to how software is developed, maintained and delivered within a business. DevOps is not suitable for an end-to-end machine learning solution because traditional software system behaviour is generally governed by fixed rules specified in code.

6 Tips and Tricks for the Best Chatbot Design

Designing a chatbot, particularly with conversational intelligence, takes careful planning. Most of us know all too well the troubles we can have as customers when dealing with a chatbot that has not been properly configured or managed – and the same applies to internal chatbots.

How Visual Communication Brings Users Closer to Data

Do you remember what it was like before we had intuitive search engines? Searching for information was a time consuming and esoteric activity. To search effectively it was necessary to have an understanding of how databases and database queries worked.

Why SharePoint is the Best Intranet Choice for Your Organisation

As a world-renowned collaboration platform, SharePoint Online Modern Sites is one that can’t be ignored when weighing your intranet solution options.

Why Old Mindsets Don’t Work in a New Data Era

Without the cloud, it’s near impossible for a business to fully leverage the vast array of potential benefits – let alone effectively compete in the data landscape.

5 reasons to use SharePoint Online as your Document Management Solution

As a cloud-based service, SharePoint Online can be accessed from anywhere and at any time while offering the latest in cloud security features to keep your company’s private data safe, managed and compliant.

Cloud Collective Expands Capabilities – 3 becomes four!

Cloud Collective, an award-winning strategic alliance of leading Microsoft Gold partners born to address the growing requirements of mid-market companies, today announced that it has signed on Sydney-based Walkerscott as the latest company to join the consortium.

The right questions every data scientist should ask at the beginning of a data science project

If you’ve worked on a data science or analytics project before, you might be familiar with the saying that a data scientist is someone who is very successful at solving the wrong problem.

It’s meant in jest, of course. But when you’re working with multiple data sources and stakeholders, it’s easy to see how starting out even slightly off track

Chatbots for your business: What are the benefits, and how can they drive you forward?

Chatbots play a critical role in helping businesses to rapidly respond to the needs of both customers and staff. As of 2021, more than $4.5 billion is being invested in chatbot technology.

Data warehouse vs. data lake – what’s the difference, and which is best for your organisation?

It’s true that data lakes and data warehouses are both places for storing data. But each has a unique purpose, as well as distinct strengths and weaknesses. 

5 Tips to Fight Meeting Burnout

Flexible aka hybrid aka remote workforces and work practices have quickly become the accepted way to keep working. But video fatigue is a real thing, so Dan’s about to jump up on his soap box and give us a few ideas about how to make the endless Teams meetings more meaningful.

Automation has never been more critical to business. Here’s why

With continuous advancement in the capability and affordability of artificial intelligence (AI), more and more businesses are embracing process automation.

Top 5 Features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Edin goes through his top 5 features of Microsoft’s Defender for Endpoint and why they are his favourites.

A Data Force to be Reckoned with: Antares Partners with CluedIn

Antares Solutions is proud to announce our partnership with CluedIn. Antares and CluedIn share a common vision of providing innovative data solutions to transform how organisations derive actionable business insights. The CluedIn team is revolutionising master data management through its ‘data fabric’ platform.

Ever considered automating data extraction and transformation workloads? Here’s why it’s a bright idea

ADF pipelines are critical for undertaking data analysis and maintaining data quality, but they’re time consuming to build. What’s more, the work can be mundane and repetitive. The good news is that mundane and repetitive is what makes ADF pipelines a perfect candidate for automation.

Why DataOps is the secret ingredient for machine learning and analytics success

If you work in data or analytics, chances are you’ve heard of DataOps. Bringing together elements of DevOps, Agile and Lean methodologies, it’s a set of data management processes and practices that emphasise communication between analysts, data managers and data consumers.

The Post-COVID Return to the Office

Age shares some “return-to-office” plans he’s seen, and also the approach he recommends organisations take as they work to move back to some state of normalcy.

Identity and Access Management Advanced Specialisation secured!

We’re very pleased to announce that we are the first partner in Australia to be awarded the Identity and Access Management Advanced Specialisation from Microsoft in recognition of our proven expertise and experience in deploying Microsoft Identity and Access workloads. This most recent Advanced Specialisation brings the Cloud Collective’s total to 5!

IComm Awarded Third Microsoft Advanced Specialisation: Adoption & Change Management

We are proud to announce that IComm are among the earliest group of Microsoft Gold Partners to achieve our Microsoft Advanced Specialisation in Adoption & Change Management. Read the full article from Change Management Practice Manager, Dan Polifiore.

