Transparity has now become the first Microsoft Partner in Europe to gain the Cloud Security Advanced Specialisation.
This specialisation is an award only given to partners who meet the highest standards for service delivery and support, showcasing capabilities and proven experience in implementing comprehensive protection across Microsoft Azure, hybrid and multicloud environments.
Achieving this specialisation involves referencing successful customer projects, having at least six consultants pass the required Microsoft Security exams as well as maintaining the Microsoft Gold Security competency. Alongside these, high growth levels for Azure Security workloads must be showcased.
Tim Hannibal, Chief Partner Officer at Transparity, said: “We’re incredibly proud of the team at Transparity, especially our SOC team who have worked extremely hard to help us achieve this certification. Over the past 18 months with the roll out of remote and hybrid working, Cloud Security has become an area of critical importance to many of our customers.”
“To now hold 9 of these Advanced Specialisations, which require a rigorous auditing process, is no small feat and is a real tribute to the skills and knowledge of our team.”
Designed to separate Microsoft Partners, Advanced Specialisation allow partners to display exceptional skills, expertise and demonstrated delivery of customer service excellence.
In addition to an Advanced Specialisation in Cloud Security, Transparity have made significant investments in their security services over the past 12 months, specifically with the launch of a Microsoft focused 24×7 SOC managed service. The proactive service leverages enterprise-grade Microsoft Cloud Security functionality – including Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365 E5 – and as an integrated toolset, it negates the need to incorporate different security products from multiple vendors.
Transparity have already gained advanced specialisations in Windows & SQL Server Migration, Teamwork Deployment, Calling for Microsoft Teams, Meetings and Meeting Rooms, Adoption and Change Management, Threat Protection, Identity and Access Management, Information Protection and Governance. These are in addition to the 14 Microsoft Gold accreditations it holds.
Microsoft have recently reported a 21% boost in their profits, with a revenue of $46 billion in 2021. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, most of Microsoft’s products have become invaluable tools for remote employees; in particular, collaboration features on Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 have allowed remote arrangements to flourish through features like document co-authoring, easy file sharing and persistent chat.
Microsoft has also witnessed a strong momentum towards their Power Automate product, a sophisticated tool that automates workflows with an API-based approach. It exchanges data with legacy on-premises software and integrates artificial intelligence models into workflows with low-code requirements.
By automating business workflows between apps and services, Power Automate can organise meetings, automate emails, schedule content for social media, approve off-cycle payrolls, create simple apps, and conduct other activities efficiently. Essentially, it condenses work processes that may take months into a few hours.
So how do these features translate into real life? Here are five key benefits of using Microsoft Power Automate:
A Fortune report on workplace arrangements finds UK employees split between working in-office and remotely, with many employers offering hybrid, flexible work policies. It’s therefore necessary to have time-saving, equally-flexible workflows. Power Automate’s extensive library of predefined templates allows businesses to save time on approvals, notifications, social media, and productivity. The Microsoft Power Automate mobile app also means that team members can create, run, and check on automated workflows even when they’re not in the office.
Organisations that use Power Automate see better results and quantifiable business outcomes after automating their processes. They can focus more of their efforts towards analysing information, supporting their team, and establishing new goals. The expanded data collection for projects also enables managers to make faster, smarter decisions.
Considering how most companies rely on technology every day, knowing how to use digital tools is critical for employee development. As tech and business writer Daniel Ling highlights, digital training can fill skill gaps, providing employees with relevant know-how in fast-evolving areas of knowledge. Employees may find that the user-friendly Microsoft Power Automate can help them feel more accomplished, as automation decreases errors and allows them to focus on tasks that demand more attention.
Microsoft Power Automate can also expand the capabilities of other Microsoft solutions, by connecting and automating tasks across the Microsoft ecosystem. ZDNet columnist Andrew Brust writes about how the Microsoft Power Platform can be used for goal visualisation, as well as how Power Automate can be integrated into SharePoint, Word, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and more. You may even want to expand your Power Automate to over 200 external applications, including Mailchimp, Twitter, Google Drive, DocuSign, Eventbrite, FreshBooks, and Trello. With Microsoft Power Automate, you can get a higher return on investment from all your business premium solutions.
