Microsoft’s Ignite conference has promised to offer a deep insight into the latest innovations for artificial intelligence (AI) transformation and more this year. A cohort of our own Advania experts have touched down in Chicago and are sharing their first-hand accounts of the latest from the event. In this blog, Advania’s Microsoft Alliances Director, Rob Smith, shares the most exciting announcements he’s heard at the event.
I’m thrilled to share some of the most exciting announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2024. This year’s opening day was packed with ground breaking innovations that promise to transform the way we work and interact with technology. Ignite is running for the next few days, and there will be many more announcements to come, but let’s dive into the key highlights, focusing on Copilot, Azure, Windows & Devices, as well as a few other exciting announcements (I’m looking at you, Agents!)
Copilot: your personal AI assistant
Copilot is the UI for AI
The organising layer for work and how work gets done. Microsoft 365 Copilot is becoming an indispensable tool for many, with nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies already using it. Microsoft announced several new features that will make Copilot even more powerful and user-friendly, and spoke at length about the vision for building an Agentic world.
Copilot Actions
One of the coolest new features is Copilot Actions. These let you automate everyday tasks with simple prompts. Imagine getting an automatic summary of your most important action items at the end of each workday without lifting a finger, or creating an action to gather feedback from your team at regular intervals.
You can even prep for customer meetings with a recurring action that summarises your previous interactions and gathers together other info’ you have around a customer so you’re ready and armed to have the best conversation.
Copilot Control System
Designed to help IT professionals manage Copilot and agents securely, this system includes data protection, management controls, and measurement and reporting tools.
Copilot Pages
A dynamic canvas for AI collaboration, now enhanced with rich artifacts like interactive flow charts and blocks of code.
Copilot in Teams
Now capable of understanding and summarising visual content shared onscreen, in addition to transcripts and chat. No more needing to wait for the meeting to end to integrate the transcript or content with Copilot, you can now get detailed information in real time as the content is shared.
Copilot in PowerPoint and Outlook
PowerPoint can now translate entire presentations into 40 languages while maintaining design integrity, and Outlook can help schedule focus time or draft meeting agendas. Both features will be generally available by the end of November.
Windows: Your Cloud PC
Windows 11, W365 and the latest wave of Copilot+ PCs are a key part of Microsoft’s strategy to deliver a unified experience to customers, from the end user device all the way to the data centre (and beyond!)
Windows 365 Link
A personal highlight for me was the announcement of Windows 365 Link, a new Cloud PC device that connects directly to Windows 365, providing a secure and responsive desktop experience.
Managed alongside other devices through Intune, it allows users to connect to their Windows 365 PC in minutes, and helps reduce security risk through adminless users, passwordless authentication using Microsoft Entra, and no local data stored on the device that can be compromised. It will be generally available April 2025 and could be a real game changer for organisations and users looking to seamlessly connect to their Windows 365 environments without the cost of (sometimes!) expensive, thick-client PC devices.
Microsoft also announced the Windows Resiliency Initiative. This includes Quick Machine Recovery, a solution to help recover from unexpected disruptions, and it will also be available in the Windows Insider Program in early 2025.
Azure: Empowering IT and Business Leaders
Azure continues to be at the forefront of cloud innovation, and this year’s announcements are no exception.
Azure AI Foundry offers a unified platform for organisations to harness AI effectively. It bridges the gap between cutting-edge AI and practical business applications. Designed for developers, AI engineers, and IT professionals, Azure AI Foundry simplifies the development and management of AI solutions and applications. Developers can swiftly adapt AI advancements and access all Azure AI Services with new capabilities while IT professionals and business leaders can measure AI effectiveness, align initiatives with goals, and confidently invest in AI technologies.
Azure Local
Many industries now demand distributed computing. Retailers use in-store AI to enhance shopping, manufacturers place critical apps in factories for efficiency, and regulated sectors need cloud benefits with local control over their data. Enabled via Azure Arc, Azure Local allows you to deploy cloud-connected infrastructure at your sites and under your control. It allows you to operate and scale using the Azure portal and APIs, run core Azure services locally, and choose hardware that fits your needs and budget, as well as extending cloud security to protect apps and data against advanced threats.
Agents: living in an Agentic world
If you haven’t heard the word Agentic before, you might not be alone, but it’s something we will all get exposed to more and more over the coming weeks, months and years.
In short, Copilot allows users to interact with agents, while Copilot Studio is a platform for creating, managing, and connecting these agents. Microsoft 365 has introduced agents aimed at improving individual productivity and business processes. These new agents complement the autonomous agents announced in October 2024 for professionals in sales, service, finance, and supply chain.
Here are just a few of the Agents announced:
SharePoint Agents
Organisations extensively use SharePoint, creating over two million sites and uploading more than two billion files daily. Every SharePoint site now includes an agent, enabling employees to access this vast knowledge base quickly. Agents in SharePoint can retrieve project details, summarise memos, or locate documents efficiently. Salespeople, for example, can instantly find product specifications or client proposals, streamlining responses to customer queries. Users can query agents about data across their files and create custom agents for specific content with ease.
Teams Interpreter Agent
Teams Interpreter Agent in Teams offers real-time speech-to-speech interpretation during meetings and can simulate the user’s speaking voice for a more personal experience. This feature will be available for public preview in early 2025.
Employee Self-Service Agent
The Employee Self-Service Agent in Business Chat provides quick answers to common policy questions and facilitates tasks such as understanding benefits or requesting new equipment. It can be customised in Copilot Studio to suit an organisation’s needs and is currently in private preview.
Other Agents
Other agents include Facilitator, which takes notes in Teams meetings and chats, and Project Manager, which automates plan creation and task completion in Microsoft Planner. These agents are in public preview.
In the coming months, you’ll see more partners and vendors like ServiceNow, Workday, and Cohere releasing integrated agents into Copilot, adding specialised knowledge across HR, finance, and sales. S&P Global, CB Insights, and other new connectors to enable Copilot to reference a wider range of business data.
We at Advania are excited about these advancements and look forward to leveraging them to provide even better solutions for our clients. You can find further information on all these announcements (and more) in the Ignite 2024 Book of News. Stay tuned for more updates and insights from Microsoft Ignite 2024.
