Inside Copilot’s Researcher and Analyst Agents

TL:DR

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-step research – 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 data analysis, 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 per month 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.

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 a skilled 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 data sources . 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).

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.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/3-practical-ways-small-businesses-can-use-researcher-and-analyst-agents/4418059

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/analyst-agent-in-microsoft-365-copilot/4397191

https://dynamicscommunities.com/ug/dynamics-fo-ax-ug/microsoft-copilot-vs-microsoft-copilot-for-finance-understanding-key-differences-and-benefits-for-users/

June 17, 2025June 17, 2025

Cisco Shine: Report on The State of Smart Collaboration Devices in 2025

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.

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.

Read the Report.

The Omdia Universe: Smart Collaboration Devices 2025 report is work a read as it is more than a scorecard.

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.

Share your thoughts… Keen to know your views.

June 11, 2025July 7, 2025

Cisco Live 2025: AI Takes Center Stage and Networking Gets a Boost

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.
Jeetu Patel – Cisco.

June 2, 2025July 7, 2025

Copilot & Teams will finally understand your business jargon!

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.

May 28, 2025May 28, 2025

Microsoft confirm Cisco are fastest growing Teams Room partner.

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…

May 16, 2025

Microsoft releases new Calendar app for commercial customers

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.

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.

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.

April 24, 2025April 25, 2025

2025 Work Trend Index Report – AI agents will make every employee an “agent boss”.

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.

April 15, 2025April 15, 2025

50 Years of Microsoft: The Surface Evolution

Introduction

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.

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.

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???).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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 application support 2024 — 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?

April 5, 2025April 5, 2025

Windows 365 Link now available for £314

Microsoft’s dedicated mini PC that just runs Windows 365 is now evaulable to from limited distributes for £314 / $350.

I’ve just ordered mine, which should arrive early next week, after being lucky enough to play around with one at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago back in November.

What is Windows 365 Link?

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.

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 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!!

March 26, 2025April 5, 2025

Why Surface Flex Keyboard is a Game-Changer.

Surface Pro has always been about versatility and is the ultimate 2-in-1 device for business and consumers who want the flexibility and agility of a tablet and laptop in one.

Surface Pro can start as laptop, but when you detach the keyboard, you have a tablet, re-attach it and voilà – it is now a laptop again.

Over the years, the once flimsy feel keyboard of the first generation keyboards has got better and better to the point where it now competes in sense of feel, key travel and general use with even a laptop keyboard.

What if you could take this flexibility a step further?

Introducing The Surface Flex Keyboard?

Surface Flex Keyboard was released in 2024. It is a like a traditional Surface type cover but continues to work when you detach it. This enables a new style of working since you can use the Surface Flex Keyboard in detached mode thanks to the “auto-pairing” Bluetooth connectivity. This makes it great for flexibility, posture and helps you (if you want or need to) change your desk set-up.

With Surface Flex Keyboard, pairing is instant and seamless. Simply connecting the keyboard pairs it instantly and when you detach the keyboard, you can keep working “with” the keyboard not attached.

Surface Pro Flex Keyboard

This means, whether you are taking notes in OneNote, mind-mapping in WhiteBoard or just repositioning your workspace/desk to be more ergonomic. This also works really well when you are working on a train or plane (or sofa) and need to reposition your device.

The best bit – you don’t need to buy the very latest Surface to use it. I’ve just got my hands on one this week whilst at MVP Summit in Seattle and am now using it with my two-year old Surface Pro 9.

Surface Flex Keyboard actually work with all Surfaces going back to the original Pro X which was released in 2019!

Seamless Connectivity, Premium Feel and Different use cases

The Flex Keyboard’s transition between physical and Bluetooth connections is seamless, making it feel like magic. As you’d expect, this is a premium accessory, and it shows. The keyboard really good travel, feels premium and even has the satisfying tactile bump and fast keyboard rebound, similar to that of a Surface Laptop or MacBook Air.

The base of the device is enforced with carbon fiber layers, reducing the bounciness / bendyness that users often criticised in the earlier days of Surface Pro. Oh – you also get a really great haptic touch-pad too which is smooth and precise, and can be adjusted and configured in the Windows Settings.

The keyboard comes in different colours and is wrapped in the usual beautiful soft Alcantara fabric

Compatibility and Value

Surface Flex Keyboard actually work with all Surfaces going back to the original Pro X which was released in 2019, making it a versatile option for new Surface Pro users or those that either need or want a new keyboard for their existing device.

The Surface Flex Keyboard costs from $249 currently in the US and I found them for around £225 in the UK at time of writing.

There seem to be good deal around at the moment but it’s a great keyboard and definitely recommend it for anyone who wants the latest and greatest.

Conclusion

Surface Flex Keyboard is an impressive addition to the Surface Pro “accessories” lineup and I totally love it. Yes they are pricey (but the non flex keyboard is too), but its seamless connectivity (with no manual pairing required), premium feel, and backward compatibility with older devices make it a compelling choice for Surface users new and existing.

March 22, 2025March 22, 2025

Meet Microsoft 365’s New Mini Apps

Microsoft has introduced two new mini apps for Microsoft 365 users: the People app and the File Search app. These tools are designed to improve productivity and simplify common everyday tasks for business users.

The People App: Connecting Teams with Ease

The People app makes it easy to access colleague profiles and organisational charts without interrupting workflow. Whether you’re looking for a team member by name, job title, or department, the app delivers results instantly. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, allowing you to send messages and view detailed profile cards with contact information and project involvement.

You can of course pin the People app to your taskbar, making collaboration just a click away.

The File Search App: Finding Files Faster

Managing files is a more simple with the File Search app. Its homepage displays recently opened files, while its robust search function allows you to locate documents by name, content, or file type. A preview feature lets you confirm you’ve found the correct file without opening it—saving both time and effort.

Like the People app, the File Search app can also be pinned to the taskbar, positioning it as an essential tool for busy professionals.

