Act fast for great deals on devices for the holidays

Discover tips to increase sales and grow your business efficently

If you are having trouble viewing this email, please visit the online version. Discover tips to increase sales and grow your business efficently     Business Insights Newsletter December 2014       Protect your data Upgrade your server now   Inspire others You may win $20,000 Are you a hard-working small business owner with a story to tell? Enter the Small Business Contest for a chance to win $20,000! Make a video of 2 minutes or less about your business journey. Tell us how you started, your challenges, your triumphs. No fancy equipment needed, a smartphone video will work. Enter now!   Attend a free webinar Learn how to increase sales Watch January’s #ModernBiz live webcasts and learn how to use business insights to target and win customers. You’ll also learn how to build and maintain customer relationships. These events include live demos. Register now. Beyond crowdfunding Collaborative economy Everyone has heard of crowdfunding, but the potentially more disruptive term is collaborative economy. This method of growing a business connects business intelligence, the art of asking, and close customer connections. Find out more. Become a social seller To grow your business Social selling—it’s how top salespeople are turning potential buyers into customers. The key is using social media to prospect, discover, influence, and engage customers and decision makers. Read these 4 tips from a social selling expert to increase your skills.   Turn cold calls Into warm introductions Ringing up total strangers to chat about your business and persuading them to set up a meeting is very hard to do. You face a firestorm of rejection for every spark of interest you ignite. Read these tips to help improve your odds of getting to yes. Cybercriminals Target SMBs Why are cybercriminals targeting small and midsize businesses (SMBs)? According to the security company Symantec, small businesses with 1–500 employees were targeted in 41 percent of all cyber-attacks in 2013—and attacks rose an alarming 61% from 2012 to 2013. Find out how to minimize worry that you’ll be next.   Daily deals On devices and software Need some help with holiday shopping? Check out these great daily deals on everything from tablets to phones to software at the Microsoft Store. Each one expires at the end of the day, so don’t wait. And while you’re checking out today’s deal, take a sneak peek at tomorrow’s deal.         Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more please read our online Privacy Statement. If you would prefer to no longer receive this newsletter, please click here. To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 USA

Introducing the Cloud Designed for Government

One Government Cloud Campaign

One Government Cloud Campaign View as webpage | Subscribe | Update Profile Key Headlines      Tune In      Upcoming Events      Resources In this issue Featured Article Introducing the Microsoft Cloud for Government The most complete cloud designed for government, Microsoft's One Government Cloud offers rigorous security and compliance, the ability to achieve hyper-scale, and an open platform for development flexibility. It enables the right personal experience in a trusted cloud while freeing IT and organizational resources to focus on mission delivery. Learn More Save with the Microsoft Dynamics Service Productivity Offer Deliver amazing citizen experiences and learn how your government agency can benefit from the Microsoft Service Productivity Solution Offer. With increasingly tighter margins, the easy-to-adopt and easy-to-use Microsoft solution for service productivity allows employees—no matter where you are—go to one place for all of your tasks. By surfacing the right information at the right time, your team engages with constituents in meaningful ways. Service productivity combines the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Office 365, and Power BI to give employees access to all their business and social data to empower insights that drive consistent constituent satisfaction. Reimagining the Next Generation of Government Today we are at the forefront of fast-moving digital revolution, one that presents new challenges for governments but also new opportunities for transforming operations and accomplishing more. Hear from government leaders for a three-part executive panel series exploring how they are delivering transformative solutions through integrated cloud-based productivity and platform technologies and services to better meet increasingly complex demands that impact their socioeconomic development. Each panel will discuss the potential for transformation the cloud brings—from mobile productivity to data security to data insights and. Interested in the cloud, but not ready to go all in? A hybrid cloud enables an organization to optimize IT resources by keeping critical data on-premises, while providing vast scale, compute, storage, and networking for the countless day-to-day needs of your operation and your workforce. Learn more at Microsoft's Virtual Academy! Microsoft Dynamics CRM Task Management Perform the business of government more efficiently with a powerful task management platform Surface pro 3 is now GSA certified! Surface Pro 3 has met all GSA criteria and, beginning today, US government customers may now purchase Surface through GSA. Contact your Microsoft account representative, or your preferred reseller to learn more. Or visit www.surface.com/ordernow and www.surface.com/government for details. Office now FREE for iOS and Android phones! Click to learn more Now edit for free with Office for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. View, create, edit, and print from mobile-optimized Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps—for free. Windows Phone 8.1 is the right choice for government Only Windows Phone 8.1 delivers the combination of productivity (full Office suite access), security (IRM and S/MIME encryption) and device diversity (budget-friendly and field-ready options) that meet government agencies' rigorous standards. Learn more about how Windows Phone 8.1 out-performs the competition.   Special Offer Microsoft productivity solutions help you better serve your constituents Save now   Tune in to SLG.tv and Fed.tv today! SLG.tv. SLG.tv is an always-on, on-demand video channel hosted on Microsoft.com featuring videos of interest for customers in state and local government. Watch SLG.tv now Watch Fed.tv now   Upcoming events and webinars Join us to explore solutions for your organization. See our calendar of all events and webinars View calendar DEC 15 Online Hawaii Digital Government Summit Register now FEB 25-27 Washington, DC Federal Executive Forum 2015 Register now   Resources Find a Microsoft Partner with government solutions Find support for your Microsoft solutions   Manage your profile Help us, help you. The best way to ensure the content in this newsletter is relevant to you and your business is to make sure that your profile is complete. Update your profile Join the community @Microsoft_Gov Microsoft in Government on Facebook Microsoft in Government on LinkedIn Watch on YouTube Subscribe | Manage Profile Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more please read our online Privacy Statement. If you would prefer to no longer receive this newsletter, please click here. To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 USA

