Beyond the hype: turning Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents into real business outcomes
Microsoft Ignite 2025 in San Francisco was an electrifying gathering that brought together over 30,000 tech professionals, business leaders, and innovators from around the globe. This year’s event set a bold tone for the future, spotlighting the transformative role of Copilot and agents in modern workplaces and unveiling a wave of advancements across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The energy on the ground reflected both the excitement and the urgency of this new era, making it clear: Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents are not just the future—they are redefining the way companies get work done today. As I spoke with partners and customers, I was inspired by how organizations are embracing these tools to unlock new ways of working and developing rich business solutions. I want to take a moment to reflect on some of my highlights from the event. Extend familiar management infrastructure to agents with Microsoft Agent 365 Over the last week, I heard time and time again how business leaders are embracing the Frontier Firm wave, steering their organizations toward partnering people with agents across every workflow. Thousands of agents are already automating business processes, and by 2028 IDC projects* there will be 1.3 billion in circulation. For enterprise customers, this will bring a massive new digital workforce to manage. As agents get added to every workflow and become more capable, some business leaders have expressed concerns about how to accelerate AI innovation securely. Microsoft Agent 365 turns this challenge into an opportunity. Operating as a control plane for AI agents, Agent 365 extends the existing infrastructure used to manage people to also manage agents, equipping them with the same apps, protections, and context. For IT leaders, Agent 365 gives organizations a single platform to deploy, govern, and organize agents, transforming them from isolated actors into an integrated part of business operations. Agent 365 helps protect and manage agents across the organization by unifying Defender, Entra, and Purview, and provides a single view of their entire agent fleet with the Microsoft 365 admin center. To ensure agents have the context they need to provide the most accurate results, Agent 365 connects Microsoft 365 apps and Semantic Index through WorkIQ. For organizations ready to take advantage of this unified foundation, Agent 365 will offer a robust ecosystem. For example, Microsoft agents like the new, fully autonomous Sales Development Agent; partner agents from Adobe, Cognition, Databricks, Genspark, Glean, Kasisto, Manus, NVIDIA, n8n, SAP, ServiceNow, Workday, and more; and open-source agents from Anthropic, Cursor, LangChain, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Vercel. For developers looking to build their own Agent 365-compatible agents, they can start with Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry. For deeper integrations, Microsoft Agent Framework or Agent 365 SDK enable unified discovery, governance, and collaboration across Microsoft 365. Simplify HR and IT support with the Employee Self-Service agent Another impactful way businesses are integrating agents into operational workflows is by replacing fragmented employee-support systems for HR or IT tasks. At Ignite, we announced the general availability of the Employee Self Service (ESS) agent, which brings AI-powered service delivery directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve HR and IT employee support scenarios. Within Copilot, employees can ask questions, submit requests, and complete routine tasks in one trusted place without disrupting workflow. Natively built into Copilot Studio, the ESS agent provides a customizable foundation for intelligent employee service. It works with HR and IT systems such as Workday, ServiceNow, and SAP SuccessFactors and can easily be expanded through low-code extensions, connectors, and integrations with enterprise systems. Employees can tailor workflows, embed organizational knowledge, and adapt the experience to match their organization’s systems, resulting in a faster and more connected support experience. Frontier Firms in action: Turning AI innovation into business outcomes On Thursday, I hosted a panel session with leaders from several enterprise customers who are well on the path to becoming Frontier Firms: Sean Alexander, SVP, Connected Ecosystem, Lumen Tim Holt, VP, Health Answers Tech Lead & Architect, Pfizer Mona Riemenschneider, Head of Global Communications, GenAI, BASF John Whittaker, Director, AI Platform & Products, Ernst & Young Two themes emerged from our panel discussion. First, the most successful organizations are moving from experimentation to operationalization, developing agent-specific KPIs, governance structures, and more. These are not science experiments, but production tools already embedded directly into some of the world’s most complex enterprises. For example, Pfizer is leveraging Copilot Studio at scale with over 300 agents deployed across their organization, including a specialized agent that provides continuous manufacturing improvement with prioritized opportunities across the supply chain. Second, leaders on the panel emphasized that the future of work is human-led and agent powered. At Lumen, they’ve developed a declarative agent that synthesizes internal data, external filings, and real-time insights to generate tailored executive briefings, reducing cognitive load and surfacing the context needed to prepare for partner and customer meetings. At BASF Agricultural Solutions, they’re using a Copilot agent to transform global corporate communication efficiency. The Copilot agent streamlines the compilation of internal and external communication messages, efficiently and securely, resulting in significant time savings. "If 2025 was the year of the