Who Can Use These Apps

Currently these new apps are available to Windows 11 users with Microsoft 365 desktop apps, these mini apps are expected to enhance efficiency for a wide range of business users. Oh.. And you must be running the beta (or Office Insider Builds) but these will roll out over coming months to everyone.

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025

Cisco and Microsoft Shake Up Collaboration at Enterprise Connect 2025 with new AI infused features

Enterprise Connect 2025 brought the usual buzz from everyone in the Collab and Contact Center Space. From AI and integrations in Contact Center to subtle hybrid work updates for meetings and chat, these announcements from the Collab giants continues to set to redefine how we collaborate in 2025…

Here’s everything you need to know from what Cisco and Microsoft announced.

Microsoft Teams – Key Takeaways:

New Live chat widget rolling in out this spring for small businesses. This allows website visitors to chat with sales or customer support team in Microsoft Teams. There’s also a Live chat widget which will provides a dashboard for managing conversations, notifications for incoming chat requests, and an option to view previous customer interactions.
Teams Chat will be getting a new @nearby feature that allows people to easily connect with other colleagues who are physically close by to them. This helps encourage face to face chats when people may not realise that colleagues are in the same or adjacent office.
Teams meeting recap is now supported for webinars, and the limit for town halls has been increased to 50,000 attendees.
Teams channels: Loop comes to Teams Channels by allowing users to add a Loop workspace tab to standard channels.
On a security front, Teams has now introduced the automatic blocking of malicious files, detection of sensitive information during screen sharing. This used a combination of Defender and DLP.
Teams Phone is getting new features like SMS messaging in US and Canada, as well as barge/whisper/monitor/takeover for team leads in groups and when using Call Queues.
In Teams Rooms the new recommender feature will suggests suitable meeting rooms to facilitate easier in-person collaboration. The facilitator agent will also be coming to Teams Rooms (in preview now) to take notes for you in meeting which can co edited by attendees.

The big annoucement on the Microsoft Teams front was of course the annoucement of Teams Phone extensibility for Dynamics 365 Contact Center and for certified ISV solutions such as Luware which are coming soon public preview.

Cisco Webex – Key Takeaways

Cisco who are firmly on the AI drive, unveiled their vision for agentic AI collaboration, alongside new AI-powered features for their Webex platform. They said general availability of their Webex AI Agent was due before Easter!
Agents upgrade: with new features coming for Cisco AI Assistant for Webex Contact Center, including suggested responses and real-time transcription for agents.
Teams Rooms: Cisco announced that AirPlay support on Cisco Devices in Microsoft Teams Rooms mode would also be coming soon.
Line of Business Agent integration: The new Cisco AI Agents allow agents in Webex Contact Center to integrate with other enterprise apps like Sales force, Dynamics and ServiceNow to improve workflows and customer support with APIs and connectors. This will allow for workflows automation.

Windows 11 finally gets a native Copilot app.

At the end of Feb 2025, Microsoft gave Apple Mac users with a brand-new native Copilot (consumer) app experience and now after a feeble Web app version, Windows 11 is finally getting a proper one too.

This latest update brings a fully native Copilot app to Windows, delivering a faster, smoother, and visually enriched interface that aligns perfectly with the Windows 11 design language. Yay.

It also has a keyboard shortcut that lets you hold the Alt + Spacebar keys for two seconds to start chatting to Copilot via voice.

From Web View to Native App

For those who followed the initial rollout, you’ll remember that the original Copilot for Windows was simply a web view of the Microsoft Copilot website. While functional, it left much to be desired in terms of responsiveness and overall polish.

The new Copilot update transforms that experience completely. By leveraging the native app UI framework, Microsoft has infused the app with features that make the experience feel inherently Windows 11 that is also complete with a sidebar for managing chats, elegant mica blur effects, and native context menus and buttons.

This adherence to the native design not only improves aesthetics but also boosts performance and responsiveness.

What’s New in the Copilot for Windows App?

Enhanced User Interface

Native Design Language: The interface now mirrors the sleek, modern aesthetics of Windows 11.
Smooth Interactions: Launching the app is noticeably quicker, and interactions feel seamless thanks to the native integration.

Intelligent Chat Management

Sidebar for Conversations: All your previous chats are saved and easily accessible in a dedicated sidebar.
Instant New Chat: Starting a new conversation is as simple as hitting the new chat button.

Retained and Expanded Functionality

Text and Voice Chat: Continue to interact with Microsoft’s AI assistant using text, or opt for the Copilot Voice for a more dynamic experience.
Customisable Settings: Options include settings to enable or disable launching the app on Windows boot, as well as toggling the alt+spacebar shortcut for quick access.

In short, there’s no real feature changes here – just a native Windows App, ensuring that the native experience makes no compromises on capability and features along with performance and usability improvements of a native app.

First thoughts on the new version

I have to confess—I wasn’t thrilled with the old web view version of Copilot for Windows. It felt like an afterthought compared to its Mac counterpart. This new native experience, however, is a major improvement. The app now inspires confidence in handling everyday AI tasks and is genuinely enjoyable to use.

Getting the new Copilot App

For Windows Insiders excited to explore this update, the latest version (1.25023.107.0) or higher is now available via the Microsoft Store and should update automatically. The app is rolling out in preview across all Insider channels, inviting users to experience this transformative upgrade first-hand.

As a Microsoft product inside another Microsoft product, the evolution from a mere web view app (which should never have been done in my opinion) to a fully fledged native app that looks and feels like a Windows app not only elevates user interaction but also shows that Microsoft is actually serious about integrating AI seamlessly into everyday computing tasks.

The new Copilot for Windows app also has a keyboard shortcut that lets you hold the Alt + Spacebar keys for two seconds to start chatting to Copilot via your voice.

Microsoft want your feedback

Microsoft would like feedback too, which you can do by filing feedback in the Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Copilot or directly within the Copilot app by clicking on your profile icon and choosing “Give feedback”.

This feedback shapes the future. Whether we can expect more iterative updates, possibly with additional features and enhancements will only happen based on the Microsoft collects feedback from Insiders.

