Microsoft is removing password support from its Authenticator app this summer. As of June, you haven’t been able to add new passwords; in July autofill stops working; and by August all saved passwords will be deleted. The replacement?
FIDO-based passkeys that are stored encrypted on your device and use biometrics / PIN for phishing-proof sign-ins.
The Password Problem
Passwords have been the backbone of online security for decades and the way we into most our work and online services like shopping sites, email, Snapchat etc.. You name it.
But.. They are a huge weak link and the primary way people and companies get hacked and online identities stolen!
Microsoft report they see password account attacks in the realm of 7,000 attempts per second against Microsoft consumer accounts alone.
People reuse weak or memorable passwords across dozens of sites because they are hard to remember
Password managers whilst helpful, provide a single attack space for hackers.
Phishing, brute-force and database leaks make passwords a persistent liability and AI in increasing the number of attacks.
Microsoft’s stats show password success rates (getting a log in correct with your password) of 32%, compared with 98% for passkeys—proof that passwords aren’t just less secure, they’re also more error-prone and easier to use once set up.
What Are Passkeys?
Passkeys are an evolution of authentication built on FIDO (Fast Identity Online) standards. Here’s what makes them different:
Stored only on your device protected by your Pin and Biometrics and never on a central server.
Rely on biometrics (Face ID, fingerprint) or a local PIN.
Immune to phishing and replay attacks because there’s no password to steal.
Seamless: once set up, you tap or scan to log in anywhere passkeys are supported.
Easier to use since you don’t have to remember complex passwords.
Microsoft Authenticator Timeline
To ease the transition away from storing passwords and moving to passkeys, Microsoft has shared the process which started last month.
June 2025: Microsoft disabled ability to add new passwords to Authenticator.
July 2025: Password autofill in Authenticator is disabled.
August 2025: All passwords saved in Authenticator are permanently deleted (export before then).
Keeping/Exporting your passwords.
If you want to export your passwords stored in Authenticator you can. These can then be imported into other password managers. To do this:
Open Authenticator
Goto Passwords, then Export.
Save the CSV file securely or import it into another password manager.
If you still rely on passwords, migrate them to Microsoft Edge’s built-in vault or a third-party manager like 1Password.
Start creating Passkeys.
Still in the Authenticator app or via your Microsoft account’s security settings, select Passkeys > Add new passkey.
Follow the prompts to register with Face ID, fingerprint or PIN.
Update your accounts to use Passkeys
This is unfortunately a bit laborious, since you will need to visit each website or service that offers passkey login and link your new passkey.
Why go Passwordless.
There’s a heap of reasons once you’ve got past the process of creating Passkeys.
Stronger Security: No password to steal means it’s virtually impossible to phish or brute-force your credentials.
Better Usability: Unlock with a quick biometric scan or PIN—no more juggling complex passwords.
Future-Proof: Passkeys and the move to passwordless is backed by all major identity provider platforms (Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Google, Amazon) and over 15 billion accounts already support them.
The industry is moving to passwordless: all the tech giants are moving this was to finally try to rid the world of passwords. Apple, Google and Amazon have also committed to a passwordless future. Whether it’s signing into an app, online banking or shopping, passkeys are becoming the universal standard.
Today, the use of passkeys is growing but with the tech giants behind the Phasing out of passwords they will soon be the way we sign into all. Out online services.
So, I was delivering an AI awareness session earlier this week to 120 eight- to ten-year-olds at my sons’ school. In the Q&A bit, one of the children asked me – “What is Agentic AI?”. Needless to say, I was quite surprised to be asked that question by a nine-year-old. We actually decided to us AI to explain it to the class…. which I must say it did a better job that I would have done.
Agentic AI Explanation for a ten-year-old.
Here is what AI said: “imagine you’ve got a super-duper smart robot friend. This friend doesn’t just follow orders and obey instructions like a regular robot. It is like a super robot, the Dyson of Robots. This Robot can make decisions on its own, like deciding what to do next or how to do something when you haven’t taught it. ‘
Agentic AI’ is like that robot friend, but way more advanced. It can make its own choices, set its own goals, and figure out how to achieve them, almost like it’s got its own mind but by following a set of guidelines and rules. So, it’s not just reacting to commands, it’s thinking ahead and planning like a little strategist!”
Agentic AI for everyone else
I was then thinking, well what if you don’t work in an IT role. Does everyone know what Agentic AI is? It is certainly the buzz term of 2025 and certainly a leap forward from the “chat bots” we have played around with over the past 2 years or so with ChatGPT, Copilot etc.
I was then thinking about how I need to explain Agentic AI to some my co-workers so in my usual style I wanted to write it down to get my wording right. here’s what I came up with which I think and hope anyone can understand. As such I wanted to share it.
So…..
Think of agentic AI as more of “system” than a chat bot. Unlike a chat bot which is generally more about responding to a request or returning information, Agentic AI operates with a high degree of autonomy. Rather than just follows predefined instructions or responding based on information it has been fed/trained on, agentic AI can set its own objectives and determine. by itself, the best course of action to achieve them. This is a very different approach to what we have seen before now since it can not only executes tasks but also identifies opportunities, develops strategies, and takes initiative without constant oversight or being asked.
This has the potential to be a powerful tool in many different roles and organisations. Here’s a few examples I have pulled together based on some of the customer converations and usecases we are exploring at the moment.
Agentic AI Use Cases
Healthcare : Agentic AI could proactively identify potential health risks in patient data, following or before treatment, suggest personalised treatment plans, and even coordinate with pharmacy and supply chains to ensure medication availability. It could even be used to help patients better understand their health and nurses better explain to patients.
Gym: It could create personalised workout plans for members, monitor equipment usage to predict maintenance needs, and even suggest new classes based on emerging fitness trends. For Mangement it could suggest changes to class schedules based on enquiries, booking history, attendance etc.
Retail : It could autonomously manage inventory, predict trends by analysing customer data, external factors such as weather, news events etc, and even optimise pricing strategies based on market demand and competitor analysis such as changing the price of suncream when it gets hot and the price of umbrellas when it rains.
Public Sector : It could streamline citizen services, anticipate infrastructure needs based on usage patterns, and improve disaster response by dynamically allocating resources. It could also pre-empt and influence bin collections based on realtime data, or take proactive action and make recommendations from transcripts based on interviews or care notes in social services.
Legal: It could autonomously manage case documentation, chase up cases, predict case outcomes based on historical data, and even recommend legal strategies or layers most likely to win particualr cases. It could provide guiance to customers, based on “learned” cases for that firm and provide “virtual lawyer” services fully automonosly.
Insurance : Agentic AI could assess risk profiles, help detect fraudulent claims, and tailor policy recommendations to individual customers.
School Admissions : It could predict enrollment trends, identify potential gaps in student demographics, and optimise the selection process to ensure a diverse and well-balanced student body.
These are just a few examples of Agentic AI’s ability to act independently and adapt to complex, changing environments makes the applications and use cases almost endless as long as we can guide it, trust it and step in when needed.
Microsoft 365 Copilot now includes two advanced AI agents – Researcher and Analyst that became generally available in this month ( June 2025). These agents use powerful reasoning models (based on OpenAI’s o3-mini and deep research models) to handle complex tasks beyond what the standard Copilot could do.
Researcher is a specialised agent for multi-stepresearch – it can securely comb through your work data (emails, files, meetings, etc.) and the web to gather information, ask clarifying questions, and produce well-structured summaries and insights. It’s ideal for tasks like market research, competitor analysis, or preparing for big meetings – work that used to take hours, now done in minutes with higher accuracy.
Analyst is a virtual data analyst/data scientist built into Copilot. It excels at advanced dataanalysis, working through messy spreadsheets or databases step-by-step using chain-of-thought reasoning and even running Python code when needed. From identifying sales trends to spotting anomalies in finance data, Analyst gives you in-depth answers and visuals that mirror human analytical thinking.
Compared to the standard Microsoft 365 Copilot, these agents go much further in reasoning and capabilities for these specific tasks. While the native Copilot mod helps draft documents or summarise content, Researcher and Analyst tackle complex reasoning tasks (deep research and data analysis) with a level of thoroughness and skill akin to an expert – essentially “like having a dedicated employee at your side ready to go, 24‑7,” according to Microsoft’s Jared Spataro. They are accessed through the Copilot interface (pinned in the Copilot app and via Copilot Chat) and come with a usage limit of 25 queries permonth per user due to their intensive workloads.
Analyst vs. Copilot for Finance:
Analyst is a general-purpose data analysis agent available to any Copilot user, whereas Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance is a separate, role-based Copilot designed specifically for finance teams. Copilot for Finance connects to financial systems (like Dynamics 365 and SAP) and Microsoft 365 apps (Excel, Outlook) to automate finance workflows (reports, reconciliations, insights). Unlike the Analyst agent which works on data you provide, Copilot for Finance directly taps into live enterprise finance data for real-time insights. Importantly, Copilot for Finance is not limited to Dynamics 365 – it can integrate with various ERPs including Dynamics 365, SAP, etc via connectors though it is deeply optimized for Dynamics 365 Finance.
The Age of AI Specialists in Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot is evolving from a single assistant into a team of AI specialists. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced two first-of-their-kind “reasoning agents” for work: Researcher and Analyst. After a period in preview (through the Frontier program) for early adopters, these agents are now generally available to all users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license as of June 2025. This marks a significant expansion of Copilot’s capabilities beyond its initial skill set.
The new Researcher and Analyst are advanced Copilot modes (agents) specialised for particular scenarios – complex research and data analysis. They join other Wave 2 Copilot features (like the new Agent Store, Copilot Search, Memory, Notebooks, and image generation) that Microsoft has been rolling out to enhance the Copilot experience. Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s CMO for AI at Work, describes these agents as delivering “advanced reasoning” and notes “it really is like having a dedicated employee at your side ready to go, 24-7.” In other words, Microsoft 365 Copilot is no longer just a helpful assistant within Office apps – it can now also act as an on-demand subject matter expert that tackles higher-order tasks.
From a technology standpoint, both agents leverage the latest AI models tailored for their specific domains. They use OpenAI’s powerful models (codenamed o3-mini for Analyst, and a deep research model for Researcher) combined with Microsoft’s orchestration, search, Responsible AI, and tool integrations. This means they don’t just generate quick answers; they actually reason through problems in multiple steps, consult various data sources, and produce more comprehensive results. This blog explores each agent in detail:
Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent
Researcher is the new Copilot agent that acts as a highly skilled research assistant. It’s designed to help you tackle complex, multi-step research projects right from your Microsoft 365 environment. Researcher brings together OpenAI’s “deep research model” with Microsoft 365 Copilot’s advanced orchestration and search. In practice, this means it can scour both your organisational data *and* external sources on the web to find the information you need, synthesize it, and present insights in a coherent way.
What can Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent do?
Microsoft describes Researcher as “an agent that can analyse vast amounts of information with secure, compliant access to your work data – your emails, meetings, files, chats, and more – and the web” to deliver expert insights on demand. In simpler terms, Researcher is great at doing all the digging for information, reading it and then summarising the findings for you. Some of its capabilities include:
Multisource Information Gathering: It can search through your files, emails, SharePoint, and external online / Web sources to collect relevant data and. For example, if you’re exploring a new market or analysing a topic, Researcher will pull from both internal documents and credible websites to gather material.
Smart Summaries: After collecting information, Researcher summarises what it finds in plain, easy-to-read language. You get a clear, tailored report instead of a dump of raw data. It will highlight key points, trends, and insights rather than making you sift through hundreds of pages or search results.
Trend and Insight Identification: Researcher uses its AI reasoning to spot patterns, trends, and opportunities in the information. It can draw connections and highlight things that might make a difference for your project or question. For instance, it might notice an emerging customer preference across feedback data or identify a common thread in market research reports.
Interactive Refinement: If your initial query is broad, Researcher often asks clarifying questions to narrow down the scope and ensure it’s on the right track. This interactive back-and-forth helps it deliver more relevant results. You can guide it by answering those questions or giving additional instructions, much like you would with a human researcher.
Citations and Source Transparency: When delivering its findings, Researcher provides well-sourced content. It can include citations or references for where information came from, so you can trust but verify the results. (This is crucial for workplace research, and you can ask it to only use authoritative sources for extra confidence, as in one example prompt Microsoft shared).
Use Cases for Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent
Researcher is great in situations where you need to quickly learn or compile knowledge on a topic or subject area but are not sure where to look. This could be for tasks like assessing the impact of the new Trump tariffs on business lines, preparing for vendor negotiations by gathering supplier intel, and collecting client research before sales pitches.
Researcher Agent Example
In a business context, imagine your sales / marketing team are looking for a fresh perspective on top technology investments organisations are making in the UK based on industry research which needs to be in a report. You could ask Researcher “What are the top technology investments and projects by “small to medium” and enterprise organisations in the UK. Use trusted market data from repuatble sources such as Gartner, IDC, Cisco, Microsoft, Canlays, CRN etc.”
What I love is how you see the deep thinking and reasoning Researcher is using to compile the information and generate your report. This is so much easier than manually searching the web and reading dozens of articles. Instead, Researcher gives you a report in just a few minutes.
Instead of manually having to search the web and read loads and loads of articles, Researcher gives you a report in under ten minutes. You can of course tweak the response by asking more questions or requesting adjustments to ensure it meets you needs. When the report is finished you’ll see how comprehensive and well formatted it is, allowing you to export to, add it to a collaborative Copilot Notebook or leave it as is.
Sample output from Researcher Agent.
Microsoft 365 Analyst Agent – Data Analyst
If Researcher is your content and knowledge scout, Analyst is your number-crunching, data-savvy AI team member. The Analyst agent is all about diving into data (often numerical or structured data) to extract insights, find patterns, and answer complex analytical questions. Microsoft describes Analyst as “thinking like askilled data scientist”, using an advanced reasoning approach to tackle data problems step-by-step https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/06/02/researcher-and-analyst-are-now-generally-available-in-microsoft-365-copilot
What makes Microsoft 365 Copilot Analyst Agent special?
