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What’s new in OneDrive + Copilot?…. Lots.

This week was Microsoft’s third annual OneDrive digital event (October 8th, 2025), where their key message was that OneDrive is much much more than “just” file storage.

Whether you are looking at this as a consumer or information workers, the theme this year was “Intelligence in every click, inspiration in every memory” .

Yes OneDrive is getting a true AI overhaul the event was about showcasing what is coming (soon) revealing and demoing how Copilot and AI are being woven into the very fabric of OneDrive, transforming it into both a personal and professional productivity and imaging hub.

Perhaps the biggest thing for at the event was the Hero Link… Read on!

The 3rd Annual OneDrive Event

The virtual event itself was led by many familiar with the keynote from Jeff Teper (President, Microsoft 365 Collaboration Apps & Platforms) and Jason Moore (VP of OneDrive Product Management).

The core event was 25-minuts long and included an hour ish live AMA (Ask Microsoft Anything) with the OneDrive engineers and product lead.

You can watch it on YouTube here.

OneDrive and Copilot Key Annoucements

Copilot is being deeply embedded across OneDrive consumer and OneDrive for Business and we will see Copilot now natively integrated into OneDrive across web, desktop (coming soon), and mobile. This includes:

Core OneDrive changes and innovation from everywhere.

  • Natural language file search: you can ask direct from OneDrive “show me the Q3 financials with margin analysis” and Copilot surfaces the right file instantly.
  • File summarisation and insights: With a single click or prompt, Copilot can summarise long documents, extract key points, and even suggest next steps.
  • Actionable collaboration: Instead of static files, OneDrive becomes more of a springboard into actionable steps. It can can draft responses, prep presentations, or analyse data directly from the file context in OneDrive.

Smarter Photos Experience for all

Smarter Photos Experience for personal users with huge updates to ‘rival‘ Google Photos especially around memories and search.

  • AI-powered photo organisation: new AI powered auto tagging, grouping, and contextual search. For example simply ask “show me photos from our Isle of Wight  trip last summer”.
  • Memory highlights: Curated collections that feel more like a story than a folder, presented a blood and crisp new way with fluid animation and scrolling.

As I said, this is Microsoft’s answer to Google Photos, but with enhanced “enterprise-grade” compliance and privacy baked in.

OneDrive as a  Hub for content.

OneDrive as a Hub for Work + Life
The tagline here is about positioning OneDrive as the “always ready” hub for both professional and personal content.

  • Work content becomes more discoverable and actionable without having to switch context.
  • Personal content (like photos) becomes more meaningful and shareable and ups the standard for AI management and organisation.
  • Photos Agent: allows users to use Copilot to find all your  best shots from anytime anywhere or anytime and Copilot will help find the best photos. Soon it will also help build albums too.  It is coming soon to  Microsoft 365 Copilot Windows and Web experience for Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers.
  • IT leaders retain control, with governance and compliance intact along with powerful new sharing controls known as the hero link.

The new Hero Link.

This for me was this big one. Microsoft say that after a decade of feedback and innovation, the biggest update to sharing in Microsoft 365 is here – the hero link!

Having seen this at MVP Summit last year at the early testing phases, I am uber excited by this.

This  marks a major evolution in file sharing within Microsoft 365, designed to simplify and streamline collaboration.

  • Single, primary URL: identical to the address bar link, it governs access to shared content without multiple links. This means users can update permissions (e.g., expand access to their organisation) without needing to resend or regenerate links, significantly reducing the risk of “access denied” errors. It means you can change permissions without resharing links.
  • Copilot summaries when sharing: enhances this experience, ensuring recipients open files with immediate context. This update reflects over a decade of user feedback and aims to make sharing more predictable, secure, and efficient.
  • Simple for sharers and collaborators: With the hero link, content sharers distribute a single, permanent URL to all stakeholders, adjusting access levels as needed without worrying about outdated links. This not only improves continuity and reduces complexity but also supports seamless collaboration across teams, especially in dynamic environments where content and contributors frequently change.
New OneDrive Hero Link

Timeline and Availability

Many of the new features showcased are already in preview for Microsoft 365 Copilot users, with general availability expected in early 2026.

The new Photos experience updates will start rolling out to consumer (personal) OneDrive accounts over the next few months.

New OneDrive native app for Windows in preview now for Windows Insiders using Copilot Plus PCs.

My Take

Who would have thought a few years ago that OneDrive would have its own special annual event!

This year (the third year) it wasn’t just about new features it was about deepening the role of OneDrive as the connective fabric that binds Microsoft 365 together. Personally it think the focus was more on consumer to compete in the Google Photo Space with AI packaging features powered by Copilot (which ties in nicely with the new Microsoft 365 Premium SKUs for home, personal and family users.

For corporate IT, the message was for around OneDrive becoming the AI-first content hub (like they have done with SharePoint (after all it’s the same plafrom). With Copilot in OneDrive there are less clicks, it feels more native rather than an after thought and positions their AI in more places.

Sources

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What is ‘Bring Your Own Copilot’ to Work (BYO-Copilot) ?

AI tools being used in the workplace is no longer a question of if but how and what. The question is what if you could allow this in a safe and controlled way without compromising security and compliance and without leaking copirate data.?

What is BYO-Copilot to Work?

Whether your organisation invests and has deployed AI tools for employees or not, your people are already experimenting or using daily AI tools to boost their productivity, search and get things done at home but also at work, often outside the guardrails of IT.  This is bad for IT and organisational security and privacy of a few levels.

  • Free AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude etc that are consumer products do not have the data protection in place that organisations need to ensure corporate data is not used to train the AI models.
  • When we use free tools, the user “is the product” and many employees (and some organisations) simply don’t know the risk of using unsanctioned AI tools especially when with corporate data.

Microsoft introduces “bring your own Copilot to work”

Microsoft’s latest announcement delivers a way to address (some of) these challenges by enabling a secure, and safe way employees who don’t have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license at work to use their personal Copilot from their personal Microsoft 365 subscriptions (Personal, Family, or Premium) directly at work and with work documents – with enterprise-grade data protections organisations demand and expect.

This “bring your own Copilot” (BYO-Copilot) model provides a safe way (if permitted) for individuals to use AI at work without compromising organisational security, while giving IT the levers to stay firmly in control.

So how does it work?

How does Bring Your Own Copilot Work?

It’s simple really..

  • Employees can sign into so Microsoft 365 apps with both work and personal accounts (similar to work and personal profiles in Edge).
  • All Copilot features from a the employees personal subscription can be used on work files – even if the employee’s work account doesn’t have a Copilot licence. 
  • Microsoft’s Enterprise data protection remains intact since Copilot only works within the permissions of the user’s work identity so identity, data protection and governance remains in tact.
  • IT remains in control. Admins can enable or disable this capability via policy, and all Copilot interactions are auditable.

In short: BYO-Copilot provides a safe and secure way for employees to get access to Copilot, whilst IT keeps governance, and organisational data protected.

This provides a much better method than just saying no. This of course needs the user to be using Copilot and not other non Microsoft AI tools.

Empowering employees

From an employee’s perspective, the process is straightforward (they will of course need a personal Microsoft 365 subscription with Copilot) first.  

  1. Sign into their work Microsoft 365 apps with both business and personal accounts. 
  2. Open Word, Excel, or another Microsoft 365 app. 
  3. Use the account switcher to add your personal Microsoft 365 account alongside your work account. 
  4. Open a work file from Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc which could be a document stored in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint that they have access too.
  5. Invoke Copilot and use it as they normally would – for example, ask it to summarise a document, draft a response, or analyse some excel data. 

Copilot will of course only work with the content you can access through your work identity,but Microsoft will not use the data to train their models, learn or share anything with the wider Microsoft environment. Organisations remain protected by Microsoft’s Responsible AI and Enterprise Data Protection.

Limitations of BYO Copilot at work?

It is worth noting that this is not the full Microsoft 365 Copilot so their are limitations.

  • The employees personal Copilot subscription only works on the open document or explicitly referenced file.
  •  Broader capabilities (like querying across multiple files or your organisational data) still require a corporate Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. 

How can organisations enable or block BYO Copilot?

Microsoft has of course designed this capability with IT control at the centre and no need for additional tools or controls. Here are the key considerations: 

  • Policy Control 
    •  A tenant-level setting called “Multiple account access to Copilot for work documents” determines whether personal Copilot can be used on work files. 
    • IT can enable or disable this capability for all users or specific groups. 
  • Identity and Permissions 
    • Copilot always respects the user’s work account permissions and data, identity and compliance settings on your tenant.
    • The employees personal account provides the Copilot entitlement, but it does not gain access to organisational data.  You still control this as always.
  • Data Protection 
    • All interactions remain within the Microsoft 365 service boundary. 
    • Prompts and responses are encrypted, governed by existing compliance commitments, and never used to train the underlying AI models or shared for advertising etc.
  • Auditing and Monitoring
    • Copilot actions are logged and auditable, just like other user activities and can be surfaced via SEIM, audit logs and the Copilot Control System.
    • Other settings such as retention policies and compliance tools (such as Purview and DLP) apply to Copilot interactions. 
  • Governance of Web Access 
    •  If Copilot’s web search grounding is disabled in your tenant, that restriction still applies – even when using a personal subscription. 

Why

For IT leaders, this is a pragmatic response to the reality of AI adoption. Employees want (and often demand) to use AI, and many already have personal subscriptions to Microsoft Copilot at home. Rather than pushing this activity into the shadows, Microsoft has created a safe and protected way for employees to use their own “Microsoft” AI tools that: 

  • Empowers employees to use AI productively. 
  • Keeps IT in control with clear policy levers. 
  • Protects organisational data with enterprise-grade safeguards. 
  • Ensures IT are in the know, providing IT teams the ability to safely allow shadow IT on their copirate environment.

Of course, IT should take the time to review their policies, communicate the boundaries, and decide whether to enable or restrict BYO-Copilot in their environment. 

What about other AI Tools like ChatGPT personal and Perplexity?

No (well not yet anyway). Since Microsoft have control over the Copilot experience across commercial, enterprise and personal/family experiences this is something they can do whilst guaranteeing nothing compromises or impacts their existing security and data goverance.

Whilst this won’t stop a poorly configured and governed Microsoft 365 environment allowing third party apps and AI tools on their network, it provides a safe way to empower many more unlicensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users to bring their Copilot to work without organisational expense.

Organisations can then use existing controls to block scan and block the use of  unsanctioned AI tools and give employees a viable “self funded” option to BYO Copilot AI to work.

