Ingentive

Our CMO and Founder Margaret Totten did a truly insightful interview for the Scottish Herald this weekend on the future of AI in the Tech Industry, our recent acquisition, the Scottish landscape for technology and her background which led her to become a leading Woman in Tech.

“Over the next five years, 500 million apps will be created, more than all that will have been produced in the previous four decades. A lot of IT departments aren't ready for that that change because it will be so explosive. It's as big as the Industrial Revolution.”

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/23488087.kevin-mckenna-meets-tech-thinker-margaret-totten/

📣 Attention all organisations looking to boost efficiency and productivity! 📣

The success story of Derbyshire Constabulary is a must-read for anyone facing challenges with managing spreadsheets and reducing productivity. 💻

By leveraging the power of , SharePoint, and , to streamline their processes and enhance - the results are impressive. 💥 Say goodbye to cluttered systems and hello to a clean, structured, and productive interface that has given the team the confidence to tackle tough challenges with ease. 💪

Ready to drive collaboration, communication, and task accountability in your organisation? Book a no-obligation consultation today to discover how we can help revolutionise your processes and even if you're eligible for Microsoft funding! 💲

Don't miss out on this opportunity to transform the way you work!

Read the full case study here - https://hubs.li/Q01H7BXg0.

Derbyshire Constabulary: Driving Collaboration, Productivity and Task Accountability How Akari helped Derbyshire Constabulary Emergency Services collaborate more efficiently, drive productivity and ensure task accountability in one integrated enterprise platform. Microsoft Teams.

Woolf Partners has acquired UK-based Microsoft solution partner Akari Solutions Group, Ltd. A multi-award-winning technical firm, Akari specialises in tailored solutions using the Microsoft technology stack and apps that sit on top of Microsoft Teams and the Power Platform, to solve specific business challenges.

Read the full press release below ⬇️

Woolf Partners Acquires Akari Solutions Group Ltd Woolf Partners Acquires Akari Solutions Group Ltd

"Unleash the power of the Power Platform and foster creativity in your organisation at the Scottish Power Platform User Group's first-ever event, "The Best Kept Secrets of the Power Platform"!

Join us on Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 17:30 GMT at Microsoft 2-4 Waterloo Place, Waverley Gate, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG, to discover the hidden gems of the Power Platform as industry experts share their exclusive insights and best practices for automating business processes, creating custom solutions and sparking creativity. You'll leave with the tools and inspiration to revolutionise the way your organisation operates. This is a unique opportunity to network with like-minded professionals, gain valuable knowledge and tap into the power of the Power Platform to foster creativity and drive innovation. Don't miss out on this event!

Secure your spot now at ➡️ https://hubs.li/Q01yThRP0 ⬅️and let's unlock the power of the Power Platform together!

Join the LinkedIn community here to keep up to date with upcoming events: 💬 https://hubs.li/Q01yTmhC0 💬

"

Best Kept Secrets of the Power Platform The first SPPUG meeting! Insider tips, use cases, and networking opportunities await. Don't miss out on chatting with other enthusiasts!

💭 Do you know what a Power Platform Centre of Excellence is? And how it could help your business.💭

A Centre of Excellence (CoE) is designed to drive innovation and improvement, and as a central function, it can break down geographic and organisational silos. For many, the CoE is the first step in fostering greater creativity and innovation across the organisation by empowering business units to digitise and automate their business processes, while maintaining the necessary level of central oversight and governance.

🤔 So, why should YOUR business use the CoE Starter Kit? 🤔

The Power Platform tools can replace some third-party tools, saving on licensing costs and simplifying the use of multiple systems into one safe and secure place with powerful capabilities …

✔️ Users are happy they have a creative set of tools they can use to solve their business problems
✔️ Senior stakeholders will have an overview of strategy and impact with peace of mind the tools are secure
✔️ Staff inside the organisation find the tools easy to use and maintain
✔️ Reassurance Akari can support you through the transition of becoming self-sufficient

As an award-winning Microsoft Partner, Akari has supported clients globally across multiple industries to overcome geographic and organisational silos and achieve their business goals. With in-house Power Platform experts in all areas of the stack, we are best placed to help you digitise and automate your business processes and make the most of your Microsoft licensing. Get in touch for more information clicking the link below ☟

https://hubs.li/Q01yBVxG0

🔵 Blue Monday is just around the corner... 🔵

… and wants to help you take the blues out of your Monday!

🙌 Introducing Microsoft Viva 🙌

Viva Insights is integrated with Microsoft Teams, as it brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an employee experience from anywhere.