Conclusion

The leap to a native interface is more than just a cosmetic upgrade—it represents a thoughtful stride toward a more integrated and responsive Windows experience. I’m excited to see how this native Copilot app will further inspire productivity and innovation as it evolves.

What are your thoughts on this updated native app?

February 19, 2025February 20, 2025

New Leap in Quantum Computing Technology from Microsoft

Microsoft has announced a groundbreaking development in the field of quantum computing with the unveiling of a new chip called Majorana 1. This chip is poised to revolutionize the way we approach complex problems by enabling the creation of quantum computers capable of solving “meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.” as part of the final phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program

What is Quantum Computing?

The tech stuff… Bear with me….

Quantum computing leverages the principles of particle physics to create a new type of computer that can solve problems far beyond the capabilities of traditional computers that we are familiar with. These quantum machines hold the promise of performing calculations that would take today’s systems millions of years, potentially unlocking discoveries in fields such as medicine, chemistry, and more.

But… as I just said to my son… It’s not about making Minecraft run faster!

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 Chip

Microsoft’s new chip, Majorana 1, is built using a “topological conductor,” a revolutionary new material that creates a new state of matter known as a “topological state.” This state is neither a gas, liquid, nor solid and has only recently been realized in practice. In short (and i don’t really understand the science here) this chip relies on Majorana particles, which were previously considered theoretical, to achieve its quantum capabilities.

Built with a breakthrough class of materials called a topoconductor, Microsoft’s Majorana 1 marks a transformative leap toward practical quantum computing.

This means that while the typical computer and even super computers we know today struggle with certain types of problems, quantum computers have the potential to solve them rapidly.

Microsoft say that their Majorana 1 chip will accelerate the development of quantum computers, bringing us closer to solving real-world problems more quickly than previously anticipated in real human capacity thinking and beyond.

This research and development is hugely expensive, though oy appears that their pursuit of quantum computing appears to be paying off, since if successful as it promises could be as revolutionary as the invention of semiconductors was for classical computing.

The Majorana 1 chip currently features eight topological qubits. While this is fewer than some competitors, Microsoft claims it has a pathway to scaling this up to a million qubits, potentially creating immense computing power.

Personal computing to Quantum Computing… What’s the difference?

Let’s take a look to compare the differences..

Personal computing

Definition: Refers to individual use of computers/laptops for daily tasks such as work and home
Capabilities: Limited processing power and storage capacity. Typically used for tasks like browsing the internet, word processing, Excel, presentations, gaming, and personal software applications.

Data centre computing

Definition: Centralised computing resources used by businesses and organisations.
Capabilities: High processing power, large storage capacity, and redundant systems for reliability. Often used for managing, storing, and processing large amounts of data.
Practical Uses:
- Hosting Websites: Running web servers and handling online traffic.
- Enterprise Applications: Supporting business applications like CRM, ERP, and databases.
- Private Cloud Services: Providing infrastructure, platform, and software as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) etc

Super Computers

Definition: Extremely powerful computers designed for complex calculations and simulations.
Capabilities: Thousands of processors working in parallel, capable of performing trillions of calculations per second. Used for scientific research and advanced simulations.
Practical Uses:
- Climate Modeling: Simulating and predicting weather patterns and climate change.
- Scientific Research: Conducting simulations for physics, chemistry, and biology experiments.
- Cryptography: Breaking complex codes and improving security algorithms.

Quantum Computing

Definition: Uses principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations far beyond the capabilities of classical computers.
Capabilities: Leverages quantum bits (qubits) to perform multiple calculations simultaneously, offering exponentially faster processing speeds for certain tasks.
Practical Uses:
- Medical Research: Discovering new drug compounds and optimising treatment plans.
- Artificial Intelligence: Enhancing AI capabilities for more accurate predictions and complex data analysis.
- Logistics Optimisation: Solving complex optimisation problems for supply chain and logistics.

Real-World Implications

The announcement of the Majorana 1 chip is (or will be) a leap frog development that signals rapid advancements in quantum computing. those less technical, it means that the future of technology holds even more promise, with potential solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems within reach.

Even Elon Musk responded to Sayta Nadella’s post. Quoting the his post and commenting “More and more breakthroughs with quantum computing …”

Conclusion

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip clearly represents a quantum leap in technology, bringing us closer to harnessing the full potential of quantum computing. As we move forward, the advancements in this field will undoubtedly shape the future in ways we can only begin to imagine.

The next few years will be critical as this technology gets closer and closer to reality and Usability.

What do you think about these annoucements today?

Read more because I’m not going to pretend to understand this in scientific detail. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/quantum/2025/02/19/microsoft-unveils-majorana-1-the-worlds-first-quantum-processor-powered-by-topological-qubits/

February 9, 2025February 10, 2025

Teams Rooms have just got much easier to deploy

As Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) came to a close last week, Microsoft shared stats ahead of new Teams from Microsoft. According to Frost and Sullivan, 46% of organisations are invested in office and meeting room modernisation projects, fueling huge growth in new spaces, meeting technology investment and refresh to creating inclusive tech-enabled spaces to improve employee experience. As space continues to shift from banks of desks and cubicles, collaborative and hybrid huddle and meeting rooms play a crucial role in this transformation, enabling better collaboration and productivity for hybrid work.

46% of ITDMs are kicking off office modernisation projects and creating tech-enabled spaces to improve employee experience. | Frost and Sullivan

Microsoft Teams Rooms continues to be at the forefront of this evolution, bringing intelligence and innovation to meeting spaces from a host of leading meeting room equipment manufacturers such as Cisco and Yealink.

On the back of this – Microsoft unveiled Teams Rooms Express Install. This is designed to make the setting up of Teams Rooms for smaller and “focus” meeting rooms much faster and simpler.

