Many people only scratch the surface of Microsoft Copilot—using it for basic email drafts or quick grammar fixes. However, recent features across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem turn Copilot into a powerful proactive engine capable of running complex, multi-step workflows. Here is a breakdown of what I think are valuable features to understand in the latest…
The enterprise AI boom has hit a bit of a financial wall. What began as an exciting race to adopt generative AI tools across organizations has rapidly morphed into a budgeting headache. As companies expand from basic chat interfaces to autonomous agents and automated workflows, the underlying compute costs are proving unsustainable. Here is a…
Copilot isn’t a single product or a single price — it’s a whole family. Free Copilot is exactly that: free. For personal Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft 365 Premium is the consumer AI plan (it replaced Copilot Pro in late 2025). For workplace data and enterprise context, Microsoft 365 Copilot runs at $30/user/month. If you’re building…
I have seen a lot of articles and reports about European countries, especially in the EU, moving away from Microsoft and other U.S. tech providers. At first glance, it may sound like a simple privacy debate, but the issue is really about digital sovereignty, data control, and long-term dependence on foreign technology. Europe is not…
As organizations move from experimenting with AI assistants to deploying autonomous and semi‑autonomous agents, a new challenge emerges: governing what those agents actually do at runtime.This isn’t about who built an agent—it’s about what it can access, what actions it can take, and whether it’s operating safely inside the enterprise. That’s the problem Microsoft Agent…
Standardizing on New Outlook for Windows (and Removing Outlook Classic) As organizations modernize their Windows 11 environments, Outlook often becomes a source of confusion. Much of that confusion comes from assuming Outlook is part of Windows itself. In reality, Outlook behavior on Windows 11 depends heavily on what is installed after the operating system—particularly Microsoft…
Imagine having an intelligent assistant that doesn’t just answer questions, but understands the full context of your projects, your OneNote files. synthesizes information across sources, and helps you brainstorm, draft, and visualize ideas. Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks is designed to do exactly that. This new capability, integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, represents a major…
Summary: March 2026 Microsoft’s Copilot Reorg: What It Means for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Power Platform On March 17, 2026, Microsoft announced a significant reorganization of its Copilot efforts, aimed at turning Copilot from a collection of related features into a coherent, end‑to‑end AI system across consumer and enterprise products. For technical audiences working with…
Learning from others is the fastest way to realize what can be done. Instead of reinventing the wheel every time you sit down to work, you can stand on the shoulders of those who have already tested the ropes. This collection brings together GitHub repositories, video tutorials, and community forums so you can skip the…
Decoding Microsoft 365 Licensing Names: A Practical Guide for IT Directors (2026) Microsoft’s productivity stack is simpler to manage than ever—but its naming conventions remain anything but. Between Office 365, Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365 Copilot app, Business and Enterprise plans, even veteran IT leaders can get caught in terminology tangles. This post gives you…
Microsoft is introducing broad changes to Microsoft 365 in 2026 that go beyond Intune, combining a noticeable price increase with a push toward more tightly integrated security, collaboration, and AI capabilities across the suite. Core plans like Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 are gaining enhanced features in areas such as threat protection, data security, and…
Imagine stepping into a bustling office where every corner buzzes with different kinds of energy. Some areas are quiet, rooms filled with serious meetings; others hum with the mingling of people sharing ideas and building community bonds. In many ways, this is how Microsoft Teams and Viva coexist within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, each creating…
Starting October 14, 2025, Microsoft will end support for OneNote for Windows 10, making it read-only. The ONLY officially supported version moving forward is simply called OneNote—no year or edition attached. Previously known as “OneNote 2016,” this desktop app is included with Microsoft 365, Office 2019, Office 2021, and Office 2024, and is also available…
On August 12, 2025, Microsoft has a significant change to its Enterprise Agreement (EA) licensing structure — effective November 1, 2025, automatic price level discounts for Online Services (Levels B–D) under EA, OSPA, and MPSA agreements will be eliminated. All eligible customers will pay the Level A list price, regardless of size or prior spend….
