Microsoft 365 Copilot on mobile: What staged rollout plans can miss
IT teams often design rollout plans in careful stages: the right pilot group, the right prerequisites, the right communications, and the right guardrails. Sequencing matters. But when Microsoft 365 Copilot on mobile shows up in your environment, the shape of adoption can change. Employee behavior doesn’t always follow the same tidy stages as licensing or deployment plans. Once people can use Copilot in the moments where work actually happens—between meetings, on the go, in a hallway conversation, before a customer call—usage can spread faster, more socially, and less linearly than many rollout models assume. You can stage the rollout, but you can’t always stage the real-world usage pattern that follows. And mobile is one of the fastest places that gap shows up. What we’re seeing: mobile changes the moments where Copilot shows up Mobile shifts adoption because it changes the context in which Copilot appears day to day: Copilot shows up more during “in-between” work moments Those moments where people look for quick help: summarizing, drafting, finding, checking, and preparing. Usage spreads through behavior, not just rollout sequence A teammate shares a faster way to prep for a meeting. A leader asks for a quick recap while traveling. A project team starts referencing Copilot outputs in a chat thread. That kind of spread can move ahead of your staged plan. Desktop assumptions don’t always carry over cleanly Governance, communication, and readiness decisions that feel straightforward in a desktop-first mindset can surface earlier when usage starts in mobile-first ways. Taken together, mobile introduces a second force into staged rollout planning: behavioral adoption momentum that doesn’t always wait for the next planned phase. Staged Copilot deployment ≠ staged usage Mobile frequently compresses the “pilot → expand → scale timeline,” creating earlier-than-expected issues: IT starts fielding questions about “what’s allowed,” “what’s recommended,” or “what’s safe” before the plan anticipated Governance and communication become tightly linked. If the org hasn’t expressed expectations and guardrails early and clearly, fast-moving usage can create confusion or conflicting local norms Rollout plans start competing with reality. Mobile can make Copilot feel “present” in daily work. While IT is still staging rollout, parts of the organization behave like they’re already in broader adoption. In many environments, this doesn’t stay theoretical for long. What to do: four areas that tend to matter most If you’re planning your Copilot rollout, you’ll want to think through these four connected areas: Rollout sequencing: how you stage availability and expansion User behavior expectations: how adoption may spread, and how you’ll message it Governance and readiness considerations: what needs to be clear before usage accelerates Communication planning: how you set expectations so momentum doesn’t create confusion If you’re hearing early signals that people are experimenting with Copilot in mobile contexts before the rollout has fully caught up or already seeing pockets of usage spreading faster than expected, use these four as levers for regaining clarity and alignment Next step Read the full blog for Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile rollout planning guidance, including how to align sequencing, governance, and communication, whether you’re still designing your rollout approach, or already responding to early signs of faster-than-expected adoption. Read the full Accelerator blog: Microsoft 365 Copilot on mobile: Planning guidance for IT adminsWindows 365 for Agents: run AI agents in Cloud PCs across real applications
Copilot agents have been talking the talk—summarizing information, drafting content, and answering questions. But soon they’ll be walking the walk—executing workflows across systems in policy-controlled Cloud PCs. With Windows 365 for Agents (now in public preview), you can run AI agents in a secure environment and use natural language to direct them to work across software and complete tasks, such as processing invoices or updating CRM data. What’s changing? It may sound like a small shift, but Windows 365 for Agents introduces a fundamentally different runtime model. For the first time, you’ll be able to automate workflows that live outside APIs across real applications—including legacy and UI-based systems—without giving up enterprise security or control. Much of today’s work still lives in browsers, desktop apps, and legacy systems—environments that assume intentional, human behavior. But agents behave differently: Humans operate intermittently and with judgment Agents can operate continuously and at scale Agents depend on IT-defined boundaries, such as identity, policy, access, and monitoring, to keep execution aligned with intended workflows. Without boundaries, agents can: Access unintended systems Act beyond their intended scope Amplify small mistakes across workflows Agents need a dedicated execution space designed for autonomous activity but governed by humans by default. Windows 365 for Agents introduces the right execution environment Windows 365 for Agents provides a dedicated Cloud PC environment that lets you define and control agents in various ways: Independently and continuously, or on demand Under your existing identity, policy, and management controls, such as Microsoft Entra ID and Intune As repeatable, multi-step workflows across real applications, including legacy and UI-based systems, within the boundaries you set Running agents in this controlled environment helps isolate risk and enforce security boundaries so act autonomously while remaining fully governed by your policies and without negatively impacting production systems. Get started with Windows 365 for Agents Interested in how this works and what Windows 365 for Agents unlocks for your environment? Read full blog, Windows 365 for Agents: run AI agents on secure cloud PCs, to learn more.Copilot agents are scaling faster than most organizations expected
