My hands are already quite rusty... that was a longer summer break than expected 👀
Less summer, more break to be fair - but this is also partly to blame for the german weather.
Anyways, we are back and ready for some announcements from Microsoft Ignite that happened this week.
Microsoft Ignite is an annual conference hosted by Microsoft, designed to showcase the latest innovations, product updates, and breakthroughs in technology. It serves as a platform for IT professionals, developers, and business leaders to connect, learn, and explore new solutions, particularly in the realms of AI, cloud computing, and security.
This year, Microsoft Ignite 2024 took place from November 18-22 in a hybrid format, both online and in-person in Chicago.
Autonomous agent capabilities
As already announced by Microsoft in October at the AI Tour, autonomous agents are the next big thing in the so called AI area.
And at Ignite, we got a better glimpse of how the future of process automation could look like. Autonomous agents are triggered in the background of an event. Unless like agents so far which are related to text and chat input, an autonomous can for example trigger by receiving an email or an update of an Opportunity.
The process runs automated in the background with the help of AI to complete the request. Only the results will be presented to the end user.
No longer do I have to come up with the correct prompt in the correct mood on the correct custom Copilot.
But isn't this just like a regular Power Automate?
I mean yeah, kinda. The agent is the AI counterpart to Power Automate.
Same as the Copilot Studio is the counterpart to the Power Apps Studio.
Or knowledge sources are the counterpart to Dataverse tables.
It looks like we need to adapt to the new Microsoft AI era and refer to the right tools in the context.
Microsoft will also start to publish out-of-the-box autonomous agents for Sales, Project Operations, and more!
The preview for autonomous agents has already started to roll out and I can't wait to get my hands on 😊
New out-of-the-box agents
In the same breath as mentioning autonomous agents, we have to refer to new out-of-the-box agents in Microsoft 365
Microsoft announced five new out-of-the-box agents that will improve the user experience and efficiency across the whole M365 platform.
Agents in SharePoint - now GA
Create your presonal and customized agents based on SharePoint folders and files to provide real-time information and insights, helping users quickly access relevant content.
Employee Self-Service Agent
Extends M365 Copilot with assisting employees with HR and IT tasks, providing real-time answers and actions on topics like PTO hours and IT support, improving service delivery and reducing administrative costs.
Facilitator agent
Enhances Teams meetings and chats by taking real-time notes, summarizing key information, and managing meeting tasks to improve collaboration and efficiency.
Interpreter agent
This agent offers real-time speech-to-speech interpretation in Teams meetings, supporting multiple languages to facilitate communication across language barriers.
Sounds crazy!
Project Manager agent
A new agent for the new Planner - automate project management tasks in Planner, from creating plans and assigning tasks to tracking progress and completing tasks, to streamline project workflows.
With recent updates, Custom Copilots are now referred to as agents.
When discussing agents in a general sense, use the lowercase "agent". However, when referring to a specific agent by name, such as the "Employee Self-Service Agent", capitalize "Agent".
Additionally, always use "Copilot" with a capital "C".
Avoid using variations like "copilot" or "Co-Pilot".
Agents are designed to work alongside individuals, teams, and organizations, providing support and enhancing productivity.
Copilot Studio Improvements
Overall there are some valuable improvements in line for Copilot Studio. There will be more capabilities and options for us to built the agent we want and I'm naming here just a few:
Image upload and processing
Upload and analyze images and engage with the content which is based on the GPT-4o model. For example to analyze charts or the content of an image.
Voice-enabled agents
Create own voice-enabled agents by embedding voice experiences in applications and websites. For example for customer service scenarios.
Advanced knowledge tuning
Access unanswered questions and resolving these threads by matching them to new knowledge sources or more specific topics. A new way to keep your agents up to date
Integration of Azure AI Search
Azure AI Search, formerly known as Azure Cognitive Search, can now leveraged directly in Copilot Studio as knowledge source for more significant answers and custom RAG scenarios. Fusing pro-code services with the low-code platform.
Bring your own Model
Azure AI Foundry not only enables Azure AI Search for Copilot Studio, but also includes more pro-code capabilities, such as bring your own model including custom instructions
Component Collection
Deploy created components for colleagues or partners, so that they can built their own version based on your previous developed approach.
Extended Analytics
Not only unanswered user questions can be leveraged, but as a maker you also receive more detailed information about single sessions, the usage overall and effectiveness.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions
Simplify your routine with Copilot Actions. Create custom prompts to automate your daily tasks. You can set these up once and let them run automatically.
For example, you can receive a summary of your key tasks at the end of each workday, gather inputs from your team for a Thursday newsletter, or prepare for customer meetings with a recurring action that reviews your recent interactions before your next sync.
AI-generated record summary cards with custom prompts
What's better than an organized view of your activities? Yes. Copilot that tells you what's new and what you have missed since your last visit.
With AI-generated record summary cards, Copilot will summarize data records and views to retrieve insights without digging into each data record and let you easily catch up on the least updates.
And the best thing - it's customizable! You can set the correct context for your needs and consider only relevant information
Plan Designer in Power Apps
The Plan Designer in Power Apps was already revealed at the Power Platform Conference in Las Vegas, but is now rolling out in Preview for everyone.
I already had the chance for some hands-on, and - I really liked the value it brought to me!
Describe the high-level business scenario and challenge you're facing. You can even upload process diagrams, data models or screenshots of legacy applications.
Copilot will draft user roles, tables within an Entity-Relationship Diagram and suggests automation and app approaches based on your input.
You should definitely give this a try, a completely new experiences for everyone working with entities and customizations since the CRM era!
Honorable mentions
Yea, I already betrayed you. These are way more than 5 announcements. I just couldn't decide and still left out some I don't wanna hide.
5 honorable mentions, 1 sentence each!
Natural Language to filter Grids
This is so cool - you can filter your view with natural language - just describe what you want to see
Outlook Inbox priotization
Copilot is sorting your Inbox in Outlook based on who sent you the email and its content. It will be higher in the ranking if your manager requests an important update on something you're already working on
Licensing
Copilot Studio pay-as-you-go available from 1st of December
SharePoint Advanced Management is included in the M365 Copilot offering
Security
There is so much. Defender updates, Managed Security, Copilot in Purview and so much more. But the Power Platform Admin Center is now green!!
Microsoft Ignite 2025
Happens in the week of November the 17th in San Francisco.
Hope to see you there!
Hey! you're still here! thank you for reading the whole thing. I hope you liked my summarization of my top 5 Highlights from Microsoft Ignite 2024. See you soon ✌🏼
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