Repetitive tasks can take up so much of your teams’ valuable time every day, so automating them can help employees work smarter, increase productivity, and focus on your business’s activities that drive value. Microsoft Power Automate can also notify you when you receive a high-priority email, simplify your team’s approval processes, and create templates for announcements, surveys, and tasks, among others.
Want to know more about how Microsoft Power Automate can help your unique business challenges? Click below to request a complimentary consultation from a Transparity expert.
Microsoft pureplay partner and Cloud experts Transparity have announced that their next-generation consolidated Cloud Management Platform (CMP) is now available.
Designed to give customers more visibility and control over their Cloud spending, this release of Transparity’s CMP provides extended cost insights, governance and budget management across all workloads. It has also been designed to act as a contextual platform, allowing for further development as Transparity introduces additional features.
The platform allows customers to more effectively keep track of their Microsoft Cloud spending by assigning budgets to both Workloads and Environments, with dashboards showing how the spend is progressing compared to the budget. This consumption information can then be exported for use with customers’ own financial planning tools.
The CMP also provides customers with a unified interface, including visibility of invoices from Microsoft services they consume from Transparity, as well as a view of any open tickets with the Service Desk and the performance of their Managed Services.
The Cloud Management Platform focuses on Microsoft Azure. Future development of the platform will focus on all areas of Microsoft Cloud – including Microsoft 365 – as well as Transparity’s Managed Security Service. Built securely in Microsoft Azure using an extensive set of APIs, the company plans to be able to offer customers the opportunity to access these APIs so they can integrate and automate their workflows using Transparity’s logic.
Martyn Coupland, Head of DevOps at Transparity, commented: “At Transparity, we believe in helping you grow, be more efficient, and deliver innovation to your clients. To help customers achieve this goal, we are continually iterating our Cloud Management platform in a way that is designed to be intuitive and user friendly, providing real-time information through a single pane of glass.
“We are excited to deliver this next advancement in the visibility we provide to our customers and a commitment to continuing to build on its capabilities, offering a platform that gives users more control and insights over their Microsoft Cloud environment using native tooling.”
Microsoft Gold Partner and Managed Security specialist Transparity are delighted to announce that they have joined the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). MISA is an ecosystem of Managed Security Service providers and independent software vendors who have integrated their services or solutions with Microsoft to further enhance their cybersecurity posture. Members come together to collaborate with Microsoft and each other based on a shared objective of improving security for their customers.
Transparity’s Managed Security Service is the initial MISA service offered in the MISA partner catalogue. The service leverages enterprise-grade Microsoft Cloud Security functionality – including Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365 E5 – and as an integrated toolset, it negates the need to incorporate different security products from a variety of vendors.
The service incorporates a 24×7 Security Operations Centre (SOC) and is a proactive solution, rather than reactive; a key differentiator. This means that Transparity’s Security Team not only manage events in real time, but continue to actively search for threats and carefully monitor customer environments to reduce future security incidents.
Additionally, the service is aligned to Transparity’s “Secure by Design” evergreen blueprint, which is constantly reconfigured and matured in line with new threats and emerging best practices. The result is enhanced protection in comparison to a traditional reactive Security monitoring service.
Kelvin Papp, Chief Technology Officer at Transparity, said: “MISA is an ecosystem of independent software vendors and Managed Security Service providers who are leading the charge in the development of Microsoft-centric security solutions and services to protect organisations and users. We’re proud to be announced as a member, and to be recognised by Microsoft for our contribution and the unique service we have created.
“We’ve invested heavily in our security services over the last 12 months, launching both our Managed Security Service and 24×7 SOC. We’re excited to continue our growth and expansion across both Security and Compliance in collaboration with the MISA team in the months ahead.”
Mandana Javaheri, Director of Business Strategy – Microsoft Security Partner Development, added: “I am pleased to have Transparity join us as a partner in the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). By including our strategic Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) in MISA, we help enable further collaboration between cybersecurity industry leaders in protecting and supporting our joint customers.”