What do you think of BYO Copilot?

Personally I think this is great.  Unless your controls are strong, personal AI is already at coming to work, whether sanctioned or not.

With BYO-Copilot, at least IT can provide a way of safely allowing it  with the right guardrails in place.

Of course it’s also a clever approach as it gets more people (potentially) paying for Copilot themselves and then convincing their work to buy them a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

What do you think?

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It’s Agent Mode the new way to do human-agent collaboration?

Microsoft Copilot development just doesn’t sleep… This time they have just announced “agent mode” which they claim could be game changer in the way we (humans) work with AI agents (Copilot). Called “Agent Mode” this latest update marks is not just about new features, but a significant shift in how we interact with Office apps through Copilot.

Agent Mode in Excel

What is Agent mode?

Agent Mode is Microsoft’s answer to the growing demand for intelligent, iterative workflows without needing to craft lengthy prompts. Agent Mode brings agentic reasoning into Excel and Word, (others will follow), allowing users to work along side Copilot through multi-step tasks ranging from data analysis to document creation – with a level of depth and refinement that feels like working alongside an expert.

“In the same way vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artefacts.”

Sumit Chauhan |CVP |Microsoft Product Group

These are both application and context aware. As an example:

  • In Excel, Agent Mode “speaks spreadsheet” language. Whether you need to build financial models, loan calculators, resource calculators or budgets, Agent Mode in Excel means Copilot now understands the nuances of formulas, formatting, and validation. Rather than just generating outputs, it can evaluate your work, suggest fixes, and works with you until you get the result you need.
  • In Word, Agent Mode will be able to transform writing into a dialogue. Users can prompt, Copilot drafts, user can then asks clarifying questions, and Copilot will refines the content with native styling and formatting. Microsoft say this is vibe writing in action — fast, fluid, and focused.

Chat first creation…

Then, there is the new “Office Agent”, which will live inside Copilot chat. This is designed for when discussions start in a Copilot Chat, rather from within document or spreadsheet. In this context, the Office Agent will have the ability to create “proper” documents directly from your chat, using deep reasoning and live previews to guide the process and creation. These will be powered by Anthropic models and not OpenAI.

Microsoft have given (in their official article) some examples we can use.

In Excel

Financial Analysis Prompt: “Create a financial monthly close report for a bike shop business, including a breakdown of product lines across VTB, VTF, sequential, and year-over-year growth. Use standard financial formatting and best practices.”


Loan Calculator Prompt: “Build a loan calculator that computes monthly payments based on user inputs for loan amount, annual interest rate, and term in years. Generate a schedule showing month, payment, principal, interest, and remaining balance. Present the results in a clear, formatted table.”

Monthly Report Update Prompt: “Help me update this monthly report for September. Update the data table with the latest numbers from the /Sept Data Pull email. Summarise the key highlights including insights compared to last month’s /August monthly report.doc.”

In Word


Project Update Prompt: “Update the executive summary for clarity, bold all key findings, and insert a bulleted list of next steps based on the /Project update meeting. Make sure to add a conclusion“.


Document Style Prompt: “Can you clean up this document? Title case for section headers, branding updates per the ‘/Latest brand guidelines’ email, and italicize all external partner mentions. Feel free to ask if you need help identifying partners or guidelines.”

In Powerpoint (coming later)

Interestingly, Microsoft say that Copilot can now (finally) create good presentations in PowerPoint!

“PowerPoint is one of the most used tools for creating presentations, but over the last two years, AI (Copilot) has often fallen short when creating slides. Office Agent changes that. Office Agent creates tasteful, well-structured PowerPoint decks and well-researched Word documents. ”

Microsoft say that now… When you work with Copilot to create presentations you will get a totally transformed experience. It will

  • Clarify your intent
  • Conduct deep research
  • Produce high-quality content.

How to use “Agent Mode”

First thing first….. Not everyone can yet and it’s not available day one… OK now read on…

Currently, Agent Mode is available for organisations (and users) enrolled in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot who have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license or that have Microsoft 365 Personal or Family with a Copilot Pro license.

Agent Mode works in Excel on the web but will be coming soon to desktop. Word is also coming soon.

For Excel, you will also need to install the Excel Labs add-in and choose “Agent Mode”.

Oddly, from what I have read, the Office Agent is only available for Copilot Pro subscribers on Microsoft 365 Personal or Family or Premium and not (yet) Microsoft 365 Commercial. It’s also limited to USA currently! 🙁

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Cisco Webex One 2025 – Chatbots to Agents

Watching late last night on the last day of September 2025, from my living Room (wishing I was there), I tuned into the keynote from Cisco Weex One 2025.

Every year, Cisco WebexOne feels like a pulse check on the state of collaboration from one of the global big three collaboration and meeting platform vendors. This year, incase you had been asleep for the last 12 months), Cisco made it clear: The world is shifting beyond chatbots , with the new frontier being agentic AI – autonomous digital teammates designed not just to answer questions, but to take action on our behalf. We are seeing this everywhere!

We’re squarely in the next era of AI where we’re moving from this notion of chatbots that intelligently answer our questions to agents that are going to conduct tasks and jobs almost fully autonomously on our behalf.

Jeetu Patel | President and CPO | Cisco

Whilst the event continues this week and with other global Collaboration events taking place across the globe, the focus was very much agents agents everywhere…

Webex – Agents, Agents Everywhere

Cisco unveiled a suite of new AI agents that they say feel less like bolt on AI features and more like colleagues or team mates, possible through the huge advances in AI models and reasoning in the last year alone.  These Cisco first party agents include:

Cisco Webex One 2025
  • Task Agent – Which can automatically generates action items from meeting summaries. This will be available in Q1 of 2026.
  • Notetaker Agent – which captures and summarise in-person huddles in real time without the need for a formally scheduled meeting. This will be built into Cisco RoomOS 26 and will also be Generally Available in Q1 of 2026.
  • Polling Agent – nothing to do with elections! This agent can suggests live polls mid-meeting to capture sentiment and input leveraging slido. Again also also GA in Q1 2026.
  • AI Receptionist – this will provide the ability to act as a true virtual front desk receptions for businesses. Built on Webex Calling, it will be able to handle queries, transfers, and scheduling of meetings or call backs and even handle “standard” enquiries. This will start beta testing and controlled rollout from Q1 2026. .
  • Meeting Scheduler – scan meetings and be able to suggest or proactively turn action items into automated scheduling. This should be be GA before Xmas so you don’t forget to book those new year meetings!

These subtle first party AI ingestion is not just about incremental productivity and keeping up with jones’ (though the other big two have similar), but it’s more about smart and intelligent delegation and follow up – handing off the admin so people can focus on the work that matters and not forget to follow up on meetings.

RoomOS 26: biggest update ever.

Cisco also unveiled some big updates to their RoomOS (the OS that powers their meeting room devices), claiming it is their biggest, richest release yet. Coming in this update we will see, yes more agents including:

  • Director Agent – which can anticipate meeting flow and dynamically adjusts camera views for a more engaging, cinematic experience.
  • Workspace Agent – Uses (Nvidia) AI to optimise physical workspace setups, proactively recommending improvements.
  • Audio Exclusion Zones – allows and can automatically configure digital boundaries to block out background noise and distractions using AI and noise cancelling technologies which I’d argue Cisco do better than anyone!

Again, these are subtle but important features, placing AI into meetings in a subtle yet important way. It’s all about making the meeting room experience just work with minimal manual configuration and tweaking in meeting.

Troubleshooting Gets Agentic Too

Just like with saw with AI Canvas in Cisco networking at Cisco live, Cisco have been busy behind the scenes too. 

Cisco is extending its AI Canvas into Webex Control Hub, enabling multi-domain troubleshooting through natural language.

Think of it as a collaborative whiteboard for IT teams, powered by Cisco’s Deep Network Model. This won’t be available until the back end of 2026 but brining network, security and now Collab and meetings together into a since AI canvas is going to be huge for proactive issue resolution.

For any organisation that is already invested or investing in Cisco for their infrastructure stack this is huge and a great compete angle for Cisco where together really can be better!

Expanded Open Ecosystem

Cisco clearly recognise the power of a connected eco system and meeting customers where they are in terms of the wider technology vendors and eco systems they are investing in. Cisco continues to leaning hard into openness, with more integrations that would have been unthinkable a few years back.

  • Microsoft Copilot – Yes… More Microsoft integrations. Users will be able to search across SharePoint and OneDrive directly from Webex, while Copilot users can pull in Webex meeting summaries.
  • Zoom for Cisco Rooms – Cisco are brining a huge update to how the Zoom experience works on Cisco devices, moving away from the “nasty” WebRTC experience.
  • Salesforce and Amazon CCaaS – Webex Contact Center will bring new native integration with Salesforce CRM data as well as Amazon Lex.

This isn’t Cisco versus the world in a closed eco system.. Not anymore. This is Cisco with the world and with your tech!

Customer Experience Gets Smarter

Cisco is also betting big and continuing to innovate in their Webex Contact center portfolio: I will cover more on this in a later blog, but in summary, they are adding:

  • AI Quality Management (QM) – which wl empower supervisors to coach both human and AI agents from a single platform. – GA Q1 2026.
  • Webex Contact Center for Salesforce CRM – this is already in early access now with GA expected late Q1 2026.
  • Amazon Lex Integration – Available now immediately, enabling smarter call routing and intent recognition.
  • Microsoft Teams – just mentioning as I get asked a lot. This is all ready fully supported as a Teams certified Contact Centre.

Customer experience is no longer about managing queues and IVRs. it’s about orchestrating intelligence and line of business workflow integration and automation.

My Take

WebexOne 2025, as expected was about updates and AI infusion. The focus for me was refinement in the way Cisco do best. No gizmos and pointless features just maturity, evolution and AI in the right places, along with true customer choice and openness. Cisco sprinkling of AI across their suite was all about agency—giving AI the ability to act, not just advise, which of course shifts the course of AI just being a human advisor to taking actions…  That’s also a whole other topic of conversation!

For IT, Customer Service and Business Leaders, this is all about trust: how much autonomy are we willing to give an AI agent? How much do we trust it, will out customers and who’s in control and accountable. For  users, it’s about relief: less admin, more impact and more customer impacting time.

Cisco’s bet continues to be bold, but it’s also pragmatic. By further opening up and integrating their ecosystem to Microsoft, Zoom, Salesforce, and AWS, they are acknowledging that the future of collaboration isn’t about vendor battles it’s about platform, cohesion and interconnection.