Summary originally generated with Microsoft Copilot As AI agents become more common in the workplace, especially within Microsoft 365, it’s crucial to manage them securely and effectively. AI agents are transforming how we work—automating tasks, improving decision-making, and enhancing collaboration. But with great power comes great responsibility. The recently published (last week) Microsoft’s Agent Governance…
In May of 2025 Microsoft released a BUNCH of enhancements to their Copilot family of products. Absolutely amazing. I have been keeping track of this and the last time I wrote an update was in November 2024 under the blog The World of Microsoft Copilot Products – Update Nov 2024. You can also see my…
As many organizations are engaging in Implementing Microsoft Copilot, a question I often get asked which I thought I would document for reference. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a powerful tool that leverages AI to assist users in various tasks. However, there might be instances where you want to exclude certain files or documents…
Microsoft is enhancing its Copilot AI to function more like virtual employees, capable of proactive task automation. This includes monitoring emails, automating data entry, and performing a series of tasks autonomously, showcasing a shift from reactive to proactive AI assistance. Please view the updated blog post I wrote early this month The World of Microsoft…
In today’s fast-paced world, productivity and efficiency are more important than ever. Microsoft has developed a suite of Copilot products, each designed to help you get the most out of your workday. Let’s take a closer look at these offerings. This is an update to the blog post I wrote about a year ago: Making…
Microsoft Copilot continues to stand out as a powerful assistant designed to enhance productivity and collaboration. I am loving the speed, accuracy and how well it integrated with the M365 suite of applications it is. It has saves me TONS of time and I am especially thankful for meeting summaries! One can say I am…
Microsoft has separated Teams into its own standalone licensed product, Teams Enterprise, ending its previous inclusion with the Office 365/Microsoft 365 suite of productivity tools. Microsoft made this change in response to concerns raised by the European Commission about the bundling of Teams with Microsoft 365 and Office 365. Microsoft has unbundled Teams from its enterprise Microsoft…
Please note that this original blog post was updated on 4/15/2025 to reflect some changes on application consolidation. Microsoft’s OneNote application has become an essential tool for organizing information, whether you’re managing work projects, personal notes, or collaborative ideas. Its seamless integration with cloud services like OneDrive and SharePoint makes it easy to access notebooks…
There is a lot of misconceptions / questions about the security around the Microsoft Copilot products. understandably, it is usually one of the first question that comes-up when companies are considering Copilot use within their organizations. (the elephant in the room!) Let’s quickly put some misconceptions to bed right away: Per Microsoft Documentation: Understanding how…
Very interesting changes coming to Microsoft Stream platform… Microsoft Stream Classic will retire on February 15, 2024 My FAVORITE: Virtual teleprompter The teleprompter feature is a new addition to Microsoft Stream that allows you to add a scrolling script to your screen recording or video. This can be helpful if you need to read…
Last week Microsoft announced OneDrive 3.0 Lots of excellent updated to an already great product. they are calling it The Future of File Management and it includes AI capabilities! ( OneDrive with Copilot ) to help quickly search, organize and extract information from your files. Although not every featured mentioned is there, some are already…
New Microsoft Teams version GA: Much faster and uses 50% less memory ! Much faster, and it uses 50% less memory! Announcing general availability of the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac – Microsoft Community Hub Switch to the new Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support A great video on this topic published by:…
Interest in AI related topics: check out my AI Series Learnings Page Today Microsoft announced that in the next Windows release 23H2 on September 26 will contain Windows Copilot baked in.. During the same event they announced that Microsoft 365 Copilot will be generally available starting November 1, 2023. This will get interesting now… Announcing…
When meeting customers, I am often ask if there is a quick chart that shows what is included in the differnent Microsoft 365 plans, The following table is from Microsoft and lists the major features available for easy reference. I place the graphic here for easy reference, but you should check the full Microsoft documentation…
On March 1, 2023 Microsoft announced Microsoft Intune Suite which consolidates its endpoint management and security solutions to streamline protection for cloud-connected and on-premises endpoints. It includes: The new Intune Suite can be added all Microsoft Intune subscribers (including Microsoft 365 E3 and E5) which already include core Intune (now called Intune Plan 1) for an additional…
Exchange Server 2013 will reach its end of support on April 11, 2023. Although Exchange 2013 installations will continue to work, it is hightly recommended for you to migrate to to Microsoft 365, Office 365 , or, if you must, Exchange 2019 as Microsoft will no longer provide: Microsoft has listed a particular requirement regarding Active…
Microsoft has been working hard in consolidating their security messaging and in the past 6- 12 months there has been a number changes to their product lines and names which has caused some confusion to customers and partners
I was doing a bit o research for a session I am doing later this week and came across a great video from a Wayne Chapin that explains in great detail why is Microsoft 365 (M365) is vital for IT Security Modernization…. His audience, IT managers provides an explanation of security concepts and maps it…
The Microsoft Cloud Acquisitions Team of Technical Specialists have has a new YouTube channel around the Modern Work stack and their first set of webinars is a high-level overview of the Security Features available with M365. I particularly liked the Advanced Identity Concepts AD Premium Plan 2 one — very well presented and good content! Loved this Worth…
The value of the platform is not really fully realized until a certain level of feature adoption is obtained, and that is always a moving target BECAUSE new and improved features are always being introduced. I’ve said it many times before, and it is hard for users to keep up with the constant changes in…
In the last few months Microsoft has released a number of updates to its entire suite, and in this blog post I will cover just *some* of the ones in Microsoft Teams, based on his videos.
