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What’s New in Orchestry (March 2023)

Valerie Sergienko ‐ March 27, 2023

4 MIN READ

March has been a truly eventful month for Orchestry. Our most highly anticipated achievement was receiving SOC2 Type II accreditation – but more on that in this blog. Apart from that, we celebrated the lovely ladies of Orchestry all month long, and, of course, that didn’t stop us from releasing a few exciting features and updates to the Orchestry platform.

SOC2 Type II accreditation is here!

 

The latest tangible proof of our commitment to our organizational value of Security is our achievement of SOC 2 Type II compliance –  the most comprehensive certification within the Systems and Organization Controls protocol. 

Apart from us living and breathing our organizational values, the trust, confidence, and peace of mind of our customers and partners is the reason why we went after the coveted SOC2 Type II certification.

Industry experts estimate that about 60% of all data breaches happen via third-party vendors, including email & cloud service providers.
According to IBM, on average, it takes companies 280 days to detect a third-party data breach. This often happens because third-party vendors tend to hide the fact that a data breach had occurred because many of them lack the security controls and protocols that are aimed at protecting their customers’ data.

With the average cost of a data breach expected to reach $5M in 2023, we weren’t prepared to take chances with our customers’ and partners’ data.

Read our blog to learn more about this incredible achievement by the Orchestry team!

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Some noteworthy updates from the March release

Achieving the SOC2 Type II accreditation did not stop our development team from absolutely crushing it and delivering yet another great release full of great updates to the Orchestry platform, the UX, and the UI.

We will cover just a few to give you a taste of the attention to detail and constant focus on improving Orchestry’s functionality our development team shows each and every release.

Updates to automated archival emails

One of the incredibly valuable features of Orchestry is the Lifecycle Management of Microsoft 365 Groups, MS Teams, and SharePoint. Automated archival policy creation is part of that functionality.

With these policies, Orchestry admins can create robust workflows which configure the exact actions that happen to every piece of content that has been identified as ripe for deletion or archival. We’ve written a comprehensive blog about these policies, which you can check out here.

The policy creation process allows you to engage content (Group/Team/SharePoint) owners to make archival and renewal decisions on behalf of the IT team and action them autonomously and independently.

 

 

This workflow also allows the IT Admins to configure how often to engage the content owners, and by what means – emails or Teams message, or even both!

 

 

Previously, to action this policy, Orchestry would send out automated individual emails to all content owners, allowing them to make the decision whether the content could be archived, or needed to be renewed.

One of our valued customers suggested that a better idea would be to send a single email to all content owners at once, which would achieve the following:

 

  • Limit the number of emails sent out for each archival/deletion.
  • Provide transparency to owners of content as to what other owners are part of the same Team, SharePoint site, or Group, without having to lift a finger.
  • Help facilitate a productive discussion among all content owners on how to proceed with the content archival or deletion.

 

Sure enough, we went ahead and implemented this change, which is being received very positively by all of our customers and partners.

Orchestry's Teams app UI changes

Orchestry is built to be used by both, IT Admins and end users wherever they feel most comfortable working, which includes 2 different experiences:

  • Using the Orchestry app directly within Teams.
  • Using Orchestry as a web app.

 

The two experiences vary slightly, and the web app generally provides more functionality and depth, however, the Teams app is equally as user friendly and the Orchestry admins can manage most tasks within it.

 

That said, we made some slight changes to the UI of the Orchestry’s Teams app as part of the latest release, and here’s what changed.

Many Orchestry users are very familiar with our incredibly powerful Reporting dashboard and even more powerful actionable Insights. If you are not familiar with them, make sure to check out the blog below.

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What is truly noteworthy about these insights and reports is that they can be exported and leveraged for in-depth analysis. The exporting of these reports is only available through the Orchestry web app, so until recently, the “Export” button was not visible on the Orchestry’s MS Teams app.

Looking at our app usage stats, we noticed an uptick in the usage of the Orchestry Teams app, versus the web app, so in order to ensure each and every Orchestry admin has visibility into the export option being available to them, we added an Export button to the Orchestry Teams app with helpful instructions to access the web app to complete the export.