UK-based Transparity Solutions Limited has announced today that it has acquired Microsoft specialist AMT Evolve. The acquisition adds extensive additional skills to the focused Microsoft Cloud Partner in relation to Teams, SharePoint and the Power Platform.
Transparity currently employ 120 staff across the UK and are focused on becoming the number 1 partner in the UK for Microsoft Cloud Services. Backed by Beech Tree Private Equity, Transparity specialises in providing consultancy and managed services on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft Power Platform and currently hold 14 Gold accreditations and 8 Advanced Specialisations with Microsoft.
They plan to grow to in excess of 300 staff in the next two years, focusing on continued organic growth and strategic acquisitions such as AMT to widen its reach in providing Microsoft technologies to its customers.
Founded by Colin Thorpe and James Butler, AMT are a medium-sized Microsoft consultancy focused on Teams, SharePoint and the Power Platform. Based on the South Coast of England and with customers throughout the UK, AMT have been transforming businesses since 2004 and are focused on building long term-relationships with their clients.
The combined business will integrate gradually over time and will bring benefits to customers of both organisations. For Transparity clients, AMT provides additional depth and expertise on Teams, SharePoint document management solutions/intranets and Power Platform skills, particularly in the development of Power Apps and Power BI business intelligence solutions.
For AMT clients, the broader range of Transparity’s capabilities on the Microsoft Cloud platform become instantly available, particularly on Microsoft Azure and security solutions included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Azure Sentinel.
David Jobbins (CEO, Transparity) said: “We are delighted to welcome the AMT staff to Team Transparity. Since Transparity started, our growth as a Microsoft-only partner has been phenomenal and we are looking at acquisitions like this to strengthen us in core areas such as Teams, Power Platform and SharePoint.
“Colin and James have built an excellent Microsoft-based consultancy, with an employee-focused culture very similar to Transparity. Our incredible culture differentiates us, and any acquisition we make will put people at the heart of our decision making and subsequent integration processes.”
Colin Thorpe (MD, AMT) said: “Having known David and a number of the Transparity team for some time, we knew that Transparity would be the right partner to work with in taking AMT forward to the next level. We have recognised for a while now that whilst we are great at what we do in our specialist areas; customers are regularly asking us to help on the wider Microsoft Cloud stack and being able to join Transparity means we can offer consultancy and managed services across the Microsoft Cloud end to end.”
Adam Rudd (Beech Tree) said: “We are pleased to see Transparity make its first acquisition with AMT. AMT are ideal for Transparity as they are 100% Microsoft Cloud focused and they have a very similar culture, which is critical for Transparity. The team have done an outstanding job of expanding Transparity, having grown the business this year organically by 87%, and it’s good to see that we are now starting to add strategic acquisitions as this will only help the business grow its capabilities even further.”
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Having recently announced a brand-new Managed Security Service and in-house 24×7 Security Operations Centre (SOC), Microsoft Gold Partner Transparity have confirmed further significant investment in the business. The aim is to offer further technical capability and support for customers.
In addition to the round-the-clock SOC, Transparity have established a 24×7 Service Desk in order to ensure customers are supported at all times, should they need it. Much like with the company’s SOC, three teams staffed by technical experts have been created in the UK and New Zealand, offering a high-quality support service at any time.
With almost 15 years’ experience in Hosting and Cloud service management, Neil Clark joins Transparity as Head of Service. Richard Whant also joins the team as Service Desk Team Lead, bringing over 13 years’ technical expertise in project delivery and Service Desk management.
Additionally, Transparity have welcomed a new Head of DevOps to expand their presence in the Microsoft Azure development space. A Microsoft Azure MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer with more than 15 years’ tech experience, Martyn Coupland will head up a brand-new team responsible for helping customers utilise DevOps to become more agile and connected. He will also take the lead in the development of Transparity’s Cloud Management platform as a value-added service for customers.
David Jobins, CEO of Transparity, commented: “2020 was a period of incredible growth for Transparity, and it is important that we continue to invest significantly, bringing the very best people on board in order to meet our ambition of being the leading partner in the UK for Microsoft Cloud services.”