Introducing Microsoft Imagine, a new program for student developers!

Dream it. Build it. Live it.   December 2014           Having trouble viewing this email? View in browser     Discover Microsoft Imagine We're so excited to announce the launch of Microsoft Imagine, a new program that gives student developers of all ages and skill levels the tools, resources, and online learning needed to build your skills and produce great projects. Whether it's building a game, designing an app, or launching a project, Microsoft Imagine is here to help you develop your idea and boldly bring it to life.     Our new look You may have noticed we've made some changes to our newsletter. We're now combining all the information from the Imagine Cup and Student Developer mails into one place to make it easier for you to receive the latest developer news. Each month, you'll get a dose of inspiration from us, including cutting-edge projects, student success stories and cool how-to videos. These are all created for you, to spark ideas and guide you on your path from coding to creating to careers. If your friends want to hear more about Microsoft Imagine, they can subscribe today.     Come code with us We're celebrating Computer Science Education Week, December 8 – 14, by sharing our coding expertise with you. Join us for an Hour of Code™ live stream tutorial on Dec. 8 at 9 a.m. PST or watch it later on-demand on Microsoft's Channel 9.     Free Visual Studio Community 2013 Now Available You can download Visual Studio Community 2013, a free new edition of Microsoft's top coding tool that now supports app development across Windows, iOS, and Android. Available now on Visualstudio.com, one click will get you all the tools you need to create apps, incorporate new features, and more!     Take a Quick Start Challenge from MVA! Want to learn how to do something cool with your app – in an hour or less? Quick Start Challenges from Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) can help! These short courses cover a single task – from creating a Universal App, to adding Ads to an existing app, plus much more. Find out more and challenge yourself!     Enter Imagine Cup's User Experience Challenge Sign up for Imagine Cup's User Experience Challenge, the last of our software development lifecycle challenges. User Experience can make or break an app – learn how to build the perfect experience with user flow diagrams, architecture diagrams and wireframes. The challenge will help your team better plan your project and ensure you are not overlooking important features. The deadline is Jan. 7 and the winning team in each category will receive $3,000! Sign up now.     Looking for a way to get started on an Imagine Cup project? Check out Technology Launchpad, a new Imagine Cup feature that will help jump-start your creative process, and get your ideas flowing. From professional game development tools to cutting-edge motion capture, you can find the help you need here.     Code your way to cash in contests designed by the pros! Sharpen your skills and win cash prizes in Code Hunt Challenge, a monthly coding competition created by Microsoft Research. Play in Java or C#, or both. It's fast, fun and really cool. The student who scores the highest each month receives a $1,000 prize and every student who competes earns a chance to win the $5,000 grand prize sweepstakes at the end of the season. Enter now!     Earn a Microsoft Certification with this special offer With 2014 rapidly coming to a close, now's the perfect time to finish the year with a new Microsoft Certification. To help you reach your goals, we're offering 15% off Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) exams. Passing just one Microsoft Certification exam makes you a member of the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) community! Redeem your discount now!           Microsoft respects your privacy. Please read our online Privacy Statement. If you would prefer to no longer receive this newsletter, please click here. To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 USA