To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, it was a small step in the UI improvement for Orchestry, but a giant leap for all Orchestry Admins toward data analysis.

Orchestry celebrates International Women's Day

 

What many don’t know is that Orchestry is a primarily female-led organization. Naturally, we proudly celebrated International Women’s Day, followed by a separate celebration of Pi Day, where our ladies dressed in purple to support the #DressForStem movement.

We’ve set out to interview the lovely ladies of Orchestry and ask them a few burning questions:

 

  • What made them get into technology
  • What do they love the most about working in technology
  • What are some of the challenges they experience as women in technology
  • And (of course) how do they plan to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Head over to our blog to read a few fascinating and incredibly inspiring stories of women of Orchestry.

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Orchestry does a deep dive into driving adoption of M365

 

In March, we focused on putting together and sharing with you many useful resources that will help you increase the adoption of Microsoft 365 tools across your organization. Take a look at some of the blogs we shared this month and some of our older blogs that still hold true to this day:

 

  • When to use what in M365 – this wonderful blog by our very own Joy Apple covers the basics of what tool to use for what job in M365. It’s a great resource you can share with staff to get to know the tools a bit better and, potentially help them ask the most common question “When to use what?”

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  • Microsoft Teams Adoption Strategies: Tips for IT Teams – in this article, we share some first-hand experiences of how IT teams can make their Microsoft Teams roll-out as smooth and successful as possible.

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  • Drive Adoption of SharePoint Online With Beautiful & Engaging Pages – this article shows how with the help of Vertical sections, you can engage end-users of SharePoint Online better, as well as present them with all the relevant content that will no doubt delight them.

Read blog

 

  • From Low to High: Strategies for Increasing Microsoft 365 Adoption in Your Organization – this mammoth of an article shows you how to access your Microsoft 365 Adoption Score, and how to decipher it. It shines a light on some of the factors that contribute to low adoption of M365 tools, or ineffective usage, and how to drive the adoption of the tools across your organization with some simple strategies.

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About the Author

Valerie Sergienko Image

Valerie Sergienko

Director, Product Marketing

An accomplished marketing strategist, Valerie brings over a decade of experience in digital marketing and has a profound love and appreciation for agile, purpose-driven, and results-oriented growth.

In her free time, you can find Valerie exploring local amusement parks, playgrounds, cafes, and movie theatres with her daughter, reading a new science book, or working up a sweat at the gym.

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Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains what information Orchestry Software Inc. and its associated entities (collectively “Orchestry”) collect about you, why, what we do with that information, how we share it and how we handle the content you place in our products and services. It also explains the choices available to you regarding our use of your personal information and how you can access and update this information.

Privacy Policy Scope

Our Privacy Policy applies to the information we collect when you use one of our services, or when you otherwise engage with Orchestry Software, including, but not limited to:
when you visit our websites (“Websites“);
when you contact us for assistance;
when we connect with you as a prospective customer or as a customer;
when you attend customer or prospective customer events;
when you meet us at third party events, gatherings or meetups.
Orchestry is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy applies to our websites (Websites), including www.orchestry.com, www.success.orchestry.com and www.app-dev.orchestry.com, owned and controlled by Orchestry.

This Privacy Policy governs our data collection, processing and usage practices. It also describes your choices regarding use, access and correction of your personal information. By using the Websites, you consent to the data practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the data practices described in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Websites.

Information We Collect

We collect personal data that you submit to us via our website or third-party tools including, for example, when applying for a job via our website or requesting support in relation to one of our services.
You are free to explore the Websites without providing any Personal Information about yourself. When you visit the Websites, we request that you provide Personal Information about yourself, and we collect Navigational Information.

Information Collection & Access

Orchestry acknowledges that you have the right to access your Personal Information. If requested to remove data we will respond within a reasonable timeframe.

We may transfer Personal Information to companies that help us provide our service, such as those organizations as part of our Global Partner Alliance. Transfers to subsequent third parties for the sole purpose of responding to requests from Websites in the appropriate geography service territory.