The era of chatbots is over. The era of agents has begun.

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What is the SharePoint Knowledge and what does it do?

The responses and workflows you get back from AI is only as good as the content it can reason over or leverage. If your content (data) is not in good shape and healthy (relevant, up-to-date etc) then it “isn’t ready” meaning your experience of AI will be “sub optimal” at best.

This is where Microsoft’s upcoming SharePoint’s Knowledge Agent comes it. It is designed to bridge that gap — enriching, organising, and structuring organisational content so Microsoft 365 Copilot and enterprise agents can drive real business impact, not just deliver answers.

SharePoint Knowledge Agents’ “role” is to help you turn fragmented content into structured, governed, AI‑ready knowledge – so your AI doesn’t just answer, it understands, compares, summarises, and automate by having optimally organised, labelled and meta data rich content at its virtual fingertips!

What is SharePoint knowledge agent ?

If your organisations’ SharePoint intranet is cluttered with old, irrelevant pages or files that simply are not labelled properly (inconsistent metadata), Search and AI tools like Copilot can’t easily find or understand the information your people need when they search. This limits the value you get from AI, because it can’t surface the best answers or automate tasks reliably.

The SharePoint Knowledge Agent is a Microsoft native, AI-driven capability in SharePoint that systematically improves content quality, discoverability, and governance, which are the foundations Copilot needs to reason well. SharePoint Knowledge agent adds intelligent metadata, builds useful views, aligns labels and policies, and even generates workflows from plain language.

SharePoint Knowledge Agent

Microsoft say that the result should be “cleaner, richer knowledge fabric” across your business that raises the “fidelity of AI answers”, reduces manual effort, and makes content immediately actionable.

Knowledge Agent is designed to solve this problem by:

  • Curating content intelligently (helping keep only what’s useful and relevant),
  • Automating site maintenance (removing or updating outdated pages and files),
  • Enabling natural-language workflow creation (letting users build processes just by describing what they want, in plain English).

All of this happens inside SharePoint, making your intranet/knowledge libraries smarter, cleaner, and ready for AI-powered productivity without leaving your SharePoint page. Once enabled by your admin (since it is in preview right now), content admins see a floating button in the bottom‑right corner of every SharePoint page which serves as your entry point into SharePoint’s Knowledge Agent.

TIP:

You will know that a site has the SharePoint knowledge agent enabled as you will see the little SharePoint icon on the bottom left of the screen.

What can SharePoint Knowledge Agent do?

The SharePoint Knowledge agent has several key uses:

  • Context for AI with auto metadata: Copilot can suggests new columns and tags, and then auto classifies files with more meaningful, auto-filled metadata. Copilot and Agents can reason over this data to better distinguish similar documents and deliver higher‑quality answers.
SharePoint Knowledge agent – adding suggested Columns and meta tags
  • Confident, compliant experiences: Keeps metadata clean and aligned to policy with smart suggestions, labeling, and admin controls.
  • an create optimised “AI” views: Generates views that sort, filter, and group documents by metadata (e.g., “policies expiring in 2026” or “contracts grouped by client”) so teams find what matters fast.
  • Plain‑language automation: The Knowledge agent can help with “simple” automation tasks too. For example, users can describe what they need (e.g., “When the document changes or is updated, send an email to the owner”), and the agent builds the workflow.

This is quite simple automation but no technical expertise is required. For more advanced users, this can (still) be done with Power Automate which provides much more control and capability. Worth noting that the automations done via the Knowledge agent “currently” relay on meta data contents only and not file contents.

  • Answers and insights in context: You can ask the Knowledge Agent quick questions about site content and get grounded answers that leverage this new metadata.
  • Dynamic, multi‑turn web creation: Helps “owners” build and master SharePoint pages with natural language prompts, templates, and intelligent section suggestions – turning web content creation and SharePoint pages into a guided, iterative experience.

Knowledge Agent helps improve Copilot and agents accuracy

  • Better grounding with richer signals:
    Copilot relies on context to reason well. Structured metadata gives it the disambiguation and granularity needed to separate look‑alike documents, trace policy lineage, and surface authoritative sources.
  • Higher signal‑to‑noise across the tenant:
    Clean metadata and policy alignment reduces clutter in retrieval, improving ranking, semantic matching, and prompt grounding. Your AI spends less time guessing and more time knowing.
  • Actionable content, not just answers:
    AI-generated views, file comparison, and audio summaries make content instantly usable helping people move from “find” to “decide” to “do” in one flow.

Enabling the SharePoint Knowledge Agent?

  • Availability: Knowledge Agent is now available in Public Preview via “tenant‑level opt‑in” for users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.It can be enabled at site level or across all sites. This is only via PowerShell today, but I expect a UI to come soon.

Common Questions

  • Do we need Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses? Yes – Users need a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license to use this feature.
  • Is this only about metadata? No — this is about creating AI‑ready content end to end: intelligent metadata, compliant labeling, actionable views, guided page creation, and plain‑language automation.
  • How to I enable the Knowledge Agent? Microsoft have provided a guide and instructions on how to enable the agent via PowerShell. You can access this here: https://aka.ms/KnowledgeAgentOptIn
  • Will this reduce manual tagging? Yes — the agent suggests and autofills columns based on content and user input, cutting manual effort dramatically.
  • How does this improve Copilot answers? Cleaner, richer metadata gives Copilot the context to distinguish similar documents and ground responses to authoritative content.
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Beyond OpenAI: Microsoft Copilot add Claude support

Microsoft has started to broaden their AI horizons by adding their first (not Open AI) model into Copilot.

Microsoft are integrating Anthropic’s Claude models into Microsoft 365 Copilot which marks a significant pivot from their exclusive OpenAI-centric approach. Microsoft are also working on their models which we already see on Copilot Plus PCs which will at some point make their way to Copilot.

This move is more than just a new menu option or toggle, it is part of their strategic play to diversify AI capabilities and reduce dependency on a single vendor.

Claude Opus and Sonnet in Copilot.

Claude Opus 4.1 and Sonnet 4 are now available to commercial Frontier Copilot users, (Corporate early adoptors) offering, for the first time, alternatives to Open AI’s GPT models for agents in Copilot Studio and also for their Researcher Agent.

Copilot Studio Model Selector (preview)

It’s worth noting that enabling access does require admin approval. See later.

In the formal annoucement, Microsoft said that Anthropic’s models will unlock “more powerful experiences” for users.

Using Claude in Microsoft Researcher Agent – Via Copilot Chat.

Claude is not new to Copilot, but not new to Copilot AI. Claude is already available (along with other AI models) are already embedded in Visual Studio and Azure AI alongside Google’s AI and Elon Musk’s Grok. This is, however the first time Copilot launch that we have seen non-OpenAI models powering Copilot.

Why This Matters

Microsoft’s shift to leveraging different models reflects a broader trend. Microsoft’s message here is that Copilot is no longer about a single model or even vendor, bit more about orchestration, choice, and adaptability.

Different models have different areas of excellence and this sets the foundations for Microsoft to give flexibilityto tailor and tune AI experiences to specific business needs  using the most appropriate model for the task.

It does, however, raise questions around governance, model performance, and cost. With multiple models in play, we don’t really know how the future of pricing will work if multi model is the future for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Data Sovereignty and Multi-Model Concerns?

One question I’m already seeing is around Microsoft’s boundary of trust and responsibility, something Microsoft boast around with their Microsoft 365 portfolio.

While the flexibility of multi-model AI is compelling, the question is does it introduce new considerations around data residency and compliance when multi models are being used?

To address that, Microsoft has confirmed that these Claude models run within its Azure AI infrastructure, but states that are not Microsoft-owned. This means that when users “opt to” use Claude, their prompts and responses may be processed by Anthropic’s models hosted within Microsoft’s environment.

This means that when organisations choose to use Anthropic models, they are using these under Anthropic’s Commercial Terms of Service, not the consumer user terms.

For regulated industries or organisations with strict data governance policies, this is likely to raises a few red flags or at least questions that Microsoft will need to be able to answer.

  • Data Boundary Clarity: Is the data staying within Microsoft’s compliance boundary, or is it crossing into Anthropic’s operational domain? If so what does this mean for data compliance and security?
  • Model-Specific Logging: Are logs and telemetry handled differently across models? Can organisations audit usage per model? How is encrypted data handled?
  • Privacy and Consent: Are users aware when their data is being processed by a non-Microsoft model? Is consent granular enough? Will users understand even if Microsoft tell them?

Again, Microsoft has stated that Claude models are “fully integrated” into the Microsoft 365 compliance framework, but organisations will still want to (and should) validate this against their own risk posture – especially where sensitive or regulated data is involved.

Enabling Claude models in Copilot.

To enable the models, your Microsoft 365 Admin needs to head over to the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre and enable access to the other models. Instructions for this are shown in the link below.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/microsoft-365/connect-to-ai-models?s=09

Microsoft Message Centre annoucement: https://admin.cloud.microsoft/?#/MessageCenter/:/messages/MC1158765?MCLinkSource=DigestMail

Thoughts.

This is a smart move I think. Microsoft is playing the long game — moving their eggs out of one basket and looking a different models that made most economic and performance sense and brining more choice to agent builders.

For those of us partners like us at Cisilion, advising clients on AI adoption, this reinforces the need to think modularly. When building agents, don’t just pick a model – pick a framework that allows you to evolve. Microsoft’s Copilot is becoming that framework and that should be good for business.

I do expect this is just the start. We know Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI is “less properpous” that it once was. As such I do expect more models, more integrations, and more choice and I do think we will see Microsoft’s own models making their way to Copilot soon.

But with choice comes complexity. We need to ensure that governance, transparency, and user education keep pace with innovation. Again partners will need to help customers navigate this.

What do you think. Is this a good move for Microsoft and their customers?

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What is Cisco’s Sovereign Critical Infrastructure?

Cisco yesterday announced what they referred to as a “significant milestone” in Europe’s journey toward digital sovereignty.

Their Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio is a comprehensive, air-gapped solution designed to give European organisations full control over their digital environments – from infrastructure, through collaboration, through to data.

This will be available from the end of this month (September 2025).

Why Sovereignty Matters?

The concept of digital sovereignty is not new, but its urgency has accelerated due to the increasing geopolitical tensions, evolving compliance frameworks, and the rise of AI-powered infrastructure. Some organisations across Europe – ranging from governments to banks and healthcare providers are looking for more ways to obtain better more autonomy and control over all or aspects of their IT environments, expecially in fields such as research and development or for high wealth clients etc.

