Debugging the future of work: Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2026
Building in the era of AI can get very challenging. That’s exactly why we’re here to help you debug, refactor, and level up at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference, happening April 21–23, 2026 in Orlando, FL. Whether you’re a developer ready to scale your skillset or a power user looking to upgrade your formatting skills, walk away with practical tools you can use immediately. We've lined up hands-on sessions and interactive workshops to help you build intelligent, adaptable agents and solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem, and supercharge your Copilot journey. Here’s what you’ll learn by attending the sessions: Create custom agents for your company in Microsoft 365 Copilot Custom agents are how you turn Copilot into your Copilot. The conference will cover how to design, secure, and deploy company-specific agents using Microsoft technologies like Copilot Studio, Microsoft Graph connectors, Entra ID, and Azure, and how to integrate them into Microsoft 365 experiences (Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook) with the Agent Toolkit and extensibility patterns. Expect practical guidance on grounding agents in enterprise data, enforcing permissions, and shipping them through your existing dev and governance processes. Build smarter with SPFx Want to build once and run everywhere across Microsoft 365? This is your blueprint. In the demo-driven sessions, you’ll build and ship a production-ready SPFx solution across SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, and Copilot, complete with theming, graph integration, and Entra-backed authentication. You’ll also pick up practical guidance on performance, accessibility, Application Lifecycle Management, and scaling from prototype to production. You’ll leave convinced and equipped that SPFx is the best path to building modern, scalable applications across the entire Microsoft 365 stack. Hook into Azure DevOps AI in Azure DevOps is a workflow upgrade. Learn how built-in capabilities ADO AI Chat and the Work Item Assistant help you automate repetitive tasks, improve backlog quality, and accelerate sprint velocity. reclaim engineering time, strengthen downstream effectiveness of code-centric tools like GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Copilot, and create a more efficient, AI-powered DevOps loop. Adopt open-source tooling where suitable Open-source and community tooling can help teams adopt established patterns and reduce custom implementation effort. The conference will cover how to evaluate and adopt community libraries, templates, and accelerators (for example, PnP tooling in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem) to reduce boilerplate, standardize common API and authentication approaches, and deliver solutions faster, while maintaining appropriate standards for security, maintenance, licensing, and long-term ownership. Ready to put it into practice? Branch out by attending hands-on workshops at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference to help you get out of your tech debt. Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll build in the workshops: SPFx Supercharged: Hands-on Bootcamp for Building SharePoint Solutions – 2026 edition with Beau Cameron, Chris Kent, David Warner, and Hugo Bernier Develop Declarative Agents to Extend Microsoft 365 Copilot to Get the Most out of your Investment with Andrew Connell Mission UX: Decoding the Science of User Experience in Microsoft 365 and Power Platform with David Warner and Hugo Bernier Sessions: Advanced List Formatting with Chris Kent Bring Your Own Intelligence: Extending Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents with Azure AI and Microsoft Graph with Reshmee Auckloo Building AI-Powered SharePoint Experiences with SPFx, Azure, and Your Own MCP Server with David Opdendries Extending Microsoft 365 Copilot with Declarative Agents with Paolo Pialorsi and Vesa Juvonen From Data to Decisions: How Copilot in VS Code Empowers Research and Enterprise Teams with Olesya Sarajlic and Semir Sarajlic Getting Started with PnPjs with Julie Turner and Beau Cameron How to Fake being an AI Expert: An Evil Consultant’s Guide to AI with Hugo Bernier Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming Engineering Time with AI in Azure DevOps with Gopal Panigrahy and Apoorv Gupta Manage your Microsoft 365 Tenant and Assets with Azure Runbooks and PnP PowerShell with Rodrigo Pinto Navigating SharePoint Framework: Best Practices and Hidden Gems with Andrew Connell Powerful Things: Defeating the Demogorgon of Power Apps Inconsistency with David Warner Roundtable on the Next Wave of SPFx Investments on the Era of AI with Vesa Juvonen and Alex Terentiev SPFx Unleashed: One Codebase for Enterprise, Host-Aware apps Across Microsoft 365 with Fabio Franzini SharePoint knowledge Retrieval and Actions for your Apps with Copilot Studio + Microsoft Foundry with Patrick Rodgers and Yogesh Ratnaparkhi Supercharge Copilot with Every Enterprise Document with Steve Pucelik and Shreyas Saravanan The Power of App Builder’s Guide for Choosing the Right Path with April Dunnam Understanding Copilot Agents: What to Use When with Paolo Pialorsi and Vesa Juvonen Understanding Work IQ for Developers with Paolo Pialorsi Join us at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference, happening April 21–23, 2026 in Orlando, FL.AI is a Team Sport – Announcing our first wave of Guest Speakers at M365 Community Conference 2026