The Analyst agent runs on a finely-tuned AI reasoning model (post-trained on OpenAI’s o3-mini model specifically for analytical tasks). Unlike a standard chatbot that might try to answer a data question in one go (and often make mistakes), the Analyst agent uses a chain-of-thought process to break problems down and solve them iteratively. It can even generate and execute actual code (like Python) in the background to manipulate data, perform calculations, or generate charts. Throughout this, it adjusts to new complexities and can recover from errors autonomously – essentially debugging and refining its approach as it goes, much like a human analyst would. The end result is a thorough analysis with reasoning that is transparent to the user.
Here are some of the key capabilities of the Analyst agent:
Data Analysis Across Formats: Analyst can work with Excel spreadsheets, CSV/TSV files, databases, Power BI reports, and other structured datasources . It can even extract financial data from PDFs. It is possible to upload or point it to a dataset, even if the data is messy or hidden across multiple files. For example, if you have sales data split across a few different Excel sheets and files, you can use Analyst Agent to ingest them all. The agent can also clean up many of the typical issues found in spreadsheets such as wrong delimiters in a CSV, or values buried in an unexpected place before it starts to work. This means that your data does not need to be perfectly prepared beforehand .
Iterative Reasoning and Problem Solving: When you ask Analyst a question, it will hypothesise, test, and refine repeatedly. For instance, you might ask, “What insights can you find about our Q4 sales data, and why did some teams underperform?”. Here, Analyst might break this down into steps: first identifying overall sales by region, then noticing why one sales team is lower, then digging into possible factors (maybe inventory issues or lower marketing spend), then correlating that with other data. It takes as many steps as needed to arrive at a sound answer. This multi-step approach leads to more accurate and nuanced results than a one-shot response.
Code Generation and Execution: A standout feature – Analyst can write and run Python code behind the scenes to perform calculations or data transformations. If your data question requires a formula, statistical analysis, or creating a chart, Analyst will generate the code to do it. Even better, it shows you the code in real time as it works, so you have complete transparency into how it’s reaching its conclusion. You effectively have an AI that can program on the fly to solve your data problem. This is like having a data analyst who is also a programmer working for you instantly.
Insight Generation and Visualisation: Analyst doesn’t just provide text based results – it will also explain the “story” behind the numbers in plain language and can also create simple charts or graphs to illustrate key points. It could, for example, produce a trend line graph of sales over time or a bar chart of top-performing products if those help answer your question. It will highlight findings such as “Sales Team A had a 20% increase in Q4, outpacing their previous year results ,,,, ” By narrating and illustrating the data, it helps you quickly understand the business implications.
Actionable Recommendations: Analyst can often suggest next steps or recommendations based on the data patterns it finds. If it discovers, say, that a certain region’s sales are lagging due to low inventory, it might recommend increasing stock or marketing in that region. Or if a customer segment is showing poor engagement, it could suggest targeted outreach. These suggestions turn raw analysis into useful advice, bridging the gap from insight to action.
Microsoft 365 Analyst Agent Use Cases:
The Analyst agent is useful anywhere you have data and questions about that data. Some real-world examples Microsoft has noted include using Analyst to assess how different discount levels affected customer purchasing behavior to identify the top customers who aren’t fully utilising the products they bought, and to visualise product usage trends and customer sentiment for informing go-to-market.
Analyst Agent Example
In the example below, I took some Customer Support Tickets from an excel (see below).
Sample Customer Support Ticket Export
I then have asked the Analyst Agent to “review the support ticket and create me an exective summary of the tickets, pulling out trends and themes that my team should look at and how they might reduce future support call duration.”
The results below are the first run with data that represeted as I have asked.
How Do Researcher and Analysts Agents Compare to the Standard Microsoft 365 Copilot Experience?
With all the excitement around Researcher and Analyst, you might wonder how they differ from the core Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat experience that users have been trying out in apps like Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook.
The key difference comes down to depth of reasoning and specialisation. The core Copilot Chat experience is like a well-rounded generalist – great at everyday productivity tasks, such as drafting an email, summarising a document or thread, writing in Word, generating a PowerPoint outline, or pulling insights from a single Excel worksheet. It uses a large language model (LLM) to understand your prompt and the context from the active document, then provides a response.
However, it typically gives a direct answer or action based on available content, without doing prolonged multi-step reasoning. For example, standard Copilot can summarise a document or create a draft from prompts, but if you ask it to perform a very complex analysis that requires digging through multiple files or doing calculations, it may hit its limits. Thats where these specialist agents differ:
Advanced Reasoning vs. Quick Responses: “Standard” Copilot Chat is designed for quick assistance within the flow of work (one-shot answers or short tasks). In contrast, Researcher and Analyst use advanced reasoning algorithms (chain-of-thought) that allow them to work through a problem in multiple steps). They will plan, execute sub-tasks (like searching sources and creating and executing code), and then refining its output. This means they can handle questions or tasks that the regular Copilot would either answer superficially or not manage at all.
Tool Use and Data Access: These specialist agents have access to a much broader set of information and models. Researcher can tap into web search and internal knowledge bases simultaneously, something standard Copilot doesn’t proactively do by itself. Analyst can use the equivalent of a built-in scripting engine (Python) to manipulate data. These abilities let the agents produce more accurate, data-backed results (for instance, Analyst can compute exact figures or generate a pivot table behind the scenes, rather than guessing).
Use Case Focus: Out of the box, Microsoft 365 Copilot has a breadth of capabilities across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, etc., but each in a somewhat scoped way – e.g. helping write, summarise, or create within that app. It is “broad but shallow”. Researcher and Analyst are narrower but much deeper in their domains. If you don’t need multi-step research or advanced data analysis, you might not need to use them and the regular Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat or in app Copilot experience might suffice. But if you do have those needs, these agents provide a level of expertise that feels like a specialist joining your team.
For example, consider interpreting a complex financial report: Standard Copilot in Excel can summarise that report or maybe answer something about it if asked directly, but Analyst could take multiple financial files (ledgers, budgets, forecasts) and do a cross-file analysis, then produce a summary and suggest optimisations – a far more sophisticated outcome.
Interaction Model:Using Researcher/Analyst is a bit like launching a specific mode of Copilot meant for heavy tasks. They’re accessible via the Copilot app’s Agent Store or as pinned which is a different entry point than simply typing to Copilot in Word. This interface guides the user to ask bigger questions (“Help me investigate X” or “Analyse Y data for Z”) rather than the smaller in-app prompts. The agents also tend to show their working process (especially Analyst showing its code or reasoning steps), whereas standard Copilot just delivers the end answer in a friendly tone. This transparency is great for users who want to trust the results – you can literally see how Analyst arrived at an answer, step by step.
Analyst vs. Copilot for Finance – What’s the Difference?
With the introduction of the Analyst agent, you might also hear about Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance – another AI offering that targets data and analytics, but specifically for finance professionals. It’s important to clarify how the Analyst agent and Copilot for Finance differ, because their names might seem related. In fact, they serve different needs:
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance (formerly introduced simply as “Copilot for Finance”, now in preview) is a role-based Copilot experience tailored for finance departments. This was announced in early 2024 as a way to “transform modern finance” by bringing generative AI into the daily workflows of finance teams. Unlike the Analyst agent – which any user with Copilot can use for various kinds of data analysis – Copilot for Finance is a separate add-on Copilot designed to integrate deeply with financial systems and processes. It essentially combines Microsoft 365 Copilot with a specialized finance agent and connectors to your financial data.
From what I have managed to assess these are the main differences between the Analyst agent and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance:
Aspect
Analyst Agent (Microsoft 365 Copilot )
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance
Purpose & Domain
General-purpose data analysis for any domain or department. Helps users analyse spreadsheets, databases, or other data to get insights.
Designed to work across certified and connected systems such as Microsoft 365 Dynamics, Salesforce and some others
Integration and Data
Works on provided or accessible data in Microsoft 365 (e.g. Excel files, CSVs, SharePoint data). No built-in direct connection to ERP systems – user typically uploads data or points to files for analysis
Connected to enterprise financial systems and data sources. Draws context from ERP systems (like D365 Finance & SAP) and the Microsoft Graph . Integrates in real-time with live finance data, assuming connectors are set up. Optimised for D365 Finance (seamless data access). Can connect other systems via custom or pre-built connectors).
Features and Skills
Uses chain-of-thought AI reasoning and Python code execution to perform analytics. Ideal for ad-hoc data analysis: e.g. combining sales data with customer data to find trends, identifying anomalies in operational data, generating charts from raw data. Acts as AI data analyst for any project.
Uses AI to streamline finance-specific processes and provide insights within finance workflows. For example, can automate variance analysis in Excel, perform reconciliations between systems, generate reports, summaries, and even draft emails for collections with relevant account info. Understands accounting principles and the company’s financial data.
User Experience
Accessed through the Copilot app as one of the agents (no special deployment beyond having Microsoft 365 Copilot license). The user asks questions or tasks in natural language and often provides the data files to analyze. The output is an interactive analysis in Copilot chat with optional visuals and code transparency.
Integrated into the tools finance teams use: primarily Excel, Outlook, and Teams in the context of finance work. For example, in Excel a finance user might invoke Copilot for Finance to run a budget vs. actual report or find anomalies in ledger data. In Outlook, it can summarise a customer’s account status from ERP data to help a collections officer. Works in flow of existing finance tasks, bringing AI where needed.
Availability & Pricing
Included as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot (the Analyst agent is available to any user who has Copilot enabled). General Availability as of mid-2025. Usage is capped at 25 queries/month for heavy reasoning tasks.
Available as add-on to Copilot targeted at enterprises. Paid offering for organisations that use Microsoft 365 and want AI assistance in finance for supported systems like D365.
Dependencies on Microsoft Dynamics
Not dependent on Dynamics 365 – Analyst can analyse any data you give it. If your financial data is in Excel exports from SAP or Oracle, Analyst can still work with those exports, but it won’t directly pull from those systems on its own.
Deeply integrates with D365 Finance & Operations. Designed to plug into D365 modules so can act within that ecosystem (e.g., directly reading transaction data, posting results back). Through “connectors”, it can interface with other ERP or CRM systems too. Advantage is native use with D365 – without manual data exporting or integrations
To put it simply, the Analyst agent is like an AI data expert you can use for virtually any type of analysis by feeding it data, whereas Copilot for Finance is a comprehensive AI-powered solution built into Microsoft’s ecosystem to assist with a company’s financial operations in real-time. They might overlap in the sense that both can do things like variance analysis or finding trends in financial figures, but the context is different: Analyst would do it when you ask and give it the data (say, a couple of Excel files containing financial info), while Copilot for Finance would do it as part of your normal finance workflow, already knowing where the data is (in your ERP and Excel models) and proactively helping you in that domain.
Does Copilot for Finance only work with Dynamics 365?
No. Copilot for Finance is not limited to Dynamics 365, though that’s a primary integration. It brings together Microsoft 365 Copilot with a finance-focused agent that connects to your existing financial data sources including ERP systems like Dynamics 365 and SAP. So if your company runs SAP for finance, Copilot for Finance can use that data as well. Microsoft has built it to be flexible via connectors, because they know not everyone is on Dynamics. That said, organizations using Dynamics 365 Finance get a more seamless experience – Copilot for Finance can sit right inside the D365 Finance interface and offer insights without any data transfer.
In summary, Copilot for Finance is cross-platform in terms of data sources, but tightly integrated with Microsoft’s own finance solutions for maximum benefit. It’s an example of Microsoft creating role-specific Copilots (others being Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Service) that extend the core Copilot capabilities into specialised business functions.
Further Reading and Sources
As well my own experimentation, the following sources were also inferred and read when writing this blog. I did also use Copilot to help tweak the tone and flow.
Yesterday I read the “Omdia Universe: Smart Collaboration Devices 2025 report“. This was promoted by Cisco who, as you may know are currently the fastest growing Microsoft Teams Room MTR provider whilst also of course having their own Webex Meeting platform and experiences.
In this blog, I summarise the key insights that jumped out to me and cover how the report reveal how Cisco are re innovating in this crowded space and differenting themselves through their inter-connected portfolio.
I also look at what it all means for organises who use Webex and of course Microsoft Teams, and why – in this rapidly shifting collaborative landscape – why not all vendors in this space are equal.
The Omdia Universe Report
The report looks at 11 of the top-tier vendors across 18 categories and 20 subcategories, evaluating everything from AI-driven features to deployment simplicity. It looks at the current state and evolution of our hybrid work era where every meeting room is expected to deliver a seamless blend of hardware and functionality to drive productivity and foster a culture of meaningful collaboration.
Early on in the report they bring out the market trends and growth which is important.
State of the Meeting Room Market
The report reveals that one of the primary priority for most organisations is to expand video capabilities across every type of meeting room. This ambition to improve the user experience, together with regular room refresh initiatives, is fueling continuous market growth. Key sectors such as local government, finance, legal, education, and technology are actively deploying these solutions to support both hybrid and in-office workforces.
Although the video conferencing market is mature, recent innovations, especially AI enhancements like active speaker tracking, auto-framing, presenter tracking, background noise cancellation, and audio/video zone fencing, are reinvigorating this space. These features are designed to ensure meeting equity by making every participant visible and audible.
Additionally, collaborative services that offer meeting transcription and summarisaon have become transformative, as enterprises increasingly desire devices that operate seamlessly without manual intervention.
The report concludes that looking ahead, industry leaders like Microsoft and, Cisco are expected to spearhead the integration of meeting room budgets and projects through unified platform-driven experiences.
With hybrid work becoming the norm, the smart collaboration devices market is poised for further expansion, building on a 10% year-over-year revenue increase in 2024 and anticipated even stronger growth in 2025.