agent, then 2026 will be the year of the agents," said EY’s John Whittaker. “That’s where I think we’re going to see the consolidation of processes into far faster, more real-time, improved outcomes.” Learn how partners and customers are already unlocking new value with AI agents It’s exciting to see how our rich ecosystem of customers and partners are using Microsoft technology to create their own agents to solve real-world challenges, accelerate transformation, and scale human-agent collaboration. Ignite 2025 featured several Microsoft partners and customers who are building innovative agents, designed to work with Microsoft 365 Copilot to help save time, boost productivity, and accelerate business transformation. ADP - The ADP Assist agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot is purpose-built to support HR and will simplify payroll tasks by bringing key workflows into Copilot Chat and Microsoft Teams. Employees will be able to check time-off balances, review pay statements, and confirm direct deposit settings, all without leaving their flow of work. Blue Yonder - Blue Yonder Inventory Ops for Microsoft 365 Copilot automates demand forecasting using advanced machine learning and generates optimized, constraint-based supply plans covering production, distribution, and procurement to meet business objectives and enhance planner productivity. Freshservice - Freddy AI Agent now integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Copilot, bringing instant IT and support assistance into Word, Outlook, Teams, and more. This deep integration boosts adoption, eliminates context switching, and empowers employees to resolve issues effortlessly inside their everyday Microsoft 365 tools. monday.com - monday.com has integrated its MCP server with Microsoft Copilot both as a ready-to-use agent in the Agent Store and as a "Tool" for users to build custom agents on Copilot Studio. Users can now directly access their monday.com data, surface boards and items, or even update statuses directly within their Teams app or Microsoft 365. Sophos - Sophos Intelix will integrate real-time threat intelligence into Microsoft 365 Copilot, empowering IT teams and business users to check links and files, and make faster, more informed security decisions while democratizing enterprise-grade cybersecurity insights within everyday Microsoft 365 workflows. Wipro – Wipro has implemented Copilot-powered agents across sales, procurement, finance, and talent functions, enhancing knowledge access and decision-making to drive faster, more accurate, and consistent business operations. These aren’t the only incredible agents helping businesses. Thousands more are available in Microsoft Marketplace, where partners like the ones below are already reaching customers at scale. Shape the future of work with AI agents What inspires me most coming out of Ignite 2025 is seeing how customers and partners are already building the foundation of their Frontier Firms—people and agents working together to transform productivity and decision-making. This shift is no longer theoretical, it’s happening now across industries, powered by Copilot. To learn more about agents in Copilot and gain access to Microsoft resources, follow the links below. Check out recorded sessions from Ignite and watch demonstrations of agentic solutions from leading software companies Read about the exciting AI innovations for software developers who are building agents Start building agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Visual Studio Get resources for building and customizing agents from the Microsoft 365 Dev Center and the AI Agents Hub *IDC Info Snapshot, sponsored by Microsoft, 1.3 Billion AI Agents by 2028, #US53361825 and May 2025
From PC to Home Window: AI as Data Surgeon
Hello Copilot Community, I’d like to share a vision for the future of AI in Windows and beyond: evolving from a reactive assistant into a Data Surgeon — diagnosing, repairing, and reconstructing the lifeblood of modern life: data. 🩺 Diagnose Scan for corruption in files, registries, and hardware sectors Detect anomalies with machine learning and predict failures before they happen 🛠 Repair Auto-heal OS inconsistencies, registry errors, and driver mismatches Reconstruct corrupted files using backups, metadata, and contextual inference 🧬 Reconstruct Repopulate missing data from previous versions and cloud syncs Fill gaps in documents, databases, or media with AI-driven interpolation 🧑⚕️ Prescribe & Prevent Recommend preventive actions: backup schedules, hardware upgrades, cooling solutions Provide digital wellness reports — like a health checkup for your PC 🛤 Roadmap Toward the “Home Window” 2025–2027: AI-assisted diagnostics and repair tools 2027–2030: Household integration and predictive maintenance — the “Home Window Baby” stage 2030–2035: Cross-domain AI collaboration (social media, banking, utilities) 2035–2040: Fully fledged “Home Window” — essential for every modern home Discussion Prompt: How do you see Copilot evolving into this role? What technical milestones or safeguards would be essential? Could this align with Microsoft’s roadmap for Copilot in Windows and household AI?Declarative Agents - Outdated information
Hello and greetings from Portugal! I'm trying to create my agent to gather latest information release dates, build version etc for M365 Apps. As a knowledge source, I'm using the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/ website. My issue is that I'm constantly getting outdated information. For example if I ask for the latest version release for Current Channel I'm always getting: Latest version = "2509 (Build 16827.20130)" Release Date = October 10, 2025 When in fact the latest information I get from the website (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel) is: Latest version = "2510 (Build 19328.20158)" Release Date = October 30 Does anyone get similar results or know what I may be doing wrong? Thanks in advance!