Copilot agents are easy to pilot. Across organizations, teams are building agents to automate tasks, surface insights, and streamline everyday work. Early results are positive—and encouraging. One agent leads to another. Interest spreads. Adoption grows. Then a different question starts to surface: What happens when Copilot agents move beyond experiments and start to scale across the organization? That’s where things are getting more complicated. When success creates a new problem In early stages, conversations about Copilot agents focus on how to build, with questions centering on tools, prompts, and connectors. As usage expands, the challenge shifts away from delivery and toward coordination. Organizations see signals like: Multiple teams building agents independently Overlapping use cases with different risk profiles Unclear ownership as agents move into shared workflows Hesitation around approving the next agent These aren’t failures. They’re signs that agent usage is becoming meaningful enough to require intent, especially at an enterprise level. Why scale changes the conversation As Copilot agents move from isolated experiments to shared enterprise capability, the conversation shifts. The challenge is no longer just how to deliver agents, but how—and which—agents the organization should operate at scale. That shift introduces tradeoffs that rarely appear during pilot phases: How much autonomy should teams retain? Where does consistency start to matter? How should we support experimentation without creating fragmentation? How can leadership stay aligned as impact grows? Without a shared way to reason through these decisions, choices begin to outpace clarity. This is where many IT and business leaders pause. Not to stop innovation, but to ask a more fundamental question: What does “scaling well” actually look like for us? A CIO‑level framework for deliberate scale Organizations that recognize themselves at this inflection point will want to read Microsoft’s Accelerator article, A CIO framework for scaling Copilot agents—a CIO‑level perspective designed for when agent adoption begins to scale. The framework explores: What changes as agents move from pilots to enterprise capability How leadership decisions evolve with scale How to balance flexibility with coherence How to guide growth before friction sets in It’s framed for CIOs and senior IT leaders who are thinking beyond approving the next agent build, who are focusing now on aligning teams, expectations, and operating models at scale. 👉 Read the full framework on Microsoft 365 Accelerator Discussion What signals tell you it’s time to move from experimenting with agents to planning for scale? Where does agent growth create the most tension in your organization today? What’s the one decision you wish had been clearer earlier in your agent journey? Microsoft 365 Accelerator is where planning conversations go deeper. If your organization is moving from “can we build this?” to “how do we scale this responsibly?”, Accelerator is where you want to go next.Copilot Chat in financial services: Is productivity moving faster than policy?
In financial services, it's rarely the value of a new technology that slows down adoption. More often, it's when productivity starts to outpace the policies designed to govern it. That tension is beginning to surface with Copilot Chat. Teams are finding real efficiency gains—faster research, clearer summaries, better preparation—while leaders ask a different question: What does responsible, repeatable adoption look like once usage expands across regulated roles? Those conversations usually appear when Copilot Chat becomes operational enough that ad hoc decisions feel insufficient. A new post on Microsoft 365 Accelerator is designed for that exact moment. How financial leaders are scaling Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat without increasing risk introduces a planning kit that shows financial services leaders how to scale Copilot Chat usage while keeping governance, audit readiness, and oversight intact. Instead of features, the kit is focused on the decisions and guardrails that help organizations move forward and use Copilot Chat with confidence. If you’re seeing strong demand from business teams and equally strong questions from risk or compliance teams, this kind of guidance brings those conversations together. 👉 Read the full planning guidance and explore the Copilot Chat kit on Microsoft 365 Accelerator. We'd like to know: At what point did Copilot Chat usage in your organization start raising governance or policy questions? Which decisions felt easy during early experimentation but harder once Copilot Chat became more widely used? How are you thinking about ownership and oversight as Copilot Chat moves beyond individual use cases? Tell us in the comments below. If this discussion feels familiar, you’re not alone. Microsoft 365 Accelerator is designed for the next phase—when teams start asking not just can we, but how do we do this well.