Express Install for Teams Rooms

The newly introduced Express Install for Microsoft Teams Rooms is an installation option the offers a streamlined, quick, and easier deployment and configuration process that delivers a full Teams Rooms experience in focus/huddle and small to medium sized meeting rooms. Key benefits include:

Quick Installation: In a smaller space (which make up most deployments) like a focus room or small meeting room for up to day 6-8 people, installation can now be completed by one person in as little as one hour, with minimal labor and “no need for specialists” according to Microsoft.
No Custom Room Modifications: The hardware for these rooms can now be installed without lengthy and complex room modifications, reducing costs and installation time.
Full Teams Rooms Experience: Users still get the same great meeting experience they are used to with any other Teams Room, with the same Teams Rooms application and certified hardware.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership: This rapid deployment approach and reduced complexity lowers the total cost of ownership of Teams Rooms even further is making it easier to for businesses to scale up meeting rooms and provide exemplary hybrid meeting experiences.

Benefits for IT

This Express Install option is designed to reduce the effort and complexity process for IT admins and Teams Room deployment teams. , A/V techs, and other professionals responsible for deploying meeting rooms. Benefits include:

Reduced Professional Service effort: Installation can be done faster without the need for multiple specialists or complex modifications.
Flexibility: certified devices certified for Teams are already in the device ecosystem, allowing for flexible deployment options.
Compact and Efficient: Hardware such as tabletop stands, wall mounts and new video bars with integrated mics and multiple camera are ideal for faster and efficient installation.

The evolving role of your Teams Room partner

As well as reducing cost for deployment thereby improving the ROI and upfront cost, also means you can leverage other key value add services from your partner or customer install teams.

Hardware Procurement: be sure to work with your partner to validate the hardware bundles and accessories that support this new express Install.
Support and Managed services: Microsoft partners support Teams Rooms post-deployment by offering ongoing proactive monitoring and management, user training, feature annoucements and remote or onsite support.
Adoption Services and Training: one of the often neglected services is that of training for employees to ensure they get the best from Teams and Teams Room features such as intelligent recap and Copilot as well as new features that are always rolling out.
Solution Showcases and Roadmap: Use your partners to showcase and demo these new solutions.

Yet more new features coming to Microsoft Teams Rooms

Users will soon benefit from further new enhancements and capabilities introduced for Teams Rooms, which improve the overall meeting experience. Key features include:

Multiple Camera View: Remote meeting participants will soon be able to switch between up to four different camera feeds, ensuring they have the best angle at any time.
Cloud IntelliFrame: This video framing capability enhances the visibility of people in the room for online meeting attendees. This is now available on Teams Rooms on both Android and Teams Mobile devices.
Miracast Support: coming soon, users (and guests) will now be able to wirelessly project and share content from their PCs to the Teams Rooms (including Surface Hub and Meeting boards) using the Miracast standard in addition to cable connect and Teams Cast (via Teams app), making it easier to collaborate and share information.
Microsoft Edge support is also coming “soon” to Surface Hub 3 and other Windows-based touch board form factors in Teams Rooms. This addition will allow users to seamlessly access websites and line-of-business web applications on touch boards anytime whether during a meeting or outside of one.
Start or Stop Recording: users will now be able to start or stop recording in room from the room console in Teams Rooms on Windows without needing a companion device. This feature unlocks powerful productivity tools like meeting transcripts, intelligent recap, and the ability to query a meeting with Copilot.

Conclusion

With the introduction of Express Install for Teams Rooms, new capabilities for touch boards running Windows, and continuous enhancements that improve remote experiences, Microsoft reaffirms its commitment to delivering top-tier technology solutions for modern workplaces.

These innovations make it easier and faster to scale up meeting rooms, enhance collaboration, and provide a better overall experience for businesses,and employees freeing up resources and spend to focus on user adoption training and support, improving user experience and reducing TCO.

References:

February 2, 2025February 2, 2025

Microsoft makes OpenAI o1 model free for Copilot users.

OpenAI’s most advanced AI model “o1” which is known for its problem solving and deeper thinking has been available behind a $20 per month ChatGPT premium subscription. ChatGPT premium gives limited acess for $20 a month and unlimited access for $200 a month.

Copilot let’s you use it for free.

Microsoft has a tight partnership with OpenAI and is also on a mission to put their AI (Copilot) across every Microsoft Service it offers with huge capability and features even on theor “free” tiers.

Copilot Consumer Pro users have had access to Think Deeper (which uses the o1 model) for the past 12 months, but Microsoft have now made this feature free to everyone including those using the free version of Copilot.

To access it, you need to simply head ovee to Copilot on the web, (or via the mobile app) and ensure you are signed in with a Microsoft account (MSA). You then get completed free access to the Think Deeper search (which uses the o1 model).

How to get Microsoft Copilot

To get Copilot, head to the web (you actually find Copilot in the Edge browser) and go to https://copilot.microsoft.com or head over to you phones app store and search for Copilot and install it.

You need to be signed in with your Microsoft account to use these features.

Using o1 features aka Think Deeper

Once in Copilot, use the AI chat as you would before (or like you did in ChatGPT) and you will see a “think deeper” button inside the text input box.

Using Copilot’s Think Deeper (ChatGPT model o1)

Selecting it activates the o1 reasoning model. As it processed your prompt, you also get a spinning symbol since searches and responses using o1 are more thorough that with GPT 4 and typpically take around 30 secs.

This is Microsoft’s way of letting you know that you’re in for around a 20-30 seconds wait. If you don’t need deep search so for normal use), toggle this back off to go back to the super fast GPT-4o version…

So what can o1 do then?

The deep thinker feature of Microsoft Copilot is much better for more complex tasks and research due to the o1 model ability for in depth reasoning.

As such it is simply better for solving complex issues like math, logic or science, for analysing or creating long or richer documents and reports or for code creation and debug. The best way to test this is to run two Copilot Windows side by side and test out the same prompt with and without Think Deeper enabled.

Content created with o1 is also more “accurate” with far less AI hallucinations (aka, making things up).

Why do many GPTs Hallucinate? In general, GPT models learn by mimicking patterns in their training data (huge amounts of data). The o1 model uses a different technique called reinforcement learning, whereby it's language model works things out (though it's training) by rewarding the right answers and penalising wrong ones. This takes longer through the iterative and testing process. Once done the model  moves through queries in a step-by-step fashion much like human problem  solving.

o1 limitations?