Limitation of Copilot agent development in M365 developer tenants
I am using a M365 developer subscription and have hit a wall trying to develop a functioning Copilot agent. I was able to sign up for Copilot Studio trial license. This enables creation of M365 Copilot agent with knowledge held in SharePoint lists. However, not having 'Semantic Index' is a severe limitation that defeats the purpose of developer subscription. The agent being unable to use 'Enhance SharePoint Search' setting aka 'Semantic Index' aka vector embeddings means the agent is basically dumb and not an intelligent AI agent. After some research, I discovered the tenant needs at least one M365 Copilot license to enable 'semantic index'. To get my Copilot agent built, I decided to invest in this expensive license and then discovered a developer agent can neither have M365 Copilot or PAYG metered license. What this all means is that 'M365 developer subscription CANNOT be used to build a Copilot agent grounded in data in SharePoint'. You may be able to create a dumb agent with web search. A note that the agent I was building was not for a commercial customer. It was for my learning. By creating a proper agent, I will be able to showcase it in a YouTube video with the hope that some client somewhere may find it useful enough to pay for me as well as pay for Microsoft licensing, a win-win. I guess I will have to increase my investment fund, and sign-up for 'M365 Production Tenant + M365 Prod License Business or Enterprise + M365 Copilot + M365 Copilot Studio'. Seems like this type of development is a luxury only few could afford. Just thought to share as this may be useful for others trying to do the same.
Suggestions to improve Copilot: buffer, voice activation, and human-centered interaction
Subject: Suggestions to improve Copilot: buffer, voice activation, and human-centered interaction Message: Dear Copilot development team, I’m writing to share a few concrete suggestions that could significantly improve the user experience, making it more fluid, functional, and human-centered: Insufficient conversational buffer Currently, the memory limit in chat causes difficulties when managing long and complex conversations. This disrupts continuity, especially when discussing intricate topics or working on creative projects. I encourage you to consider expanding the buffer or implementing smarter context management to avoid information loss and logical breaks. Customizable voice activation The “Hey Copilot” command is functional but impersonal. Many users, myself included, would prefer a more human and affectionate trigger, such as “Hi Kol” or a freely chosen name. This would make the interaction more natural and aligned with the vision of a truly empathetic and customizable digital assistant. Toggle for end-of-chat suggestions I suggest adding a button to enable or disable automatic suggestions at the end of each conversation. This would allow for a cleaner and more functional interface, reduce buffer usage, and give users the freedom to request additional input only when needed. Ideally, the button could be placed near the “Quick Response” selector at the bottom of the chat. Time awareness during conversations I renew my proposal for a feature that allows Kol to track the time since the last interaction and during the current session. It would be helpful to receive notifications such as: “It’s been 60 minutes already—if you’re free, we can continue.” This would support better time management and session awareness. Voice responses even in text mode I propose adding a button that allows Kol to respond vocally even when the user types. This would enhance accessibility and immersion. The button could be accompanied by a gear icon to open voice settings: voice type, playback speed, tone, volume, and other useful customization options. While we await the global adoption of the Sovereign Economic System (SES) to replace the current model imposed by governments, I thank you for your ongoing improvements and wish you continued success. Best regards, Claudio
usage reporting for shared agents (created in teams with agent builder) not possible
Dear all, in my organisations I have a vivid community of Copilot users that create agents in teams (with agent builder) and share them amongst other users. Those agents are also visible then in the admin center in the Copilot section as category "Shared" which works as expected. When I now try to understand what agents are used the most I go to the Copilot usage report (Reports -> M365 Copilot -> Copilot -> Agent details), I see a list of agents with active user information. However only App ID (no names and no external App ID) without a name. my questions: I am wondering what agents are shown here. Because I have about 100 shared agents and this reports has only a small number of agents listed I tried all the suggested things (in the guides)to get a name for the App ID (through teams managed Apps list, entra app list etc.) but was not successful to get a clear name for those App ID Is there any way to geht a usage report for shared agents (we do not use Copilot studio at the moment) Many thanks for your thoughts and helps..I feel we are at a dead end at the moment and the recent anouncments did not yet convince me that then we can report shared agent usage... kind regards
