An Architecture for Modern Cloud Education and Wildlife Identification

A few years ago I got an idea… there were birds on my bird feeder that I didn’t know the name of. There were some times of the year they showed up and others where they didn’t. I wanted to get a better understanding of why certain birds showed up at certain times, where the […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 21, 2020

Microsoft Dynamics Unified Interface – Transition Learnings

Over the past few months, we have helped many companies with their transition to the new Microsoft Dynamics Unified Interface. As we have been executing these transitions, I’ve discovered it is not always as straight forward as you might expect. Microsoft offers some out-of-the-box model-driven apps that can be utilized, however in my experience, creating a custom app and redesigning the navigation, forms and other areas within Dynamics really provides the best possible user experience tailored to a client’s business.

by Nicole Williams May 19, 2020

Beer 30: Product Development with Kyle Stevens

I had a great conversation with Kyle Stevens from Northwestern Mutual on Product Development. We talked about modern development, approach, jobs theory, and requirements.

by Nathan Lasnoski May 19, 2020

Smart Restart: Your Employees

A conversation around Smart Restart and the impact on employees. We talk about Smart Restart testing with Power Apps, bots, and staffing considerations.

by Nathan Lasnoski May 19, 2020

COVID Survival Kit: Leadership and Engagement

I had the opportunity to interview the CEO of the Milwaukee Tech Hub, talking about leadership in the response to COVID, the tech economy, skilling/re-skilling, and what employers need to know.

by Nathan Lasnoski May 19, 2020

COVID Survival Kit: Demand & Inventory

I interviewed Michael Walton on Demand and Inventory centric to AI, Microsoft tech, business survival and other topics. Great conversation with a great guest talking about helping businesses maximize their opportunity to succeed in a challenging world.

by Nathan Lasnoski May 19, 2020

Building a Simple Smart Restart Bot with Teams & Azure QnA Maker

You’re returning to work and you want to get your Smart Restart off the ground, but you are concerned about a flood of requests hitting your service desk. You want to create something that will provide immediate value but has a low time to implement. We had the same problem and started with a simple […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 19, 2020

How Tech Can Accelerate Your Start Resmart

To kick off Smart Restart, we welcomed Concurrency's UX Architect Damon Sanchez and Technical Architect Anthony Escobedo where they discussed Power Apps and low-code, no-code options to create meaningful and safe environments for returning to the workplace. Damon explains how infusing empathy and technology can provide comfort and efficiency in the face of uncertainty, while Anthony dives into the real-world examples of applications already being utilized by companies with the help of Concurrency to ensure they're ready to move into their work stations again. 

by Stephanie Siewert May 15, 2020

Azure Function python ModuleNotFoundError from Visual Studio Code

I was working on creating an Azure Function to download an image from Azure Blob Storage and return certain EXIF values. I had loaded some modules but for some reason they weren’t functioning properly in the Azure Function once deployed. I found out that I needed to update my requriements.txt file via pip (after much […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 13, 2020

Changing Azure Account in Visual Studio Code

I was using an account in Visual Studio Code to access a certain set of subscriptions I was working against and deploying to. This was prior to getting my pipelines ready, as that was my eventual deployment destination. In the meantime, I needed to change the account and noticed there wasn’t any GUI way to […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 11, 2020

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 1

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 1 of this series outlines the first five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 17, 2023

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 2

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 2 of this series outlines the second five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 25, 2023

10 Ways Financial Services Organizations Can Do More with Less in 2023

As we enter the new year, financial services organizations are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most businesses is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their client.  In working with many financial services organizations, I am seeing a variety of ways that organizations are able to leverage technology to do more with less this year.   

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 10, 2023

Integrating ChatGPT-like Capabilities into Your Business

ChatGPT-like capabilities can make a difference in your business RIGHT NOW.  This is not science fiction, this is science fact and your competitors are reaping the benefits.  Many have felt that AI/ML is an aspirational “someday” goal, but businesses that have invested in targeted efforts are rewarded with real ROI and absolute efficiencies.  This means adopting real-world improvement made possible through commodity AI, data science-oriented initiatives, or even the recently available Open AI service that powers ChatGPT.  Let’s dive in.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 26, 2023

Using the Union Operator in KQL

Sometimes it is difficult to use and remember operators in KQL. Today we're going to look at using the "union" operator to combine tables into one space.

by Joseph Dutton Feb 20, 2023

Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace: Best Practices for Ramadan

Having Muslim team members, and being Muslim myself, I have always struggled with how to integrate a productive workday during the holy month of Ramadan. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing employers who aren’t afraid to ask questions and have been overwhelmingly accommodating during this time and it is my top priority to do the same with my teams!

by Reem Alzubeidi Mar 17, 2023

Modernizing our approach to MFA

Traditional passwords haven’t been sufficient for protecting accounts and assets for some time now.  From simple brute force attacks to spear phishing and pharming threat adversaries continue to develop novel methods for credential theft to add to their toolbox of existing tried and true approaches. Microsoft’s Group Program manager for Identity Security and protection, Alex Weinert,   has previously stated that MFA, when deployed properly, can end up blocking 99.9% of automated attacks.

by Adam Clifford Feb 1, 2023

A Holistic Approach to Zero Trust

Zero Trust architecture isn’t another security fad, and it’s not a technology you can implement, but rather a security model that’s foundational on every step of the journey we at Concurrency help our clients in travel along the path of modern workplace maturity.

by Chris Blackburn Feb 10, 2023

Manufacturing: Building Resiliency to Navigate Market Volatility

Manufacturers have navigated a turbulent environment for several years. Some unlocked exponential growth opportunities due to surging demand while others struggled to stay afloat. Now, most manufacturers are bracing for a recession. In the U.S., 62% of manufacturers expect a recession to start in 2023, anticipating several months of contraction followed by growth. U.S. manufacturers expect to increase revenues by year-end an average of 5.5%, down from 9.3% in 2022.

by Ralph Babusci Mar 2, 2023

OIDC vs. SAML

When trying to set up authentication for an application, you might hear people talk about “OIDC” and “SAML”. This is especially true when you have a lot of different applications that you want the end user to be able to use the same username and password for; for example, inside of a business, you might want your employees to log into an HR application, a task-tracking board, and CRM software with the same credentials. So what do these two four-letter abbreviations mean, anyway? What are the differences between them? And how do they help you authenticate your users? 

by Nick Woods Feb 23, 2023