You may recall, Microsoft announced their Sovereign Cloud offering for Microsoft 365 and Azure “local” earlier this year.

The technology will enable organisations to formally meet compliance requirements by delivering solutions aligned with key foundational, EU and country certifications and standards and ultimately achieving the new European Union Cybersecurity Certification (EUCC).

Is this just on-prem Data Centers?

Yes… but no. Cisco’s new offering is not just about hosting data and compute services locally; it’s about owning the infrastructure, managing encryption, and ensuring operational resilience without external dependencies. The other important aspect is the infrastructure is managed in the same fluid ways that cloud infrastructure is managed rather than the trabdiotnal ways of managing and patching applications and updates that were familiar in on premises environments.

It will enable organisations to deploy hybrid or on premises solutions aligned with key foundational, EU and country certifications and standards and ultimately achieving the new European Union Cybersecurity Certification (EUCC).

What does Cisco’s  Sovereign Infrastructure include?

This infrastructure portfolio includes:

  • Configurable and Air-Gapped: Customers will be able to deploy the infrastructure on-premises, with full control over licensing and encryption. Cisco cannot remotely disable or update products — a major shift in trust and control.
  • Compliance-Ready: The portfolio aligns with EU and country-specific certifications, including IPv6-readiness, Common Criteria, and a roadmap toward the EU Cybersecurity Certification (EUCC).
  • Broad Coverage: It will span routing, switching, wireless, collaboration, and select endpoint devices. It will be enhanced by Cisco and Splunk’s end to end security and observability solutions.

Strategic Business Enablement

What is important to take away here is that this is not just a new product announcement. For many EU organisations it will be seen as a niche buisness enabler.

For organisations needing or wanting to  navigate true hybrid environments, address increasing regulatory pressures, and manage AI adoption, model training and AI R&D for closed systems, Cisco’s Sovereign Critical Infrastructure offers a flexible foundation for building secure, compliant, and future-ready AI and digital estates.

IDC’s commentary on this shares that they are seeing huge increases in spend (across KEY European counties) on on-premises DC infrastructure which is reinforces this shift. They say that on-prem IT is now commanding the majority of IT budgets across parts of Europe despite the overall continual rise of hybrid and cloud services models.

“On-prem IT still requires connectivity. Here the importance of network sovereignty cannot be underestimated, especially for organizations responsible for critical national infrastructure. Operational resilience is key for these organizations, who seek the extra controls, protections, and autonomy that genuine digital sovereignty solutions can bring. This is especially true when it comes to network sovereignty—a challenge that few network infrastructure providers thus far have been able to address.” | IDC

Sovereignty, especially in networking, in these scenarios is essential.

Closing thoughts

Cisco’s goal is to better enable European organisations to build infrastructure that uniquely aligned to their needs whether that is hybrid cloud or descretely on-premises. The platform promises not only secure and compliant infrastructure services but also benefits from modern management, resilient and autonomous operations which is a critical capability in the AI and digitial transformation era.

More reading and source: https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2025/m09/cisco-announces-sovereign-critical-infrastructure-portfolio.html

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Microsoft Power Platform Licensing Guide

Microsoft have made their monthly-updated Power Platform Licensing Deck publicly available. Now, you might think this is not worthy of a blog post, but for many organisations, this information has always been hidden away meaning organisations had to talk to Microsoft or their licensing / support partner to “understand” how Power Platform is licensed against a bunch of different scenarios.

The guides (see below) include a couple of slides on each of the Power Platform products which gives a nice overview of the products, licensing, and comparisons between the different ways of using, consuming, and purchasing.

Links to these are below for your consumption.

Click to access Power-Platform-Licensing-Deck-September-2025.pdf

Click to access Power-Platform-Licensing-Guide-September-2025-PUB-V2.pdf

What is Microsoft Power Platform?

Power Platform refers to a suite of “Low-Code” Microsoft Products aimed to help “builders” create integrated and autonomous workflows, build apps, create agents and web-pages, as well as create adn manage data sets and AI powered applications etc.

What is Low Code?

Low code is a way of building business applications and automations using simple, visual tools -like drag-and-drop interfaces – instead of traditional, complex computer programming. Low Code development allows people who aren’t professional software developers to create apps, automate processes, and solve business problems quickly, often just by clicking, selecting, and configuring options or (with Copilot) by using “prompts”, rather than writing lots of code. It can help make digital transformation faster and more accessible for everyone within in the organisation – not just IT.

The products that make up Microsoft Power Platform portolio include this up include Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages, Dataverse and AI Builder. There is also Power BI for data visualisation and manipulation.

Power Apps

Is a “low-code platform” to build custom business apps quickly, with flexible licensing for single or unlimited apps per user. Ideal for modernising processes and enabling app development across teams.

Power Automate

Enables automation of workflows across apps and services using cloud flows and robotic process automation (RPA). It offers user-based, flow-based, and bot-based licensing for attended and unattended scenarios.

Power Pages

Is a secure, low-code platform for building external-facing websites with authenticated or anonymous access. Licensing is based on user volume, with both subscription and pay-as-you-go options.

AI Builder

Empowers users and developers to build, train, and deploy AI models without coding, using a credit-based system. Integrated with Power Apps and Power Automate; it supports scenarios like document processing and prediction.

Dataverse

Is a scalable, secure data platform that underpins the Power Platform, enabling structured data storage and management. Offers default and accrued capacity, with add-ons for database, file, and log storage.

Copilot Studio

A low-code conversational AI platform to design, build, and deploy custom copilots and chatbots. Integrates with Microsoft 365 and external data sources, with licensing based on usage and capacity.

Microsoft Support Pages

The link here, gives the formal pages from Microsoft for you to book mark:

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Teams in Microsoft 365 is back for good (but it’s your choice)

It’s back!  Starting November 1, 2025, Microsoft Teams is officially “back” in the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise suites globally, but the choice to have it not sit with organisations and not Microsoft!

After years of regulatory issues, stalls, conceats and negotiations as well as regional licensing inconsistencies, Microsoft has reached a landmark agreement with the European Commission that reshapes how Microsoft Teams is packaged, priced, bundled and positioned across their modern work and productivity suites.

This agreement has spared Microsoft the potential antitrust fine and reputation damage.

The EU Commission decision makes Microsoft’s commitments (which were agreed) binding for seven years and for ten years regarding interoperability and data portability between platform.

Why This Matters

This isn’t just a licensing update it’s a fundamental “win” and global reset for Teams in Microsoft 365 and Office. After being forced to u bundle Teams from Office last year, causing cost increases, confusion and frustration for customers and partners, the change in decision actually follows a multi-year antitrust investigation originally triggered by Slack and Alfaview, who argued that bundling Teams with Microsoft 365 gave Microsoft an “unfair market advantage”. The European Commission had agreed, citing violations of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

To resolve the issue, Microsoft agreed and committed to:

  • Offering Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites with or without Teams globally, not just in Europe.
  • Introducing new pricing tiers that reflect organisations choice of whether to have teams or not have teams included, with clearer cost differentiation.
  • Enhancing interoperability and data portability, which will allow customers  more transparent ways to migrate Teams data to other and competing platforms.
  • Providing APIs and developer tools to support third-party integrations to further promote a more open and fair ecosystem.

In short. The decision is “do you want Microsoft 365 with Teams or without“.

What’s Changing for Customers

Whether you’re an enterprise, medium or small business, the change is synonymous and ultimately gives organisations more choice and control:

  • Choice: in whether you want to have Microsoft Teams included as part of your Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suite. No more default bundling.
  • Transparency: with clearer pricing including reduced rates for suites without Teams Included.
  • Flexibility: Long-term license holders can switch to the “Teams-free” versions should they wish.
  • Consistency: The same options and pricing structures apply globally for every organisation across every region, meaning and end to regional licensing differences and rules.

In short. The decision is “do you want Microsoft 365 with Teams or without“.

Strategic Implications.

For organisations globally, this is a opportunity to reassess their productivity and collaboration strategy.

The global unbundling option opens the door to hybrid environments where Teams coexists across the business or departments meaning it’s more cost effective (IT integrations and support aside) to have multiple collaboration platforms such as to Slack, Zoom, or Webex for example.

Microsoft’s commitment to interoperability means third-party tools can now also fully embed Office Web Apps and access Teams-like functionality without being locked into the Microsoft stack or needed cumberson plug-ins which break the user interface and confuse users.

From a licensing perspective, this should also simplify procurement and renewals. There will be no more navigating region-specific bundles or opaque pricing.

For developers, the expanded API access is also a win and should help with line of business integration and interoperability across the board.

In short. The decision is “do you want Microsoft 365 with Teams or without“.

Talk to your Microsoft Partner

If you’re navigating Microsoft licensing or wondering how this impacts can positively impact your business come talk to your Microsoft Partner.

Whether you’re rethinking your collaboration  strategy, looking to better understand and optimise your licensing or need help with technology deployment, adoption or training, we can help.

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Microsoft Copilot Consumer brings Memory Management and Google Drive Integration

Microsoft Copilot is adding with two new major updates (this time for the consumer experience) that bring it closer to the more personalised AI experience users have been asking and waiting for.

Copilot Memory Management

One of the biggest asks for the consumer version of  Copilot has been its lack of persistent memory, something that ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot have both had for a little while.

Memory is one of the key features helps makes AI feel much more personal and it’s finally coming to the Copilot Consumer experience that you use via the Windows App, mobile app and at https://copilot.microsoft.com.

A new Manage Memory feature within the Copilot profile tab is now starting to roll out which allows users to tell Copilot to specifically “remember this.”

Copilot Memory

Right now, unlike the Microsoft 365 Copilot version, there is not a way to view or edit your saved memories, but there is an option, via Privacy settings, to delete them and essentially “start over”.

Copilot Memory Management in Copilot Consumer

Think of this as resetting your TV and having to add all your favourite apps and channels again!

Microsoft have confirmed however that full memory management interface is coming soon, similar to what Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT has. This will eventually allow users to add, edit

Personally, Memory Management will make a huge different to how we work with Copilot and helps ensure greater user control and transparency.

Third Party App Integration.

Microsoft is also expanding their Connectors Ecosystem, which is what is used to connect and integrate third-party services. Support for Microsoft apps and services such as OneDrive is already supported, but they are now testing with Insiders Google Drive integration.