Quorum joins the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association!

We are very excited to announce that Quorum has joined the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). Read more to learn all about MISA, and why this is such an important achievement for Quorum and the Cloud Collective!

Cloud Collective Events Coming Up in February

Join us for one or more of our events happening this February!

On-Demand Webinars: The Hybrid Workforce

There are a multitude of factors to consider when navigating the new normal for your organisation, including security, communications, and efficiency. Watch our on-demand webinars to gain invaluable insights to enable your organisation to continue work productively and securely during these unusual times.

Welcome to the new IComm Sydney Showroom

Earlier this year, Cloud Collective partner IComm scaled up their presence in Sydney with a brand new showroom.

Remote Work 101: A Work-From-Home Guide for Nonprofits

Click here to see Cloud Collectives Ultimate Guide to Working from Home for Nonprofits. Work remotely with digital solutions – completely ONLINE & VIRTUAL.

IoT/OT Security Challenge: Do not assume you are safe. It is not if, it is when.

The threat landscape is complex; it is also opportunistic and bad actors will seek out and target organisations, individuals and elements that will yield maximum value, or further their cause.

Cyber Warfare: The Weaponisation of IT and Why You Must Suit Up

Cyber criminals are organised, and they’re coming for you. What is cyber warfare, and how can you be prepared?

Working from Home? Here are the Dos and Don’ts

There are literally thousands of work from home products, platforms and tools available to help Australians work from home. However, you really only need a handful of essentials to create an effective and enduring work from home set up.

Read on to learn about the 7 tools you need to work from home.

The 7 Tools You Need To Work From Home

There are literally thousands of work from home products, platforms and tools available to help Australians work from home. However, you really only need a handful of essentials to create an effective and enduring work from home set up.

Read on to learn about the 7 tools you need to work from home.

Threat Protection Advanced Specialisation Achieved!

Cloud Collective alliance partner Quorum, are the first in Australia to earn an exclusive Microsoft security specialisation.

This accreditation comes following Quorum launching a dedicated managed security practice within the Cloud Collective. Data breaches are at a higher risk than ever before. This offering is a single-solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting and threat response.

IComm Adds Two Microsoft Advanced Specialisations to Their Arsenal

We’re proud to say that IComm have recently added two Microsoft Advanced Specialisations to the Cloud Collective’s “innovation toolbox.”

Read our recent post to see what that means for us, and more importantly, for our clients.

On-Demand Webinars: Navigating the New Normal

There are a multitude of factors to consider when navigating the new normal for your organisation, including security, communications, and efficiency. Watch our on-demand webinars to gain invaluable insights to enable your organisation to continue work productively and securely during these unusual times.

Communicating to Staff and Clients in a Changing World

Businesses need to find innovative ways to continue to engage with staff and their customers. This post will give you tips to help improve your communications to staff and clients during this difficult time.

A Security Evangelist’s Thoughts from Inspire 2020

Self-proclaimed security evangelist Gavin decided that he would challenge his thinking this year and attend some Microsoft Inspire sessions that weren’t all about security and compliance. Spoilers – he DID attend a few about security though! Have a read to see what he thought about the sessions he was able to watch.

On-Demand Webinar: Insider Risk Management

In this on-demand webinar you will watch our panel talk about how Microsoft solved a real-world problem and then brought this solution to market with their new “Insider Risk Management” capability.

Big Changes Coming to Meetings, Calling, and Devices

Justin goes over the biggest announcements made regarding Microsoft Teams Meetings, Calling, and Devices at one of the Inspire sessions he attended, and a subsequent announcement made by the Teams GM, Nicole Herskowitz.

Microsoft Teams July 2020 Updates

“The truth is out there.” Well, it’s here on the blog actually! Dan hosted a Microsoft Teams Update session for clients last week, and here’s his written roundup of the updates everyone is keen to hear about.

Our Marie Antoinette Moment – Inspire 2020

Inspire 2020 was short and sweet, due to the virtual delivery. John has written a great wrap-up of the key things he took away from the two days of virtual sessions, and threw in a history lesson while he was at it.

MS Inspire 2020: Day 2 of Virtual Inspire – Stu

Stu shares his thoughts on the main CoreNote, with his key takeaways from Satya and Brad. He also covers upcoming Teams updates that he’s most interested in. Check out Stu’s Day 2 Inspire blog.