“Personal Information”
This refers to any information that you voluntarily submit to us and that identifies you personally, including contact information, such as your name, e-mail address, company name, address, phone number, and other information about yourself or your business. Personal Information can also include information that you enter into on the Websites, and information about you that is available on the internet, such as from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google, or publicly available information that we acquire from service providers.

“Navigational Information”
This refers to information about your computer and your visits to this website such as your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and pages viewed.

We use Navigational Information to operate and improve the Websites. We may also use Navigational Information alone or in combination with Personal Information to provide you with personalized information about Orchestry.

Information About Children

The Websites are not intended for or targeted at children under 13, and we do not knowingly or intentionally collect information about children under 13. If you believe that we have collected information about a child under 13, please contact us at hello@orchestry.com, so that we may delete the information.

Information Usage

We use the information we collect only in compliance with this Privacy Policy.

In addition to the uses identified elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we may use your Personal Information to: (a) improve your browsing experience by personalizing the Websites; (b) send information to you which we think may be of interest to you by post, email, or other means; (c) send you marketing communications relating to our business.

We will never sell your Personal Information to any third party. However, we may share or disclose your Personal Information as follows:
we may provide your information to our business partners, vendors or service providers who perform functions on our behalf;
in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company;
as required by law, government officials, or other third parties pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process or requirement applicable to our Company;
when we believe, in our sole discretion, that the disclosure of personal information is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss;
to report suspected illegal activity or to investigate violations of our agreements.

Reviewing, Correcting and Removing Your Personal Information
Upon request, Orchestry will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your Personal Information. If you provide us with your Personal Information, you have the following rights with respect to that information:
To review the user information that you have supplied to us.
To request that we correct any errors, outdated information, or omissions in user information that you have supplied to us.
To request that your user information not be used to contact you.
To request that your user information be removed from any solicitation list that we use.
To request that your user information be deleted from our records.
To opt out of being solicited by Orchestry or third parties.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@orchestry.com or by mail to Orchestry Software Inc., 422 Richards St, Suite 170, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2Z4, Attn: Privacy. We will respond to your request to change, correct, or delete your information within a reasonable timeframe and notify you of the action we have taken.

Retention of Personal Information

We retain Personal Information that you provide us as long as we consider it potentially useful in contacting you our services, or as needed to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements, and then we securely delete the information. We will delete this information from the servers at an earlier date if you so request, as described in “Unsubscribe from Communication” below.

Customer Testimonials and Comments

We post customer testimonials and comments on our Websites, which may contain Personal Information. We obtain each customer’s consent via email prior to posting the customer’s name and testimonial.

Security of your Personal Information

We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. We secure the Personal Information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

Social Media Features

Our Websites include Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as the Share This button or interactive mini-programs that run on our sites. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our sites, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to these features.  Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy and other policies of the companies providing them.

External Websites

Our Websites provide links to other websites. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the content or practices of these other websites. Our provision of such links does not constitute our endorsement of these other websites, their content, their owners, or their practices. This Privacy Policy does not apply to these other websites, which are subject to any privacy and other policies they may have.

Public Forums

We offer publicly accessible blogs, message boards and community forums. Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose any information through our public message boards, blogs, or forums, this information may be collected and used by others. We will correct or delete any information you have posted on the Websites if you so request, as described in “Opting Out and Unsubscribing” below.

International Transfer of Information

To facilitate our global operations, we may transfer and access Personal Information from around the world, including the United States. This Privacy Policy shall apply even if we transfer Personal Information to other countries.

Corporate Events

If we (or our assets) are acquired by another company, whether by merger, acquisition, bankruptcy or otherwise, that company would receive all information gathered by Orchestry on the Websites. In this event, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website, of any change in ownership, uses of your Personal Information, and choices you may have regarding your Personal Information.

Cookies & Similar Technologies

Orchestry uses cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users’ movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.