Integration into OneDrive and *soon* Google Drive means users will be able to do such things as:

  • Ask Copilot to read files or folders from users OneDrive or  Google Drive
  • Generate summaries, create reports and other content on your data stored in cloud drive
  • Access and leverage OneDrive and soon Google Drive data in workflows across the web, Windows 11 app and mobile.

This builds on the existing ChatGPT-style connectors framework and opens the door for broader integrations in future. Microsoft is not new to having extensive open API connection to their apps and services so watch out for more native connectors coming your way soon!

Great for Consumers

These updates signal Microsoft’s continued innovation in their AI services and commitment to make Copilot a more intelligent, connected, and user-centric assistant.

For professionals, students and general users alike, the ability to manage memory and connect to third party cloud services like Google Drive will unlock new productivity scenarios.

As someone who’s personally deeply invested and embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem, I see this as a positive move – but one that must be backed by clear user controls, privacy safeguards, and cross-platform consistency.

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Copilot Chat comes to Enterprise Office Apps for all

Microsoft is in the process of Copilotizing Business / Enterprise versions of your Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote) even for users that don’t have a Microsoft 365 Copilot License.

Microsoft say that “These updates help make Copilot your true personal AI assistant for work: Whether you’re drafting a document, analyzing a spreadsheet, or catching up on email, Copilot is right there, ready to answer questions, create content, spark ideas, and automate tasks. Here’s what’s new.”

Copilot Chat Interface

This familiar Copilot sidebar will understand the context of your open files, document, PowerPoint or spreadsheet and helps to draft, summarise, analyse, and brainstorm without having to switch apps or leaving your app.

Copilot Chat in Office

Microsoft is introducing a persistent Copilot Chat pane in the ribbon of all it’s core Microsoft 365 Office apps. It will be be:

  • Fully  integrated and content-aware, meaning it will tailors responses based on your current open file.
  • Including in the Core Microsoft 365 license (no specific Microsoft 365 Copilot license required).
  • Will have the ability draft, summarise, assist with content and formulas and of course create and rewrite content.
  • Front and centre to your apps removing (Microsoft hope) the need to deploy other “free” AI plugins such as GPT free which might inadvertently share sensitive data outside your organisation. This is key for organisational compliance, governance and privacy.

How it differs from the Microsoft 365 Copilot license?

The “premium” Microsoft 365 Copilot licence still offers all the advanced capabilities that Microsoft 365 Copilot provides today including file and image upload, image generation, and  cross-document reasoning, as well as (most importantly), organisational awareness and acess to the Microsoft Graph API (meaning you can search across docs, meetings, people, email). It also provides the  deeper analysis tools and custom agents such as Analyst and Researcher.

Why This matters

This brings a number of benefits to users and organisations. Including:

  • Streamlined workflows: Users can draft or revise text in Office without opening a browser or switching apps.
  • Instant insights: Since users can ask Copilot to analyse data ranges, identify trends, or generate pivot tables in Excel. 
  • Faster presentations: Users can get help from Copilot to build outlines, suggest visuals, or transform bullet points into speaker notes in PowerPoint. 
  • Email productivity: By using Copilot in Outlook to summarise long threads, draft replies, or extract action items in seconds. 
  • A Unified experience: Above all, all users get a single AI assistant across their core Office apps. This helps with training, reduces pressure to deploy 3rd party plugins and aids support.
  • Compliance and Governance: keeps data secure knowing that no data is shared online or used to train AI models – a huge risk organisations face when using “free” AI tools such as Gemini or GPT free.

Under the hood: How Copilot Chat works

Context awareness 

Copilot Chat works by reading the contents and metadata of your open document in real time, so it knows what you’re working on—even titles, headings, tables, and comments. 

Secure Processing

Queries are processed within Microsoft’s trusted cloud environment. No data or prompts ever leaves your organisations compliance boundaries or is used to train Microsoft or OpenAI LLMs

Natural-language interface 

Copilot Chat allows the users to type or “speak” questions like “Summarise this report” or “Show me the top three trends in this data set,” and Copilot replies conversationally. 

Continuity and history 

All your Copilot interactions stay visible in the sidebar, so you can scroll back to previous prompts and refine follow-ups without losing context.

Copilot Chat in Office. Image (c) Microsoft

Copilot Chat rollout

  • Copilot Chat will start rolling out to Business users with Microsoft 365 Enterprise and Business subscriptions.
  • Rollout will start with users running Microsoft Office Current Channel.
  • IT Admins may need to enable Copilot Chat in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre if not already enabled.
  • Organisations are advised to work with their training and adoption team (or partner) to ensure this is included in training and update communications.
  • Training or IT can Use the Microsoft 365 usage analytics dashboard to track adoption, active users, and common Copilot queries.

With Copilot Chat in Office Apps, do we still need use Microsoft 365 Copilot?

In many cases users that already have Microsoft 365 will not want to give it up. There are many things to consider however when comparing Copilot Chat to Microsoft 365 Copilot. These inckude:

  • Whether users want/need to analyse multiple documents or entire SharePoint libraries in one session.
  • Build (or use) Copilot Agents (whilst Copilot chat users can do this they are cost option and charged on consumption)
  • Rely on GPT-5’s advanced reasoning, creativity, and summarisation capabilities. 
  • Want built-in image generation or the ability to upload custom files for Copilot to process. 
  • Use other Microsoft Copilot agents for sales, service, or finance workloads that will soon be bundled.
  • Use features like Facilitator, Interpreter and Meeting Recap in Microsoft Teams
  • Other advanced features such as Copilot Notebooks.

My Thoughts and Comments

Brining Copilot Chat directly into Office apps should help streamline and standarise IT provision whilst boosting productivity, reduce context-switching, and eliminate routine tasks for all users.

I love that Copilot Chat is now integrated directly into the Microsoft 365 apps and is governed by the Copilot Control System (CCS). CCS is the enterprise-grade portal for IT administrators to secure, manage, and analyse the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat, Copilot Studio, and related agents across their business.

Confusion? Training and awareness will be key to ensure users know that they can and can’t do in Copilot based on the license they have. It could become easy for users with a Copilot Chat acess sitting next to a user with Microsoft 365 Copilot to question why they don’t have access to some features where as their colleague does!

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Microsoft simplifies Copilot add-ons with reduced pricing

Windows Keyboard with Copilot Button

Microsoft has confirmed in a blog that they are streamlining its Copilot add-on portfolio by incoprating their specific role-based solutions into the core Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. Starting mid-October, Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance will no longer carry the additional $20 US per user/month premium, making advanced AI capabilities more accessible to businesses of all sizes

What’s Changing with Copilot Pricing?

Microsoft’s flagship AI assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot, originally cost $30/user/month. Until now, specialized Copilots for sales, service, and finance added another $20/user/month, bringing the total to $50/user/month for businesses that need any of the role-specific Copilot agents. But this is about to change for the better!

To simplify licensing and lower cost barriers, Microsoft will:

  • Include Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance to Microsoft 365 Copilot users at no charge 
  • Distribute these agents through the upcoming Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Store 
  • Maintain existing functionality and user experience for current customers.

Old vs New Pricing Comparison.

Copilot SKUCurrent PriceNew Price (Oct 2025)
Microsoft 365 Copilot$30 pupm$30 pupm
Copilot for Sales+$20 pupm*$0
Copilot for Service+$20 pupm*$0
Copilot for Finance+$20 pupm*$0
Total Price for All ($)$90 pupm$30 pupm

What are Role-Based Copilot Solutions?

There a few of these already as part of the core Microsft 365 Copilot license including Researcher and Analyst but previously the deeper role based agents that also plugged into third party apps were a cost option.

With these now coming to the base license, this makes a huge increase in ROI for organisation that leverage these tools. …. We now get included:

Copilot for Sales

This is designed to empowers sellers with AI-generated insights, meeting prep, and dynamic revenue plans to drive pipeline growth.

Copilot for Service

This Copilot assists support teams by drafting case summaries, automating client communications, and updating records with contextual intelligence.

Copilot Finance

Streamlines reconciliation, anomaly detection, and report generation, integrating directly with ERP systems like Dynamics 365 and SAP.

Why Businesses and FDs should care

Reducing the Copilot bundle from $50 to $30/user/month unlocks AI for a broader set of “frontier firms”—organizations built around data, automation, and rapid iteration. Key benefits include:

  • Lowered cost of entry for specialized AI assistants 
  • Simplified licensing and procurement via the Copilot Agent Store 
  • Consistent user experience across general and role-based Copilots 

How to Access the New Copilot Agents

  • Mid-October rollout through the Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Store 
  • No additional licensing steps or fees for existing Microsoft 365 Copilot customers 
  • Automatic availability of role-based agents in the Agent Store UI 

IT admins will be able to simply provision the agents to user groups without renegotiating contracts or updating billing settings.

Key readiness advice

  • Speak to your Microsoft Copilot Partner to help your organisation conduct funded awareness and update workshops which will help you review current Copilot deployments to identify pilot groups for Sales, Service, and Finance. If you are already a Microsoft 365 Copilot customers, you will likely be entitled to funding for adoption, integration and training when you buy
  • Plan training sessions that showcase real-world use cases in each domain. 
    Align procurement and budget forecasts to reflect a unified $30/user/month Copilot cost. 
  • Leverage the upcoming Copilot Agent Store for centralised rollout and governance. 

Why the price reduction?

By consolidating Copilot offerings and cutting role-based premiums, Microsoft is making it easier for organisations to embed AI across every function – without surprising price adjustments or complex licensing models.

Oh… And one more thing..

In true Microsoft style, there’s also a little renaming for the Copilot Studio experiences:

  • When using the Agent Builder toll inside Copilot as a Microsoft 365 Copilot user, Microsoft now refer to this as “Copilot Studio Lite,”
  • The full Copilot Studio experience is called…wait for it “Copilot Studio Full” .

Hmmm not a fan but there you go!

You can read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/09/10/moving-sales-service-and-finance-to-the-frontier-with-microsoft-365-copilot/

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Is Microsoft about to kill DocuSign?

Microsoft (after months of testing) is launching native eSignature support in Microsoft Word. How does this compete and compare to wider known tools such as Adobe Sign. Where where does Microsoft eSignature support fit and who is it for?

Why? To streamline document approvals without leaving your document and without needing to pay for expensive/third party eSignature tools.

eSignature Support in Word

Microsoft Word has quietly gained a feature that is aimed to save multiple email chains, PDF exports, and “please print, sign, scan, and send back” headaches. The new eSignature capability lets you send, receive, and track legally binding signatures directly inside Word – with no third-party apps required.