MS Inspire 2020: Day 1 of Virtual Inspire – Gaurav

Data and AI Sales Specialist, Gaurav, shares his Day 1 of MS Inspire 2020, and particularly highlights his favourite session on Azure Analytics.

Changing Minds: Hours vs. Outcomes?

Everything has changed this year. We suggest you re-think how you work, and how some tweaks can significantly benefit you and your family.

Answers, Questions, Data & Racing – Azure vs AWS Redeux

This blog is about a study, which included survey responses from mostly decision makers, that found that many businesses are looking at deploying Microsoft Azure rather than going with public cloud market leader, AWS.

Bolster Your Security Against Insider Risk

Cybersecurity Practice Lead Gavin recently found himself wondering if Insider Risk is a broad-spectrum problem and worth the effort to boost insight. He did some further research and shares his thoughts in his first blog with the Collective.

What “data-driven decision making” means in a not-for-profit environment

As part of the tech world, cloud and data can be notoriously difficult to wrap your head around. Even those who do understand the space often find it difficult to convince a non-technical audience to see what they see. Read why data plays an important role in NFP decision making.

Remote Working Through the COVID-19 Crisis

Some people love remote working, others struggle, and that’s okay, we’re all coping how we can. Change management specialist Dale Reeves wrote some tips to get through remote working during this time of uncertainty.

Six Key Tips for Business Owners During the COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis has thrown up many unique challenges for business owners. Flexibility is the key to dealing with these challenges. Here are the six key tips we recommend you live by in order to keep you up and running, your staff feeling supported, and your business-critical tasks continuing during this crisis.

The Cloud Collective’s Message About COVID-19

The last two weeks have been truly unprecedented in living memory, filled with multiple unknowns as the situation changes hourly. This post is to communicate the Cloud Collective’s position around the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak and what we are doing to best minimise the impact the virus has on our society.

Four Days at Microsoft’s Global Education Partner Conference 2020

Antares Solutions and the Cloud Collective were fortunate to join a handful of Australian education partners at the Global Education Partner Summit at Microsoft’s Redmond campus in Seattle. We not only attended the conference but also presented QBot and the UNSW journey to the Microsoft Teams Engineering group, many of the Microsoft Education team and other worldwide partners.

Quorum Attends the Managed Services Security Airlift Event in Israel

Anthony Mather, Technical Director at Quorum, traveled to Israel for the Managed Services Security Airlift event. He was one of only 63 partners invited.

QBot is Open-Sourced on GitHub

QBot, a popular part of the famous solution Antares developed with Professor David Kellermann, has been open-sourced and made available on GitHub for customers to download and deploy.

No More Desk Phones!

Today’s workforce wants to be mobile. We check and respond to IM’s, group chats, and email on the train into work. We attend meetings from coffee shops (or the beach!), and we access our documents from our laptops on the bus home.

Meet Jason Yang, Antares QBot Developer

We sat down to interview Jason Yang about the challenges he faced with Qbot, some exciting new features he is working on, and what the future of Qbot will be now that it is being open-sourced.

Cloud Collective Christmas Party 2019

It’s that time of year again! For most, December is filled with a blur of personal and professional events as the year winds down and you find yourself very much looking forward to the possibility of a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas break. However, before the year comes to a close, one standout event has to be the Cloud Collective’s Christmas party. The event truly celebrates the sentiment of the festive season: togetherness.

Melbourne Christmas Party 2019

We had a great time celebrating all our melbourne staff, partners and clients at our Christmas party. Read all about the great food and drinks we had.

Unified Communications System Versus Separate Communications Systems

Making a decision about the best approach for your organisation when it comes to a communications system or systems can feel like mission impossible. It’s a complex decision and there’s no right or wrong answer.

QBot featured at Microsoft Innovate

Satya Nadella visited Sydney to present his Keynote at Microsoft Innovate. Read about his presentation, and Dr. David Kellermann’s update on Qbot.

Three common types of cybersecurity threats, and how to mitigate them

In this blog post, we’ll get to the heart of three common cybersecurity threats that every IT decision-maker should be aware of and share our tips for how to mitigate them.

Why every security-conscious organisation should work with a Microsoft partner

In this blog post, we’ll share some of the top benefits of working with a Microsoft partner to set up and maintain your organisation’s security.