Kelvin Papp, CTO at Transparity, added: “We have carefully listened to our customers, who have been asking for additional integrated Microsoft Cloud services to complement their existing solutions. To facilitate this, we are continuing to further invest in developing our Managed Services and Managed Security offerings, as well as expanding our Azure capabilities to better help customers with their transition away from legacy infrastructure than ever before.”
Transparity have announced that they have just been awarded two Microsoft Gold accreditations and an additional Advanced Specialisation, making them one of the most highly-certified Microsoft Partners in the UK.
The Microsoft Cloud specialists have added the Application Development and Application Integration Gold awards to their impressive list of accreditations – which now totals 14 – as well as gaining their 8th Advanced Specialisation in Information Protection and Governance. Transparity are also the first partner in the UK to attain this new accreditation.
Microsoft Gold accreditations are only awarded to partners who have demonstrated a “best-in-class capability within a Microsoft solution area”, showcasing to customers that the partner has in-depth knowledge and experience of implementing Microsoft Cloud technologies. Advanced Specialisations add an additional layer of prestige, indicating that partners have further met Microsoft’s rigorous checks and exacting standards, and can be considered true experts in that field.
The Application Integration competency demonstrates Transparity’s technical expertise in incorporating and connecting pre-existing Microsoft and custom-built applications to Cloud and on-premises environments. This will help created unique and tailored solutions for the customer to help solve their business challenges, streamline workflows and increase productivity.
The Application Development competency builds on this capability, proving to customers that Transparity are also experienced in using Microsoft technologies to design, develop and maintain custom applications, with use cases such as user interfaces, business apps and web portals.
Additionally, the Information Protection and Governance Advanced Specialisation helps customers identify that Transparity have exceptional knowledge and experience of deploying Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) workloads. It also supports Transparity’s proficiency in security and compliance strategies.
Tim Hannibal, Chief Partnership Officer at Transparity, commented: “Microsoft Gold Partner awards and Advanced Specialisations take a great amount of work to achieve, so to gain three in such a short space of time is a real credit to the team. We’re delighted that these awards have contributed to us becoming one of the most highly-accredited Microsoft Partners in the whole of the UK, and this is testament to the incredible technical skillset we have at Transparity.”
VMware have been privately informed about multiple vulnerabilities in the vSphere Client (HTML). The vulnerabilities have been denoted as CVE-2021-21985 and CVE-2021-21986.
The vulnerabilities cover remote code execution and authentication and have been scored between 6.5-9.8 on the common vulnerability scoring system (CVSSv3), where scoring ranges from 0–10; 0 being Low and 10 being Critical.
This vulnerability affects the Virtual SAN Health Check plug-in. This plug-in is enabled by default in vCentre Server. An attacker with network access on port 443 may exploit the vulnerability to execute unrestricted privileges on the OS hosting vCenter Server. This is affecting vCentre versions 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0 as well as Cloud Foundation 3.x and 4.x on any version of operating system.
To remediate against this CVE, the versions of VMware must be updated to the following versions, available at the links below:
This vulnerability affects multiple vSphere Client (HTML) plug-ins. The plugs that are affect are the Virtual SAN Health Check, Site Recovery, vSphere Lifecycle Manager, and VMware Cloud Director Availability plug-ins. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 on vCentre Server may perform actions that these plug-ins are design to facilitate, without authentication. This is affecting vCentre versions 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0 as well as Cloud Foundation 3.x and 4.x on any version of operating system.
To remediate against this CVE, the versions of VMware must be updated to the following versions, available at the links below:
A temporary solution to these vulnerabilities is to disable the affected plug-ins. The affect this will have is that the functions provided by the plug-ins will immediately be unavailable. To disable the plug-ins, follow the below steps.