Why This Matters

For years, Word has been the place where contracts, agreements, and proposals are written – but not where they’re finalised for commercial use. That final step often meant exporting to PDF, uploading to a signing platform such as Adobe Sign or DocuSign, and then re-downloading for storage. Now, that friction is gone.

With eSignature in Word, organisations can:

  • Request signatures from within the open document straight from Word or SharePoint.
  • Track progress without leaving Word.
  • Store signed copies securely in OneDrive or SharePoint.

How to use eSignature in Word

How It Works is simple:

  1. Users prepare, Co author their document as normal in Microsoft Word.
  2. Insert signature fields where needed via the new eSignature menu*
  3. Send the document for signing — recipients get a secure link to review and sign the document.
  4. Track status in real time, again, right from within Microsoft Word.
  5. Receive the signed copy automatically saved back to your chosen location.
eSignature in Word ToolBar

Note: to use eSignature in Word, a few steps are required by admins, including enabling the feature in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre, and creating a policy for use in Intune or Office Config Centre. See more below.

Enabling eSignature Support in Office Config Centre – Required Admin rights.

eSignature Security and Compliance

Microsoft’s eSignature service is built on the same compliance and security framework as the rest of Microsoft 365, including:

  • Encryption in transit and at rest.
  • Audit trails for every signature request.
  • Integration with Microsoft Purview for governance and retention.

eSignature Workflow Support

One of the things third party eSignature  tools do well is workload integration into LOB.

Since eSignature is native to Word and Microsoft 365, Microsoft have their own native workflow support which includes:

  • Ability to trigger signature requests from Teams chats or Outlook emails.
  • Signed documents inherit your organisations existing retention and sensitivity labels.
  • Approvals can be part of a Power Automate flow for end-to-end process automation.
  • These Power Automate flows can integrate (and may already be) part of your business workflow.

Is this the end of Docusign?

I do t think so….. While Microsoft’s move might feel like the big boys taking a shot across the bow, at DocuSign, I don’t beleive this is really designed to compete (not head on anyway). In fact, just last week, DocuSign Q2 results shows it’s doubling down on its core strengths.

  1. DocuSign’s Q2 FY2026 results beat expectations, with revenue up 13% YoY to $801M.
  2. Their new Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform now has over 10,000 customers, positioning DocuSign beyond “just” e-signatures, into full contract lifecycle and workflow automation — a space where Microsoft is still building capabilities.
  3. Developer and ecosystem push is strong as
    with deep integrations, AI-powered agreement workflows, and orchestration tools like Maestro built in. This is aimed squarely at enterprise developers who need more than just a signature – they want embedded, automated, and compliant agreement processes.
  4. DocuSign leads the way in multi-party signing, and signature authentication. Microsoft Word’s eSignature is convenient for those already in the 365 ecosystem and that don’t have a eSignature system today as well as those that just need relatively simple capabilities.

Will Microsoft eSignature kill off DocuSign?

I don’t think so…

For the time being, DocuSign will likely remain the go-to for regulated industries, complex workflows, and organisations that need platform-agnostic signing.

For organisations that don’t have this feature today, or use a third party tools without the need for complex integrated workflows, then this could be a viable and cosy effective solution built right into their existing flow of work.

For larger, more regulated organisations however, that already have investment, process and LOB integration with a third party eSignature tool, then this is likely not going to of immediate interest. This is due to the rich number of additional features tools like DocuSign and Adobe Sign bring including contract lifecycle management, and eSignature portals that bring more than just e-signing are in use.

The real story isn’t “Microsoft kills DocuSign”  it’s that the e-signature market is maturing. Microsoft’s entry will likely capture casual and internal signing needs, while DocuSign focuses on high-value, compliance-heavy, multi-party agreements. In other words: the pie is growing, and both players are carving out their slices.

Further info:

Microsoft Video: https://youtu.be/1S8HDKYPIA4

DocuSign: https://www.docusign.com/en-gb

Microsoft eSig: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/announcing-sharepoint-esignature-for-microsoft-word/4419681

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Windows 11 25H2 Release Preview: What you need to know

Windows 11’s annual feature update—version 25H2 (Build 26200.5074)—is now available in the Release Preview Channel. This signals that the update is nearly finalised and ready for broader deployment later this year.

If you are a Windows Insider on the “Release Preview Build”, this will be offered to you as an optional update.

Windows 11 25H2 – What’s New

This update is delivered as an enablement package (eKB), meaning that Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 share the same servicing branch and feature set. This is a huge benefit to users and businesses, since it means it’s deployed and installed like an update with out the need for a full OS reinstall over the top. 

The formal Windows 11 Build number jumps from 24H2’s 26100 series to 26200.5074 (or later), marking the official 25H2 release. Once installed, monthly servicing updates will continue seamlessly – following the standard Windows Update cadence

Feature Removals and Enterprise Controls

  • PowerShell 2.0 and the Windows Management Instrumentation command-line tool (WMIC) are removed in this update, aligning with Microsoft’s deprecation roadmap
  • IT admins on Enterprise and Education editions can now remove select preinstalled Microsoft Store apps via Group Policy or MDM CSP—streamlining bloat management across managed devices

Deployment Paths and Timing

  • Seeker Experience – Windows Insiders in the Release Preview Channel can opt into 25H2 via Settings → Windows Update → “Download and install”. 
  • Commercial Channels – Available through Windows Update for Business (WUfB) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). 
  • Azure Marketplace images go live later today, empowering large-scale testing and validation.
  • Fresh-install ISO files will be published next week on the Windows Insider ISO download pages.

Why 25H2 is good for IT Management

Predictable annual cadence lets you plan testing windows without chasing large-scale feature overhauls. 

  • 25H2 uses the same servicing branch as 24H2 which reduces validation overhead since it acts like a new feature rather than new build. This means new features arrive continuously instead of big bang releases. 
  • New enhanced Group Policy controls for Store apps improve image standardisation and reduce endpoint clutter. 
  • Early access via Windows Insider Release Preview gives IT departments a runway to validate compatibility, prove stability, tweak policies, and train end user support teams before general availability.

References and more reading

Preparing now of course will help ensure your organisation can move smoothly to Windows 11 25H2 when the public rollout begins around October time. Validate in your environment, document any custom policies, and align with your Windows Update for Business strategy to deliver a seamless upgrade experience. It is worth noting that

Microsoft consider a device a commercial device if it is not running the Windows 11 Home edition AND is being managed by an IT administrator (whether via Microsoft Endpoint Manager or other management solution) or has a volume license key or commercial ID or is joined to a domain.

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/08/29/releasing-windows-11-version-25h2-to-the-release-preview-channel.

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Will OpenAI’s “gpt-realtime” set a new benchmark for AI Voice?

OpenAI has introduced gpt-realtime, a new cutting-edge speech-to-speech model, alongside the general availability of its Realtime API. This release marks a significant step forward in the evolution of voice AI, particularly for enterprise applications such as customer support and conversational agents. They announced this in a video broadcast which you watch below.

SIP Telephony Support: Lowering the Barrier to Entry

One of the most notable updates they annunced was the addition of SIP telephony support, which aims to simplify the process of building voice-over-phone applications. Developers will be able to integrate phone numbers directly into OpenAI’s SIP interface, streamlining deployment and reducing the need for complex telephony infrastructure. As it develops, this could reshape the competitive landscape, especially for startups that previously relied on expensive and bespoke integrations to differentiate their offerings.

A Unified Model for Natural Interaction

Gpt-realtime apart will feature an end-to-end architecture which will set it apart to how such integrations work today. Unlike traditional systems that chain together speech recognition, language processing, and text-to-speech, OpenAI’s new model will handle everything in a single pass. This will result in much faster response times, more natural audio, and improved emotional nuance (one of the biggest limitations today) meaning it will be capable of interpreting laughter, stress, worry, pauses, and tone shifts.

Open AI so it will also be highly configurable. Developers will be able to adjust pacing, tone, and persona, enabling more tailored and brand-consistent voice experiences.

Considerations for Enterprise Adoption

While the capabilities are lok super impressive, these models will still be expensive to start with anyway. Pricing is expected to be $32 per million input tokens and $64 per million output tokens which is significantly higher than traditional chained models. Additionally, the unified architecture offers less modularity and observability, which may limit flexibility for teams that require fine-grained control over model behavior or voice switching.

In a blog post from CX Today, Alex Levin, CEO at Regal is quoted saying, “the cost of the speech-to-speech model is still approximately four times higher than chaining a speech-to-text (STT), large language model (LLM), text-to-speech (TTS) pipeline for Voice AI Agents“

Strategic Implications

OpenAI’s latest release is a clear signal of intent: to make voice AI more accessible, performant, and enterprise-ready. Given Mcirosoft and other leading Cloud giants, close relationships with Open AI, we can also expect them to eventally add support for such models meaning customers that leverage, for example Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI will likely gain support for this in the near future too through tools like Microsoft Dynamnics and Copilot Studio.

For organisations exploring and wanting to experiment more with conversational based automation, gpt-realtime promises to offers a powerful new toolset whilst talking the technolgy closer to human voice.

As always, the key lies in aligning technology choices with business goals, recognising ROI and customer expectation and keeping ahead of the curve as the landscape evolves and the pace of AI maturity and adoption contines to accelerate.

Sources: 
– CX Today – OpenAI’s Latest Moves Put Many Voice AI Startups on Notice
– Open AI – YouTube Video:
– Open AI Blog

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GPT-5 Chat & Reasoning vs Copilot Researcher Agent

With all the new AI models in Microsoft Copilot along with the first party agents that serve spefici functions, it can be confusing to know which tool to use for the right task. Microsoft have two specific agents within the Microsoft 365 Copilot domain Researcher and Agent designed to carry outr specific functions. We also now have GPT-5 (now also baked into Copilot) which brings the new “smart” mode, allowing it to switvch between languiage models based on the task at hand.

In this blog, I aim to break down the three tiers of Copilot capability— GPT-5 Chat, GPT-5 Reasoning (also known as Smart mode), and Researcher and to look at the differences, similarities and what is best for what!

GPT-5 Chat: Fast, Friendly, and to the Point

Best for:

  • General Chat and Quick Q&A
  • Content Summarisation
  • Creative brainstorming

How it thinks:
Chat mode is is your rapid-fire assistant. It delivers supoer quick responses to youur questions without deep analysis. This is ideal for when you need an answer or exmplanation, clarity on something and anything not requiring deep thinking, reasoning or complexity.

Example prompt:

“Write a short social post abou the latest updates to [product].”