By using the Viva Insights app, you can …

🤝 Stay connected with your colleagues

😴 Take some time to focus on your mind, by using Headspace

❗ Stop distractions, and focus on your priorities, with no unimportant notifications

⏲️ Reflect on your day, and take a minute yourself to focus on your feelings

What is your business doing for ? Feel free to comment ☟

Enabling remote work boosts workforce continuity and improves employee satisfaction. But hybrid work brings its own set of challenges. The right technology can not only make your business more secure, it can save you money.

Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic ImpactTM study to evaluate the potential financial impact of Microsoft 365 E3 on their organisations.

Read on to see how your business can use Microsoft 365 E3 to do more with less.

dmc-cdn.azureedge.net

Did you know that are a Disability Confident EMPLOYER?

This is massively important to us as 17.5% of the UK's adult population are living with a disability. As a company with a passion for accessibility, it was a great opportunity for us to expand our knowledge on the struggles people can face every day.

The Disability Confident Scheme supports organisations to promote awareness within their business. They helped us enforce a long term change into our working environment where we have improved our processes and procedures to embrace diversity.

We would encourage any organisation to sign up to be Disability Confident, find out more and take the first step here 👇

https://hubs.li/Q01w941T0

Our customers want to embrace new ways of working, to build a more inclusive workforce and to bring employees back to work safely and post covid.

For many organisations, is already being used successfully as a communication and collaboration tool, and we work with them to maximise their investment using Teams as a platform, addressing business challenges in industries such as , and . As a Global Finalist for Modern Workplace for Frontline Workers 2021, Akari have the knowledge and expertise to both demonstrate the art of what is possible for frontline workers and design and deploy innovative solutions to empower workers at the forefront of these organisations.

👇 Get in touch to find out if you're eligible for a Microsoft funded frontline worker workshop: https://hubs.li/Q01w1LqW0

Exciting things coming, watch this space!

Inspire employees to engage, imagine, and create with .

Samit Saini was working security at Heathrow Airport when his manager introduced him to Power Apps. One week later, proof of concept in hand, Samit shared his first creation—an airport translation guide for frequently asked questions that ultimately saved 11,000 sheets of paper, 850 hours of time, and $460,000 in potential app costs. See how he did it here:

Samit Saini's PowerApps journey at Heathrow Samit was a security officer at London Heathrow airport, he is now building PowerApps and teaching others to do the same. He shares his journey of transforma...

⚫ Our exclusive Black Friday offers are here! ⚫

Now more than ever, organisations are under pressure to do more with less, to make budgets stretch further and demonstrate true ROI and tangible outcomes.

Ask us how we can help reduce your Time To Value on your licenses. For a limited time only*, we're offering:

➡️ 20% off all professional services including:

✓ Adoption & Change Management engagements
✓ Maximising as a platform, exploring Teams app templates and custom solutions
✓ Deep dive into Microsoft Suite
✓ Envisioning sessions, Proof of Concept, Pilot or Centre of Excellence
✓ Streamlining of common business processes such as the Joiners, Movers, and Leavers process

➡️ 40% off all applications including YourSpaces and Read & Sign:

✓ Read & Sign: Compliant policy management, fully integrated with Microsoft Teams. The Read & Sign app streamlines manual, time-consuming, and paper-based processes allowing users to quickly send, receive, track and report on policies and regulations. Not only reducing time-consuming tasks, but also increases compliance as well as sustainability!

✓ YourSpaces: Manage building access requests for employees or guests, as well as an individual desk, meeting room, and parking booking request in one convenient app. Accessed through Microsoft Teams and integrated with your Outlook calendar, the app allows users to quickly view and request spaces freely or with a manager's approval, as well as accessible spaces such as wheelchair-friendly desks, adjustable height desks, quiet zones or electric parking.

Find out more here: https://hubs.li/Q01t99Hm0

*Offers end 30th November

As budgets tighten, it is important final stretch before for us to support our customers in doing more with less; We already do that by working with Microsoft technologies, funded workshops and funded Proof of Concepts (Ask us how!), but extra savings are always good, so for this Black Friday sale we have additional offers for a limited time only!

20% off all professional services including:

👤 Adoption & Change Management for Teams or any of the Microsoft suite
📈 Streamlining common business processes such as the Joiners, Movers, and Leavers process
💡Power Platform Envisioning Session, Proof of Concept, Pilot or Centre of Excellence (CoE)

📱We're also offering 40% off all our applications such as YourSpaces, and Read & Sign

⏲️ Act fast, these offers only last till 30th November at 5pm.. click the link below to find out more ☟

Contact | Akari Want to get in touch with our specialists? You can find out how to contact us here.

'You don’t know what you don’t know'

With organisations being pushed more than ever in 2022 to do more than less, its crucial to maximise current investments.

