Microsoft Ignite 2024 is taking place in Chicago this week, bringing together technology leaders and innovators from around the globe. The event explores how the latest updates to Azure, Copilot, Microsoft 365, Windows, and other Microsoft tools are set to share the future of business technology
Over 80 new products and features have been unveiled across Microsoft’s product portfolio. It’s no surprise that, just like last year, AI takes center stage at this year’s event, with a focus on agentic AI. Here is an overview of some of the key announcements at the event.
Copilot Actions
Microsoft’s new Copilot Actions, now in private preview, uses AI to automate repetitive tasks. This includes anything from automating meeting summaries and generating weekly reports to automatic meeting preparation and handling other routine workflows.
The tech giant has introduced AI agents across several of its platforms. This includes SharePoint agents that help users gain insights from specific content, the Employee Self-Service Agent for HR and IT tasks, and the Facilitator Agent for efficient collaboration and note-taking in Teams meetings.
There is also a new Project Manager agent in Planner that Microsoft claims can handle everything from plan creation to executing tasks. Users can also customize agents, giving them names and defining behaviors to suit specific business needs.
“Agents can operate around the clock to review and approve customer returns or go over shipping invoices to help businesses avoid costly supply-chain errors, ” Microsoft shared in a blog post. “They can reason over reams of product information to give field technicians step-by-step instructions or use context and memory to open and close tickets for an IT help desk.”
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft has unveiled an interpreter agent for Teams that offers real-time AI-powered speech-to-speech translation in multiple languages. Participants can speak or listen in the language of their choosing. AI agents take notes in Teams meetings in real time and summarize Teams chats as conversations happen. A public preview will be available in early 2025 that will include up to nine languages.
Microsoft has announced that its AI-driven workplace application, Places, is now generally available. This tool integrates location data into Teams and Outlook, assisting users in office planning. With places, users can suggest ideal office days based on in-person meetings based on the schedules of key collaborators. It also provides a tool for administrators to analyze planned versus actual space occupancy.
Azure AI Foundry
On the opening day of the event, Microsoft unveiled new security and IT governance capabilities available in public preview in Azure AI Foundry.
The upgrades feature a new Azure AI Admin role, a new identity-based option to access default storage, and a management center that provides cross-functional teams a centralized hub and governance experience. Users get more granular control of their network security by being able to select IP addresses to access Azure Machine Learning workspaces.
“Now, AI development, operations, and compliance teams can easily create, manage, and audit their organization’s hubs, projects, and resources from within the Azure AI Foundry portal, reducing the need to visit Azure Portal or different areas of Azure AI Foundry portal for day-to-day administrative tasks,” wrote Microsoft in a blog on this announcement.
Copilot Control System
At this year’s Ignite event, Microsoft unveiled the new Copilot Control System, designed to assist IT teams in managing AI copilots and agents within Microsoft 365. The system provides tools for controlling data access, security, and governance, as well as tracking usage and adoption.
The Copilot in Microsoft 365 Administration Centers is now in private preview. A full release is scheduled for early next year. This feature is designed to help IT administrators automate routine tasks, analyze trends, and resolve issues like call quality through natural language commands. Additionally, Copilot Analytics offers a dashboard for monitoring the effectiveness of these tools. Microsoft shared that it plans to integrate Viva Insights with Copilot Analytics in 2025 as a measurement tool for business outcomes.
(AI generated/Shutterstock)
Regarding the Copilot Analytics feature, Microsoft explained, “Copilot Analytics is designed to empower every IT and business leader to measure adoption and business impact of Copilot and agents — with out-of-the-box experiences (Copilot Dashboard & Microsoft admin center) and customizable reporting for deeper analysis against your KPIs.”
“With Viva Insights included, IT admins and analysts can now tailor advanced prebuilt Copilot reports with their business data or create custom reports with organizational attributes, longer usage data sets, and more granular controls.”
Power Platform
New features were introduced for Power Apps that will help users build smarter and more efficient low-code apps, according to Microsoft. A key addition is Copilot in Power Apps, which assists users in defining business problems and reviewing solutions. For example, the tool can help users create apps or agent-based tasks. Additionally, AI-generated record summary cards and new form-filling features enhance app functionality.
The new Snowflake Power Platform connector will enable Snowflake data to be brought into Dataverse. This will allow sales teams to analyze purchase patterns in Snowflake and track leads in real-time within Dataverse. This bi-directional integration between Snowflake and Dataverse is now in preview. In the coming months, Microsoft plans to have Dataverse data available in Snowflake, giving customers access to Snowflake’s powerful analytics
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