When to use it:
When you want brevity, speed, and a touch of flair. Think elevator pitches, tweet-length summaries, or light creative riffs.

GPT-5 Reasoning: Structured Thinking for Strategic Tasks

Best for:

  • Logical analysis
  • Problem-solving
  • Multi-step planning such as building a travel itinery, project plan or talk track

How it thinks:
This mode (which GPT-5 will switch too automatically if needed), rolls up its sleeves and gets analytical. It’s designed for tasks that require synthesis, deep exploratory analysis, structured responses and a more strategic (deep thinking) response.

Example prompt:

“Let’s walk through this problem together: I need to launch a new product with a limited budget and a small team to appeal to an already crowded market. What’s the best strategy?”

Use it when:
You’re building timelines, weighing trade-offs, or need a coherent plan that holds up under scrutiny.

Copilot Researcher Agent: Deep Dives and Source-Backed Intelligence

Best for:

  • Comprehensive research and reports
  • Source comparison and opinioning
  • Insight generation

How it thinks:
Researcher mode is a custom build agent from Microsoft specifically designed to work in a recursive, self evaluation and exhaustive approach. It pulls from multiple sources which it compares and contrats against one-another, compares methodologies, and identifies gaps. This is design for for thought leadership, academic-style or research style analysis, or strategic decision-making with different view points.

Example prompt:

“Find and summarise studies on the effects of remote work on productivity. Compare methodologies and results, looking at pro’s cons, impact on society, well-being, productivity and trends across different EU regions.”

Use it when:
You need more than just an answer. You want to combine different view, present the otput in a particular way and when you need comprehenisive evidence, nuance, and a narrative that stands up to boardroom or peer review.

Which One When?

There is no definitiave answer to this, but based on my usage and infomration I have read in the field, guidance from OpenAI, Microsoft and others, this table provides a guide to which mode would work best in the scenaios below

Task TypeUse GPT-5 ChatUse GPT-5 ReasoningUse Researcher
Write a quick summary✅
Build a strategic roadmap✅
Compare academic studies✅
Brainstorm creative ideas✅
Solve a complex problem✅
Generate source-backed insights✅

AI isn’t a one-size-fits-all and not all use cases are the same. As AI models contine to become more context aware and with the ability to switch modes, there are still many times where knowing where to take your problem to is key – just like you know to talk to a specialist consultant vs a generalise at times.

Currently, to get the best from these AI models, the best result often lies in knowing when to switch gears—from conversational to analytical to research-grade depth. Whether you’re a CTO shaping strategy or a content creator chasing clarity, the right mode turns AI from assistant to partner to mentor.

Would you like this adapted into a SharePoint-friendly format or paired with a branded visual? I can also tailor it for internal enablement or customer-facing use.

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Teams Facilitator Agent: A Virtual Chair for Teams Meetings

Facilitator Agent Logo

Teams has a powerful new capability called the Facilitator Agent – a Copilot-driven meeting assistant designed to make collaboration smoother, smarter, and more productive. Think of it as a virtual chairperson that keeps your meeting on agenda, on-time and to point,whilst allowing participants to focus more on the meeting than taking notes.

Facilitator in Teams Rooms – Image (C) Microsoft.

Facilitator auto-drafts agendas, keeps people on track of the agenda and timings, provides rolling summaries, decisions, and action items all in a secure shared Loop page that everyone can co-author / edit across desktop, web, mobile, and even now in Teams Rooms direct from the room controls in Teams Rooms.

What is the Teams Facilitator Agent?

The Facilitator Agent is an AI-powered feature built into Microsoft Teams that works alongside Microsoft 365 Copilot (you need a Copilot license to activate it and interface to it). It acts as a shared assistant within your meetings and chats, providing:

  • Real-time AI-generated notes: Captures discussion points, decisions, and action items as the meeting unfolds.
  • Collaborative editing: All participants can view notes and Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users can co-author notes live – this ensures accuracy and inclusivity.
  • Meeting moderation: Helps manage agendas, prompts for goals if none are set, and even nudges participants to wrap up discussions.
  • Time management: Includes a meeting clock and reminders to keep sessions on schedule.
  • Post-meeting recap: Provides a structured summary and tasks in the Recap tab, stored securely in Microsoft Loop in the meeting organisers’ OneDrive.

How is it Facilitator different from the old “AI Notes” feature?

Previously, Teams offered AI Notes as part of Intelligent Recap, which generated summaries after the meeting. While useful, it was a passive experience—participants couldn’t interact with or influence the notes in real time.

The Facilitator Agent replaces and enhances this by:

  • Working live during the meeting, not just after.
  • Real-time co-authoring of notes by both AI and humans as the meeting progresses.
  • Acting as an active participant, responding to @mentions and questions in chat.
  • Providing dynamic updates as discussions evolve, rather than static summaries.
  • Keeps a track of the meeting, who has spoken, actions and topic/agenda drift (in otherwords it politely nags you!)

What is Facilitator good at?

Facilitator can or could if trusted, replace the chair or act as a chair/co-chair in a meeting. In my personal experience I have foudn it to be really really good at:

  • Real-Time Note-Taking & Summarisation
    Capturing key discussion points, decisions, and action items during meetings, with live co-authoring – I love how it writes as the meeting prgresses and even corrects itself.
  • Meeting Moderation & Structure
    Detects if a meeting lacks an agenda and prompts participants to define goals. If a meeting has an agenda it attempts to chunk the meeting into sections and helps keep the meeting on topic and ontime.
  • Improved Collaboration
    Works in meetings and group chats, keeping everyone aligned—even late joiners. It allows people to talk to the agent too – by mentioning @facilitator if you need it to do something like set an action or recap a point.
  • Post-Meeting Recap & Accountability
    Generates structured summaries and suggested tasks in the Recap tab for people to go back to or generate an email follow from etc,.

Facilitator Agent – Current Limitations

I do love usig it – its been GA for a few weeks now, but there are few limitations which I hope/expect will “go away soon”. These include:

  • Not Available Everywhere: Facilitator currently doesn’t work in external, instant, or channel meetings; mobile users can view notes but not start Facilitator (yet)..
  • Compliance Gaps: Sensitivity labels don’t automatically apply to notes yet but this is in thge public roadmap.

Using Facilitator in Meetings

Turning it on: By Default, when you create a meeting via Teams, Facilitator is “off” and needs to be enabled by switching the toggle as illustrated below. It can also be enabled from “within” the meeting.

In Meeting Interaction:
When the meeting starts, you are notified that Facilitator is running via an in-app notification. Note the meeting does not need to be recorded for this to be active. You also see this indicator under the notes section at the right of the meeting pane.

By the way, if you join a meeting where Facilitator is not active, you can enable it anytime from the menu under “…more”.

You still get a notification when Facilitator is running, and it will period chat to you in the meeting chat to keep you updated on the meeting.

Facilitator in Meeting

In Meeting – Meeting Notes and Actions Beng taken by Facilitator

Actions Generated by Facilitator

During the meeting (and afterwards, which you can find by going back to the meeting in your calendar), you can view and of course edit the notes, actions and also see any “related” content and “insights” that Facilitator has sufaced that it “thinks” might be relevant to the meeting dsicussion you have been in. These notes are captured in a Loop Space which is stored on the meeting organisers OneDrive and shared (automatically) with all meeting participants.

Post Meeting Notes, Actions and Insights.

Facilitator Agent Use Cases

I use this in most meetings but there are loads of use cases I see and hear about.

  • Daily stand-ups or project huddles to log progress and blockers
  • Customer calls and scoping meetings capturing commitments and next steps to eliminate follow-up churn
  • Project update or planning calls.

Facilitator Agent – What is Coming (Roadmap)

This is in preview and will be fully rolled out (GA) by September, and there are a few thinsg still nt he works which I expect will be out soon enough.

  • Editable Canvas for Chat Notes: AI notes in chats will move to an editable canvas backed by SharePoint Embedded.
  • Teams Rooms Integration: Facilitator will also (now in Preview) support ad-hoc and scheduled meetings in Teams Rooms, with QR code invites and speaker attribution.
  • Improved Compliance: Sensitivity label inheritance and enhanced governance via Microsoft Purview will be supported.

Q & A

Q: Is the Facilitator Agent just a rebrand of the previous AI notes feature?
A: It builds on that toggle but expands into a full-blown agent. Beyond post-meeting summaries, Facilitator prompts agendas, generates live recaps, drives collaboration via Loop, and integrates with Teams Rooms by QR code.

Q: How does it differ from using Copilot in a Teams meeting?
A: Copilot in a meeting is a private assistant—only you see its responses. Facilitator operates in the group context: prompts, highlights, and action items appear for everyone to view and edit in real time.

Q: What’s the added value over just recording and transcribing?
A: Recording and transcription are passive: you consume them after the fact. Facilitator is proactive—drafting agendas, nudging for goals, surfacing decisions, and giving every attendee an editable canvas mid-meeting.

Q: Where does Intelligent Recap fit in?
A: Intelligent Recap synthesizes speech and on-screen visuals after the meeting ends. Facilitator closes the loop instantly – keeping the conversation structured, accountable, and collaborative from start to finish.

Q: What are the alternatives to Facilitator Agent?

1. Native recording + transcription then manual or Copilot/ChatGPT note generation
2. Intelligent Recap for post-meeting slide and data context
3. Private Copilot chats for ad-hoc AI queries
4. Manual note-taking or shared OneNote pages
5. Third-party assistants like Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai

Q: Do I need a Copilot license to use the Facilitator Agent?
A: Any user who initiates or edits AI-generated notes in meetings or chats must have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Unlicensed participants can view meeting AI notes but cannot start or edit them.

Q: What about in-person meetings?
A: Coming soon – a new feature in the Teams mobile app will let you start a dedicated in-person meeting with Facilitator right from your phone. This will then kick off a recorded, transcribed session – again with real-time agendas, notes, and follow-up tasks. When you end the meeting, notes save automatically and a “in the past” calendar event is created—everything is surfaced in Recap. – This will requires a Copilot license and is due to be in preview Auguist/Sept – I’ve seen it but don’t have it yet myself!

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Governing Agents in a Low‑Code World: From Assistants to Autonomous Colleagues

We are in the middle of rapid shift – AI agents are no longer just reactive helpers waiting for a us to give them a prompt. Instead, they are becoming proactive, and  autonomous , capable of initiating actions, orchestrating workflows, and making decisions across systems.

If you’ve already built governance models for low‑code platforms like Microsoft Power Platform, you’re not starting from zero. Those same principles – with a few smart extensions can help you govern the next generation of agents built in Copilot Studio.