Intermittent Delay in Loading Files Tab in Microsoft Teams Channels
Description: Within our municipality, we are experiencing an intermittent issue where the Files tab in Microsoft Teams channels takes >5 seconds to load. This behavior appears to be random and is not tied to specific users, devices, or locations. We have conducted several internal checks and can confirm the following: The issue occurs in both small and large Teams channels, regardless of the number of files or folders. It affects various Surface laptops, so it does not appear to be device-specific. It happens both inside and outside our municipal buildings, ruling out local network dependency. We exclusively use Microsoft products, including Surface devices, Microsoft Defender, and Intune for device management. We would like to know: Is this a known issue within Microsoft Teams? Are there specific tenant-level settings or Intune configurations that could influence the performance of the Files tab? Are there any recommended diagnostics or optimizations we can apply to improve consistency? We appreciate any guidance or insights you can provide. Kind regards, Dick Noort Advisor Information ServicesReady to accelerate your Zero Trust journey? Discover what’s next
For admins | 1-minute read Zero Trust isn’t just a security buzzword—it’s the new baseline for protecting your organization in a world where threats are always evolving. But what does it really take to move from strategy to action? Find out by reading our recent blog, Accelerate your Zero Trust journey: Using the Microsoft Zero Trust workshop for impact on the M365 Accelerator site. In it, we break down some of the real-world challenges IT admins face and show how this hands-on workshop can help you build a clear roadmap forward. For example, learn how you can use the workshop to: Assess and improve your security posture by evaluating your organization’s current security maturity across six critical Zero Trust pillars (Identity, Devices, Data, Network, Infrastructure, Security Operations), identify gaps, and prioritize actions for improvement. Drive cross-team alignment and executive buy-in by bringing together stakeholders from security, infrastructure, networking, and compliance for communication, consensus building, and creating a data-driven roadmap that resonates with leadership. Turn security strategy into actionable results with practical steps for leveraging the Zero Trust Workshop to transform security from a reactive task into a proactive, strategic advantage for your organization. Next steps Ready to move beyond theory and see how Microsoft’s approach can help you secure identities, apps, and data? Then Accelerate your Zero Trust journey is your next must-read. Get the full story and workshop details here.Governing Copilot agents: Your next step starts here
For those of you navigating this shift, Rob Howard, Microsoft’s VP of Product Management for Microsoft 365 Copilot Extensibility, offers a practical governance framework in his article, What IT admins need to know about governing AI agents. The article introduces three key governance pillars: Security controls using Microsoft Purview. Management controls through admin centers and deployment planning. Agent reporting to monitor usage and stay ahead of compliance. You’ll also get a first look at governance zones—a planning model to help segment Copilot deployment based on your organization’s risk tolerance and data sensitivity. Think sandbox, controlled, and trusted zones, with guidance on how to phase rollout. What else you’ll find: A checklist to assess your readiness. Real-world examples of phased deployment. Links to tools you already use, like Purview, Power Platform admin center, and Microsoft 365 admin center. A preview of the upcoming white paper and webinar. Next Steps Ready to securely and strategically lead your organization into the future of AI? Read Rob’s blog today for reliable advice on governing Copilot agents. It’s part of a broader initiative by FastTrack for Microsoft 365 to support IT admins with actionable, admin-relevant content on governing Copilot AI agents—so stay tuned for future articles, webinars, and more on the topic!Driving adoption and measuring impact with the Microsoft 365 Copilot Dashboard
Since 2023, nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies have integrated Microsoft 365 Copilot’s advanced AI into their daily workflows, unlocking new efficiencies and streamlining collaboration—and they’re seeing measurable business impact. For example, Vodafone discovered employees who use Copilot save an average of 3 hours per week, reclaiming 10% of their workweek. Lumen Technologies estimates that using Copilot will help their sales teams save $50 million per year. These are game-changing outcomes. But how do these companies know their numbers are accurate? And how did they achieve them? The key to maximizing the value of AI-driven productivity tools is more than simply licensing your end users and waiting for them to make the most of it. In fact, the key lies in measuring its impact. To drive meaningful adoption and maximize ROI with Microsoft 365 Copilot, organizational leaders need clear visibility into how their workforces are using it. This means understanding: Who’s adopting AI with Copilot. How effectively is Copilot supporting workflows. What measurable productivity gains are users achieving. In this article, business leaders and IT can learn more about the Microsoft 365 Copilot dashboard, including its key features and core metrics. We'll also go over IT's tasks for configuring the dashboard and granting access to business leaders so they can analyze Copilot usage patterns themselves, refine their Copilot engagement strategies, and help drive productivity gains in their teams and throughout the organization. What is the Copilot Dashboard? The Microsoft Copilot Dashboard is