Cortana in the Enterprise

Ready to give Cortana a try in your company? Microsoft has the tools you need to properly manage the experience.

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

April 1, 2016

2 Min Read
Cortana in the Enterprise

I am here in San Francisco covering Microsoft’s annual Build developers conference and had the opportunity to meet with one of the Program Managers on the Cortana team to talk about Cortana and how she can be a part of the Enterprise.

During the Day 1 keynote new features for Cortana, which are arriving this summer in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, were demoed with a focus on the consumer version of Windows.

However, it is not as widely known that Cortana is ready today and can be used in Enterprise scenarios even on machines that are connected to your domain. She has full support for integration with Office 365, PowerBI, Dynamics CRM and your Group & MDM policies.

There are currently several Group and MDM policies listed on the Cortana integration in your business or enterprise page on TechNet that can be used now.

This is what is available for you to use to manage Cortana for your enterprise users:

  • Allow Cortana to be used (GP and MDM)

  • Automatic Learning (GP and MDM) Note: 1

  • Allow Location (MDM)

  • Allow search queries on the web and their display in results (GP) Note: 1

  • Location aware search results (GP and MDM) Note: 1

  • Safe Search Level Filtering (GP and MDM) Note: 2

  • Suggest recent queries/prevent history storage in registry (GP) Note: 1

  • Allow Start Menu searches to access communications (GP) Note: 1

Notes:

  1. Cortana does not work if this is disabled

  2. Only applies to Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft also understands that the privacy of your enterprise related data is important so there is a massive FAQ about Cortana, Search, and privacy to help you understand how Cortana’s accesses and uses your data.

The good news if you are looking to use Cortana in your organization is that there is much more on the horizon for Cortana and with all the news this week at Build about Cognitive Services and Intelligent Bots the possibilities will grow quickly.

That in turn will allow your users to more effectively use their time and increase productivity.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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