It is worth noting that o1 isn’t quite on the same level as ChatGPT in some areas. It is less effective with factual knowledge and is currently less able to search the Internet and cannot process files and images.

What about DeepSeek?

The big story this week has of course been DeepSeek, a controversial Chinese AI firm that has announced and launched their own GPT-4 and o1 rivals that have been supposedly built at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI, Google and other US models, shaking share prices, disrupting the market and rasing many questions.

What is more is more is that DeepSeek models are claimed to be more advanced and faster than GPT-4o and smarter that o1.

The advent of DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through the tech industry. Global stock markets have reeled, sparking a cascade of investigations and looming threats of bans.

Yet, the bot hasn’t been without its champions. Interestly, Microsoft – OpenAI’s top financial invester and partner – has already embraced the DeepSeek R1 reasoning model, and has integrating it into Azure AI Foundry and also GitHub.

These platforms, beloved by developers for fostering advanced AI projects, now stand as the new playground for DeepSeek’s innovative potential.

Open AI Strikes Back

In the wake of its free mobile app’s viral triumph, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman swiftly revealed plans to accelerate the rollout of new releases to keep ahead of its new Chinese competitor.

OpenAI are not standing still either though. Et the end of December 2024, month, they began trialing twin AI models, o3 and o3 mini. Remarkably, the former has surpassed o1 in coding, mathematics, and scientific capabilities, marking a significant advancement in their AI prowess.

There is no doubt this is an area that doesn’t stand still. By the time I click publish this post will likely already be out of date!

DeepSeek has certainly ignited an even greater sense of urgency within the already dynamic AI sector which moves and evolves on an almost daily basis.

January 30, 2025February 4, 2025

Copilot can now Schedule meetings for you from email threads.

Copilot and Microsoft 365 continues to evolve and add features. The latest feature introduces a seamless method to transform email threads into productive meeting agendas with a single click.

This new feature is designed to streamline the process, ensuring that your meetings are well-organized and productive.

Making Email Conversations more effective

With Microsoft 365 Copilot’s new functionality, Microsoft are making scheduling of meetings from an email (that needs a meeting) super easy.

Copilot can now reason over all related emails within the thread and creates a thorough meeting agenda with a summary of the conversation within the email chain. This captures the main topics and any early decisions, making sure everyone is up to speed and ready to jump in.

Here’s how to use it:

Open an email thread on a topic for which you would like to schedule a meeting from.
Click “Schedule with Copilot” button found in the top menu bar of the email.
Click the “Insert” button to populate the agenda in your invite. You can then edit and tweak the agenda as needed to ensure it suits your needs.

Once done, you’ve used Copilot to create a Meeting and agenda based on the threads and topics in the email chain without having to plough though it yourself. This can help you ensure relevant topics and themes are brought into the agenda.

Why would you want Copilot to do this for you?

We all had email chains that need to be a meeting at somepoint. Copilot takes most of the effort out of this and ensures that you get a meeting agenda that covers the key themes from a email chain. Copilot also attaches a copy of the original email to the meeting invite and helps ensure that the right people are invites. So all you need to do is choose the time for the meeting. This can be a real timesaver for everyone.

Conclusion

By transforming email threads into organised meeting agendas, Microsofft 365 Copilot in (new) Outlook can help ensures that everyone stays informed and meetings run smoothly.

I personally love this new feature which really helps to ensure all themes and concerns are raised as an agenda in the meeting.

Why not give it ago in your next meeting scheduling task.

January 21, 2025January 20, 2025

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat: Everything you need to know including features, agents, pricing, and how to access it.

Microsoft announced last week (15th Jan) that Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is coming to every Microsoft 365 Commercial Customer regardless of whether or not they have paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and what’s more we now get access to use agents with company data grounding support. Along with it comes a new pay-as-you-go tier that allows employees to access everything from chatbots to agents without the need for a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

While Microsoft is still confident that the full Microsoft 365 Copilot remains “our best in class personal AI assistant for work“, the new pay-as-you-go tier means organisations can start using the technology at a much lower entry point and look to address key business cases rather than going full in on Microsoft 365 Copilot. .

“Copilot Chat enables your entire workforce — from customer service representatives to marketing leads to frontline technicians — to start using Copilot and agents today”.
Jared Spataro | Chief Marketing Officer | AI at Work | Microsoft.

What is Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat?

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is Microsoft’s AI-powered chat feature designed to empower every person in every organisation to leverage Generative AI to make their “work lives easier and more efficient”.

For the employee, Microsoft Copilot Chat is a “personal assistant” they can chat with to get get answers, understand things better and get things done faster. Copilot Chat is It’s part of the broader Microsoft 365 Copilot suite but focuses specifically on enhancing communication and collaboration through chat.

How is Copilot Chat Different from Microsoft 365 Copilot?

The main differences between Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot is three-fold.

Chat within Microsoft 365 Copilot provides work-grounded chat which means that Copilot can reason over data within your Microsoft 365 organisation such as files, SharePoint sites, your OneDrive, people (within Entra ID), your meetings, chat and email etc. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat cannot access this data unless you “paste” into a chat window.
Copilot within the Office 365 Apps such as Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word etc is only available with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on, where as Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is included for free within your core Microsoft 365 licensing.

Microsoft Copilot Chat – Beyond Web Grounded Chat!

I’m personally not a fan of the name Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat because I do think it confuses people. The point I want to bring out here and why this was worthy of a post, is that previously, Copilot Chat (as it was called) only had access to data on the web and did note have the ability to leverage any of the new AI features such as Agents.

This has now changed. As the table above shows, with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, organisation will be able to create agents that do have access to data stored or connected to your Microsoft 365 tenant and also (and this is big) the ability for organisations to build and use autonomous agents (agents that can operate independently of a user).

The use of these new AI capabilities are paid for using a PAYG model. This means non Microsoft 365 Copilot users will have access to AI agents (for example in SharePoint) even if they themselves do not have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

What does Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Provide?