We've worked with dozens of organisations this year alone to leverage Teams and the Power Platform to design and build innovative solutions to address common issues:

🔎 How to track and manage assets such as desks, media equipment or hospital beds

📝 Centralise, streamline and automate the joiners, movers, leavers process

💻 Provide a platform to share learnings in a silo'd organisation, so that processes and best practice can be replicated rather than reinventing the wheel every time

📈 Capture or pull data from multiple sources, amalgamate and produce meaningful insights

Get in touch to find out more:

https://hubs.ly/Q01shpbd0

Now is the time to use Microsoft Power Apps to boost your business, streamline employee productivity, and solve your unique challenges with easy app development. Forrester Consulting named Power Apps a leader in low-code platforms. See the award-winning stats here.

Low-code drives business transformation

🏁And just like that, our webinar is complete🏁

A great turnout yesterday, want to say a big thank you for taking the time to discover how using Microsoft Viva can guide your business to tackle by improving your employee experience and taking a people-first approach.

A key talking point during our webinar was how we can help you to 'reduce your time to value' and get the most out of your investment by driving successful adoption.

We would like to say another thank you to James P. & Prasanna Venkatesan at Microsoft for showcasing all the amazing capabilities of .

Don't worry, if you missed our live webinar, we have an on-demand version you can access, and if you're interested in booking a free demo on Viva Goals or want to find out more click the link below ...

https://hubs.li/Q01rTQlJ0

📅 One week to go … 📅

Our 'Prioritise Employee Experience and tackle Silent Quitting!' webinar is happening on Tuesday 8th November from 10-11am

Learn how using Microsoft Viva can transform your business … sign up with the link below:

https://hubs.li/Q01rdcs-0

🟣 !!Purple Tuesday is finally here!! 🟣

Did you know..
📈 1 in 5 working adults have a disability?
💰 The spending power of disabled people worldwide is estimated to be worth $8 trillion
📋 21% of working age adults are disabled

A day that's close to our heart's, Akari was founded on the basis of creating a level playing field for all. We have a people centric approach to our client engagements and a core focus on employee experience. This is no different for those with disabilities, whether they be permanent, temporary, situational or hidden. Our solutions are inclusive by design, and we have an experienced, knowledgeable and passionate team who love to solve real-world problems - it starts with YOU!

So what can you do to make a difference?

Find out more: https://hubs.li/Q01r5KzZ0

Using Microsoft Viva to help transform your employee experience and tackle . 🤫

's Customer Success Manager Kayleigh Provan, and Business Development Representative Alex MacArthur, are joining Microsoft guest speakers James P., and Prasanna Venkatesan. Where they will be discussing the quick wins of Microsoft Viva and showcasing the use cases that align with your business needs - helping to boost productivity and collaboration within the flow of work. 📈

Sign up using the link below 👇

https://hubs.li/Q01qt1tJ0

Prioritise the employee experience and tackle silent quitting: But why bother? How Akari can help your organisation leverage the full potential of the Microsoft Stack, including Microsoft Viva, to help improve your employee experience and tackle silent quitting.

📈 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia (NHS) 📈

Do you have or know anyone with ? 🤔

As apart of Dyslexia Awareness Week, are excited to share top tips of becoming more accessible using Microsoft Technologies. It's important to accessible, not just for you, but for others around you!

1. Reading Progress - a free tool integrated into Teams that supports your reading fluency as you create a personalised reading experience.


2. Immersive Reader - a solution built into all Microsoft apps that reads aloud text and features.


3. Microsoft Editor - this solution corrects your content, to allow your grammar and spelling to be correct.


To find out more accessible Microsoft tools and features, click the link below for their accessibility blog:

https://hubs.li/Q01p48Cm0

Time and time again, we hear customers say ‘I didn’t know Power Platform could do that’, or ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. In such unprecedented times, organisations are constantly under pressure to do more with less, to make budgets stretch further and demonstrate true ROI and tangible outcomes. Frontline Workers are the backbone of all major industries.. So, how do you reduce Time To Value (TTV) on your investment?

Some simple use cases we've seen with customers in the last 6 months include:

🛏️ Asset management: Whether it be hospital beds, warehouse stock or machinery, create a central solution that can be accessed through Microsoft Teams to track and manage the tools you need to do your job efficiently

📄 Automated document approval process: Create a quick low code app that allows users to upload a document and assign one or many approvers. Integrate with and store all documents in SharePoint to provide a compliant audit trail

🧠 Leverage the cognitive services of Azure: For example, uploading a video to a Power App, the video is automatically transcribed, and subtitles added whilst tagging the video with key phrases, both saving time and ensuring content is accessible

Contact [email protected] to find out how we can help you do more with less!