What is Agent Governance?
Agent governance encompasses the rules, policies, and oversight mechanisms that guide the behavior of AI agents – autonomous systems capable of performing tasks with minimal human intervention. This governance is crucial to ensure that these agents operate in a manner that is legally compliant, ethically responsible, and operationally safe!

Microsoft have shared new blue prints and guidance to help you get started with healthy goverance for Copilot Studio – which I have linked to and summarised below…

1. Lead with a Governance Mindset

Agents aren’t “just another app.” They’re digital labour – they (can) talk across systems and across roles and need managing just like humans. This means they they need:

  • Trackable identities — so you know exactly which agent did what, and when.
  • Scoped permissions — the principle of least privilege applies here too.
  • Continuous oversight — because autonomy without accountability is a risk.

Not every agent should have the same freedom. For example, a Q&A bot answering FAQs is low risk. An autonomous sales development agent drafting proposals is much higher stakes and an agent that takes a customer interaction and acts on it automonously is high risk.

We must define tiers of autonomy and enforce them with technical guardrails.

2. Apply Your Low‑Code Lessons

If you’ve governed Power Platform, you already have your own playbook:

  • Managed environments to separate dev, test, and production.
  • Role‑based access control (RBAC) to manage who can create, deploy, and run agents.
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to control what data agents can access or share.
  • Audit logs to track behaviour and support compliance.

These aren’t “nice to haves” — they’re essential for safe, scalable agent adoption. Extend your existing frameworks to cover new agent behaviours.

3. Drive Visibility, Cost Control, and Business Value

Governance isn’t just about control — it’s about clarity. Visibility and telemetry is really important becuase it tells us:

  • Who created the agent.
  • What data it touches.
  • How often it’s used.
  • The business outcomes it’s driving.

With that visibility, you can spot redundant agents, forecast costs, and focus investment where it delivers the most value. Tools like Copilot Studio analytics and Power Platform Admin Center make this possible — but only if you use them consistently.

4. Empower Innovation with Guardrails

The people closest to the work often have the best ideas for agents. Advice is to empower them to experiment — but within a zoned governance model:

  • Zone 1: Personal Productivity — safe sandboxes for individual experimentation.
  • Zone 2: Collaboration — team‑level development with stronger controls.
  • Zone 3: Enterprise Managed — production‑grade agents with full monitoring and lifecycle management.

This approach balances speed and safety, enabling innovation without compromising compliance.

5. Build Community, Training, and Experimentation into the Culture

Governance is as much cultural as it is technical and it’s the culteral and human aspects that typically impact and slow adoption.

A thriving Center of Excellence (CoE) should:

  • Host “Agent Show‑and‑Tell” sessions and hackathons.
  • Appoint champions in each department to mentor others.
  • Provide role‑based training for makers, admins, and business leaders.
  • Encourage responsible experimentation — and celebrate successes.

As with any transformational shift, when people feel supported and inspired and part of the journey, adoption accelerates and impact flourishes.

Why This Matters Now

According to Microsoft, over 230,000 organisations – including 90% of the Fortune 500, are already using Copilot Studio, and IDC projects there will be a staggering 1.3 billion AI agents by 2028.

This scale and exponential speed of adoption make governance a critical priority, not an afterthought or option!

The CIO’s role is shifting from enabling agents to governing them at scale — ensuring they’re secure, compliant, cost‑effective, and aligned with business goals. That’s not just a technical challenge; it’s a leadership opportunity.

Summary – the Key Steps

  1. Extend your low‑code governance — apply your Power Platform controls to agents.
  2. Define autonomy tiers — match oversight to risk.
  3. Instrument for visibility — track usage, cost, and impact.
  4. Adopt zoned governance — empower innovation safely.
  5. Invest in culture — build communities, champions, and training.

For a deeper dive, read Microsoft’s Evolving Power Platform Governance for AI Agents blog and download their CIO Playbook to Governing AI Agents in a Low‑Code World.

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Windows 95 Turns 30 today

On 24 August 1995, Microsoft launched Windows 95 with a level of hype that rivaled Hollywood blockbusters. Thirty years later, its legacy still echoes through every Start menu click and taskbar glance.

Windows PC on a PC (image (C))

Windows 95 was built by a small, focused team led by Brad Silverberg. It shifted Microsoft away from segmented memory and interrupt-driven configuration to a more unified, user-friendly model. The move from 16-bit to 32-bit architecture was a game-changer for performance and stability…..

Their mission. “A PC on every desk and in every home”

Goodbye Command Line, Hello GUI

Before Windows 95, booting up a PC meant staring down a command prompt. Windows 3.x was a graphical layer on top of MS-DOS, but it still felt like a bolt-on. Windows 95 changed that. It booted straight into a graphical interface, wrapped MS-DOS and Windows into one cohesive product, and made computing feel intuitive—even friendly.

Backward compatibility with thousands of DOS and Windows 3.x programs made the transition smooth. Sure, it inherited some crash-prone quirks from its DOS roots, but for most users, it was a revelation

Windows 95 icon desktop.

The Birth of the Start Menu and Taskbar

The icons that still define Windows today—the Start menu and taskbar—made their debut here. The Start button became the gateway to everything, even sparking confusion (“Shut down from Start?”). The taskbar introduced a new way to juggle multiple apps, leapfrogging Mac OS in usability.

Windows 95 merged MS-DOS and Windows into a single product, booting directly into a graphical interface. It introduce features made PCs accessible to the masses and laid the foundation for modern computing including:

  • The Start menu and taskbar—still core to Windows today
  • Windows Explorer for unified file and app management
  • Plug and Play hardware detection, simplifying setup
  • 32-bit architecture, improving performance and memory access

Windows Explorer and Desktop Revolution

Windows Explorer unified file and application management, replacing the fragmented experience of Windows 3.x. It introduced right-click context menus, the Recycle Bin, file shortcuts, and a desktop that behaved like a folder. Suddenly, your PC felt like a workspace, not a maze.

FreeCell and the Rise of Casual Gaming

Games were now bundled with Windows 95.  FreeCell wasn’t just a game—it was a gateway for casual gaming to promote gaming in the modern OS. With 32,000 solvable puzzles, it kept users hooked for years. Solitaire and Minesweeper had paved the way, but FreeCell made it personal 😂

Arrival of the Internet Arrives (Sort Of)

OK, so the first retail version didn’t include a browser, but it did feature MSN—Microsoft’s answer to CompuServe and Prodigy. Internet Explorer arrived later that year, bundled into OEM releases. That move triggered antitrust alarms, but it also marked the beginning of the browser wars…. Microsoft were forced to allow choice over others browers… It kinda felt unfair and Microsoft (after killing Netscape) were forced!

Marketing That Made History

Microsoft spent $300 million on the launch campaign, licensing the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” and hosting a global satellite event with Jay Leno. It was software marketing on a scale never seen before—and it worked. One million copies sold in the first week. Forty million in the first year.

Windows 95 wasn’t perfect, but it was pivotal in the history of Windows. It redefined what a PC could be—accessible, powerful, and personal. And 30 years later, its legacy still lives on every time we click “Start.”

30 years later…

Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 95 on 31 December 2000, with extended support ending a year later. Yet its DNA lives on in every version of Windows since.

Windows 95 is remembered not just as software, but as a cultural milestone. It democratized computing, shaped careers, and defined an era. Even today, its interface principles guide modern OS design—from Windows 11 to mobile platforms.

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Unlock Insights with Excel’s COPILOT() Function

Microsoft has introduced the =COPILOT() function in Excel, embedding AI directly into spreadsheet cells. This formula turns natural-language prompts into structured outputs—no VBA, no complex formulas—so anyone can perform advanced analysis with a simple cell entry.

This essentially turns your prompts into Excel formulas direct from your excel cell!

Copilot() function in excel

This is in currently in public preview.

What It Is and How It Works

The COPILOT() function behaves like any native Excel formula. You type =COPILOT("and your prompt", [range]) in a cell, and Excel sends the request to the Copilot service (powered by Bing and ChatGPT). The AI returns a grid-friendly result that recalculates automatically whenever your source data changes. You can even nest COPILOT() inside functions like IF or LAMBDA for more sophisticated logic.

Core Capabilities

  • Summarise, group, or categorise data using plain-English prompts
  • Perform sentiment analysis on text feedback
  • Extract and organise information from unstructured text (names, emails, URLs)
  • Generate dynamic lists, schedules, or qualitative ratings
  • Augment tables with symbols or simple markers for clearer storytelling

Key Use Cases

  • Automating data cleanup: standardise formats, remove duplicates, split columns.
  • Customer insights: turn free-text reviews into sentiment scores and themes.
  • Sort data and represent in different formats without having to learn how to create pivot tables.
  • Transforming data using formulas without having to write a formula.. Just natural language.

Prerequisites & Access

To use COPILOT() in Excel, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Microsoft 365 commercial Copilot license (not included in Personal/Family plans)
  • Microsoft Entra ID account and primary mailbox on Exchange Online.
  • Excel Beta Channel build 19212.20000 or later / macOS build 25081334 or later
  • Up to 100 function calls per 10 minutes (300 per hour); use array inputs to conserve quote.
  • Data stored in the active workbook (external sources not yet supported

How to access:

  1. In Excel, go to File > Account > Office Insider and switch to the Beta Channel (Windows).
  2. On Mac, open Help > Check for Updates in Microsoft AutoUpdate and choose the Beta release.
  3. Sign in with your work/school account that has a Copilot license; use File > Account > Update License if needed
  4. Restart Excel—=COPILOT() will now be available in any cell, or via the Home > Copilot pane.

Requirements and Limitations

  • Not optimised for heavy numeric or matrix computations
  • Outputs are dynamic—save critical results as values to prevent unintended changes
  • Only works with in-workbook data; live web or external data access is pending

Why It Matters

Excel remains the lingua franca of business data. By transforming the grid into an interactive AI canvas, COPILOT() tears down formula-syntax barriers, accelerates decision-making, and empowers every user—from analysts to frontline managers—to become data storytellers. Enablement leaders can shift focus from formula training to writing effective AI prompts and compelling narratives.

In short, it’s powerful for people that are not excel formula wizards!

Start experimenting with prompts like:

  • “Summarise quarterly revenue by account manager”
  • “Rate these project tasks by impact and effort”
  • “Extract email addresses from customer comments”
  • “Normalise the addresses and add UK postcodes”

Let me know what you think? Useful? 👍👎

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