The cookies we use on this website are broadly grouped into the following categories:

Essential: Some of the cookies on our website are essential for us to be able to provide you with a service you have requested. You may not be able to use our website effectively without these cookies.
Analytics: We use analytics cookies to help us understand how users engage with our website. An example of this is for counting the number of different people coming to our website, visiting a particular page or using a particular feature. Without this cookie, if you visited the website once each week for three weeks, we would count you as three separate users and this wouldn’t be a true representation. These cookies do not let us identify specific users as the information is aggregated.
Social sharing: We use cookies to allow you to share content directly to your social networking sites for example Facebook, Twitter and Google+ i.e. clicking Like on Facebook and Share on Twitter.
Interest-based advertising: You may have noticed that when you visit websites, you will be shown advertisements for products and services you may be interested in. Cookie information about certain pages you have visited on our website helps us be more relevant in our advertising. Having these cookies does not increase the number of adverts you will be shown on these specific sites. These ‘persistent’ cookies last no longer than 90 days, or until you clear them. These and the other cookies we use do NOT allow us to see what other sites you have been visiting, they simply act as a record of our web pages and advertisements that you may see.
Opt Out of Cookies
When you first visited the websites you will have been shown a status bar notifying you that this website uses cookies and inviting you to review this cookie policy. Once you have clicked to go further into our website, the cookie prompt will disappear, this confirms that you consent to us using the cookies detailed in this policy.
Please note that we can’t always control third party cookies (such as from social networks) stored on your machine from our website and where this is the case you will need to visit the relevant third party’s website directly to understand their cookies stored on your machine by them. Please see our ‘third party cookies’ section below.
If you want to reject cookies we use from this website you will need to:
Delete the cookies from your browser. Most browsers also allow you to prevent all or some cookies being stored on your machine in the future. For more information on how to delete or disable cookies from your browser please use the ‘help’ function within your browser, or alternatively visit www.allaboutcookies.org. By deleting our cookie preference cookie, the next time you visit our website the cookie status bar will appear again inviting you to again reconsider your preferences.
AND/OR: If you only want to reject the Internet Based Advertising cookies we store on your machine, you can opt-out of receiving these cookies at any time by going to the Internet Advertising Bureau website at http://www.youronlinechoices.com and following the opt-out instructions.
Please do be aware that disabling cookies may impact the functionality of this website.
Third Party Cookies
Some of the cookies described above are stored on your machine by third parties when you use our website. We have no control over these cookies of how the third party uses them. They are used to allow that third party to provide a service to us, for example website analytics. For more information on these cookies and how to disable them, please see:
Internet Advertising Bureau website at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ where you will be able to opt-out of receiving Internet Based Advertising cookies from some of the third parties, such as Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
The use of cookies and web beacons by any tracking utility company is not covered by our Privacy Policy.

Log Files

We may collect demographic information, such as your region, preferences, interests and favorites using log files that are not associated with your name or other personal information. There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by us. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, internet service provider (ISP), the files viewed on our site (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), operating system, clickstream data, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used by Orchestry to provide general statistics regarding use of the Websites. For these purposes, we do link this automatically-collected data to Personal Information such as name, email address, address, and phone number.

Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)

We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage the Website by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users.  In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on Web pages or in emails and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. We use clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened by recipients.  This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. We tie the information gathered by clear gifs in emails to our customers’ Personal Information. If you would like to opt-out of these emails, please see “Opting Out and Unsubscribing”.

Advertising

We partner with a third-party ad network to either display advertising on our Web site or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personal information about your activities on this and other Web sites to provide you targeted advertising based upon your interests.  If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt-out by clicking here: http://preferences.truste.com/ (or if located in the European Union, by clicking here: http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/). Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising.  You will continue to receive generic ads.

Unsubscribe from Communications

You may unsubscribe from our marketing communications by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link located on the bottom of our e-mails, or by sending us email us at hello@orchestry.com or by mail to Orchestry Software Inc., 422 Richards St, Suite 170, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2Z4, Attn: Privacy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our treatment of the information you provide us, please write to us by email at hello@orchestry.com or by mail to Orchestry Software Inc., 422 Richards St, Suite 170, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2Z4, Attn: Privacy.

Changes

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. When there are changes to this Privacy Policy, we will update this page. The date on the bottom will always indicate when we last made changes.
Last Updated: July 28, 2020

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