Why the cloud is (or can be) more secure than on premises

In this blog post, we’ll bust some of the common security myths to demonstrate how cloud is more secure than on-premises.

How Microsoft Teams boosts employee engagement in the modern workplace (HR/operations)

Find out how Microsoft Teams can boost employee engagement in the modern workplace, with the help of askHRplus.

How to use Microsoft Teams like a pro: your guide to MS Teams

Curious about how you can make the most of Microsoft Teams?
Read out to find what every organisation needs to know
about how to use Teams productively.

Myths Busted: 6 Myths About The Cloud That Need To Go

There are many myths surrounding the public cloud, find out if your perception is closer to reality, or if you are falling prey to the myths surrounding cloud computing.

Three Things You May Not Know About Microsoft And Security

Alhough Microsoft isn’t normally thought of as a security company, it invests heavily in developing advanced security solutions to protect its customers. Find out how.

Microsoft Teams vs Slack

There are many excellent collaboration tools available today, two of the most popular being Microsoft Teams and Slack.

Cloud Collective Wins At ARN Awards!

We are honoured to announce that we have won an award at the ARN awards for collaboration.

Five Ways Your Team Could Be Putting Your Business’ Security At Risk

Despite best intentions, employees are often an organisation’s weakest link. Find out how your employees could be putting your business’ security at risk.

Charles Dickens and Telstra Vantage…? The Future Belongs to the Skilled

Read John’s very interesting account of days 3 and 4 of Telstra Vantage, and find out how it compares to Charles Dickens.

Telstra Vantage 2019, Partner and Discovery Days: Curating the Future with Telstra

Eric Coffman’s wonderful account of Telstra Vantage days 1 and 2, including the Partner Day and the Discovery Day.

7 Fool-Proof Ways To Avoid Phishing Attacks That You Must Know

No matter how hardened your IT security measures are, your users will always remain the weakest link in the security chain. Take note and share these 7 important ways to avoid phishing attacks.

So you think you’re digitally secure… but have you forgotten something?

It is comforting to believe that all your data and devices are secure and protected, however most of the time this is not the case. Here are the three key areas for you to consider as part of your security strategy in 2019.

Microsoft features Antares’ UNSW QBot at Inspire Corenote, 2019

Antares Solutions has received a special mention during a key demonstration at the Microsoft Inspire Corenote in Las Vegas.

Day 3: Office 365 Microsoft Inspire 2019 – A Day with Satya Nadella

Cloud Collective attended the third day of the Office 365 Microsoft inspire conference in Las Vegas. Read Eric Coffman’s account of Satya Nadella day.

Day 2: Office 365 Microsoft Inspire 2019 – I am Alice in Wonderland!

Cloud Collective attended the second day of the Office 365 Microsoft inspire conference in Las Vegas. Read John Filippis’ literary tale about the day.

Day 1: Office 365 Microsoft Inspire 2019 – Keynote

Cloud Collective attended the first day of the Office 365 Microsoft inspire conference in Las Vegas. Read Max McNamara’s account of the keynote.

Nintex Partner Awards Night 2019

Team Antares attended the Nintex Partner Awards in Las Vegas. Read all about the night here. Written by Janaka Amarasekere.

Antares Solutions, Member of Cloud Collective wins 2019 Nintex Partner Award for Business Transformation

Antares Solutions, member of Cloud Collective is pleased to announce we have been named a winner of the 2019 Nintex Partner Awards within the Business Transformation category.

Modality Systems acquisition announcement

Modality Systems, is being acquired by UK firm, GCI. This acquisition means continued great things for Cloud Collective as the Modality brand will remain.

Why the rise of bots is good news for remote workers

Working remotely reduces work-related stress, improves employee engagement and increases efficiency. Find out how bots enable this.

It’s time for HR departments to view AI as a partner, not a threat

In this blog post, we’ll tackle some myths about AI and show you how can deliver huge benefits for HR teams. Find out how.

How HR can deliver more impact with less effort

Embracing modern technology, such as AI learning bots, will enable you to have an efficient and effective modern workforce.

Gaining employees’ trust should be a top priority for HR

Gaining your employees trust is essential for HR, with endless benefits to the organisation. It is the building block of employee engagement.