Key Features of Microsoft 365 Copilot

Copilot Chat
- Free, secure AI chat powered by GPT-4 and GPT-4o.
- Ability to use Copilot Agents for automating tasks directly in the chat.
- Support for file uploads in chat for summarising documents, analysing data, and suggesting improvements.
Support for Copilot Pages
- Collaborate in real-time with AI and team members.
- Integrate content from Copilot, files, and the web.
- Create AI-generated images for campaigns and social media.
Agents
- Ability to create and use agents using natural language to automate repetitive tasks.
- PAYG / metered pricing for agents with IT control over deployment and management rather than requiring all users to have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Copilot Control System
- Enterprise data protection (EDP) for privacy and security.
- Enables IT to better govern access, usage, and lifecycle of Copilot and agents.
- Allows for measurement and reporting capabilities just like other Copilot Services.

Use Case Examples

A couple of use case scenarios are;

A customer service rep can ask a customer relationship management (CRM) agent for account details before a customer meeting.
A service or field service agent can access step-by-step instructions or real-time product information from information stored in SharePoint or Dynamics 365.
A sales person can get help with positioning a product based on information on solution propositions or marketing collateral.

How much does it cost?

Understanding the charges is not super straight forward to map. For comparison though, a Microsoft 365 Copilot license costs around $30 per user per month, so use this as a basis for comparison.

In another blog post, Richard Riley, General Manager of Power Platform at Microsoft said that “usage of agents is measured in ‘messages’ and the total cost is based on the sum of messages used by your organization.“

So what does that mean? Well, Microsoft now offers two ways for organisations to access the pay-as-you-go version of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat:

Track each “message” sent to the AI whereby each message costs $0.01, billed monthly.
Pre-buying a pack of messages. This works a bit like a mobile data plan. As an example, you can buy 25,000 messages for $200 a month

The actual cost vary based on the type of response you need with responses that need generative AI costing more than responses that don’t.

Web-based answer: Free / no-cost
Classic answer: 1 message
Generative answer: 2 messages
Answers pulling data from company’s own systems (e.g., SharePoint): 30 messages

This paid capability is of course optional and organisations can decide whether to turn it ‘on’ or ‘off’ in Copilot Studio.”

Riley introduced the concept of “autonomous actions,” describing them as “generatively orchestrated triggers, topics, data connectors, and workflows, visible in the activity map displayed in generative orchestration mode“.

These are also available as pay-as-you-go, with a cost of 25 messages each time they act.

Here’s some costed use examples…

An agent answering customer questions online could use 500 classic answers and 2,000 generative ones, costing $45 for those 4,500 messages.
Another agent answering HR questions internally using Microsoft Graph data might use 200 generative and 200 tenant Graph messages, costing 6,400 messages or $64 for the day.

This approach allows businesses to fine-tune their AI usage to meet their specific needs, addressing concerns about the high costs of deploying these tools across enterprises. It also helps cost modeling certain scenarios much easier and provides an alternative to just giving every person a $30 per month Copilot License.

Using Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

Assuming IT have enabled this in your environment, you can try this by navigating to https://m365copilot.com or by downloading the Microsoft 365 Copilot App from your preferred app store.

January 18, 2025January 23, 2025

Microsoft 365 Personal, Home and a Family get Copilot for three….

Microsoft 365 Price Rises

In a move that perhaps comes as no surprise, Microsoft has revealed a small $3 price increase per use (the first in 12 years) but is including Microsoft 365 Copilot (previously a $20 add on) to these subscriptions, which enables users to leverage Copilot in Office apps without needing a separate Copilot Pro subscription. But there is catch… See later.

I’ve not seen UK pricing as yet, but starting soon, consumers will soon see a new price of $9.99 per month for Microsoft 365 Personal and $12.99 per month for Microsoft 365 Home.

It’s not actually about Copilot through…

Oddly, Microsoft says the price increase is not actually about Copilot inclusion buy it more about aligning the prices with new features that have been added over the years such Microsoft Designer and Clipchamp, both of which have extensive AI capabilities.

Or is it…

Microsoft are offering anyone who’d rather stick to the old plan the option to buy what they new call their “classic sub tier which won’t include Copilot, but just a limited time. This, I believe will be offered as a downgrade option but will only be available for a limited time.

So… If the classic tier doesn’t include Copilot… Is the price hike about Copilot or not.. What do you think?

So what is included for Copilot in Personal and Home subscriptions?

With the introduction of Copilot, Microsoft 365 apps are getting a significant upgrade. Here’s a breakdown of the new features you will get

Word

Here we get Draft and Chat capability in Word. In draft mode you can create/ generate text from within the Copilot pane directly in Word. This works for new and existing documents and also allows your to rewrite taxt, expand on it, condense it and more. Chat mode on the other hand acts as your Word AI assistant. It can summarise and explain text, paragraphs or whole documents, suggest changes and also. Help you discover Word features such as formatting or just help you to learn new features.

PowerPoint

Here we get similar capabilities to Word. Copilot can create, restructure, change and enhance PowerPoint presentations from scratch based on user-provided criteria. It can also analyse existing Word documents (and other uploaded files) and generate a complete presentation from the information contained within it.

Excel

With most people using just a tiny fraction of what Excel can do, Copilot in Excel will help anyone analyse tables, highlight data correlations, suggest and help with new formulas based on your natural written queries, and can also generate insights to help you better reason over tables data and even entire workbooks. It is also really great for helping you format and organise data, create visualisations, and even teach you (or write) formulas for you.

OneNote

One of my favourite apps, Copilot here can assist in drafting ideas, plans, and organising information within your Notebooks. Copilot can also format content and create lists according to your criteria. What’s great is it can also do the woith your hand written notes (for those like me that use OneNote on my tablet). I find it great for handwritten meeting notes or interviews in that Copilot can then write my notes up professionally for me!

Outlook

Load of useful abilities for Copilot here in Outlook and one I think most people will use alot. Copilot in Outlook can summarise emails from friends, family, and colleagues which is nice for long email chains you have just been forwarded!

It’s also great for helping you to draftnand write an ew email or response to an email based on specific tones, lengths, and formats you set.It can also help coach you by reviewing what you have written and suggesting changes.