Key needs from business include’
Broad solutions matter: What organisations demand goes beyond just high-quality video; it’s about having the flexibility to address complex meeting room setups, catering to diverse environments – from intimate huddle spaces to large, multifunctional boardrooms.
Integration is king: Unified and connected ecosystems are essential to success. Devices must not only work well independently but also integrate with the software platforms we use every day such as like Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams.
AI and automation: From real-time noise suppression, participant identification, smart meeting notes and inclusion, to intelligent framing and dynamic meeting analytics, AI is transforming devices into interactive partners rather than mere tools.
Refresh is at an all time high. The Covid Era of quick purchases and decisions is past us and the next 2 years show huge demand from customers and growth from partners who operate and excel in this space.
Deep Impact: Cisco’s Differentiation
In short not all collaboration vendors are equal. When we ask, “Who really understands the future of collaboration?” the answer resonates with Cisco’s long time history and performance in this space.
Image by Omdia
Despite the decline of Webex platform usage over the years and the huge adoption of Teams, the report shares how Cisco is truly the “full stack” visionary in this segment, and here’s why according to the report:
End-to-End Ecosystem Integration: the report calls out that Cisco’s Webex devices aren’t just about a good video endpoint. They are part of a growing broader ecosystem that unifies Cisco’s hardware, network infrastructure, observability platform and other software. For customers and partners, this means easier deployment, streamlined management and an elevated user experience across different meeting room types which leads to higher productivity and a sense of continuity. What really impacts this is that the integration even extends to Microsoft Teams, offering a fluid experience for organisations that want to maintain their existing Teams environment while leveraging Cisco’s robust hardware solutions.
AI-Driven Excellence: while platforms like Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams have AI embedded in the software, the newest Cisco hardware leverages NVIDIA GPUs and NPUs to go beyond “good enough.” The report calls our how they deliver advanced features like intelligent framing, active speaker tracking, and background noise elimination at the hardware layer. Just like Copilot+PCs that do the same on the desktop, Cisco by putting in their meeting room endpoints don’t simply improve call quality, they change the dynamics of how teams interact in both in-person and remote settings. This AI-first approach creates a “meeting equity” where every participant is seen and heard clearly an essential ingredient for effective hybrid work and something that is key for inclusion and accessibility too.
Webex Control Hub & Management Simplicity: Another big call out is Cisco’s centralised management suite. Whilst Microsoft Teams has a Teams Room Pro portal which is very good, the report details how Cisco takethe headache out of device provisioning and monitoring especially where organisations have a mix of platforms but standardise on Cisco hardware. This ease of use, combined with proactive analytics, provides a level of operational insight that few competitors can match. With new AI features around management and the integration of the network this kind of thoughtful design allows IT teams to focus on strategic priorities rather than firefighting everyday issues across rooms, network etc.
Interoperability with Teams: In today’s environment, larger organisations are often split between different collaboration platforms or may be shifting from one to the other. Cisco’s revised strategy is smart, as it ensures that while Webex remains the backbone for in-room experiences, its devices are “platform agnostic” enough to also be a Microsoft partner and fully support Microsoft Teams. This means businesses don’t have to compromise on one technology over another—they can have the best of both worlds. This is good for sustainability, consistency and for Cisco and Microsoft partners a kind.
Where other vendors fall short
The report also pulls out that while many organisations have vendors preferences (or at the flip end don’t – and use a mix devices, not all are equal.
This is based on the pain points reported by enterprises which are summarised in the report as follows
The report gives scores across the main key vendors and shows Cisco as a clear leader mainly because.
“Cisco emerges as a leader in this Omdia Universe report on smart collaboration devices. Cisco’s” Leader” status is attributed to its exceptional performance across all evaluated categories. The company achieved an impressive overall unweighted score of 90% for its capabilities, 85% for strategy and execution,and a solution breadth score of 97%”
Webex & Teams: Bridging the Divide
Back on Cisco, the report calls out that conversation around collaboration tools is incomplete without recognising the symbiotic (and still new) relationship between Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams. The once enemies in the Collaboration spaces, Cisco, to avoid loosing any more market share have now truly partnered. The report calls out tha while Webex hardware is the go-to for feature-rich, AI-driven collaboration experiences, Microsoft Teams remains indispensable due to its deep integration into enterprise productivity suites like Microsoft 365 and of course Copilot. This unification of the two brings the best of both!
The report also calls out the reasons some firms still stand behind Webex and why Teams as a platform is the choice by most.
Webex: Cisco’s Webex is celebrated for its polished, intuitive interface and extensive feature set. By offering advanced meeting controls, real-time transcription, immersive audio, and intelligent device management, Webex sets the standard for what “smart collaboration” should feel like.
Teams: Teams is deeply entrenched in the daily workflow of almost every enterprise thanks to its seamless integration with other Microsoft 365,its extensibility and of course Their Copilot AI offerings. Cisco’s ability to support Teams via its hardware bridges the gap, allowing organisations to invest in robust, vendor-supported devices without needing to choose exclusively between platforms. Those that choose Teams (as long as they don’t need Windows powered systems) get a truly awesome experience.
Cisco, by ensuring that devices work seamlessly across these two major platforms, they not only reassures current customers but also attracts enterprises looking to future-proof their collaboration investments.
This value is multiplied for organisations that also invest in Cisco networking solutions with the integration, aligned management and insights across their estate that no other vendor can provide.
NOTE: Whilst this blog pulls out the huge advantages of Cisco, the full report actually show that as well as Cisco, HP Poly, Logitech, Neat, and Yealink also shine.
Regardless of your vendor of choice the message to IT leaders grappling with hybrid work challenges is to ” invest in solutions that blend robust performance with seamless platform integration. Whether you lean towards the established sophistication of Webex or the cohesive productivity experience provided by Teams, the future of collaboration demands a thoughtful, integrated approach.
My view
As a proud Cisco and Microsoft partner, I believe that Cisco’s revamped video collaboration solutions integrate seamlessly with both Webex and Microsoft Teams while driving innovation for both platforms.
Cisco is also (through help of partners and putting their money where their mouth is) effectively overcoming its legacy reputation of “complex and expensive” , where customers once perceived their devices as outdated, expensive, and burdened with complex licensing and procurement processes.
As highlighted in the report and reflected in our customer experiences, those concerns are now outdated. Cisco devices are readily available at competitive pricing through collaboration partners like Cisilion, and the benefits are further amplified when customers invest in the broader Cisco infrastructure portfolio, including networking, ThousandEyes for enhanced visibility and performance, and secure access solutions.
Cisco Live 2025 is happening this week in San Diego (after five years in Vegas) with around 22,000 attendees. As you’d image from any tech event at the moment, the focus was very much AI with the theme being summed up as “All AI, all the time”. Throghout the Day 1 keynotes, Cisco’s message was clear: the “agentic AI era” is upon us, and Cisco is positioning itself as the infrastructure backbone to support service providers, cloud providers and enterprises of this new age.
Cisco’s President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel set the tone with a bold analogy: “The way that you should think about us is like the picks and shovels company during the gold rush. We are the infrastructure company that powers AI during the agentic movement,”
…….In other words, while everyone’s chasing AI gold, Cisco’s approach is to providing the bedrock tools to dig for it – unveiling new innovations spanning networking hardware, unified management software, security, and collaboration tools, all infused with AI.
I wasn’t able to attend the event myself, but here’s my break down the top announcements and innovations from the live streams I watched. Let me know what I have missd 🙂
The “Agentic AI” Era
Cisco Live’s buzzword was undoubtedly “Agentic AI.” Cisco sees a shift from basic chatbots to autonomous agents that don’t just answer questions, but perform tasks and jobs on our behalf. As Jeetu Patel said in the keynote “The world is moving from chatbots intelligently answering our questions to agents conducting tasks and jobs fully autonomously. This is the agentic era of AI”.
Like many of the other tech giants, their view is that in this fast moving era, billions of AI agents could be working for us behind the scenes, which “will soar” the demand for high-bandwidth, low-latency and power-efficient networking in Cloud Providers and Private Hosted data centers.
Cisco’s key mesage here is that they are here to help organisations and providers meet this demand. “Cisco is delivering the critical infrastructure for the AI era — secure networks and experiences, optimized for AI that connect the world and power the global economy“.
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said that “no organisation can hire limitless people to tackle increasing IT complexity and cyber threats – instead – machines must scale to share the burden”. He went on to say how Automation and AI-driven operations are not just nice-to-haves; they’re becoming essential and every business is looking to invest and build here and it will only accelerate in pace and scale.
Cisco also set out to explain that “generative AI” and “agentic AI” have different effects on the infrastructure needed to support them. Generaive AI creates sporadic spikes in demand, but Agentic AI creates sustained perpetual demand for inferencing capacity. This means that for agentic AI, networks and Cloud data centers need a continuous heavy-duty upgrade to what they run on today. Cisco expect that many will large enterprises, those setting out to build their own “AIs” and of course Service and Cloud Providers will likley need to “re-rack the entire datacenter and rebuild the network” to handle these new AI workloads.
One Unified Plartform to Manage it all
As (a long time ago) IT Sys Admin, I remember how managing networks used to sometimes feel like herding cats – multiple dashboards for switches, routers, security, cloud, etc., all siloed.
Cisco has now announced Cisco Cloud Control, a new unified management console intended to “drive all its networking, security, and observability tools” from one place. In a nutshell, Cloud Control is Cisco’s approach to bring all those separate management tools into a single pane of glass – making it easier for network admins and giving a Cisco Customers a cohesive platform to showcase it’s new AI innovations in one place.
Of course Cloud Control is AI infused too. There is an AI Assistant that lets IT teams query their infrastructure in plain English. Here they could ask (as per their demo) “Hey Cisco, why is the Wi-Fi slow on the 4th floor?” and get a useful answer.
To achieve this, Cisco are using a new custom large language model trained on decades of Cisco networking knowledge (like an AI powered CCIE) to provide expert guidance. Cisco showed off a new AI Canvas (an “agentic” interface) that auto-generates relevant dashboards that work together to help identify issues, suggest fixes, and even implement changes – with human approval gating the final step. In short – you describe a problem, and the system brings forward the relevant controls and data needed to solve it, all guided by Cisco AI.
Cisco’s message is not just about adding AI for AI sake – it is designed to address real IT headache by combining formerly separate mnagement planes and interfaces into one.
Cisco also announced they are unifying management for their Catalyst and Meraki product lines (switching and wireless) into this single console, with common licensing too.
Overall, the message is that whether it’s campus networks, branch, data center, or cloud, Cisco goal is is to centralise control and inject AI assistance across them all, leading to smarter and simpler unified operations.
Splunk also got a mention – with Cisco talking about how ThousandEyes and Splunk analytics will also be able to integrate into this platform to give end-to-end visibility – from user device to application. This is part of a broader “One Cisco” vision of an integrated portfolio for networking, security, collaboration, and observability.
Net Hardware: Faster, Smarter, and Built for AI
It wouldn’t be Cisco Live without new hardware – and this year, Cisco delivered a loads of it. Recognising that AI workloads are putting unprecedented demands on Service provider and Cloud networks, Cisco unveiled a lineup of new switches, routers, and wireless devices which all give higher throughput, low latency, and security by design. This inlcuded:
Campus Switches (C9350 & C9610): Designed for campus networks and powered by its custom Silicon One chips – they boast a huge 51.2 Tbps of throughput and sub-5 microsecond latency, with quantum-resistant security built in. These are designed to handle “high-stakes AI applications” at the network edge.
Secure Branch Routers (8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, 8500 Series): To connect sites and users to AI resources, Cisco have unveiled these new Secure Catalyst Routers for branches. These are all-in-one boxes that combine SD-WAN, SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) connectivity and next-gen firewall. Cisco say they will deliver up to 3× the throughput of the previous generation too. Why? Cisco is converging networking and security at the WAN edge so that adopting AI doesn’t open new holes in your defenses.
Wi-Fi 7 (Cisco Wireless 9179F): – see new APs, tailored for stadiums and large venues. These APs support the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard bringing multi-gig speeds and better reliability and integrate Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (URWB) technology alongside Wi-Fi in one device. That means an access point can also serve as a highly reliable wireless bridge/mesh link, useful in places where running fiber/cable is hard.
Ruggedised Switches for Industry 4.0: To support AI at the edge – in places like factories, oil rigs, smart cities – Cisco unveiled 19 new rugged switches built to withstand harsh environments. These come in various form factors (tiny DIN-rail mounts, hardened casings, etc.) to fit into industrial sites where conditions are extreme. Interestingly, Cisco integrated that URWB wireless tech here too, meaning you can have a unified wireless fabric that covers both IT and OT (operational tech) environments via a combination of Wi-Fi and wireless backhaul. In plain terms, these rugged switches + wireless combos let factories and outdoor facilities achieve high-density, reliable wireless coverage as part of one unified infrastructure.
Powered by Cisco Silicon One: All Cisco’s hardware announcements reinforced a key point: networking and security are fusing together in Cisco’s strategy. All new switches and routers all come with baked-in security features (from Hypershield to post-quantum crypto) rather than treating security as an add-on. Jeetu Patel emphasised, that the future is about networks that are programmable and adaptable – Cisco’s own Silicon One custom chips are a big part of that story because it means that Cisco can update these devices for new AI workloads via software without needing to build a new chip and device. This is a major compete play and USP for Cisco.
Security in the AI Era: Zero Trust, Everywhere, All at Once
All the AI in the world won’t help if your business if your network isn’t secure. Cisco used this approach to double down on its message that security must be woven into every layer of the network, especially as AI opens new frontiers (and potentially new threats). In the agentic AI era, Cisco said that attackers will leverage AI, meaning threats could become faster and more sophisticated. The answer? “Secure by design” infrastructure and a unified security architecture that can handle the scale of AI-fueled operations.