Cloud Collective supports Mission Australia at our quarterly social event

Charcoal Lane customer experience

It was a great evening connecting with our partners and listening to a panel of industry experts from Microsoft, IPA and Interactive about their views on the market, opportunities for businesses to grow, and how we can build on our success in Victoria.

How bots improve the student experience

While long-term studies still need to be conducted, early research into bots and student engagement is positive. One study found 89 percent of students thought using bots for practicing tests was a good idea, while 72 percent said bots would help them engage more in course material.

What does the future of learning look like?

Students’ growing demand for choice and control over their learning experiences will influence the shape of future education models. The next generation of students are not likely to be passive learners of static content, nor will they accept a one-size-fits-all approach.

3 ways digital workplaces are changing the way we work

Digital workplace is the buzzword we keep hearing over and over again this year. And as organisations continue to embrace mobile and remote work, collaboration tools, and the cloud, it’s easy to see why.

Why data-driven process automation is essential for digital transformation

Process automation takes the complexity, cost and effort out of repetitive or manual rule-based tasks. It programs a tool or system to complete the tasks with minimal human input.

Melbourne Partner event 2019, a huge success!!

It was a great evening connecting with our partners and listening to a panel of industry experts from Microsoft, IPA and Interactive about their views on the market, opportunities for businesses to grow, and how we can build on our success in Victoria.

How bots and other emerging technologies will transform education

Today’s generation of digitally-enabled students have high expectations for their education. At all ages and stages, students expect to find answers immediately and crave opportunities to collaborate with their peers.

Why do you need an Intelligent Bot?

“Conversation as a Platform”, or the newly coined term “Conversational User Interface” (CUI) or simply “Bots” is becoming an integral part of our online digital experience. Bots are the next step in the website and app evolutionary line.

Do we treat IT Security Risk like HPV?

Why are there so many more new cases of preventable sexually transmitted infections and security public breaches? Do we treat IT Security Risk like HPV? Read now on John Filippis blog.

Thanks for another amazing year with the Cloud Collective

With the year fast coming to a close and the endless stream of Christmas parties making the last weeks of December feel like a blur, we’d like to say thanks for a great year and wish you and your families all the best for the coming holiday season.

Cloud Collective Christmas Party 2018

Thanks to everyone who came along and joined in the celebrations at the annual Cloud Collective Christmas party! From. Check now Cloud Collective’s Christmas Party 2018!

Employee engagement takes centre stage at Microsoft Modern Workplace Roadshow

The Cloud Collective team was joined by two customers: Mission Australia and the UNSW Sydney. These customers generously volunteered their time to participate in panel discussions.

Best Practices to Design a Power BI Dashboard

Cloud Collective partner, Antares Solutions, wanted to share some of the best practices discovered by the company’s experts. This infographic provides quick ways to improve dashboards performance and secure Power BI implementations.

5 tips for bringing your workplace into the digital age

Before you unleash the power of hot-desking agile collaborative workplaces on your organisation, read Eric Coffman, Engagement & Alliance Manager at The Cloud Collective, blog post.

Where are your organisation’s productivity black holes?

When it comes to cloud adoption, it’s no secret that Australia is one of the world’s leaders. According to Gartner, the local cloud market is expected to reach $6.5 billion this year, up 15 percent from the previous year.

How to create an Intranet Chatbot for employees In SharePoint

Many public websites have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list to help visitors find answers to questions they have about the site.

7 essential tips to build a better FAQ Bot

Chatbots are becoming a critical digital channel for businesses, and it’s not difficult to see why there has been an incredible level of interest in them.

Cloud Collective announces its presence at the Microsoft Modern Workplace Roadshow

Cloud Collective, Microsoft Gold Partner is excited to announce its participation in the Microsoft Modern Workplace Roadshow happening in Sydney this year.

Disrupt Yourself or Be Disrupted- Telstra Vantage Day 3

Vantage is Telstra’s annual showcase of big ideas, innovative technology, and smart business. With a focus on the customer experience, Vantage is about helping to solve business challenges and discover new ways to thrive.

Brilliant Connected Women, TCO365 and Dan Pink – Telstra Vantage Day 2

Vantage is Telstra’s annual showcase of big ideas, innovative technology, and smart business. With a focus on the customer experience, Vantage is about helping to solve business challenges and discover new ways to thrive.

Together, how are we going to get to $1.5B in partner sales? Telstra Vantage Day 1

Telstra Vantage annual showcase focus on the customer experience, Vantage is about helping to solve business challenges and discover new ways to thrive.