What do championship athletes, enterprise innovators, and community leaders all have in common? They know that transformation does not happen in isolation. It happens when teams come together with a shared goal, the right strategy, and the courage to try something new. That is why at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference in Orlando, Florida from April 21 to 23, 2026, we are bringing the spirit of collaboration to life in a whole new way by welcoming a dynamic lineup of guest voices from the worlds of professional sports, innovation strategy, and real-world AI adoption at scale. This year, we are proud to host legendary athletes Chasity Melvin and Kia Vaughn, alongside innovation thought leaders Dan Toma, Manjunatha Sivanna, Maral Taak, Christopher Blakeley and Jon Wear as they join Microsoft leaders on stage to explore how teamwork, leadership, experimentation, and trust are shaping the future of AI powered organizations. Chasity Melvin is a former WNBA All-Star and coach, with over two decades of experience in professional basketball. As a first-round draft pick, she played 12 seasons in the WNBA and spent over a decade winning championships internationally. She is a multifaceted coach with experience at the collegiate and professional levels including a stint with Charlotte Hornets as the first female coach to coach men. Her accolades include being an author, motivational speaker, and co-host of the Washington Mystics pre- and postgame show, where she shares her informed perspective as both a player and a coach. She is passionate about the business of sports and technology and is intentional about lending her voice in conversations that drive impact and inspire change. At the conference, she will join Corporate Vice President and Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan in a fireside chat to share insights on AI and its collaborative future in changing roles, leadership, and transformation. This fireside chat will be hosted by the Director of Customer Advocacy for AI & Collaboration, Karuana Gatimu. Kia Vaughn is an international champion known across WNBA in the United States and worldwide. Immersed in basketball from an early age, she honed her craft at Rutgers, delivering standout performances on the championship stage. Throughout her 14-year career on several WNBA teams, including the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, Phoenix Mercury, and Atlanta Dream, she developed a reputation as a consummate professional. Known for her preparation and reliability, she is geared up to bring an impact-driven global perspective to our Women in Technology Lunch in a conversation with Karuana Gatimu, Director of Customer Advocacy for AI & Collaboration. Don’t miss her insights as she navigates the challenges of an ever-changing league. Dan Toma is the CEO and Partner at Outcomes Consulting, where he helps global organizations in enhancing their approach to technology. He is an acclaimed author with a key focus on leadership, technology strategy, and delivering business outcomes. As co-author of the recent text, “Innovation Accounting”, he offers practical, detailed, and focused guidance on fostering a culture of experimentation and innovation, essential for organizations adopting generative AI. We’re excited to have him join the Director of Customer Advocacy for AI & Collaboration, Karuana Gatimu, in a fireside chat on real world adoption best practices at scale. And because AI is only as powerful as the impact it drives in the real world, we are also excited to spotlight customer voices leading enterprise transformation today. Real world customer stories Across our product keynotes, Microsoft customers will bring AI transformation to life by sharing how they are moving from experimentation to impact inside their own organizations. These global brands offer a real-world look at how teams are adopting AI, modernizing operations, and building for the future with greater confidence, creativity, and scale. Their stories ground our keynotes in practical insight and show what it really takes to turn innovation into meaningful business outcomes. Featured in our day one keynote Building for the Future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, What's New and What's Next with Jeff Teper, Executive Vice President, Collaborative Apps and Platforms: Maral Taak, Associate Vice President and Head of Enterprise Generative AI at the National Basketball Association, leads enterprise-wide AI strategy, architecture, and governance. Maral has more than 20 years of experience using cutting-edge technology to create and identify practical solutions that drive real-world impact. Since joining the NBA, she has focused on shaping the league's enterprise AI capabilities, including deploying intelligent agents, scaling agentic workflows across business functions, and driving broad adoption of generative AI across the organization. Prior to joining the NBA, Maral spent four years at Amazon, where she led the delivery of generative AI solutions across healthcare & life sciences. She also previously spent nearly a decade at IBM spearheading AI-driven automation projects across industries ranging from finance