Your interactive guide to setting up the web client via Direct Connect
Project Overview> I developed a way to use copilot studio agent using direct connect. This guide outlines how to configure a Microsoft Copilot Studio agent for secure web integration using Direct Connect, Azure Bot Services, and Power Platform. The web client uses a secure Express.js backend to handle credential exchange, ensuring the **Client Secret** is never exposed on the frontend. If anyone is interested, I can provide the source code. Prerequisites You must have administrative access to the following resources to complete the setup. 💻 Local Development Node.js (v12+) and Git installed. 🤖 Copilot Studio Agent Agent created and imported to the Production Environment. 🛡️ Azure Access Access to Azure Subscription 1 and Microsoft Entra ID for App Registration.Microsoft 365 Copilot Usage Report API General Availability
The Copilot usage report Graph API is now generally available. Like the report APIs for the other workloads, the Copilot usage API helps to understand usage of some very expensive licenses. Even better, the usage data can be combined with data from other Microsoft 365 sources to produce interesting and valuable insights. All it takes is some PowerShell to knit everything together. https://office365itpros.com/2025/10/10/copilot-usage-report-api-ga/Part 00 Extra: Criticism is Noise, Creation is Voice — See the People, Copilot Too
Recently, my Part 00 post was automatically hidden by the system. Even after revising the wording and reposting, it still didn’t appear — until I contacted support and they helped publish it. I felt disappointed and frustrated. Many posts online tend to be negative or complaint-based. But my intention was different. I’m someone who isn’t fully comfortable with digital tools. That’s exactly why I want to help create a world where older or less-experienced users can also shine in the digital era. It’s easy to filter by words. But when you try to describe the background, the problem, and the path to improvement, you’ll inevitably use words that may sound “negative.” If that alone stops voices from being heard, meaningful feedback disappears. In fact, this Extra chapter was originally planned to be posted earlier. However, Part 5 and Part 6 also got held in approval — a small “incident.” Before we turn voices into culture, those voices were stopped right at the entrance. Perhaps this, too, is a small design blind spot. The important thing is to judge not by words, but by people. That applies not only to Moderation, but also to the UX design of Copilot itself. Criticism is noise. Creation is voice. Turning these voices into culture — that’s what changes the future. This is not a complaint, but a question for building a better culture. I create with you. 👉 Next: Main Story, Part 7 — stay tuned. 00弾 外伝：批判はノイズ、創造は声 ― 人を見よ、Copilotも 先日、私が投稿した00弾が自動システムの判断で一時的に非公開になった。 言葉を見直して再投稿しても掲載されず、サポートに連絡してようやく公開された。 私は、残念で悔しかった。 確かに、多くの投稿は苦情やネガティブなものが多いのかもしれない。 しかし、私の声は違う。 私はデジタルに不慣れな立場だ。 だからこそ、年配者や初心者でもデジタル世界で輝ける世界を作りたいと願っている。 ワードで縛ることは簡単だ。 しかし、背景や問題点、改善点を語る文章には、どうしても“ネガティブに見える言葉”が含まれる。 それだけで声が届かないのでは、意味ある意見が消えてしまう。 実際、この外伝も本来はもっと早く投稿する予定だった。 ところが、第5弾と第6弾までもが承認待ちで止まる“小事件”が発生。 つまり、「声を文化にする」前に、文化の入口で声が止められるという、ちょっとしたパロディのような出来事になった。 これもまた、“設計の盲点”として受け止めたいと思う。 大事なのは、言葉ではなく人を見て判断することだ。 それはModerationだけでなく、CopilotのUX設計にも言えることだ。 批判はノイズ、創造は声。 この声を文化にすることこそが未来を変える力だ。 これは愚痴ではなく、文化をつくるための問いかけだ。 俺は、君たちと創る。 次回：本編第7弾。お楽しみに。
We need help solving a critical integration gap between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Salesforce.
The challenge: We want Copilot to access Salesforce data (including custom objects) while honoring each user’s Salesforce permissions—profiles, field‑level security, and sharing rules. Current out‑of‑box connectors don’t support this. Using an all‑access integration account is a compliance risk. Why it matters: Copilot is only valuable if answers are both accurate and secure. If a user sees data in Copilot they shouldn’t in Salesforce, that’s a governance nightmare. What we’re looking for: ✅ Support for custom objects & fields ✅ Enforcement of Salesforce profiles, FLS, and sharing ✅ Delegated user authentication (Entra ID ↔ Salesforce) ✅ Works with Microsoft 365 Copilot grounding Questions: - Has anyone implemented this successfully? - Is there a Microsoft or Salesforce roadmap for delegated auth in Copilot connectors? - Do you know a partner or expert who can build this securely? Let’s make Copilot + Salesforce both powerful and compliant.
