Chris Blackburn
Microsoft 365 / Zero Trust / CoPilot Architect, Strategist & Evangelist
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
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Having a love of technology through years of exposure as a young boy and then as a teenager, the quest to always stay up to date with the latest and greatest has come naturally over the last 2 decades. My first job in a call center environment built not only my customer service skills but aided in becoming proficient in thinking on my feet, as well as visualizing a situation without ever being present. Meeting lifelong friends in this environment helped open the door to other opportunities, which would become the first step down the path of a career as an IT consultant.
Consulting is truly more than being just another IT professional: it's about being familiar with the business objectives of every client and ensuring every dollar they spend on technology maximizes their workforce to its highest potential. It's about being an individual who breaks the mold of the cliche "computer guy" and embodies a genuine personality that attracts both the admiration and trust of every individual they encounter.
When I'm not in front of the computer, I can't get away from technology and my love of music takes me behind the decks as a DJ alongside my wife Jen playing electronic music at clubs and events across the globe. Having opened for the largest names in the genre, I've also supported artists from veterans to up-and-coming names in a music business capacity in bookings and management with some of the world's largest promoters, such as Insomniac, etc.
Area of Expertise
Topics
Supercharge your Identity with Entra Suite
If you're a Microsoft cloud user you've heard that Azure Active Directory got a name change in 2023 to Microsoft Entra - the new name brand for Microsoft's Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform. In July 2024, a POWERFUL upgrade to Entra was born with the introduction of the Entra Suite of products, but what does that include? How can this new suite supercharge your Identity team to do more AND consolidate your Identity stack to a single platform?
In this session, we'll walk through a day in the life of an Entra Admin where you'll learn:
• The 5 core products in the Entra suite that sit on top of your Microsoft identity infrastructure and their vast array of features.
• How to Leverage Identity Governance to seamlessly manage the lifecycle of users, and empower your teams to control access to apps.
• How to Protect your high-target accounts using AI to look at risk-based access, step-up authentication, and just-in-time access for admins
• How to Implement Verified credentials and Face Check can make your helpdesk more secure against threats.
• How to Secure access to your Microsoft public and private infrastructure and learn about the powerful new upgrades to Conditional Access to your Azure AND private cloud footprints.
• How to Quickly Get Started and bring the Entra suite rapidly to your organization.
Improving human communication by leveraging the RIGHT Copilot
From the dawn of computing, one story remains: our data is the same, but the way it's presented has changed. From DOS to Windows, productivity in fat clients to leveraging the cloud, and collaboration alone as humans to sharing that with artificial intelligence, we're always striving to improve efficiency with how we work and how we communicate. With the many Copilots beginning to improve our lives, the dilemma remains - with so different ways to collaborate and communicate, and with so many tools at our disposal, which is the right one to do the job?
In this session we'll journey through the Microsoft collaboration story. We'll paint the picture of "the past" of when to use what technology for job by setting our foundation in the Microsoft Office Collaboration Framework (MOCA). From there step into "the present" and see how each of the Microsoft Copilots work in the real world. Finally we'll step into "the future" with a handy guide that will help you know when to use what Copilot to connect to you and your data to others productively, efficiently, and securely.
Key Takeaways:
• Understanding Microsoft's Office Communications framework for individual, team, community & organization collaboration
• Understanding of Microsoft Collaboration tools and the connection to their Copilot counterparts
• Walk through the Microsoft Copilot story across the entire product suite
• Demo of the Microsoft Copilot tools & scenarios: Microsoft 365, customer relationship + Sales, employees + Viva, semi-custom + Copilot Studio, Development + GitHub, Data + Fabric, and fully custom + Azure AI.
• Cheat sheet takeaway on when to use what Copilot and plus core user cases and prompts
Do you THINK you’re ready for Copilot?
2023 has been the year of AI, and there’s no slowing down. Organizations are clamoring to radically accelerate their productivity with technologies like Copilot, but under the hood there are security, compliance, privacy, licensing, and organization processes this next level of business transformation needs to be in place before you successfully take the leap. Do you THINK you’re ready to proceed?
In this session, we will explore the technologies driving Copilot, delve into the essential Microsoft 365 business readiness configurations, and discuss the organizational changes required. Join us to discover how to activate and propel your journey into the future with Microsoft AI.
Modern Desktop Conversion
The workplace has changed. More of your users work remotely, and some never set foot in your physical facilities. So how do you make sure devices are secure and up-to-date while keeping management simple and hassle-free?
Azure AD Join is a great foundation towards transitioning towards a cloud-first model, combining modernization of devices management and reducing device-related IT costs. But how do jumpstart that plan outside of hardware replacement cycles AND without disrupting users with a rebuild?
In this session learn dive into the different options and considerations for your modern desktop conversion, the risks and requirements, walk through live demos of the process, and walk away with a comparison guide to help in choosing the right journey for your organization.
Intune Best Practices + Pitfalls + Ensuring Secure Device Management
We are now doing business in a world of hybrid and remote workforces, come and learn about how leveraging Intune can ensure a streamlined, safe, and reliable endpoint ecosystem both inside and outside of the office! Sam Bender and Chris Blackburn will be presenting a live demo consisting of configuration and management best-practices as well as the endpoint enrollment process via Autopilot!
ABCs of MnA
Given the complexity of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), laying the foundation even before the ink is dried on the contracts is key to establishing success. Gathering the right people and ensuring open lines of communications will get you on the right path. Using the right tools and the right process for your technology goals will help you avoid frustration, rework, and wasted money.
Learn from Chris Blackburn how Concurrency has delivered these complex projects to large enterprise customers (500-10000+ seats) over the last 5 years leveraging industry best tools and our best practices, oversite of an integration management office, while using the opportunity to improve processes, automation and security.
Sit thru 6 packed segments each with a Q&A session that cover:
1. Migrations, Acquisitions, & Efficiencies - what, why, how, & where
2. From 1-180 - from the contract to integration workstreams
3. Project Success & Organizational Change Management - Integration management, readiness, and comms
4. The Best Tool for the Job - understanding the right toolset for your org
5. Pitfall isn't just a game - transparency and issue resolution
6. Automation & the future - using tools to make the job easier
MN Microsoft 365 User Group - In person Workshop Day Fall, 2024 Sessionize Event
MN Microsoft 365 User Group - In person Workshop Day Spring, 2024 Sessionize Event
MN Microsoft 365 User Group - In person Workshop Day Fall, 2023 Sessionize Event
MN Microsoft 365 User Group - In person Workshop Day Spring, 2023 Sessionize Event
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