to healthcare. Her experience spans large-scale cloud deployments, AI infrastructure management, and compliance for Fortune 500 clients. She started her career as a computer vision researcher at L.R.V (Laboratoire de Robotique de Versailles). Also featured in our day one keynote Building for the Future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, What's New and What's Next with Jeff Teper, Executive Vice President, Collaborative Apps and Platforms: Jon Wear, Director of Transformation and Innovation at British Airways, is focused on the airline’s largest‑ever transformation program, an investment of over £7BN, the biggest in BA’s history. This program is modernizing the airline for long‑term growth and is already delivering measurable results, including improved on‑time and financial performance as well as higher customer satisfaction (NPS). As part of this agenda, Jon is co‑leading British Airways’ AI transformation. This has included successfully rolling out Microsoft Copilot to 40,000 employees, deploying AI agents to automate key processes, and building the organizational capabilities required to scale AI responsibly and deliver real‑world impact. Jon has nearly 20 years of professional experience across leadership, strategy, and large‑scale transformation, including service as a military officer as well as senior roles in industry and McKinsey & Company. Featured in our day one keynote Business Apps & Agents with Ryan Cunningham, Corporate Vice President: Christopher Blakeley, Principal Program Manager and AI & Agentic Automation Enablement at NASA. In this role, Chris leads the Agency’s Intelligent Automation strategy and drives the expansion of NASA’s Microsoft Power Platform ecosystem that supports more than 50,000 employees across all Centers. He oversees secure and scalable platform adoption, enabling mission and administrative teams to rapidly build automation solutions that streamline operations and advance NASA’s digital transformation goals. brings a unique perspective on applying advanced technologies in mission critical environments. Chris leads the Federal wide Power Platform Focus Group, collaborating with government agencies to coordinate best practices, governance approaches, and enterprise adoption strategies. With more than 20 years of service at NASA, including roles at Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center, Chris contributes to government‑wide modernization by championing responsible automation and empowering the federal workforce with ai-enabled digital tools. In our day two keynote Securing AI: Building Trust in the Era of AI with Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security and Rohan Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Purview will be joined by: Manjunatha Sivanna, Principal Platform Manager at Cummins Inc., will provide a look into how enterprise organizations are integrating AI into core business functions to improve decision making, streamline workflows, and empower teams to innovate faster in a rapidly changing technology landscape. In his current role, he is responsible for enterprise-wide adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Enterprise AI, establishing information governance and compliance foundations using Microsoft Purview, and enabling low-code innovation through the Power Platform. He works closely with legal, compliance, security, and business teams to ensure AI is deployed in a way that is secure, compliant, and pragmatically useful for employees. He has been a key driver behind large-scale Copilot rollouts, enterprise AI governance models, and ECM modernization initiatives, helping organizations move from experimentation to real-world, production-ready AI outcomes. He is passionate about bridging the gap between technology capability and business value, and about shaping practical patterns for Responsible and Agentic AI in the enterprise. Together, these voices reflect the very best of our community: diverse perspectives, shared challenges, and a willingness to learn from one another as we shape what comes next. Because in the era of AI, progress is not built alone. It is built together, with trust, curiosity, and teamwork at the center. Because when it comes to AI, success is a team sport.Scale manufacturing AI from pilot to production with Microsoft Marketplace
Manufacturers are facing growing pressure from labor constraints, rising costs, and increasingly complex supply chains—while expectations for AI-driven efficiency continue to climb. Yet many AI initiatives never move beyond the pilot stage due to fragmented data environments and the complexity of deploying solutions across production systems. In this latest Marketplace blog, we explore practical insights shared during a recent Microsoft Marketplace customer office hour on what it takes to move manufacturing AI initiatives from proof-of-concept to scalable, production-ready deployments. Learn why establishing a unified data foundation across systems such as ERP, MES, IoT sensors, and asset management platforms is essential to unlocking real operational impact—and how Microsoft Marketplace can help organizations scale AI in a governed, sustainable way across plants and environments. Read the full article: How manufacturers can scale AI from pilot to production with Microsoft MarketplaceNetox on Microsoftin Security Partner of the Year 2025!