As a result Cisco introduced a new network security blueprint anchored by what they call the Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Universal ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access). They represent a concerted effort to integrate security across all users, devices, and applications more seamlessly including:
Hybrid Mesh Firewall: Annouced earlier this year, Cisco’s next-gen firewall for the AI era, acts as a distributed security fabric spanning your whole environment. It brings together Cisco’s own firewalls and even third-party firewall integrations into one cohesive system to to enable zero-trust segmentation everywhere – from your data center core, across clouds, out to branch offices and all the way to IoT devices at the edge. The goal is that every part of the network becomes a security enforcement point, tightly coordinated.
Universal ZTNA: Cisco’s Zero Trust Network Access solution, now branded “Universal” because it aims to cover any user or device, anywhere. Universal ZTNA provides secure, identity-based access to applications, whether users are on the corporate LAN, at home, or on a mobile device. It extends the zero-trust mode to hard-to-manage endpoints and ensures a unified policy follows the user. For example, whether JimBob from accounting logs in from the office or from a coffee shop Wi-Fi, the system continuously verifies his identity and device posture before granting access to the finance app. The synergy here is that integrating ZTNA and the distributed firewall, Cisco can tightly control user-to-app connections and even monitor the traffic between services, all under a zero-trust philosophy.
Beyond hardware, the cloud-based Cisco Security Cloud got enhancements to help secure those emerging AI workflows. Their platform can now better secure interactions involving AI agents, using tools like Cisco AI Defense (which monitors AI model operations for tampering or misuse) as part of a “Secure AI Factory” concept co-developed with NVIDIA.
Their integration of Splunk also got a mention, where they demonstrated deeper Cisco + Splunk integrations for security analytics – such as sending security events and network telemetry into Splunk’s SIEM and using Splunk’s AI-driven insights to automate responses via Cisco’s tools.
Webex: Smarter Meetings, AI Helpers, and Cameras with a Brain
Cisco did also announce a series of Webex updates with more AI coming into Webex in ways that aim to make meetings less of a chore and customer service more efficient.
Jira Workflow Automation in Webex: For native Webex meetings, this can listen for action items discussed in a meeting and automatically create Jira tickets for them. For example, if during a team call someone says “I’ll update the budget doc next week,” the AI will note that and generate a task in Jira , Monday.com or Asana – fill in your project tool) assigned to that person. It will even capture the context by attaching relevant portions of the meeting transcript or recording. Cisco touted, the integration can also update Jira tickets in real-time if status changes are mentioned in meetings – so, if the team says “the server migration is completed,” the AI could move the Jira task to “done” and note the discussion. It’s like having a diligent virtual project manager in every meeting, so humans can focus on discussion rather than note-taking.
Webex AI Agent for Customer Self-Service: They announced enhancements to the Webex AI Agent – to make it easier to deploy and more powerful. Tgherenis a new set of prebuilt, industry-specific templates – out-of-the-box chatbot templates tailored for industries like healthcare, finance, retail, etc. Instead of a generic bot that has to be trained from scratch, Cisco provides a starting knowledge base (e.g., a healthcare template might know common questions about insurance, appointments, privacy rules, etc.). This can significantly speed up creating a virtual agent and leads to more relevant answers since it’s contextually aware of the industry. Cisco are also enabling these AI agents and features for on-premises deployments as well.
Conclusion
Cisco is all-in on AI, not by making its own AI apps, but by supercharging the underlying tech that makes AI possible.
Cisco seem fully aware of the challenges businesses face with emerging technologies. – whether it’s handling the flood of data and compute that AI workloads generate, securing a more complex threat landscape, and having a true end to end view on the user experence – Cisco is positioning itself as the enabler (and problem-solver) and has signaled it’s not sitting on the sidelines of the AI revolution.
The narrative of “One Cisco” came through strongly: networking, security, collaboration, cloud, and services all interlinking to form a complete platform for the AI era. Cisco is offering a very compelling toolkit for enterprises: blazing-fast hardware to move AI bits, smart software to manage it with minimal hassle, and built-in security every step of the way.
Cisco wants to be “the infrastructure company that powers AI” – the dependable partner under the hood while everyone chases AI magic. By unifying its platforms and injecting AI into network operations, Cisco is making a play to stay indispensable in this new era.
One of the most frustrating thing about Teams intelligent Recap and Copilot in meetings is in its ability to not understand company acroymns and internal “language” or terms.
Scheduled to rollout in July 2025, tenant administrators will be able to upload a Custom Dictionary through the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal’s Copilot Settings page.
This feature will finally enables organisations to improve transcription accuracy in Copilot and Teams meetings and calls by enabling Microsoft 365 to understand company-specific terminology. This will means that will be able to understand things such as
Industry jargon,
Internal product names and terms
Multilingual terms
This should help ensure conversations are transcribed and interpreted with greater precision.
Why this matters?
Organisations rely on Microsoft Copilot and Teams transcripts for insights, documentation, and knowledge retrieval. However, standard AI transcription can misinterpret niche terms or acronyms, leading to confusion and even sometimes humorous transcriptions.
This new Custom Dictionary feature addresses this by allowing businesses to define key terms their workforce frequently uses.
Real Benefits.
Legal & Compliance Accuracy: Law firms using specialised legal terminology (e.g., “prima facie,” “voir dire”) can ensure precise transcripts without ambiguity.
Enterprise Acronyms & Branding: Technology companies like Cisilion will be able to maintain more accurate documentation of internal project names (e.g., “Project Nebula”) and proprietary solutions.
Global Team Collaboration: Multinational organisations can optimise transcription quality across multiple languages and regional dialects.
Better AI Insights & Search:Copilot will be able to retrieve knowledge more effectively, ensuring summaries, recommendations, and contextual responses align with an organisation’s unique vocabulary.
This update is part of a broader set of Microsoft 365 enhancements including improved accessibility for sign language users in Teams meetings and expanded Copilot capabilities for 1:1 and group calls.
By refining AI-driven language models, Microsoft aims to make workplace collaboration smarter, clearer, and more inclusive.
You can read more and track this features release on the official Microsoft 365 Roadmap.
There’s instructions for enabling and configuring it here.
Cisco has been named as the fastest-growing partner for Microsoft Teams Rooms.
This was announced by Ilya Bukshteyn, VP for Teams calling, devices, and premium experiences at Microsoft at an event at the Cisco office in Oslo, Norway. UC influencer and Cisco employee Chris Palmero took to LinkedIn and shared the news and some other great quotes from Cisco and Microsoft that came from the event.
Ilya Bukshteyn and Espen Løberg discussed the progress and growth of Cisco in this space, Ilya said that: “We want Microsoft Teams in every space, and Cisco is so great at designing devices for every space.”…….
“The combination of our companies is uniquely positioned to deliver ‘eyes,’ ‘ears,’ and ‘brain’ for every space. And that is the future of work and this partnership (with Cisco) is based on providing customers with choice.”
During the chat, Espen Løberg added: “This collaboration of two world-class engineering teams that have strengths in different areas is moving the industry forward; it’s making the world better.“
As a leading UK Cisco and Microsoft Partner, it’s really great to see the power of these two collaboration giants redefining the entire employee journey. Whilst Cisco are still a way from being the largest Teams Meeting Room partners and still. Of course have their own Webex experiences they promote and drive, the combination of Cisco’s network, security, observability platform and their devices running Microsoft Teams and of course AI powered Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences are showing what two previously competing UC and Meeting room provider can achieve when they combine forces.
Cisco is one of a number of Teams Room OEMs and sits along side, Poly, Neat, Lenovo, Logitech and Yealink who are currently the number one provider globally.
At Microsoft Ignite in Chicago in November, I covered an interview with Cisco where they clearly expressed their ambitions to be number one Teams Room provider by the end of 2025.
It seems they are well on their way to achieving this…
After years of silence around bringing more functionality to the Windows 11, Microsoft have quietly announced a new Calendar app for Windows 11.
This doesn’t replace the Calendar Fly out but is instead the latest Microsoft 365 “Companion app” and joins the recently launched People and File Search apps.
It’s only availble for Commercial customers with a Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise License.
What does the new Calendar app do?
The goal of the new Calendar companion is to essentially bring back the show your day and schedule at a glance with a simple flyout the opens up right above the Windows taskbar as shown in the screenshot below.
It also provides more interactivity allowing you to accept and even join meetings directly from the calendar without having to go to Outlook or Teams.
New Windows 11 calendar flyout
This is quite slick and simple to use and not only provides much needed and quick access to common calendar related things, but also provides more use than the Windows 10 Calendar Fly out and significantly more than what is native on the Windows 11 calendar.
Image (c) Microsoft.
Microsoft says on their blog that:
“The Calendar companion app lets users quickly view their Microsoft 365 calendar directly from the Windows taskbar, eliminating the need to switch between apps and lose context. View upcoming events, join meetings, and search for appointments to stay on top of your schedule. “
When can I get the new Calendar App?
The new Calendar app is currently available to Microsoft 365 Insiders in the Beta Channel but will roll out to other channels over the next few weeks based on customer feedback.
I had the pleasure in taking part in a podcast last week with some of my team, Microsoft and Westcoast. This was aimed at demystifying Copilot+ PCs, part of which got us into the tech trenches of security and sustainability, two of the main reasons, organisations invest in Microsoft and Surface.
As such I thought I’d break out and do a spotlight on Microsoft’s Chip to Cloud Security approach.
Security is a critical consideration across any technology purchase and the laptops/tablets you buy should be no different. Whilst security can be layered on, it works best when it is built-in and part of what you buy. With Surface this is front and centre.
With cyber threats growing more sophisticated each day both at software and hardware layers, Microsoft has a bold and powerful stance: embedding security from chip design, supply chain, firmware/UEFI, Windows and of course the Cloud.
Microsoft Surface is more than a premium class device. Surface is a manifestation of Microsoft’s holistic, Zero Trust security philosophy. Secure by design and Secure by default.
Surface is also the only Windows OEM that controls and owns the entire security stack from the hardware, to the Windows OS to the Cloud Security like Defender.
Microsoft Surface Chip to Cloud Architecture.
Microsoft sets a compelling example of agile defense against emerging threats in what they term “From Chip to Cloud”.
What Does “Chip to Cloud” Mean?
At its core, “chip to cloud” is about ensuring security at every stage – from design, supply chains, the hardware integrated into the device to the operating system and finally, into the cloud where robust analytics and cloud defense form a huge part of the Surface blueprint (see above).
This approach means that when you first power on a Surface device, the user is protected. This starts at the hardware level and continues seamlessly into Windows, the software applications you run, and the cloud services you use.
The Microsoft Surface: A Manifestation of Microsoft’s Security Vision
Microsoft Surface is not just another OEM device. It is built by Microsoft at every level. Surface combines the very best of Microsoft’s technologies under one roof – Windows 11, Defender, and Microsoft 365 security to provide an enterprise-grade, secure experience.
Rather than just layers on, this is security by design built in and baked into every layer including the silicon.. The commitment to Zero Trust is evident, as every layer, whether hardware, firmware, or software, works in concert to provide continuous protection.
Key Takeaways:
Zero Trust Architecture: Every access point, both physical and digital, is continuously verified.
Full-Stack Security Ownership: With Microsoft owning the entire security architecture, the Surface delivers a unified defense that spans the entire ecosystem.
In Windows 11, hardware and software work together to reduce the attack surface, protect system integrity, and safeguard valuable data. New and enhanced features are designed with security by default which include running Win32 apps in isolation, token protection, passkeys, and Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management providing just some of the latest capabilities helping to shield from attacks.
Windows Hello and Windows Hello for Business integrate with hardware-based features such as Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0, biometric scanners, and Windows presence sensing to enable easier, more secure sign-on and protection of your data and credentials. Microsoft are also closer than ever in moving to a Passwordless future.
It Starts with Silicon – the Pluton Security Processor
The journey of security begins at the hardware layer / the silicon. Newer devices are built in collaboration with Intel, Qualcomm and AMD, ensuring that their internal architecture is as robust and secure as possible. Newer devices will leverage Microsoft’s internally designed Pluton processor which can also act as the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and hardware root of trust further improving hardware based security.
Pluton Processor Architecture (c Microsoft
Microsoft Pluton security processor is a chip-to-cloud security technology built with Zero Trust principles at the core. Microsoft Pluton provides hardware-based root of trust, secure identity, secure attestation, and cryptographic services. Pluton technology is a combination of a secure subsystem, which is part of the System on Chip (SoC) and Microsoft authored software that runs on this integrated secure subsystem.
The way it works (simplified) is that when the system boots, Pluton hardware initialisation takes place by loading the Pluton firmware from the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash storage on the motherboard. During Windows 11 startup, the OS uses the latest available version of the Pluton firmware. If no newer firmware is available, Windows defaults to the version loaded during hardware initialisation. This diagram illustrates the process:
Pluton boot process in Windows 11 (c) Microsoft
Note: Microsoft Pluton is currently available on devices with AMD Ryzen® 6000, 7000, 8000, Ryzen AI and Qualcomm Snapdragon® 8cx Gen 3 and Snapdragon X series processors. Microsoft Pluton can be enabled on devices with Pluton capable processors running Windows 11, version 22H2 and later.
Highlights of Pluton.
Secure by Design at the Chip Level: Even if one component is challenged, the Zero Trust framework ensures there is backup protection within other layers—including during the manufacturing and supply chain process.
The Pluton Security Processor: Unlike traditional hardware security modules, Pluton is embedded right into the CPU. This integration provides hardware-based root of trust, secure identity, and cryptographic operations that are virtually immune to physical tampering. Such a design minimizes the risk of sensitive data extraction even when attackers try to bypass conventional boundaries.