PLEASE NOTE: It is not sufficient to disable the plugin from within the UI. The plug-ins will still be exploitable if disabled via the UI. Using the compatibility-matrix.xml file, it is possible to enter lines that force the plug-in to act as ‘incompatible’, the compatibility-matrix.xml file can be located in the following directories:
vSphere Environment Setup | vSphere Client | vSphere Web Client |
vCenter Server for Windows | C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-ui | C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client |
vCenter Server Appliance | /etc/vmware/vsphere-ui | /etc/vmware/vsphere-client |
Add the lines below to the compatibility-matrix.xml file to ‘disable’ each individual plugin:
Plugin Name | Configuration Line |
VMware vRops Client Plugin | <PluginPackage id=”com.vmware.vrops.install” status=”incompatible”/> |
VMware vSAN H5 Client Plugin | <PluginPackage id=”com.vmware.vsphere.client.h5vsan” status=”incompatible”/> |
Site Recovery | <PluginPackage id=”com.vmware.vrUi” status=”incompatible”/> |
VMware vSphere Life-cycle Manager | <PluginPackage id=”com.vmware.vum.client” status=”incompatible”/> |
VMware Cloud Director Availability | <PluginPackage id=”com.vmware.h4.vsphere.client” status=”incompatible”/> |
To check the status of the plug-in check the following in the vSphere Client UI under Administration > Solutions > client-plugins. The plug-ins should show as ‘incompatible’.
Microsoft Cloud specialist and Gold Partner Transparity have announced the launch of their brand-new Microsoft-based Managed Security Service, complete with an in-house 24×7 Security Operations Centre (SOC).
This makes them one of a very small number of companies in the UK that offer a Managed Security Service that solely leverages enterprise-grade Microsoft Cloud Security functionality, such as Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365 E5.
Transparity’s Security Technical Lead, Shawn Wilkin, commented: “One of our customers’ key concerns is the security of their systems; more so now with the increase in home working. However, the key differentiator for Transparity’s service is that it is a proactive solution, rather than reactive. The core activity of the service is to actively improve our customers’ security postures; of course, we manage security events when they do occur, but we believe great security management sees these reduce significantly over time. This means that our customers are much better protected than they would be in comparison to only being protected by a traditional reactive Security monitoring service.
“Leveraging an integrated Microsoft solution means that our Managed Security Service uses advanced tools that are specifically designed to seamlessly work together. This means that we don’t have to consolidate disparate software from different vendors into one usable solution, allowing us to reduce costs for customers and focus on delivering a high-quality service.”
The company has made significant investments in teams of security specialists in both the UK and New Zealand to provide a high-quality 24×7 service. Working in three shift patterns allows Transparity to ensure that there will always be an expert on-hand at any time to remediate security incidents.
Kelvin Papp, Chief Technology Officer at Transparity, added: “We wanted to use our existing expertise and attract new security specialists to fulfil our customers’ needs round the clock. To facilitate this fantastic new offering, we made investing in securing the right technical experts our top priority.
“New Zealand was the obvious choice for recruitment for us; not only does the time difference allow us to achieve our 24×7 operational goal, but there is a wealth of exceptional security talent who we are delighted to have as part of the team.”
In addition to the new Managed Security Service and SOC, Transparity are heavily investing in other areas of the business, including 24×7 Support Services, Enterprise Voice and a range of Azure-focused initiatives.
Transparity are proud to announce that they have been recognised as one of the best companies to work for in the UK, placing in three separate categories on the annual “Best Companies” list. The Microsoft Gold Partner has also been given a 2-star “Outstanding” award for employee engagement; the second-highest available.
The categories in which Transparity have been recognised are the UK Top 100 Mid-Size Companies to work for, Top 50 Technology Companies and Top 50 Employers in the South West. This is the first time that the company has partnered with the Best Companies organisation, asking all staff to take part in anonymous and confidential survey process which has formed the basis for the rankings on these lists.
Neil Tune, Head of People & Culture at Transparity, commented: “We see our culture as an important key differentiator in the marketplace. The last 12 months have been difficult for everyone,, and for Transparity it was vital to do everything possible to support staff through our wellbeing strategy and leadership philosophy.
“Additionally, this process has also posed a fantastic learning opportunity, as we strongly believe that our corporate values of “Transformation, Partnership and Clarity” apply to our colleagues, not just our customers. No company is perfect and whilst less positive feedback was minimal, we have listened to our teams so we can continue to learn and improve, continually working to keep Transparity a fantastic career choice for tech talent.”