Copilot can pull information from other emails to provide context in threads, making it useful for managing multiple email chains.

What about Copilot Pro?

Despite the price increase, Microsoft is limiting Copilot usage under the Home and Personal subscriptions through monthly AI credits which are automatically applied to your account and reset each month (think mobile data tarrifs). They have not yet shared (that I have seen anyway) how many AI credits will be given each month.

Microsoft also offers Copilot Pro which is currently $20 /£19 a month which brings the same features as above but gives unlimited access to Copilot in Office, plus what they call boosts for image creation in tools like Designer.

I’m hoping this also gets a price reduction as it suddenly seems quite pricey for the additional capacity rather than entire features.

Conclusion.. Yes please!

To me I can’t wait to see this come to Family accounts because for me today, if I want Copilot Pro in Office for all 4 members of my family, I need to pay $80 a Month! This makes is so much more affordable and a no brainier.. bringing AI tools to its 84 millions consumer users and at a much more digestable price that with Copilot Pro.

January 13, 2025January 14, 2025

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption: Practice Makes Perfect

As we all get back into the flow of work following the Christmas and New Year break, Microsoft continue to announce new features for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft 365 Copilot has been available to “everyone” to buy and use now for a year now and it’ actually hard to conceive that it only actually ben 12 months! That said, I know hundreds of organisations that are using it every day and getting a great experience from it. I also know others (and people in my own organisation that have a bit more of a “hmmmmm and it’s ok” mindset to Copilot.

As I head back into my first full week at work with Copilot at my side, it’s worth looking at just how far it has come. From taking notes and summarising content, helping me catch up things I have missed (or forgotten) and evening being my companion to help me thrash out ideas, explain things, get a different opinion – Copilot is by my side.

Copilot is like that tireless colleague who’s always ready to lend a hand, doesn’t get tired, doesn’t take a lunch a break and doesn’t need to pop out for a coffee when I need it! I often describe Copilot as a drunk intern, in that it adds huge amounts of value to my day, but it doesn’t solve every work problem, nor can it assist with every task. It can’t make decisions for me, do my executive reports, remember to do things for me (there’s other tools for that) and can’t actually do my job for me. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a tool, a powerful tool, but like any tool, its effectiveness hinges on how you use it and more importantly how you don’t!

Having helped many customers and seen the results it can have, as well as my own experience of integrating Copilot into my daily work (and personal online life) routine, it takes time. It not as simple as allocating a licensing and clicking the Copilot button. Good adoption and useful results require practice (lots), sharing what works, and an understanding of its capabilities and limitations. In this blog. I share a few little tips we have learned on the way, coupled with some tips to see value every day.

1. Results may not be instant – Practice makes perfect

You may hear people say “it is rubbish” or “it didn’t do what I thought”, or “Copilot can’t help me in my job”.

This is sometimes true, but nearly all of the time, it is simply not! Copilot can certainly help you brainstorm ideas, answer questions, explain content and even get a third person review on something you have created, but it it is not going to transform you into a master mathematician, coder, web designer or salesman overnight.

Like learning a new musical instrument (my son is learning the trumpet at the moment) or a language, it takes time (and patience) to get the hand of pretty much any tool.

Success comes (and I see it every day) by embrace the learning curve, trying new things and giving yourself room to grow alongside this technology which is constantly evolving and improving. Working with Generative AI is a totally different way of working with technology so give yourself time to work with it. There is no AI Natives (yet!).

2. Don’t get fired – Copilot for everyone but not for everything!

Think of Copilot as your co-pilot, not as the captain of your work. Copilot is there to assist you in what you do but not to take over. While it might draft a great email or executive summary, help you expand on a point or explain something, only you (as the Pilot) can ensure it aligns with your objectives and ask and that what it produces resonates with your audience.

Remember you are accountable for what Copilot produces for you – Copilot is the co-pilot. You are always in command. Copilot will remind of this, but do. Check the content, is it what you needed and asked for. Does it seem correct, read well and has it used the right content and context. If Copilot get’s it wrong, its your block on the line not Copilot’s.

Your expertise and personal touch are irreplaceable, and you are still responsible for what it produces. Don’t look silly buy not checking what it produces!

3. Remember you are human – It is not!

The Human Touch is everything. For example, when using Copilot to write or reply to a sensitive email, or when writing a personal response to something, Copilot can absolutely provide you with a solid starting point or provide guidance on how to write it.

We have all read those emails comms that are so obviously written by AI. It’s easy to spot an email from someone you know that has clearly left AI to write for them!

Empathy, nuance, and authenticity and the way in which you communicate is what makes you. It’s important to use what Copilot (or an AI) creates as a draft or a guide and ensure you inject your personality and insights to make your communication truly impactful and truly you.

4. Copilot is not a mind reader – be clear in your asks

Copilot doesn’t inherently understand the nuances of your specific situation, so back to my drunk intern analogy, you need to give it context around what you want your assistant to do.

Copilot can “summarise a report” but won’t know how you would like this summarised, the tone you woudl like, who you are summarising it for and how long you want it unless you tell it. Be explicit about the how you want the output (the goal), the context of what you need, and your expectations for how you want the output to be presented.

Remember the formula for Copilot promoting is G.C.S.E – Goal, Context, Expectations and Source.

5. Don’t leave sensitivity to chance

Microsoft 365 Copilot will adhere to your company identity and access management, respect DLP policies and even understand sensitivity labels if they are used.

Many organisations however do not use these (though are starting too), but regardless, make sure you check that you are not feeding Copilot confidential customer information when creating responses for other customers or sharing internal information that is not supposed to be shared.

People get scared that Copilot may share sensitive information. Since Copilot is the assistant and not the author, you are responsible for checking that the data you have fed it (or referenced) can be used and shared externally.

There are new tools coming to help users better protect privacy and for IT / Sec to control what Copilot accesses, but it’s still “on you”. Remember Copilot can’t get the sack – you can!