Microsoft Pluton can be used as a TPM, or with a TPM. Although Pluton builds security directly into the CPU, Windows device manufacturers might choose to use discrete TPM as the default TPM, while having Pluton available to the system as a security processor for use cases beyond the TPM. Microsoft are adopting the latter for all new devices built. It’s also leveraged by the new Windows 365 Link Devices.
Preempting Advanced Threats: Learning from Spectre & Meltdown
Back in early 2018, vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown demonstrated that even the most advanced processors could be exploited via speculative execution. Microsoft’s response was swift and agile:
Rapid Patch Deployment: Security updates were rolled out on the day of public disclosure, ensuring devices were immediately protected.
Agile Firmware Development: Microsoft built its own UEFI, reducing dependency on third-party providers. They even introduced secure programming languages like Rust to minimize vulnerabilities from the start.
Holistic Integration: By leveraging its full-stack ownership, Microsoft coordinated an end-to-end defense – from patching the OS to reinforcing the hardware.
This agility and forward-thinking approach are core to maintaining trust in a world where new threats emerge on a daily basis.
Moving forward, the March 2021 Security Signals report found that more than 80% of enterprises had experienced at least one firmware attack in the past two years.
OS and Cloud Defense: The Next Layers of Protection
Moving from hardware to software, Microsoft ensures that Surface devices benefit from Windows 11’s robust security features:
Operating System Security: Built-in features such as Windows Hello, TPM 2.0, and Secured-Core PC (with Pluton processors) protections safeguard the operating system, providing seamless defense as soon as the device boots up.
Cloud Integration: The cloud plays a critical role by delivering powerful analytics and AI-driven threat detection. Microsoft Defender continuously monitors devices and endpoints, ensuring that potential breaches are thwarted before they escalate.
Real-Time Intelligence: Integration with Microsoft 365 security tools like Microsoft Defender and cloud-based analytics means Surface devices receive continuous updates and proactive defenses regardless of where the device is located.
A Secure Ecosystem for the Future
What sets the Microsoft Surface apart is its integration into a broader ecosystem that is built from the ground up with security in mind. From hardware collaboration with Intel and silicon experts, the innovative use of the Pluton processor, to agile responses against threats like Spectre and Meltdown – all these measures come together in an environment where the chip is only the beginning. The real secret lies in how this interconnected world of Windows, Defender, and cloud-based intelligence creates a fortress that’s always one step ahead.
Microsoft Surface is not just the most secure Windows device you can buy it is the point into a cohesive zero trust security architecture that works tirelessly to protect your data, your device from hardware to Windows OS through Office apps and Microsoft 365 services and of course Defender.
Conclusion
Secure by design and Secure by default. Microsoft Surface exemplifies this chip-to-cloud approach by combining robust hardware protection with powerful OS and cloud defenses. With Zero Trust principles woven into every layer, Surface devices are designed not only to meet today’s challenges but to anticipate tomorrow’s threats.
Microsoft Surface isn’t just “the most Secure Windows device” on the market, it is part of Microsoft’s wider secure ecosystem that enables security from Chip-to-Cloud.
With Windows 10 support ending in <5 months, I thought I’d talk a little about what Trusted PlatformModule (TPM) is, its role in Windows 11, and how it fits into Microsoft’s Chip-to-Cloud security strategy, along with an explanation of Microsoft’s own Pluton processors.
Why. Well, before Microsoft released TPM and made it a mandatory system requirement, few people paid attention to it but now I get asked more and more “what is TPM”. So here we go….
Introduction
Security in computing has never been more critical. As cyber threats evolve, Microsoft continues to adapt it’s proactive approach to securing Windows devices from the ground up. This is where Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and Pluton processors come into play, forming key components of Microsoft’s Chip-to-Cloud security strategy.
TPM 2.0 is the latest version of TPM, the previous version being TPM 1.2
What is TPM?
TPM is a hardware-based security module designed to protect sensitive data, such as encryption keys, credentials, and system integrity measurements.
Trusted Platform Module (TPM, also known as ISO/IEC 11889) is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.
It acts as a root of trust, ensuring that a device boots securely and remains protected against unauthorised access.
Why is TPM Required for Windows 11
Microsoft made TPM 2.0 a requirement for Windows 11 to enhance security across all devices.
Today, we are announcing Windows 11 to raise security baselines with new hardware security requirements built-in that will give our customers the confidence that they are even more protected from the chip to the cloud on certified devices.
David Weston, Director of Enterprise and OS Security @ Microsoft
Here’s why it’s needed.
BitLocker encryption in Windows 11 (and earlier versions) enhances security by storing encryption keys in the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). When a user accesses their computer, these keys unlock the drive, ensuring seamless protection. Without the keys stored in TPM, attackers cannot decrypt the drive—such as the system drive—nor can they access the files on it.
TPM is needed because it provides and enforces:
Hardware-Based Protection: Unlike software-only security solutions, TPM is embedded in the hardware, making it resistant to malware and physical attacks.
Secure Boot & System Integrity: TPM ensures that the operating system loads securely, preventing unauthorized modifications.
Encryption & Authentication: Features like BitLocker and Windows Hello rely on TPM to securely store encryption keys and biometric data.
Defending Against Emerging Threats: With attackers increasingly targeting firmware and hardware vulnerabilities, TPM provides a trusted executionenvironmentthat mitigates these risks.
Microsoft’s Chip-to-Cloud Security Strategy
Microsoft’s Chip-to-Cloud approach is designed to integrate security at every level, from the silicon inside a device to cloud-based protections. TPM plays a crucial role in this strategy by ensuring that security starts at the hardware level.
Where does Pluton Fit in?
Pluton is Microsoft’s next-generation securityprocessor, built directly into the CPU (known as System on Chip). Unlike traditional TPMs, which are separate chips, Pluton is integrated within theprocessor, making it even more resistant to attacks.
How Pluton Enhances Security
Eliminates Physical Attacks: Since Pluton is embedded within the CPU, attackers cannot extract sensitive data by physically removing or tampering with a separate TPM chip.
Continuous Security Updates**: Pluton receives firmware updates directly from Microsoft via Windows Update, ensuring devices remain protected against evolving threats.
Improved Cryptographic Security: Pluton enhances encryption capabilities, making it harder for attackers to compromise sensitive data.
Is Pluton part of TPM then?
Yes, Pluton can function as aTPM. It supports TPM 2.0 standards, meaning Windows features like BitLocker, Windows Hello, and System Guard can leverage Pluton for security.
Pluton also goes beyond TPM, offering additional security features that traditional TPMs cannot.
Pluton acts as the TPM in the new Surface Laptop and Pro released this month.
Conclusion
Microsoft’s Chip-to-Cloud security strategy ensures that Windows devices are protected at every level. TPM 2.0 provides a trustedfoundation while Pluton takes security to thenext level by integrating protection directly into the CPU. As cyber threats continue to evolve, these technologies will play a crucial role in safeguarding Windows devices.
With support for Windows 10 ending on 14th October 2025, Microsoft has introduced a strategic initiative aimed at easing the transition to modern computing environments and to encourage more oganisations to take a look at Windows 365.
They are offering a 20% off for any “new to Windows 365” business customers making it a great time to discover and test drive Windows 365.
What Is Windows 365?
Windows 365 is a 100% cloud-based service that streams a complete and dedicated Windows 11 operating system from the the Microsoft cloud to any device. In doing so, it this offers a modern and simple blend of mobility, security, and productivity. Being a cloud service (think Xbox Gaming) it can work on any internet connected device through a browser or Windows App. There is also a purpose-built Windows 365 Link Device which start shipping this month.
Use Cases for Windows 365
Whether you have contractors, temp staff, support bring your own device or just need to support remote workers better, Windows 365 is a simple, secure and flexible solution that adapts to your environment, your employees and your environment.
Windows 365 can work alongside an existing managed desktop and the subscription also includes Windows 10 Extended Support Updates, meaning if you use it from a Windows 10 device, you are secure and protected whilst you adopt Windows 365 or manage your transition from Windows 10 devices to more modern devices running Windows 11, like the new Surface Pro and Laptops released this week.
Windows 365 ensures that employees have access to a personalised, dedicated Windows desktop, apps, settings, and data with a single and secure login without compromise.
Why the discount counts!
Microsoft’s decision to offer a 20% discount on all Windows 365 subscriptions for first-time customers is a proactive measure to help businesses and individual users make a smooth transition ahead of Windows 10’s end of support. Here’s why the discount is a key opportunity:
Cost Efficiency: The discount provides immediate savings on subscription fees, making the switch to a cloud-based solution more budget-friendly.
Enhanced Security: Leaving behind legacy Windows 10 systems means benefiting from next-generation security features built right into Windows 11 and Windows 365.
Modern Computing on Any Device: Many businesses face hardware challenges—especially with older systems that do not meet the specification or security requirements of Windows 11 . Windows 365 sidesteps this by delivering a full-featured Windows experience through the cloud whilst providing Windows 10 ESU for the base devices to keep you secure and protected.
Seamless Integration: Windows 365 is designed and tested to work effortlessly with your Windows applications and services including Copilot, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, and other Office apps, Windows 365 ensures a cohesive ecosystem that boosts productivity and collaboration.
Flexibility: Windows 365 offers different SKUs for Small Business, Front Line Workers, and Enterprise and comes in different configuration specifications which can be scaled up and down as needed.
Who Can Benefit?
The 20% discount is available exclusively for first-time Windows 365 customers. It is valid for either the duration of the customer’s Enterprise Agreement contract or, for the first year of a CSP subscription.
Transitioning in the Shadow of Windows 10 End of Support
As Microsoft officially phases out support for Windows 10 in October 2025, many organizations are confronted with a pivotal decision: upgrade to newer, more secure systems or continue risking vulnerabilities on an aging operating system. Windows 365 emerges as a robust, cost-effective alternative that not only mitigates these risks but also propels organizations into a more agile and modern operational paradigm. This timely discount is a clarion call to innovate, modernize, and make a daring leap into the future of hybrid computing.
Speak to Cisilion Today
Now is the perfect moment to embrace change and take Windows 365 for a test drive. We can provide guidance, licensing, support, deployment and adoption support to help you transition or pilot Windows 365 and answer any questions you have.
Microsoft has today announced new (smaller) Copilot+ PC Surface Pro and Laptop 13″ which amongst other things provide a more cost effective Windows-powered alternative to the Apple iPad Pro 11-inch which is also due to launch this week.
These devices focus on hypermobility, versatility, and durability as key user priorities based on extensive user feedback and end user device surveys and studies.
These new devices include a “more portable” 13-inch Surface Laptop and a 12-inch Surface Pro, both of which are smaller/lower-spec versions of Microsoft’s flagship Laptop and Pro.
Both are Copilot+PCs though and powered by an eight-core Snapdragon X Plus processor with an NPU rated at 45 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS).
New Surface Laptop (Left) and Pro (Right)
Both come with a base config of 16GB of RAM (the minimum required for a Copilot+ PC), 256GB or 512GB of UFS storage. They come in three colours, Platinum, Ocean and Violet, and Platinum.
Release date for orders is May 20, 2025, and pricing starts at $899.99 for Laptop and $799.99 for the Pro. Pre-orders are available now from Microsoft and major resellers and these will start shipping to consumers later this month and for Business customers in July.
These devices form part of Microsoft’s continuing efforts to really make their devices and experiences more accessible to more people bringing smaller, seeker devices along with much lower price points when compared to the larger Surface Laptop and Pro range without sacrificing on power, performance, and AI capability.
This latest update to the Surface line up is part of their new Copilot+ PC family, designed to handle the latest AI workloads that are flooding the market including Microsoft own Windows 11 inbox tools including Click-to-Do and Recall.
Different look and feel
These new devices sit in the middle of the Flagship Pro and Laptop and the Go range. They look sleeker and more modern too with rounder edges and softer sides. This means they will also feel like different devices but retain that premium Surface familiarity and build quality.
You will note from naming structure that these devices also fall in line to be part of the Pro and Laptop but at their very core show Microsoft’s initial take what it means to be a Copilot+ PC.
These are also the first Surface devices not to ship with the Surface Connect Port which has been a stable for Surface since the Surface Pro 4. Instead these now support USB-C PD chargers something Microsoft (along with many others) are shifting to from a standardisation, and sustainability perspective.
New Surface Pro12″
The new Surface Pro is a hybrid 2-in-1 as you’d expect with the usual gorgeous adjustable kickstand, offering a smaller alternative to the current 13-inch Surface Pro 11th Edition.
To keep the price down, this new 12″ version comes with the 8-core Snap-Dragon Plus processor (rather than the 10 or 12 core version), the touchscreen has a lower refresh rate, resolution, and contrast ratio compared to the flagship versions.
There’s also a new Surface Pro 12-inch Keyboard which is needed to turn Pro into a laptop, while the (also optional) Surface Slim Pen 2 enables the user to take notes on draw its display. Taking innovation from the Surface Laptop Studio, Slim Pen can now magnetically attach to the back of the new Surface Pro for safekeeping. Despite its compact footprint, it includes a full-size keyboard with backlit keys and a customizable touchpad
Where this device excels however is in battery life, with this being rated for 16 hours of local video playback per charge.
There is no compromise on connectivity, with 2x USB-C and a USB-A too. You also get Wi-Fi-7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
Size wise, this 12-inch Surface Pro measures 10.8 x 7.47 x 0.3 inches and weighs just 1.5 pounds, making it “the thinnest and lightest Copilot+ PC yet“.
New Surface Laptop
The new 13″ Surface Laptop, like the smaller Pro, features a downgraded 60Hz touchscreen display with lower resolution and contrast ratio and is powered by the 8-core Snap-Dragon Plus CPUs. Battery power is where this really shines with a 23 hours (rated) of local video playback per charge, compared to the Surface Laptop 7’s 20 hours.
There’s also no compromise on connectivity, with 2x USB-C and a USB-A too. You also get Wi-Fi-7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
Dimension wide, the new Surface Laptop measures 11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61 inches and weights 2.7 pounds – making it the “thinnest and lightest Surface Laptop yet” according to Microsoft.