Vahvaa Microsoft-osaamista, joka näkyy asiakkaan arjessa Netoxin ja SOL-konsernin yhteistyö on esimerkki siitä, miten Microsoft-teknologioihin pohjautuvat ratkaisut voidaan viedä käytäntöön hallitusti, liiketoimintaa tukevalla tavalla. Yhteistyö käynnistyi pienestä Microsoft Autopilot ‑kokonaisuudesta ja on kasvanut vaiheittain kattamaan päätelaitteet, Microsoft 365 ‑ympäristön, tietoturvan ja jatkuvat IT-palvelut lähes 2 000 käyttäjälle. Netoxin vahvuus on syvä Microsoft-osaaminen yhdistettynä rehelliseen ja käytännölliseen tekemiseen. Ratkaisut rakennetaan asiakkaan arjen, kustannustietoisuuden ja resurssien ehdoilla – ei raskaina projekteina, vaan toimivina kokonaisuuksina, jotka kestävät myös muutoksen. Tämä ajattelutapa, tiivis yhteistyö Microsoftin kanssa ja kyky tuoda uudet teknologiat, kuten Copilot, osaksi hallittua kokonaisuutta ovat keskeisiä syitä siihen, miksi Netox tunnetaan luotettavana Microsoft-kumppanina ja Partner of the Year ‑tason toimijana. Vahva kumppani keskisuurille ja kasvaville organisaatioille Netox tunnistaa roolinsa nimenomaan keskisuurten ja kasvavien organisaatioiden kumppanina. Kaikkea osaamista ei tarvitse – eikä kannata – rakentaa talon sisään, mutta kumppanin on oltava riittävän lähellä arkea. Netoxin koko, toimintamalli ja rehellisyys omasta ydinosaamisesta ovat mahdollistaneet luottamuksellisen yhteistyön, jossa vastuut ovat selkeitä ja tekeminen ennakoitavaa. Microsoft‑ympäristöissä Netoxin asiantuntemus kattaa koko kokonaisuuden: päätelaitteet, identiteetit, Microsoft 365 ‑palvelut, tietoturvan ja jatkuvat palvelut. Asiakkaalle tämä näkyy hallittavuutena, parempana näkyvyytenä ympäristöön ja ennen kaikkea siinä, että IT ja kyberturva tukevat liiketoimintaa huomaamattomasti taustalla. Turvallisuutta ja jatkuvuutta Microsoft-ekosysteemissä Tietoturva on ollut keskeinen osa yhteistyön kehittymistä. Netox ei rakenna erillisiä, päälle liimattuja tietoturvaratkaisuja, vaan hyödyntää Microsoftin ekosysteemin mahdollisuuksia osana kokonaisuutta. Kun identiteetit, päätelaitteet ja pilvipalvelut toimivat yhteen, syntyy ympäristö, joka kestää myös muutoksia ja kasvua. Microsoft‑ympäristön jatkuva kehitys, mukaan lukien tekoälyn ja Copilotin hyödyntäminen, edellyttää kumppanilta ajantasaista osaamista ja kykyä katsoa pidemmälle. Netoxin rooli on varmistaa, että uudet teknologiat tuodaan käyttöön hallitusti ja liiketoiminnan realiteetit huomioiden. Ei teknologia edellä, vaan asiakkaan arjen ehdoilla. Kirjoittaja: Ville Kankare, NetoxDesign AI guardrails to support and secure enterprise-ready apps and agents in Microsoft Marketplace
As AI-powered apps and agents become more autonomous, clearly defined guardrails are essential for helping protect sensitive data, control system behavior, and meet Marketplace certification and enterprise security expectations. This article explores how software companies can design enforceable guardrails that enable safe AI autonomy—supporting reliability, scalability, and customer trust from day one. Read the full article: Designing AI guardrails for apps and agents in Marketplace
Ep 39 | How Microsoft Partners Win More Deals Through Collaboration, AI Strategy, and Trust
There’s a quiet shift happening in the Microsoft partner ecosystem—and it’s not just about AI. It’s about how partners work together. For years, many partners have tried to build “full-service” capabilities spanning sales, delivery, data, AI, and industry expertise, but as technology becomes more complex and customer expectations rise, that model is starting to break down. The partners who are winning today are doing something different. They focus on building the right partnerships and executing together, not trying to do everything. That shift came to life in a recent episode of IAMCP Profiles in Partnership , where Anthony Carrano and Rudy Rodriguez sat down with Denny Ghim of Sandler Partners and Promod Antony of Logic Intelligence. Their story isn’t theoretical; it’s a real example of how partner-to-partner collaboration turns conversations into revenue and relationships into long-term growth. Listen to the full episode: How Microsoft Partners Win with P2P Collaboration, AI, and Data Strategy . A Simple Dynamic That Changes Everything At first glance, their partnership looks straightforward. Denny operates at the front of the market. He