Founded by David Jobbins and Colin Macandrew in 2015, Transparity was set up with one goal in mind; to use technical expertise to deliver Microsoft solutions with passion and integrity.
David Jobbins, CEO of Transparity, added: “Our staff are the heart of the business; without them, we simply couldn’t drive great digital transformation outcomes for our customers. It’s imperative to us that we attract and retain the best people in the business, and naturally we want to ensure that Transparity is a rewarding, supportive and engaging place to work.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team for what we have achieved in the last 6 years, and am delighted to have received such fantastic feedback. Being recognised as one of the best companies in the UK to work for in three different categories is an unbelievable accolade, and we are determined that our strong company culture will remain a top priority as we continue to expand.”
The official rankings for each Best Companies category will be announced on 21st May at the “Best Companies Live” event, which will be live-streamed from 9.30am.
Microsoft Cloud specialists Transparity are delighted to welcome their 100th employee to the organisation.
The Microsoft Gold Partner have enjoyed strong growth since their incorporation, and have experienced significant demand for their Microsoft Cloud-based products and related managed services. Having just celebrated their 6th year of trading, Transparity have reached a total of 100 employees with this week’s appointment of Lauren Key as Microsoft 365 Trainer.
Lauren joins Transparity as part of the Customer Success Team. A qualified teacher, she has an MSc in IT and Computing, a wealth of experience across the Microsoft Stack, and has formerly taught IT skills in the UK and New Zealand.
Lauren commented: “I’m very excited to become part of the team at Transparity. It’s great to see their continued growth, and it’s clearly the right time to be joining a company which has such a fantastic reputation within the industry.
“Additionally, as someone with Asperger’s Syndrome I found it comforting that Transparity are recognised as “Disability Confident”. This meant that when I was interviewing, I felt comfortable disclosing my neurodiversity; something which I have been reluctant to do with other companies.”
At Transparity, Lauren will be conducting 1-2-1s and workshops to help the non-technical employees of customers with the adoption of their Microsoft Cloud Services. Topics she will cover include SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive, ensuring customers become confident in using these tools.
David Jobbins, CEO at Transparity, commented: “Having passionate and talented staff is critical to the success of our business. The team have worked incredibly hard through exceptionally-difficult circumstances over the last 12 months, and I am immensely proud of how much we have achieved together.
“We are also delighted to welcome Lauren to Team Transparity. She has a wide set of skills which will add a lot of value to the organisation, as well as being a great fit for our company culture.”
Transparity has become the first Microsoft Partner in the UK to gain the Identity and Access Management Advanced Specialisation, bringing the total earned up to seven.
Awarded only to partners with demonstrable experience and extensive knowledge in deploying and managing Microsoft Identity workloads with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), this certification offers customers piece of mind that Transparity are experts in this area.
Alongside the Microsoft Gold Security competency which Transparity had already acquired, to qualify for this accreditation the company must reference successful customer projects, have a minimum of six consultants pass the necessary Microsoft Security exams, and be able to show high growth levels for Azure AD Premium.
Tim Hannibal, Chief Partner Officer at Transparity, said: “The team at Transparity work incredibly hard and I could not be more proud that we have gained this certification. Identity and Access Management is a key technology in unlocking secure and productive distributed working which has become so important to our customers over the past 12 months.
“Advanced Specialisations haven’t been around for long, and require a rigorous auditing process. For the team to have already achieved seven is an incredible feat and a real testament to their level of expertise and dedication to helping our customers.”
Advanced Specialisations are designed to set recipients apart from other Microsoft Partners, demonstrating exceptional levels of skill, expert knowledge and a proven track record of delivering excellence to customers.
Transparity have already gained advanced specialisations in Threat Protection, Calling for Microsoft Teams, Meetings and Meeting Rooms for Microsoft Teams, Teams Deployment, Adoption and Change Management, and Windows Server & SQL Server Migration to Azure. These are in addition to the 12 Microsoft Gold accreditations it holds.