Go or No Go?
The launch of the 13-inch Surface Laptop and 12″ Surface Pro, seems to signal the end of Microsoft’s “Go line”, and also confirms Microsoft’s commitment Windows on ARM over Intel x86-based processors. The most recent Surface Laptop Go 3, a 12.4-inch model, was powered by a 12th-gen Intel Core CPU.
Leveraging ARM based chipsets still provide the best power/performace/battery life ratios and by debuting with these again sets the differentiator and gold standard for what a Microsoft expect other Windows OEMs to follow up with.
The most sustainable and repairable Surface devices ever
Surface continues to deliver sustainability advancements. According to the Microsoft blog, the new Surface Laptop contains 100% recycled cobalt in the battery cell and 100% recycled rare earth metals in the magnets.
Microsoft have even given us a peak inside the Surface Laptop to see how just repairable they are.
Inside Surface Laptop
Microsoft has also redesigned internal components for easier access and replacement, extending the potential lifespan of these devices.
Many components can be replaced by authorised service providers or skilled technicians — supporting a more repairable, circular approach to device design.
Standardising the Copilot+PC experience
With these new devices, it means that all new Surface devices can now provide the same amount of NPU processing power (TOPS) across the fleet across-the-board meaning a great Copilot+ PC experiences.
It also means it enables all the latest native AI experiences in Windows 11, including Recall, Click-to-Do, as Microsoft continue to push the boundary of what it means to have a Copilot+ PC.
Final thoughts.
Microsoft’s original vision of “a computer in every home and on every desk” has evolved alongside the ever-changing landscape of computing. Today’s Microsoft knows that devices need to prioritise adaptability multi modal input and mobility, tailoring themselves to individual workflows rather than enforcing standardised interaction models.
Every May 4th, us starwars fan unite under the rallying cry, “May the 4th be with you!”.
Just as the ‘real 1st episode’ A New Hope sparked an adventure in a galaxy far, far away, so too is the pace and rapid evolution of AI that is now lighting the path in modern workspaces, business and how we get work done.
Today, and with the help of Copilot, I am not just talking tech—but diving into the human side of transformation with a blend of Starwars and AI, with tools like Microsoft Copilot leading the charge in millions of global organisations, as they discovering that the secret to success isn’t solely technology, but the people-led change that makes innovation stick.
A New Hope: AI’s Journey into the Mainstream
Much like Luke Skywalker’s journey from an uncertain beginning to becoming a beacon of hope, AI is emerging as our modern-day savior in the digital realm.
Just like the journey to becoming a Jedi, this isn’t just about picking up a light sabre or Copilot license and doing a quick bit of training; today’s transformative breakthroughs with AI require a holistic approach that combines practice, perseverance and some adoption and change management to stop you giving in!
When companies deploy Microsoft Copilot across Microsoft 365, they aren’t just rolling out a new features. They’re empowering teams to rethink how they create content, analyse data, and communicate with one another. That’s the real new hope—a future where technology and human creativity merge to spark innovation.
This is where the force is strong!
Harnessing the Force: Microsoft Copilot in Action
Imagine having a droid by your side to help you through your day. Microsoft Copilot does just that:
In Word: Copilot can generate a first draft of a document of your “attack the death star plans” based on a simple Jedi prompt. Whether you’re drafting a report or brainstorming creative ideas on how to defeat Lord Vadar, it can even transform unstructured text into neat tables or summarize long essays, letting you focus on the big picture.
In Excel: Think of it like having a protocol droid like C3PO, who crunches numbers at light speed. Copilot can analyse your attack data, automate complex calculations, and even forecast trends. It transforms raw data into actionable insights, making financial forecasting and data cleaning as effortless as asking for directions on Tatooine.
In PowerPoint: Need sleek, engaging slides about the new SnowSpeeder? Copilot can help create a visual narrative that captures the essence of your story—from selecting design elements to generating concise content—much like a hologram of Leia offering inspiration for your next pitch.
In Outlook and Teams: Whether it’s summarising battle plans you have had over email or chat, drafting quick replies, or recapping Jedi Council meetings with key action points, Copilot enables swift communication. It acts like the trusty astromech droid R2-D2, ensuring you never miss a beat in your day-to-day operations.. Don’t worry…you get language translation from droid to English too!
Agents: just like out faithful droids, Copilot Agents allow orders to be followed but giving specific rules and actions for Copilot to follow using the data we provide. Agents can even tap into to rich data sources and access those death star plans or layout of the death star.
These real-world examples illustrate how Microsoft Copilot isn’t just a tool—it’s a strategic partner fueling change, much like the Rebel Alliance mobilizing for a brighter future.
Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away
The original Star Wars movie A New Hope reminds us that no single hero can change the universe alone. It was the collaboration, strategy, and shared dream of the Rebel Alliance that led to victory.
Similarly, successful AI adoption is not solely about implementing state-of-the-art tech. It’s about embracing a culture founded on continuous learning and empowerment. Change consultants, much like wise mentors in the series, guide organisations through the evolving landscape of AI—not by delivering quick fixes, but by integrating these tools into the fabric of everyday work.
Celebrating Star Wars Day in the Age of AI
On this Star Wars Day, as you sip a Blue Milk latte or a cup of your favorite smokey brew from a bar on Tatooine, take a moment to appreciate the parallel between the cinematic journey of hope and the exciting progress AI is having in our daily lives and work.
Whether you’re a die-hard fan or an AI enthusiast, there are parallels of R2D2 and C3PO and Microsoft Copilot as your digital side kicks. Remember… It’s not about replacing humans, but about enhancing our potential with the help and assistance of technology —giving us the space to be more creative, proactive, and engaged.
As we continue to harness AI, we’re also setting the stage for a new era of innovation where every tool, every strategy, and every individual plays a key part.
As technology evolves and our worlds where AI and humans will walk together converge, remember that every great journey begins with a single step and a single spark of hope.
This Star Wars Day, let’s celebrate not only legendary heroes of the past but also the brave new frontier of AI, where every one of us can become a part of the story. May the AI be with you, always!
Morse Code Day is “celebrated” every year on April 27th to honor Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse code, who was born on this day in 1791. This day recognises the historical significance of Morse code, a revolutionary method of communication that played a vital role in wars and influenced global communication systems.
Morse code uses dots, dashes, and spaces to represent letters, numbers, and special characters, making it a concise and effective way to transmit messages. The celebration often includes learning Morse code, exploring its history, and trying out creative ways to communicate using this fascinating system.
How Morse Code Works
Morse code revolutionised communication by enabling instant long-distance messaging through the telegraph. Before its invention, communication relied on physical messengers or visual signals like smoke or semaphore, which were slow and limited by distance and weather. Morse code allowed messages to be transmitted as electrical signals over wires, making communication faster, more reliable, and accessible across vast distances.
It also introduced a universal language of dots and dashes, transcending linguistic barriers and fostering global connectivity. Each sequence of dots and dashes translates to a letter which can then be put together to transmit words and sentences. This innovation paved the way for advancements in telegraph networks, submarine cables, and wireless communication systems, laying the foundation for modern technologies.
Its impact was profound in areas like military strategy, journalism, and commerce, where speed and accuracy were critical.
Try it for fun – “Morse Code Day” in Morse code is:
— — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.. .- -.–
As you see – each letter and space is represented by a unique combination of dots (.) and dashes (-). – Thanks Copilot 🙂
With the end of support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 (less than six months away), the time has come to embrace the next generation of computing for work and home with Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs.
According to a survey by Canalys, it was revealed that more than one-third (35%) of of Small and Medium sized businesses (SMB) clients either lack awareness of the Windows 10 end-of-service (EoS) deadline or have no firm plans of preparing for and dealing with this date – after which they will be forced to pay big money for security updates if they wish to continue using Windows 10.
The report states that within this 35%, 21% of SMB customers are aware of the upcoming Windows 10 EoS but still have no plans to upgrade, while 14% remain entirely unaware. This combination of unpreparedness and lack of awareness poses serious concerns, given the security and compliance risks of using unsupported systems post-EoS.
This impending end-date of Windows 10, together with the huge advances and benefit of Windows 11 and the new Copilot+ PC devices now flooding the market, should form the foundation for a transformative leap forward in security, performance, and productivity potential, making them the ideal choice for individuals and organisations alike.
Windows is not just an Operating System – it’s the foundation and access to what your device, applications, imagination and AI can do for you.
Windows and Surface: Secure from Chip to Cloud
Windows 11 is the most secure version of Windows ever, built from the ground up to meet evolving threats as part of the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative. Its advanced security features span from chip-level protection to cloud integration, ensuring comprehensive safety for your data and devices.
Chip to Cloud Security
Beyond security, Windows 11 delivers much faster boot times, instant-on technology, and much improved multitasking capabilities. Features like Snap Layouts and enhanced docking experiences streamline workflows, while AI-powered tools like Windows Copilot, AI Seach, Click To Do and Studio Effects elevate productivity to new heights.
The redesigned and refined modern user interface adapts seamlessly to modern devices, offering a fluid experience for creativity, gaming, and work.
The Role of Copilot+ PCs
Modern Windows 11 devices (like Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11) equipped with Copilot+ technology redefine what your device and applications can do. These devices combine cutting-edge hardware with local AI-driven features to enhance performance, security, and battery life. Copilot+ PCs are designed to handle demanding tasks with ease, ensuring smooth operation and extended uptime.
AI integration in Copilot+ PCs goes beyond productivity. From intelligent multitasking to personalized assistance, these devices empower users to achieve more with less effort. Whether you’re managing complex projects or exploring creative endeavors, Copilot+ PCs are your ultimate companion. As these become common place, every software vendor and application will start to leverage the power of local and on-chip AI to enhance their application experience on Copilot+ PCs.
Options for Windows 10 Users
With Windows 10 now 10 years old, Microsoft do have options for those who still need more time to migrate to Windows 11.
Extended Security Updates
Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10. These are a cost option, but will provide critical security patches for up to three years after the end of support date in October 2025.
One positive though is that organisations that need to remain on Windows 10 but are using Intune or Windows Autopatch to manage your updates then Microsoft have kindly added a Windows 10ESU Cloud Managed licenses to the April 2025 Product Terms. These are aimed at organisations who are managing updates using Intune or Windows Autopatch and in return receive 25% discount from the regular ESUs
Windows 365 Cloud PC
Windows 365 Cloud PCs on the other hand allow organisations to repurpose existing Windows 10 devices, streaming Windows 11 from the cloud for a secure and modern computing experience.
For these scenarios, Microsoft also include Windows 10 ESU free of charge to ensure you continue to protect the base Windows 10 device used to access your Windows 365 Cloud PC from.
PlusMicrosoft are keen to support their commercial customers during these changing times, and have announced that from 1st May 2025, they are a 20% discount on all Windows 365 plans to new commercial customers.
Modernisation Benefits
Upgrading to Windows 11 or Copilot+ PCs isn’t just about staying secure—it’s about unlocking new possibilities and opportunities to modernise everything from device management, policy implementation, and system hardening improve user uptime and productivity, delivering faster ROI for businesses.
Windows 11 on Copilot+ PCs, provides significantly enhanced battery life and enables new and upcoming AI-driven features to ensure a seamless and efficient computing experience for years to come.
As we approach October 2025 – cosumers and organisations need to embrace the future with Windows 11 with Copilot+ PCs. Whether you’re upgrading your fleet or exploring cloud solutions, now is the time to prepare for a secure, innovative, and productive tomorrow.
Talk to your Microsoft Partner about device refresh, device recycle, Windows 11 migrations, Device as Service offering or how Cloud PC technology like Windows 365 and AVD forms part of your Windows and devices strategy.
Microsoft has just released its annual Work Trend Index report, and as anticipated, its focus is boldly centered on the transformative impact of generative AI in the workplace.
The report reveals that we’re on the brink of a paradigm shift where AI will not only reason but will also solve problems in unprecedented ways. Much like the industrial revolution or the dawn of the Internet, Microsoft suggests that a complete overhaul of work practices may take decades to fully materialise.
The annual Work Trend Index conducts global, industry-spanning surveys as well as observational studies to offer unique insights on the trends reshaping work for every employee and leader across more than data from 31,000 workers across 31 countries, LinkedIn labor market trends, and trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals,as well as leading AI-native startups, academics, economists, scientists, and thought leaders.
The full report is in the link below, but I’ve summarised the key insights around how the report claims generative AI is reshaping work and leadership dynamics.
AI’s Transformative Role
AI continues to advance in its reasoning and problem-solving ability, with the potential to revolutionise work.
Major transitions like the industrial revolution and the Internet took decades and view is that full wide scale AI may follow a similar path.
Immediate Impact of AI on work
Key Finding
Stats
AI Adoption
82% of industry leaders acknowledge AI is changing work
New Work Models
The “Frontier Firm” concept describes organisations using AI-powered intelligence on demand.
New emerging roles
The rise of “agent bosses”—professionals managing AI agents to enhance productivity.
Productivity Challenges
Challenges from the last 5 years continue to plaugue employees and impact productivity with tech overload and AI is seen as a “potential” to reduce this and bring better focus to information workers.
The report reveals that 80% of the global workforce feels overburdened by constant interruptions—an email, meeting, or ping every two minutes. Consequently, about 82% of leaders plan to harness AI and digital labor within the next 12 to 18 months to alleviate these pressures.
82% of leaders plan to harness AI and digital labor within the next 12 to 18 months to alleviate work and resource pressures.
Bridging Business Needs and Human
AI is making intelligence more accessible, shifting focus from headcount to on-demand expertise.
It helps close gaps between business demands and human workload.
Organisations are urged to invest in adoption training and business process reviews to determine the most optimum areas to leverage AI.