a tool in Viva Insights that helps IT, business leaders, change managers, and other non-technical stakeholders track usage of Microsoft 365 Copilot with practical insights they can use to: Prepare users to work effectively with AI Drive Copilot adoption across teams Measure impact on workplace behavior Key features and core metrics of the Copilot Dashboard With a Viva Insights license, your unlock advanced dashboard features, including: Comprehensive Metrics A 28-day aggregated view of Copilot usage, adoption, readiness, and impact, to help you understand engagement and Copilot business value. Readiness tracking Based on Microsoft 365 app usage patterns, these metrics can help you identify which teams are ready to adopt AI into their daily workflows and which may need additional support, training or upskilling. Adoption insights With adoption insights, dashboard users can track active Copilot usage patterns within each Microsoft 365 app to measure how effectively teams are integrating Copilot into workflows. They can also pinpoint areas where Copilot users may need training or support to maximize productivity. By default, the dashboard’s Adoption trendline shows the prior six-month trend for all users in the organization. You can adjust filters at the top of the page for specific groups. Impact analysis This insight allows you to analyze how often employees in your organization use Copilot during a specified time period. Leaders can also measure productivity gains through metrics like meeting efficiency, email usage, and document collaboration. Advanced tools, such as before-and-after behavioral data and employee surveys, can reveal early and even deeper insights into Copilot’s organizational impact. Learning opportunities Use qualitative feedback data from Copilot impact pulse surveys to identify Copilot satisfaction levels, challenges, and areas for improvement. For example, you can compare high-adoption teams with low-adoption ones to uncover training or awareness gaps. Managing the Copilot Dashboard: Key admin responsibilities Global admins play a critical role in configuring and managing the Copilot Dashboard. Their roles include: Setting up and configuring the Copilot Dashboard. Granting access and supporting business stakeholders. Integrating data. 1. Setting up and configuring the Microsoft 365 Copilot Dashboard Global IT admins are responsible for setting up and configuring the Copilot Dashboard to align with organizational goals and requirements. This includes managing settings and turning features on and off as needed. 2. Granting access and supporting business stakeholders Admins, you'll also need to assign permissions to specific leaders, stakeholders, or groups through the Microsoft 365 admin center or PowerShell. Make sure stakeholders in different roles have the correct permissions. You'll also play a critical role in supporting and troubleshooting issues that users might encounter, such as technical problems and related assistance. Who should have access to the Copilot Dashboard? Business leaders You can view engagement and adoption metrics directly and make informed decisions about how best to guide users on adopting Copilot. Department heads You'll want to monitor how your teams are using Copilot and identify areas for improvement. IT managers You'll need to oversee the technical aspects of Copilot deployment and ensure smooth operations. HR Managers Track employee sentiment and impact metrics for workforce planning and development. How do admins grant access to the Copilot Dashboard? You can delegate and manage access for individuals or groups to the dashboard in two different ways: 1. The Microsoft 365 admin center Access the Copilot Dashboard here or Sign in to Microsoft 365 admin center Navigate to the Settings tab Select Setup Go to the Copilot Dashboard to Manage access settings. From there you can search for and select users to grant or revoke access. Manage access for groups by selecting the Groups option, searching for Entra ID groups, and adding or removing users as needed. 2. PowerShell Viva Insights admins can delegate access to organizational insights and the Copilot Dashboard using PowerShell. Set policies to enable or disable access to the dashboard at the tenant level using PowerShell cmdlets. This method gives you more granular control. Use it to manage access for larger groups or the entire organization. Note: You can only delegate access to users with a Viva Insights license. Viva Insights is available as part of the Microsoft Viva Suite or as a standalone add-on to Microsoft 365 enterprise plans. How do business stakeholders access the Copilot Dashboard? Business stakeholders, you can access the Microsoft 365 Copilot Dashboard through your Teams Viva Insights app. 3. Integrating organizational data into the dashboard Admins will upload organizational data directly through the admin center and configure it for analysis. If both the Viva Insights admin and the Global admin upload data, the dashboard will merge these uploads and display insights based on the most recent data. Empowering business stakeholders with insights they can act on Microsoft 365 Copilot is transforming productivity, and metrics powered by Viva Insights are proving its impact to the world. Access the Copilot Dashboard today for yourself and unlock Copilot’s full potential for driving organizational success. Learn more For more information on connecting to the Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers, watch our recent video, AI Transformation: Maximize the value of Copilot with Copilot Dashboard and check out our article: Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn. Need more assistance? FastTrack is here to help! FastTrack is available to support customers with eligible licenses. Request assistance from FastTrack today or contact your assigned FastTrack Architect (FTA).