builds relationships, uncovers opportunities, and deeply understands customer needs. Promod leads with technical depth, data, AI, and business applications, turning those opportunities into real, working solutions, but what makes this dynamic powerful isn’t just the division of labor. It’s the alignment. There’s no competition between them. No overlap to navigate. No confusion about ownership. Instead, there’s clarity: One partner finds the problem. The other partner solves it. In a market where many partners struggle to balance sales and delivery, this kind of alignment becomes a force multiplier. It allows each side to operate at a higher level while presenting a unified front to the customer. And that unity is often what closes the deal. Where Most Partnerships Fail and Why This One Didn’t What’s striking about their story is how it started. Not with a formal agreement. Not through a strategic initiative, but in a breakout room during an IAMCP session. Like most networking interactions, it could have ended there. A quick introduction, a few exchanged ideas, and then nothing. But it didn’t. They followed up immediately. Continued the conversation outside the meeting. Took a rough idea and treated it like a real opportunity. Within a short period of time, they had moved from discussion to execution. That’s the difference. Partnerships don’t fail because of a lack of opportunity. They fail because of a lack of follow-through. In this case, momentum turned a casual interaction into a real project—and eventually into multiple opportunities in the pipeline. From Data Chaos to Real Business Impact The partnership quickly found its first proving ground: a nonprofit organization struggling with data. Like many organizations, they weren’t lacking tools; they were lacking clarity. Data was being collected manually. Systems were disconnected. Reporting took time. Decisions were delayed. The organization wasn’t just inefficient—it was operating without visibility. This is where the partnership model became tangible. Instead of leading with technology, they led with the problem. From there, the solution took shape: A move to Azure. A unified data environment. Automated processes. Real-time reporting. The outcome wasn’t just better infrastructure. It was better decision-making. Leaders could see what was happening in real time. They could respond faster and allocate resources more effectively. And for a nonprofit navigating funding pressures and operational complexity, that shift had real consequences. Microsoft partners: Customers rarely care about the platform. They care about what it enables. The AI Conversation Everyone Is Getting Wrong It’s impossible to have a conversation in today’s Microsoft ecosystem without talking about AI. But what stood out in this discussion was not the excitement around AI—it was the caution. There’s a growing tendency among organizations to treat AI like a switch. Something you can turn on by purchasing the right tool. But that’s not how it works. Underneath every successful AI initiative is something far less glamorous: data discipline. Clean data. Unified data. Governed data. Without it, AI doesn’t accelerate outcomes—it amplifies confusion. What Denny and Promod are seeing in the market reflects this disconnect. Companies are stacking tools, increasing spend, and expecting transformation, only to realize they’ve built complexity instead of capability. The opportunity for Microsoft partners is significant. Not by selling more AI but by guiding customers through the steps that make AI meaningful. Helping them slow down just enough to build the right foundation before scaling forward. Because in the end, AI is not the starting point. It’s the multiplier. Why Human Relationships Are Becoming More Valuable, Not Less As automation increases, there’s a natural assumption that human interaction becomes less important. The opposite is happening. One of the most compelling ideas from the conversation is the balance between what Denny calls AI and “real intelligence” (RI), the human side of business. The ability to read a situation, understand nuance, build trust, and navigate complexity. AI can generate insights. It can automate tasks. It can even simulate conversation. But it cannot replace trust. And trust is what drives enterprise decisions, long-term