📢 Another exciting announcement for 📢

WiT Network are hosting an event - 'My Route Into Tech' Thursday 28th September at 10-11am (EST)

Where our amazing MD Margaret Totten, Commercial Director Lindsay Climson, and Customer Success Manager Kayleigh Provan will be speaking along with Helen Smith, Head of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances at Orlo. Where they will be sharing their stories how their journey into Technology began, their roadblocks, and moments of triumph 💬

If you have an interest with Women in Tech, or even the technology industry sign up with the link 👇:

https://hubs.li/Q01nc1Bb0

The WIT Network

👟 Microsoft business applications Walkathon 👟

Last week, 's very own Business Development Director and Power Platform Developer joined Microsoft BizApps team across the UK walked for charity

As they walked for Alzheimer’s Society, British Heart Foundation, and Cancer Research UK.

If you would also like to show support please donate to our just-giving pages below. Microsoft is 100% matching all donations via JustGiving.

🧠 Alzheimer's Society https://hubs.li/Q01lyVZy0
💗 British Heart Foundation https://hubs.li/Q01lyXFX0
🏥 Cancer Research UK https://hubs.li/Q01lyVWV0

Join the conversation with some of the amazing women across the UK channel as they discuss their journey into tech, the roadblocks, and moments of triumph! On the 28th September 2022 ... Don't miss out!

With 4 amazing speakers telling their own personal and very different 'Route into Tech', showcasing there's no wrong path to the right job!

Click the link below to register:

https://hubs.li/Q01lsc_s0

✨ !!Exciting announcement!!✨

's Business Development Manager Michelle Waddell will be attending 'The Emergency Services Show' on 21st - 22nd September in Birmingham

Were all looking forward to connecting and networking with attendees. If anyone is interested in meeting Michelle for a coffee or a chat- please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Michelle ([email protected])

If you still haven't registered, don’t miss out! Click the link below to register:

https://hubs.li/Q01kJc_w0

⭐️Case Study of the week - Avidity Group⭐️

💬 “The team at Akari are unmatched in breadth and depth of experience; They have an exceptional attitude and an approach to technology which is infectious. The Teams engagement created a simplified communication platform with exceptional integration possibilities, fast-tracked mobilisation and vastly improved the onboarding and implementation experience for the colleagues within Avidity.“

💻 At the start of the pandemic, Avidity had to move their staff to fully working and implement an immediate change from to for all staff. Akari worked with them to create content and develop a change management plan to successfully and rapidly deploy Teams to their 1200 users.

📈 Active usage increased from 1.5% to 70% allowing Avidity to stay connected and able to focus on delivery outcomes for their clients.

👀 To the full case study, click the link in the comments 👇

🎉 🎉

Last week, we delivered the new Collaborative Apps workshop to Amey - a leading infrastructure services and engineering company 🖥️

During the session, we explored specific use cases and scenarios, and how to maximise Teams and Power Platform to streamline their business processes. We also spent some time discussing the new modules, providing them with the guidance to start utilising Viva to its full capacity to improve employee experience!

Click the link in the comments ⬇️ to find out if you are eligible for our Microsoft-funded workshops with :

⭐️Customer Case Study - Cumbria Health on Call - ⭐️

“The Akari team are professional and friendly and have extensive knowledge of the Microsoft product stack. We have worked with them on several different projects and see them as a strategic partner. This year they supported our Power BI initial deployment, allowing us to easily track the rapid uptake and benefits of video consultations during the pandemic.” Hannah Thomas, Primary Care Support Officer

Cumbria Health on Call (CHoC) is one of 's frontline healthcare customers. They provide primary health care services in and out of hours to the population of Cumbria - operating from 9 clinical sites. They needed to provide medical consultations remotely where possible, whilst battling a diverse population of patients requiring telehealth consultations due to the UK-wide lockdown.

Akari had delivered a 2-day course in Power BI fundamentals to CHoC’s IT and data analysis teams in January 2020. Following on from a strategic cloud roadmap session, CHoC approached Akari to advise if Power BI might be the right tool to remove the manual work around preparing the reports and to provide the appropriate information to each consumer. The team now have a simple, weekly task to update the source spreadsheets from an Attend Anywhere data export, with the data being updated Power Query and Power BI carry out all the data shaping, analysis, and presentation without any human effort.

Click the link in the comments below to find out if your business is eligible for a Microsoft funded workshop, customised by Akari to fit your business needs:

Another really interesting workshop today with Avidity on how to 'Enable Frontline' workers, delivered by , discussing features such as Shifts which they are already licensed for but aren't making full use of 🖥️

During these fully funded sessions, we discuss real life use cases such as how to streamline the joiners-movers-leavers process, improve the customer or employee onboarding process, or use Teams Connect to overcome multi-tenant challenges 💪

To find out if your business is eligible for 's customised fully funded workshops, click below ⬇️