Key Finding
% impact
Executives concerned about productivity
53%
Global workforce feeling overburdened
80%
Average interruption rate
Every 2 minutes
Leaders planning to use AI to improve work
82% (within 12–18 months)
Talent, Hiring and Employment Trends
Addressing common concerns about AI replacing jobs, the report delves into LinkedIn data that indicates that top AI labs are hiring at twice the rate of traditional big tech companies. Interestingly, it says that much of this new talent is transitioning from established tech firms, underscoring a dynamic reshuffling of skills and expertise in the workforce.
The report also underscores the necessity for executives to strike the perfect balance between human talent and AI agents. As these digital assistants become ever more integrated into daily tasks, the role of the “agent boss” is emerging leaders who build, delegate, and manage AI agents to magnify their impact and steer their careers in the age of AI.
The report talks of a future where every worker, from the boardroom to the frontline, must adopt a CEO-like mindset for an agent-powered startup, predicting that within five years, 41% of teams will be actively training and 36% managing AI agents.
AI labs are hiring at 2x the rate of big tech firms.
Many AI hires come directly from established tech companies.
Human vs. AI Balance in Workplaces
Leadership Perspective
Employee Persective
67% of leaders understand AI agents.
40% of employees understand AI agents.
79% of leaders believe AI will accelerate careers.
67% of employees believe the same.
AI’s current and future role in Work Automation
AI Usage
Areas Impacted
46% of leaders use AI agents to fully automate workstreams.
Customer service, marketing, product development.
Organisations evaluating human-to-AI balance
AI integration must match societal expectations and business needs. |
But…..it states that AI is shifting the global work landscape, demanding strategic adaptation with..
Percentage
Areas Impacted
83% of leaders
believe AI will enable employees to tackle more complex tasks.
78% of leaders
want to recruit for new AI-related roles.
The report highlights that 67% of leaders are familiar with AI agents compared to only 40% of employees, and 79% believe that AI will accelerate their careers, outstripping the 67% noted for the broader workforce.
What other leaders are saying…
Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft) said publically that AI might eventually perform “most things,”. We have also seen Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff already rethinking his company’s hiring strategies for 2025. This says that as we navigate this transformative wave, company leaders need to carefully consider when and what digital labour can complement, or in some cases, surpass that of human expertise, especially in roles that demand a personal touch or entail significant responsibility.
There is a necessity for executives to strike balance between human talent and AI agents. As these digital assistants become ever more integrated into daily tasks, the role of the “agent boss” is emerging—leaders who build, delegate, and manage AI agents to magnify their impact and steer their careers in the age of AI
Microsoft Work Trend Index Report
Summary
Microsoft’s Work Trend Index report paints a vivid picture of a future in which they show how AI is starting and has the potential to reshape every facet of our professional lives.
It claims that 83% of leaders believing that AI will empower employees to tackle more complex challenges and 78% actively looking to fill new AI roles, the global work landscape is poised for a dramatic evolution—one that necessitates a delicate balance between harnessing digital innovation and preserving the unique value that human insight brings to the table.
This blog post looks back at the history and evolution of Microsoft Surface dating back to 2007 and the iconic Surface Table to today’s sleek and beautiful Surface Copilot+ PCs.
As Microsoft turned 50 last week, and I watched the “Copilot Show” on both my Surface Pro 11 and (for nostalgic reasons) Surface Pro 1, I thought I should revisit the twists and turns of Microsoft’s transformative and sometimes hero Surface line.
I’ve been a fan of Surface since I got my hands on the own first Surface devices – the Surface RT and Surface Pro 1 (which I bought in combo), but my journey began even before that with the original Surface, which was not a tablet but “a big ass interactive table”
2007: Where it started – The Surface Table
Back in 2007, I was working at RM Education (UK leading supplier of IT to education) and we were the Education UK launch partner for the original Surface Table computer.
Surface Table circa 2007
This early Surface was a huge 30-inch touch-screen display that delivered in the form of a coffee table style device. It showcased Microsoft’s leading edge PixelSense technology, which was used a combination of integrated sensors and no less than seven infrared cameras to track fingertips, objects and swiping motions. It also allowing for the concept of specialised tags (before QR codes were a thing) and objects to interact with images on the screen.
Surface Table Teaser 2007
This technology was totally breath-taking from an innovation perspective and aimed mainly at for businesses and education. It sold in the UK for more than £10,000 and we sold a handful or so of devices to leading tech innovator/showcase schools, colleges and Universities in UK. I also saw these pop up in flagship retail stores and even found one in a bar in Redmond, US.
2012: Surface RT – A conceptual leap forward
Fast forward to 2012 where Microsoft’s Chief Product Evangelist, Panos Panay, introduced the very original Surface tablet device (the Surface RT) to the world.
Surface Generations
This device marked the beginning of a new era for Microsoft with dedicated hardware and software that worked “in tandum” together, very much the approach and appeal that Apple had with the iPhone.
Touch-screen devices and tablets had existed in one form or another since the late 1980s, and Microsoft had been pitching pen input with heavy, bulky PCs which ran a modified version of Windows XP and Office XP in the form of Windows XP Tablet Edition. Again, RM Education were education launch partner for these back in 2004. I have covered this in a previous blog and mine still works!!
The original Surface device – the Surface RT came from “almost” nowhere. Though an innovative device for its time, it was really more of a proof of concept aimed at kickstarting a much-needed innovation push into end user laptops which were mainly (at the time), clunky and plastic clam shell laptops.
Surface RT never really succeeded as a mainstream device, due to its limited app support, mainly due to the reliance on the (at the time almost odd choice of) Arm processor. Despite Microsoft doing a good job of porting its own office apps, many others didn’t follow suite meaning the device suffered from a huge app shortage (sound familiar???).
Original Surface RT
Despite its initial shortcomings, Surface RT did introduce some significant hardware innovations like the integrated kickstand and type cover keyboard, which are still standout features on Surface Pro devices today. It also lit a light on what devices running ARM based chip-sets were and would be capable of.
Surface RT was, a great looking device for it’s time. It was impressively slim and light, came with full-size USB port and a microSD card slot. The device (bear in mind this was 2012), can with 2GB of memory, a 1.3GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, integrated graphics and 64GB SSD storage which was little low even then.
The point of this was concept and a line in the sand that portable computing was about to get a reboot it….. and it did, kickstarting fresh innovation not only within Microsoft but across the wider manufacturers too.
2013: Surface Pro: The Game Changer
Then, around six months later in 2013, Microsoft launched the Surface Pro. This time it is not a prototype and far less of a Proof of Concept, shipping with a full-featured intel x86-based architecture. The Real Surface Pro was born.
The move to Intel hardware and Microsoft’s new Windows 8 Operating System (which was really designed for touch devices) was essential for the Surface on-going development. Surface Pro brought laptop-level functionality in a tablet form factor and the addition of the kick stand and Type Cover Keyboard made switching from Tablet to Laptop mode a breeze.
The original keyboard wasn’t great to be honest and took some time to adjust too as the keys we not physical keys and had no travel. The track pad was also really small. The Kickstand was super reliable and presented the device is a good angle to work on but was not adjustable and feels very simple in contract to the slickness of Surface Pro from around V4 onwards.
2014: Surface Pro Improvements
We saw Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 ship in 2014 as Microsoft continued to improve on the device, slowly taking user feedback and making subtle changes to demonstrate to Microsoft’s partners what was possible in detachable-tablet designs while attracting die-hard Windows fans.
This of course led to other OEMs closely watching the changes and innovation Microsoft were attempting with both Windows OS and Surface and the coming together of these technologies.
Surface Pro 4 (image (c))
It wasn’t really until Surface Pro 4 that commercial customers would take Surface seriously… It was here that Microsoft truly became an innovator and front liner in the Windows device’s market. Surface Pro 4 with Windows, innovated the development of Windows.
Windows Hello for Business – Windows 10/11
We saw Microsoft really prefect ink and pen and drove new security innovations too bringing the concept of (now a security stable) of Windows Hello for Business to Windows and the wider OEM space.
2015: Big and Mighty – Surface Book
Microsoft continued to innovate in this space with new and cutting edge devices. In 2015, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Book. This still a 2-in-1 but in new design that was much closer to the way a conventional laptop looked. The difference though was it had a fully detachable tablet screen.
Surface Book 2 with detachable screen
This design further bridged the gap between dedicated tablets and laptop devices. The Surface Book featured a flexible docking connection that let the screen completely separate from the base (which housed the keyboard) and function as a dedicated Surface tablet.
Surface Book 2 in Laptop Mode
There was a battery in both the base (keyboard unit) and screen, meaning you could detach and re-attach whilst the device was powered on and running applications. There was a dedicated “undock” key on the keyboard which ensured Windows was “ready” for the dock disconnect to work without interupring your session too.
Surface Book Undocking Process
It was super slick and another fleet of engineering marvel from Microsoft.
You could use the Tablet portion in standalone mode, which worked really well with the Surface Pen (massively perfected from the original Pro 1) and could even re-attatch the screen in either forward or backward-facing orientation (folding it over on itself). It was really popular device with Microsoft employees and partners in particular.
Microsoft continued to update Surface Book, with Surface Book 2 in 2017 and Surface Book 3 in 2020, both saw improvements to the docking mechanism and upraded performance including decicated GPUs which were housed in the keyboard portion of the Surface Book.
2016: Surface Hub: Echoes of the Original Surface Table
Microsoft launched the Original Surface Hub device in 2016. These came in 55″ and 84″ version and were large-format display screens that functioning like a high-tech whiteboard for conference rooms.
Surface Hub 55″ on Stand. These were also available in a huge 84 and ran Windows 10 “Team Edition”
This product continued the legacy of the original Surface table, packed with multitouch digitizer and a customised of version of Windows 10 designed for Surface Hub. The 84″ version was very heavy and retailed for around £24,000. It needed specialist partners to sell and install them and run (essentially) Windows 10 Store apps and Edge. The device had 10-point multi touch and supported cross tenant sign-in, supported MFA and gained support from third party apps such as AutoCAD and several leading education and training apps designed especially for Surface Hub.
2016 – Surface Studio – a thing of beauty is born
This remains the one device I have never owned and really wish I had. The Surface Studio, released in 2016, was an all-in-one PC with a gorgeous pull-forward display, appealing to creative professionals. It was a thing of beauty, and was very Apple Mac style.
The Surface Studio really was a groundbreaking all-in-one PC designed for creative professionals and also for organisations that really wanted a showcase device on their reception desks! Surface Studio features a unique Zero Gravity Hinge that allowed the 28-inch PixelSense display to be tilted to a flat position, similar to a drafting table. If you watched the Sayta Nadella keynote on Microsoft 50th Birthday, you would have noticed the gorgeous Surface Studio Sayta was working on.
Surface Studio was (well still is) gorgeous – with a high-resolution display of 4500 x 3000 pixels and supported both DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces. It was super powerful too – equipped with powerful Intel Skylake processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics meaning it could run professional-grade software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Autodesk with ease.
Microsoft released the Surface Studio 2 and later the Surface Studio 2S (sadly the last one). Its elegant design, versatile input options, and transformative experience made it a standout product in the Surface lineup and one that really does show the innovation and inventiveness that defined the Surface brand.
2017 – Surface Laptop is Born
The Surface Laptop was released in 2017 and echoed several of the Surface tablet’s design elements but without the detachable tablet capability. This appealed to Surface fans who needed a more traditional clam-shell style laptop and allowed Surface to compete in the fierce and competitive traditonal laptop space, accepting the fact that not everyone was a fan (I am) of the 2-in-1 form factor and didn’t see the need for pen and ink. That said, Surface Laptop has supported pen until the most recent verion (Laptop 7). The device still sports the 10-point mult-touch screen, something I find hard to believe is not standard on every laptop build….buy hey ho!
Surface Laptop 7
Microsoft say that the Surface Laptop is Microsoft’s most popular device. We have seen multiple updates year after year with Surface Laptop 7 (both Intel and Snapdragon Elite variants) being in the latest Copilot+PC devices (read more later).
2018 – Arrival of the Surface Go family
OK – so these were called the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go range.
The original Surface Go was launched in early 2018 and brought the same sleek design and style of the Surface Pro but in a mini version and offering standout value. By scaling back the processor to Intel’s Pentium Y range and swapping the solid-state drive for cheaper eMMC flash memory, Microsoft trimmed the Surface Go’s price to around £449 making it far more affordable than the regular Surface Pro. There were a few high spec options for another hundred pounds or so!
Surface Go weighs in at just 1.15 pounds (without keyboard) and featured a 10.1″ 10-point multi-touch pixel sense display screen. At just 9.65″ x 6.90″ x 0.33″ (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.30 mm) Surface Go was small and light enough to fit in a handbag, use on a train or plane tray table and even stick in your coat pocket.
The lowest spec (cheapest device) – with the Intel® Pentium® Gold Processor 4415Y was in most cases a little under-powered, however it served a good purpose and bridged a gap providing a capable device with the same gorgeous look at feel, combining size and usability with style in a super compact form factor. The device supported Windows Hello(r) for Business, Secure Book and TPM 2.0, and the same slick 10-point multi touch screen and pen support and came with its own (optional) mini type cover keyboard.
Surface Go 4 vs Surface Pro 11
Surface Go 2 got an upgrade the following year with the Surface Go 2 which introduced full better Processors (With the Intel 4425Y or 8th Gen Intel® Core m3 Processor).
We got Surface Go 3 and Go 4 (released in 2024), all of which also shipped with an LTE/4G version for great connectivity and on-the-go support.
The Surface Go range remains one of my favourite Surface devices when travelling on when on holiday (I just wish they had an ARM version to get more battery and performace):-)
Surface Laptop Go – a mini–Surface Laptop was launched in 2020. These weighed in at 2.45 lbs, were powered by 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 processor – 1035G1 making them really practical and supported up to 256GB SSD and 4 or 8GB RAM. These shipped with Windows Hello(r) with fingerprint reader and again TPM chip. They had a large trackpad, high quality keyboard, came in lots of colours and had a 12.4-inch 10-point multi- touch screen but no pen support.