partnerships, and repeat business. This is especially true in the Microsoft partner ecosystem, where deals often involve multiple stakeholders, layered solutions, and ongoing engagement. The partners who will stand out are not the ones who adopt AI the fastest. They're the ones combining AI efficiency with human connection. The Invisible Advantage: Trust Between Partners One of the reasons this partnership works so well is something customers don’t always see, but they feel immediately. Trust. There’s transparency in how they work. Clarity in roles. Alignment in expectations. Even though how revenue is shared is defined upfront. That eliminates friction. And when there’s no friction internally, the external experience improves dramatically. Conversations are smoother. Proposals are clearer. Delivery is more consistent. Customers pick up on that. They may not articulate it directly, but they recognize when two partners are truly operating as one team, and that confidence often becomes the deciding factor. Growth Comes from Partnership—Not Expansion There’s a tendency among growing firms to expand capabilities internally: hire more people, add more services, cover more ground; but this story suggests a different path. Instead of expanding outward, they built depth through partnership. Rather than trying to become everything to everyone, they focused on becoming exceptional at what they do and then connected with others who complement that strength. The result isn’t just efficiency…. - It’s leverage. - More opportunities. - Better solutions. - Stronger positioning. - And ultimately, more growth. A Different Way to Think About the Future Looking ahead, the trajectory is clear. AI will continue to evolve. Automation will increase. New tools will emerge. The Microsoft ecosystem will become even more dynamic, but the underlying principle won’t change. The partners who succeed will not be the ones with the most capabilities. They will be the ones with the strongest relationships, with customers, with partners, and within the ecosystem itself, because in a world where technology is increasingly accessible…the real differentiator is how well you work with others. Final Thought If there’s one core takeaway from this conversation, it’s this: Growth in the Microsoft ecosystem is driven by focus and partnerships. Doing the right things, with the right partners, at the right time turns conversations into action and action into results. To learn more about IAMCP and the benefits of membership, visit the website at www.IAMCP.org.
DLP Policy - DSPM Block sensitive info from AI sites
Having issues with this DLP policy not being triggered to block specific SITs from being pasted into ChatGPT, Google Gemine, etc. Spent several hours troubleshooting this issue on Windows 11 VM running in Parallels Desktop. Testing was done in Edge. Troubleshooting\testing done: Built Endpoint DLP policy scoped to Devices and confirmed device is onboarded/visible in Activity Explorer. Created/edited DLP rule to remove sensitivity label dependency and use SIT-based conditions (Credit Card, ABA, SSN, etc.). Set Paste to supported browsers = Block and Upload to restricted cloud service domains = Block in the same rule. Configured Sensitive service domain restrictions and tested priority/order (moved policy/rule to top). Created Sensitive service domain group for AI sites; corrected entries to hostname + prefix wildcard a format (e.g., chatgpt.com + *.chatgpt.com) after wildcard/URL-format constraints were discovered. Validated Target domain = chatgpt.com in Activity Explorer for paste events. Tested multiple SIT payloads (credit card numbers with/without context) and confirmed detection occurs. Confirmed paste events consistently show: Policy = Default Policy, Rule = JIT Fallback Allow Rule, Other matches = 0, Enforcement = Allow (meaning configured rules are not matching the PastedToBrowser activity). Verified Upload enforcement works: “DLP rule matched” events show Block for file upload to ChatGPT/LLM site group—proves domain scoping and endpoint enforcement works for upload. Disabled JIT and retested; paste events still fall back to JIT Fallback Allow Rule with JIT triggered = false. Verified Defender platform prerequisites: AMServiceVersion (Antimalware Client) = 4.18.26020.6 (meets/exceeds requirements).
