Claude in your M365 or M365 in your Claude? Teams API changes and more

Many thanks to Neat, this month's community Benefactor.

Neat just announced their Neat Board 32. We will be talking about their MDEP integration and new hardware in an upcoming webinar with Yoav Barzilay, Director of Program Management, Microsoft Devices Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) and Microsoft MVP and Neat Director Graham Walsh.

Microsoft Teams Monthly Update Video Briefing

Check out my October Microsoft Teams (and all the Copilot news) update video for October, in under 15 minutes, on LinkedIn or Empowering.Cloud.

You can also catch the audio version on the Teams Insider Podcast.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Updates

Last newsletter, we got Anthropic Claude models in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio. This week, Anthropic is integrating its Claude AI assistant with Microsoft 365 services.

Claude now has a Microsoft 365 connector for Claude Team (from $25 PUPM) and Enterprise plan customers. Much like ChatGPT did, they have a connector to Graph that allows connectivity and search to SharePoint/OneDrive, Teams and Outlook. Technical details, permissions and graph scopes here.

Google has also introduced Gemini Enterprise, its answer to Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT Enterprise, but aimed at Google Workspace users. It's $30 per user per month for the standard Gemini Enterprise add-on for Workspace. Google had begun integrating Gemini into Workspace for free, but the "Enterprise" designation still exists for specific features and add-ons. Sounds like Copilot Chat/M365 Copilot?

It's really interesting to watch the competition here, third-party AI agents coming in via Graph vs Native M365 Copilot. Of course, M365 Copilot has the USP of being tightly first-party integrated and all the data being under one roof (well, apart from the Anthropic models!)

The End of SfB Sever 2015 and 2019, Exchange Server 2019 and Windows 10

Support for Skype for Business Server and Exchange Server 2015 and 2019 ended on October 14, 2025. You now have to move to the subscription edition to stay in support.

Windows 10 support also ended on October 14, 2025. Yes, you can get extended patching support, but remember this does not apply to Windows 10-based Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows; they must move to Windows 11, or if they can't, end of support.

Microsoft Teams Updates

Microsoft has again been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) worldwide, marking our seventh consecutive year with this recognition. Microsoft blog, Full Gartner Report (via Microsoft Blog). Although it's a "UCaaS" report, it does read very telephony-heavy. Is that the primary decision driver for UCaaS platforms in 2025, I wonder?

Teams Channel Agents are getting support for *select* third-party (3P) MCP servers, such as GitHub, Asana and Atlassian (JIRA). Coming in November.

Audio-only meeting and call recording now available in Microsoft Teams. MC1173926.

A new way to catch up on Teams meetings - Copilot Chat with Video recaps. Coming next month.

Teams APIs are coming and going. This month, we see Microsoft Teams administration APIs in Microsoft Graph (beta). The beginning of a journey. Right now, User Config and Number Management are Retrieve only, Policy includes Assign by API - MC1169072.

But we are also losing the Microsoft Graph beta APIs related to device management under the teamworkDevice resource type. They are being depreciated in November. These are, and always have been, beta, so subject to change, but I know some ISVs and customers do use these today.

New on Empowering.Cloud

• Understanding Microsoft Teams Channel Agents: Use Cases, Features, Workflows and Demo with Sandhya Rao, Principal Group Product Manager, Teams Core AI at Microsoft
• Copilot Agents, No-Code to Pro-Code Options with MVP Tom Morgan and Paolo Pialorsi, Senior Developer Advocate at Microsoft
• AudioCodes Voca is Teams Unify Certified - discussing AI, Azure, and Smarter Contact Centers with Gidi Adlersberg, Voca Business Line Manager at AudioCodes
• AI in Teams Devices: What's New and What's Next with Irena Andonova, Head of Product for Teams Rooms, Phones and Devices at Microsoft

Teams Insider Podcast

• The Future of Meeting Rooms — with Tormod Ree, Chief Product and Engineering Officer at Neat
• How Partners Can Accelerate Copilot Success - Wesley Budd, Partner Solutions Architect at Microsoft
• How IQVIA scaled 650 Microsoft Teams Rooms with Global Standards & Smart Operations with Andre Razzuri, Associate Director at IQVIA
• Microsoft Teams Rooms - How to Choose Beyond the Specs with independent consultant Simon Dudley

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube

Events

Online events:

• New M365 Change Community Round Up - 23rd October. A new monthly series where I and MVP co-hosts Darrell Webster and Daniel Glenn discuss the key Microsoft 365 changes from Microsoft Message Center
• Copilot Fireside Chat - 29th October with Microsoft MVPs Zoe Wilson and Kevin McDonnell, plus Garry Trinder, Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft
• Understanding MDEP and the Neat Teams Devices Portfolio with MVP Graham Walsh, Global Technical Sales and Alliances and Yoav Barzilay, Director of Program Management, Microsoft Devices Ecosystem Platform (MDEP)
• Teams Fireside Chat with Kerry Perez Heffernan, Teams Product Marketing at Microsoft - live from Microsoft Ignite on 19 November (it's a Wednesday this time)
• The AI-Powered Workplace Experts Series - 20th November. Microsoft Ignite Recap and Microsoft Events.
• Microsoft Teams Device Ask Me Anything - 26th November. All the Teams devices news from Microsoft Ignite

In-Person events:

• Microsoft UC User Group London - all the news from Microsoft Ignite, 26 November
• New Manchester M365 User Group - 27 November - Brand new user group, hope to see some of you there!

More on our events page.

As always, if you have questions, corrections, thoughts, or feedback, please reply and let me know. I read all the replies.

Thanks

Tom

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