Faster, better and powerful with Modern Apps

You’d be hard-pressed to find an organisation today that hasn’t considered, planned or implemented a digital transformation of some kind.

What is Hybrid Cloud? Everything you must know

Businesses have been migrating data and technologies to the cloud for years, and it’s not hard to see why.

Here’s how data guided phase two of our chatbot pilot project at UNSW

Earlier this year, we joined forces with Microsoft to develop a chatbot pilot project at the University of New South Wales’ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Cloud Collective Wrap Up about Microsoft Inspire 2018

Well that’s a wrap for another year.

Get ready because it’s Satya Nadella Day! Day three at Microsoft Inspire 2018

Today was a big day in the Microsoft Inspire agenda because it was Satya Day!

The Gold Rush to the Cloud – Day two at Microsoft Inspire 2018

It is my first time to attend Microsoft Inspire and I hope it will be the first of many.

The Transformation is Real, the Opportunity is Now – Day one at Microsoft Inspire 2018

The most talked about presentations at Inspire are often the Core notes, delivered by Microsoft executives.

Starry eyes – Kick off at the biggest event for Microsoft enthusiasts

Las Vegas aka “Sin City” are two words that immediately conjures images and emotions in people that defy explanation.

Bigger, Better and Bruno! What happens when Microsoft meets Las Vegas?

Three years ago I attended my first global Microsoft Inspire, a huge eye opener from the sheer scale of the partner network …

Microsoft Teams and the Bot Framework – making a difference in education

Imagine a chatbot that knows when your next university assignment is due, which classroom your tutorials are in, and the weighting of your final exam. For students at UNSW’s School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, there will soon be no need to imagine. In fact, this is the ultimate vision for a chatbot that we’re working with Microsoft Australia to develop as part of a larger Microsoft Teams pilot project.

Shifting from on premise to cloud can unlock powerful productivity benefits. Here’s how.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past decade, chances are you’re familiar with the idea that moving to the cloud can improve productivity.

Thank you for coming to our Christmas Party

Cloud Collective empowers Mission Australia to revolutionise communication and collaboration with Microsoft cloud technology

The Cloud Collective was named a joint winner of the ‘A Cloud for Good Award for Excellence’ for its ongoing efforts to deliver …

Video: Bettering the lives of disadvantaged children and families through technology

Cloud Collective is proud to have partnered with Mission Australia to help better the lives of disadvantaged children and families through technology.

How to overcome the top 5 communication and collaboration challenges in the modern workplace

In our latest video blog, Justin Morris, Australia Country Manager, and Dalmir Montagna, Managing Consultant at Modality Systems discuss the top 5 communication and collaboration challenges in the modern workplace, and how to overcome them.

Cloud Collective wins Microsoft Australia Partner Award for Mission Australia solution

It’s official: Cloud Collective, a strategic alliance formed in April 2017 between Antares Solutions, Modality Systems and Quorum, has this week won its first Microsoft Australia Partner Award.

Why Intranets are more relevant than ever before

What is an intranet? Once you cut through the jargon and common answers such as “a single source for all documents in our business”, a valuable intranet platform should provide the right information to the right people at the right time, ultimately integrating applications to serve a single view for employees.

Cloud Collective and Microsoft join forces to develop a chatbot with a difference at UNSW

We are proud to assist UNSW with its vision for an intelligent bot by providing clear direction, a tangible solution and deep technical expertise. We look forward to helping UNSW to build a proactive and self-learning bot that will improve administration, productivity and communication within the university.

White paper: Unlocking the hybrid cloud data advantage

From Sydney to Perth, the cloud is transforming the way Australians do business.

Unleash the Power of Cloud Productivity Tools

The newly launched Cloud Collective reduce the complexity of technology and partnerships. Learn how.

The Breakfast Club – Cloud Collective Style

If you are old enough to remember (like me) the title of today’s article may bring you to construct a visualise rebellious of 80’s teen stars Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. But instead of romanticising a B grade 80’s teen flick today (it was average even back then), I thought I would focus your attention on the star of today’s Breakfast Club.

Wet and Wild – The Cloud Collective Launch Event

It is a Thursday night, the 30th of March 2017 and its 6:00pm.The bustle of the daily afternoon city exodus ritual fills the streets with mayhem and that too familiar disorderly chaos, as people rush to get away.