Surface Laptop Go 3 – a great compact all rounder
Surface Laptop Go 2 and Laptop Go 3 (shown above) followed in each subsequent years with Laptop Go 3 being the current version. Surface Laptop Go weigh in 1.13 kg and claims up to 15 hours of battery (though I tend to get 7 to 8 of real usage)
These appeal to home users, students and info workers that favour portability and lightweight devices and tend to Dock to a screen when in the office.
2019 – Surface Pro X – Windows on Arm is back
In 2019, Surface Pro X was revealed. This was a super thin (thinnest Surface yet), modern (and in black) Surface Pro device, with up-rated keyboard, newly designed pen (Surface Slim Pen) and featured USB-C ports which for the first time supported both monitor connectivity and charging, along with the now standard Surface Connector port which still exists today in 2025 Surface devices.
Surface Pro X, brought back the Arm processor and an dmuch upgraded Windows on Arm (WoA) architecture which meant Surface Pro X could run both native Arm compiled applications as well as apps that were only available on x86 platforms using x86 emultion mode. Despite critisism, this actually ran really well most of the time and continued to improve as Microsoft enhanced the WoA architecture over the next few years.
The Surface Pro X, powered by Windows on ARM, represented a significant leap in mobile computing by blending the versatility of a tablet with the power of a full PC experience. Unlike traditional x86-based devices, ARM architecture offers remarkable efficiency, enabling longer battery life, instant-on responsiveness, and LTE/4G connectivity. This as important for anyone in a role that needed always-on seamless mobility and provided a far more secure way of connecting than coffee shop hot-spots and clunky VPNs.
Windows on Arm Growing App Eco system
The integration of ARM into Windows allows for optimised performance on custom silicon, reducing power consumption while maintaining productivity. This was different to the Surface RT days, as app developers were already making and optimising software for ARM, meaning the app-gap was less of an issue. As this gap in compatibility narrowed (and continues to), it makes the shift even more transformative and benefits more recognisable.
With its ultra-thin design, edge-to-edge display, and AI-enhanced performance, the Surface Pro X challenges the conventional notion of PC architecture and signals a future where portability and performance are no longer trade-offs but complementary strengths.
2019/2020: Surface Hub goes Slim with Surface Hub 2
The Surface Hub 2 was officially released in 2019. It introduced several key improvements over the original Surface Hub, which debuted in 2016. The Surface Hub 2 featured a much sleeker design (looked like a giant Surface Pro) was much, lighter weight, and a more versatile 50-inch display with 4K resolution, compared to the original’s larger and heavier models. It also supported multi-user login, allowing multiple people to collaborate seamlessly. A bigger 85″ inch version was also made available.
This device was designed to be modular, with removable processors for easier upgrades. These advancements made the Surface Hub 2 a more dynamic and adaptable tool for modern collaborative environments.
Additionally, the Surface Hub 2 was supposed to introduce (through a software update) the ability to rotate the screen between landscape and portrait modes, enhancing flexibility for different use cases – this unfortunately never came to Surface Hub 2, but did to Surface Hub 3 and to this existing version through a modular hardware upgrade transforming to the Surface Hub 3.
The Surface Hub 3 now has the option of running full Windows 11 or being configured as a Teams Room, running the full Teams Room OS.
2021: Surface Laptop Studio: Versatile & Powerful
In 2021, Microsoft introduced the Surface Laptop Studio, blending the convertible laptop concept of Surface Pro with a remixed version of the pull-forward display found on the gorgeous Surface Studio Desktop devices.
These were power horses, with the latest desktop class processors from intel (13th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-13800H built on the Intel® Evo™ platform) and They were also the first Surface devices to feature their 14.4” PixelSense™ Flow Display with 2400 x 1600 resolution and up to 120Hz refresh rate and featured NVIDIAFootnote® RTX™ 2000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU with 8GB GDDR6 vRAM
The Surface Laptop Studio (model 2 shown)
This product essentially split the difference between the Surface Studio and Surface Book. The unique display orientation was ideal for drawing and writing notes on-screen with something other than the usual laptop or tablet modes. However, it introduced some awkward issues in using basic laptop features, like the keyboard and trackpad, which required switching back and forth between drawing and laptop modes which we a little cumbersome in use.
Microsoft also shipped a V2 of the Surface Laptop Studio but discontinued it in 2024 as part of their simplification and rationalisation of the portfolio.
2024: The New Age of Surface: Copilot+ PCs
In 2024, The AI Powered PC was born.
Microsoft introduced the latest evolution of the Surface lineup with Qualcomm, followed by Intel powered devices which, along with Windows 11 24 H2 brought new AI-enhanced features and apps which continue to evolve.
Part of the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 range, these Copilot+ PCs showcase the latest AI capabilities and innovations, marking another significant shift for Microsoft as other OEM also are following with their own Copilot+ PCs.
Surface Pro 11 Copilot+PC with Flex Keyboard
Copilot + PCs have minimum specification of requiring a dedicated NPU capable of delivering more than 40 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS), 256 GB SSD storage and at least 16GB RAM (and Windows 11 24 H2).
This is the current generation of Surface devices…
What’s Next for Surface?
There are lots of rumours, but what we know is we are now in the era of the AI / Copilot+ PC. These next generation of devices are the only devices you will be buying in a few years time. If you are buying a new device today to last you for the next 3-5 years, make it a Copilot+PC.
From a form factor perspective, expect Surface Pro and Surface Laptop to continue to be mainstream from Microsoft. With regards the Laptop Go and Surface Go, I expect these to continue. You will see and hear lots of rumours this time of year new devices expected to be announced around May / June as usual.
Will we see the Surface Studio return, will we see Snapdragon chipsets in the Laptop Go or Surface Go family or will we see a new type of device emerge? One thing is sure – Surface contines to innovate the market. They may not be the number one OEM in terms of market share, but they innovate and set the stage for the best experience of Windows.
Microsoft are the only Windows device manufacturer that own the design, code stack and security layers from Chip to Cloud.
Surface has evolved from furniture to the tip of the spear of modern hybrid computing.
Which Surface device holds the most nostalgic value for you?
What innovations would you love to see in the next generation of Surface?
Before we start, why should we get excited about a change to Start Menu?
Afterall, it is something that has been under constant critique since Microsoft changed it up (ok – ruined it) with Windows 8, which was a bold (yet poorly received) attempt to modernise the Start menu after years of “consistency” of the Windows 95 start menu which didn’t really change all the way up to Windows XP.
Classic Windows 95 Start Menu (left) and much “unloved” Windows 8 Start Menu (right
Windows 11 Start Menu Changes
The days of the Windows 8 “start menu-less” UI (which was very optimised for touch and aligned to Microsoft’s entry into the devices market with the Surface RT and now more familiar Surface Pro) are thankfully way behind us. The Start Menu came back with Windows 8.1, evolved through Windows 10 and is now clean and elegant blend of what worked well in Windows 95 and what modern touch friendly interface should look like in 2025.
Windows 11 is a great interface, clean and crisp, but there has been lots of feedback around the need to bring more grouping and controls in to Windows 11. This has also led a to plethora of third-party apps that bring some of this functionality back for power-users.
It is now great to see that, in the latest Dev build of Windows 11 introduces a refreshed Start menu design that is designed to enhance user experience and productivity.
New Windows 11 start menu – in Windows Insider Dev Build
This new design aims to provide a more intuitive and seamless interaction, making it easier for users to access their favorite apps and settings. The updated Start menu features a cleaner layout, improved search functionality, and customisable options that allow you to tailor the experience to your professional needs.
How do I try it out?
The new Start Menu design is being tested for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel .
So if you enrolled (or want to), you can get the latest update and check it out. Don’t forget to file feedback in the Windows Feedback Hub.
This new feature is subject to Microsoft’s usual A/B testing meaning not everyone will see the new start menu straight away.
Share your feedback with the community too and if you find this useful, please share this post and help and help shape the future of Windows!
Change is the only constant
Microsoft continuously refines and updates various components of their Windows Operating system, using the Windows Insider Community for early testing and feedback.
Windows 365 Link is aimed (currently) for commercial / business customers and provides a simple, fast, secure and fast way to connect directly to the Windows 365 cloud service provide access to a dedicated (or shared in the case of front line workers) Windows Cloud, a full persistent Windows desktop in the Cloud. The configuration of these desktop experiences is managed via Intune and the specification of each users Cloud PC is configurable subject to the license allocation for the user.
Windows 365 Link
The Windows 365 service itself as a service is not new however, with it being available through the browser and via the Windows App which is available on Windows, Mac, Android and Apple iOS.
The combination of dedicated device and Windows 365 Cloud Service should make for a simple and more easily manageable experience for IT departments than managing physical fleets of desktops and Laptops while also significantly reducing the needs of hands on support.
Is Windows 365 Link just a Thin Client?
No. But there is a definately similarity!
Many organisations have used Thin Client devices (such as igel thin clients) that run a virtual Windows desktop (shared or dedicated) from a local or data centre deployed server farm. They can also be used to access Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) services such as Citrix, VMware and Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop.
Windows 365 Link is, essentially a modern version of the thin client, but designed especially to run full Cloud PCs from Microsoft’s Windows 365 infrastructure over the Internet. There is not support for VDI infratrautre and won’t even run desktops hosted on Azure Virtual Desktop. It just runs Windows 365 as the name suggests!
The device is small, weights just, and is vesa mountable as you’d expect. It’s also capable of driving multiple displays at 4K resolution.
Thin Client vs Windows 365 Link
Being a purpose built device (it’s not just a generic thin client device) it is built with Microsoft’s commitment to Security. It’s built by the same team that build Surface. It leverages Chip to Cloud security with features including Secure Boot and TPM and also includes Microsoft’s Pluton processor.
The device is designed to boot in seconds, which sounds like a better experience than the thin clients of the past and performance of Windows 365 experience and the office apps (including Teams) has been rigorously tested and performance tuned with the Windows and Microsoft 365 development team.
Windows 365 Link on Dual Screens at 4K
Windows 365 Link has been in a private preview program by over 100 organisation, Microsoft MVPs and internal employees to help refine and perfect the out of box experience, configuration and performance since November
Secure by Design
Windows 365 Link is a dedicated Cloud PC devices that has no local data, doesn’t allow boot to anything other than Windows 365, has no local admin users, and supports the strongest security including passwordless authentication using Microsoft Entra ID and passkeys. This significantly reduced the attack surface.
It also has security locks and vesa mounts for secure and concealed mounting.
Windows 365 Link promotes sustainable computing
Windows 365 Link is built using more than 63% recycled components and materials, has 100% paper-based packaging, is an ENERGY STAR-certified device, and is designed to be long-lasting and repairable. They are super low power too and because Microsoft Cloud is committed to being carbon negative by 2030, the cloud compute they consume is also green and sustainable.
Availability
Windows 365 Link is available now (from April 3rd) in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, Japan, and New Zealand.
I’ll be doing a hands on review next week when mine arrives!!
To celebrate, they are holding a special 50th anniversary Copilot event today (Friday, April 4) at 9:30 AM Pacific Time (5:30pm UK Time). This actually makes me feel very old, as Microsoft were founded the year I was born!!
The event will be live-streamed here, directly on Microsoft’s website, so you can watch the announcements as they happen. If you go to the website, they have kindly included a calendar invite, which you can add to your calendar app of choice.
What to expect from the Microsoft @ 50 event
Microsoft have said that the “event” will focus on consumer AI announcements related to Microsoft Copilot, but knowing Microsoft, I expect there will be some other teaser announcements too.
Microsoft as a Copilot Company
Microsoft does not hide behind the fact that Microsoft are in fact a Copilot Company. Over the last few months, Microsoft has completely rebuilt the Consumer Copilot app for Windows and across mobile platforms and have recently included unlimited access to Copilot Voice, Vision and their latest Deep Research language models.
We have also seen (this year) the launch of the Copilot+ PCs, which were announced last year on both Qualcomm and Intel chipsets and their new flagship Copilot+ PC devices in Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7. We also continue to see more exclusive AI features that are powered by dedicated NPU chips coming to Windows 11 PCs. Features like Windows Recall, Click To Do, and AI in Windows Search, and of course updates to Windows Studio Effects and more. We have also seen new AI features across core “inbox” apps such as Paint, Notepad, Snip & Sketch and more. I expect there is more coming …..
Microsoft have also said that there is much more to come for Copilot so maybe we will get to see more of this vision and plan tomorrow (April 4th).
My personal glance back over the 50 years of Microsoft
Everyone will have their own stories and memories of milestones that made Microsoft who they are today. Personally I remember getting my first PC (Intel P90 processor, 2MB RAM and 100MB Hard drive) which ran MS-DOS 5.0 . I remember using Word Perfect in MS-DOS before deploying Windows 3.0 I seem to remember.
My next memory was working with Windows for Workgroups and Novell Netware, and then deploying Windows NT 3.51, Windows 3.11 and then working with an Oil Company doing Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 migrations on oil rigs in my early 20s.
I remember my first Xbox, my kids are no using Xbox One X and love games like Flight Simulator and Minecraft.
I’ve used Windows Phone (yes ok!), had a Microsoft Fitness Band (yes ok) and used MSN Messenger and Skype at length during my teen and early adult years!
We are now about to say goodbye to Windows 10, have seen Azure continue to gain market share in Cloud, Microsoft 365 be the worlds productivity suite and Microsoft become the biggest security company in the world.
The last few years has been all about AI with everything being about Copilot, even the PC with the launch of the Copilot Plus PC.
Today, I write this, after coming back from an incredible week at Microsoft MVP Summit in Seattle, full of excitement for what is coming next across the Microsoft eco system.