6. Copilot will not replace learning but it can help you learn.

Some like to portray that they are an expert over night with AI tools like Copilot. Sure Copilot is great at simplify complex concepts or helping you know how to do something in say Excel or Word. Copilot is also really great at helping you understand seomthing, can explain something complex “as if i am a 10 year old” and so on, but it’s not a substitute for your own learning journey.

That said, I find Copilot is great for helping you to learn something. It can help you “learn” the basics about a topic, put things into different perspectives, and even help map learning paths and helps you find resources. At the end of the day, it is still you that will learn what you are learning, but Copilot is really great at helping you learn in your way…

7. Copilot has an appauling memory

One fo the things Copilot is really bad at (by design currently) uis remembering things. This mean that not only will it not ask you how that report went, or if your customer replied to the email it helped you write.

In fact Copilot cannot (currently) evcen remeber past convrsations or preferences so once you “start a new conversation”, all history of that task you were working are forgotten.

As a tip – I tend to have a couple of chats running in parallel so I can switch between contexts as I need to. ChatGPT now has this capability to imagine* it is only time before this comes to Microsoft 365 Copilot

8. The Roadmap is every changing

The last time I looked, there was 112 new features in development and 18 that are currently “rolling out”. This AI technology is evolving rapidly and Copilot is no exception.

New features and improvements roll out regularly. It’s worth checking on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap from time to time to ensure you stay informed about what is coming. There are also a plethor of blogs like this one, user communities, webinars and formal training to help you stay abreast of the latest innovations and tips.

Knowledge is power – the more you know, the more you can leverage Copilot to your advantage.

9. Integrate Copilot into your daily routine

Consistency is key. Copilot really adds avlue when you use it little and often and when it’s seamlessly woven into your daily workflow. Here are some reaaly simple habits to form:

Start your week with a recap: Use Copilot to remind you of any emails you did not repond to last week from your peers or boss, to prepare you for your upcoming meetings, or to sugegst a date your team (rememeber it knows who works for you) are available for an afternoon off-site.
Start Your Day with Copilot: Use Copilot in the morning to outline your your day, important tasks or get you up-to-date on something. You will soon be able to schedule Copilot to do certain tasks for you.
Catch on and control your meetings: One of Copilot’s hero capabilities is to help ypou catch up on a meeting you missed, take notes for you in a meeting and even help keep the meeting flowing.
Remeber your GCSEs: Before engaging with Copilot, know what the Goal is you are trying to achieve. Give Copilot context on how you wnat it done and ensure it knows what you expect. Clear questions yield better answers.
Share and Collaborate: Encourage your team to adopt Copilot and share tips. Collective learning amplifies benefits.

The true power of Copilot lies in how you incorporate it into your daily routine:

10. Don’t Give up

You may not always get the instant results, don’t give up. Ttry again, ask others what works for them and check out help and guidance. There’s loads.

Stay Curious and ensure you experiment with different prompts and functions. You might discover new ways Copilot can assist you.
Reflect Regularly by taking time to assess how Copilot is impacting your work. Adjust your approach as needed to maximise benefits.
Share your success so other can benefit from what you have learned and what works best for you.

Final Tips

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a remarkable assistant that can amplify your productivity, spark innovation, and even make mundane tasks more manageable. But remember, it’s a tool designed to enhance your capabilities – not replace them. By using it thoughtfully, staying informed about its features, and integrating it into good work habits, you can unlock its full potential.

Technology is a force multiplier, but it’s the human element that truly makes the difference. Copilot offers incredible capabilities, but it’s up to you to wield them effectively. Use it wisely, continue to learn, and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Your proactive engagement and thoughtful application are what turn a powerful tool into transformative results. So take charge, embrace the technology, and watch how it elevates the work you do every daym, little my little, bit my bit can make a huge difference in a week.

Oh and don’t forget to share your successes with others.

TL:DR

Analyst vs. Copilot for Finance:

The Age of AI Specialists in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent

What can Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent do?

Use Cases for Microsoft 365 Researcher Agent

Researcher Agent Example

Microsoft 365 Analyst Agent – Data Analyst

What makes Microsoft 365 Copilot Analyst Agent special?

Microsoft 365 Analyst Agent Use Cases:

Analyst Agent Example

How Do Researcher and Analysts Agents Compare to the Standard Microsoft 365 Copilot Experience?

Analyst vs. Copilot for Finance – What’s the Difference?

Does Copilot for Finance only work with Dynamics 365?

Further Reading and Sources

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The Omdia Universe Report

State of the Meeting Room Market

Deep Impact: Cisco’s Differentiation

Where other vendors fall short

Webex & Teams: Bridging the Divide

Read the Report.

My view

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The “Agentic AI” Era

One Unified Plartform to Manage it all

Net Hardware: Faster, Smarter, and Built for AI

Security in the AI Era: Zero Trust, Everywhere, All at Once

Webex: Smarter Meetings, AI Helpers, and Cameras with a Brain

Conclusion

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Why this matters?

Real Benefits.

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What does the new Calendar app do?

When can I get the new Calendar App?

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AI’s Transformative Role

Immediate Impact of AI on work

Productivity Challenges

Bridging Business Needs and Human

Talent, Hiring and Employment Trends

AI’s current and future role in Work Automation

What other leaders are saying…

Summary

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Introduction

2007: Where it started – The Surface Table

2012: Surface RT – A conceptual leap forward

2013: Surface Pro: The Game Changer

2014: Surface Pro Improvements

2015: Big and Mighty – Surface Book

2016: Surface Hub: Echoes of the Original Surface Table

2016 – Surface Studio – a thing of beauty is born

2017 – Surface Laptop is Born

2018 – Arrival of the Surface Go family

2019 – Surface Pro X – Windows on Arm is back

2019/2020: Surface Hub goes Slim with Surface Hub 2

2021: Surface Laptop Studio: Versatile & Powerful

2024: The New Age of Surface: Copilot+ PCs

What’s Next for Surface?

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What is Windows 365 Link?

Is Windows 365 Link just a Thin Client?

Thin Client vs Windows 365 Link

Secure by Design

Windows 365 Link promotes sustainable computing

Availability

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Introducing The Surface Flex Keyboard?