With all of the ransomware news as of late, companies are asking what kind of protection and what to do in case the protection fails and the need presents to recover from a cyber attack. Many of the organizations I interface are using Microsoft 365 and / or Office 365 already. So the natural question…
Microsoft 365 is the current name for the suite of productivity services and applications (Microsoft rebranded Office 365 to Microsoft 365 in April 2020). Please see Microsoft 365 Plans Microsoft 365 Office 365 Both services include the core Office applications, now called Microsoft 365 Apps (See Updates here), but Microsoft 365 represents Microsoft’s broader vision…
Launched in 2016, Microsoft Stream is a web app for creating, editing, managing, and discovering videos and playback videos. It was loosely connected to other Microsoft 365 apps and service, and videos were stored separately from it. Back in September 22, 2020, Microsoft published a blog post titled New Vision for Microsoft Stream. In it…
I just read an excellent series of 9 blog posts by Hans Brender (aka: Mr.OneDrive | MVP on Twitter) on OneDrive Basics. (I was planning on doing a simple series, but Hans had already done it – Kudos to him!) In the first post of his series he begins with the statement: OneDrive is more…
Back in April, Microsoft launched a new podcast – they call it Webcast — focusing on how the Microsoft 365 platform helps remote work. The webcast is hosted by Steve Rose Senior Product Manager on Modern Workplace. To-date, there has been six episode featuring interviews with Microsoft staff talking about their individual products . It…
h the current events relating to the worldwide Corona virus outbreak many companies are gravitating towards virtual meetings , revisiting travel guidelines and their ability to provide their staff ways to work from home.
Some interesting data bits from Microsoft Source: Collected listening to different sessions From Microsoft Ignite (November 2019) 600 billion authentications serviced each month by Azure Active Directory (AAD) 900+million deployed Windows 10 PCs, 200 million commercial PCs, Macs, iOS and Android devices managed by ConfigMgr and Intune, 200 million Office 365 users, 13+ 20 million…
Finding Domain Name Login to your Azure Click on Portal from the upper right menu 3. Click on Azure Active Directory > Overview The domain name is at the top-left of the screen Finding AAD Tenant ID Your Microsoft 365 tenant ID is a globally unique identifier (GUID) that is different than your organization name…
Microsoft Skype for Business Online to be retired on July 31, 2021 As per Microsoft’s James Skay blog post on 7/30/2019: Today we’re announcing that Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. This post provides details on the retirement plan, a brief explanation of why we’re making this announcement now, and…
Microsoft released Active Directory in Windows 2000 server, and it became a standard for enterprise identity management. Active Directory lives on-premises in servers called Domain Controllers (DC). Active Directory lives on-premise in servers called Domain Controllers (DC). Windows Active Directory or commonly referenced as Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft’s predecessor to Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory…
Microsoft published a guidance document (and associated video series) to help customers migrate to the Modern Desktop. The Modern Desktop refers to Microsoft’s bundled product suite called Microsoft 365 which includes: Windows 10, Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility & Security (See my Microsoft 365 Explained blog post ) Microsoft’s guidance includes 8 steps:
A couple of days ago, Microsoft announced that new Office icons will be rolling out to across all platforms over the “next few months” starting with mobile and the web…
A common question I receive often has to do with Office ProPlus: What is Office ProPlus? Does this include Office 365? How is Office ProPlus different than Office 365? What are the benefits? Short answer:
What is the pricing and the differences between the different versions of Microsoft 365.
I wanted to write something about a question I get often asked: What is the pricing and the differences between the different versions of Microsoft 365. Microsoft has a variety of productivity and security management offerings that small to medium-sized and large enterprise customers may consider when upgrading their desktop and device infrastructure, each bringing…
Workspace transformation is gaining lot of momentum at the moment. At its core, it is about letting users access data and applications securely anywhere anytime. Enabling users to quickly provision their devices is only part of the story. Request applications so they can quickly securely access the data without the large bureaucracy associated with IT…
Microsoft announced with a new service bundle called Microsoft 365 a few months back . Until recently there was some confusion as to what actual products and features was included in it.. I found this great explanation by Aaron Dinnage which explains many details in his blog post: Unpacking Microsoft 365 Here is my…
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced with a new service bundle called Microsoft 365. Until recently there was some confusion as to what actual products and features was included in it.. I found this great explanation by Aaron Dinnage which explains many details in his blog post: Unpacking Microsoft 365 Here is my…
