Microsoft 365 AI Workplace Update January 2026
MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for the first update of 2026.
January's update covers Microsoft's 2026 focus areas across Copilot, Teams and rooms, plus December's announcements. Highlights include 26 million Teams Phone users, dates for the Excel, PowerPoint, Word, project manager, knowledge and list agents from around February, and a free native Slack to Teams migration tool. Teams messaging safety features also switch on by default.
MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for the first update of 2026.
Many thanks to Landis for their continued support.
Powerpoint deck
- Microsoft 365 AI Workplace - 2026 Focus Areas
- Microsoft’s continued AI Focus in 2026
- 7 New Microsoft Copilot Roadmap Features
- 26M Teams Phone Users
- 8 Microsoft Teams New Features and Updates
- 7 New Teams Rooms and Devices
- Events
Useful Links:
Briefings
- AI Voice Agents with Azure Communication Services - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at Microsoft
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents, Features and Control - Deep Dive with Rolf Tröndle - Rolf Tröndle walks through what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
- Contact Center Options for Microsoft Teams - Native vs Connect vs Extend vs Unify - Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, at Pure IP discusses contact center strategies for Microsoft Teams
Teams Insider Podcasts
- Scaling Microsoft Copilot Adoption 22,000 Diverse Users at Centrica with Bill Compton, Head of Digital Adoption at Centrica
- Copilot and Agent Adoption in the Big Four Professional Services Firms with Mo Khalifa, Workforce AI Specialist at Microsoft
- From PBX to Microsoft Teams and Voca Contact Centre at the Chartered Institute of Housing with Richard Sewell, IT Manager
- Working from Sea: Virgin Voyages Transforms Remote Work with Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix
- What Cisco Rooms bring to Microsoft Teams Rooms with Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1193421
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1200577
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1208690
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tomarbuthnot_microsoftteams-ucaas-microsoft365-activity-740883367734…
- https://empowering.cloud/research/
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-copilot-in-microsoft-teams-phone-97c55f…
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1189004
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1200576
- https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/02/external-collaboration-tac/
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1183006
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1200058
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1182004
- https://portal.changepilot.cloud/MC1213779
- https://empowering.cloud/events/
Chapters
- 0:00 Landis benefactor and community thanks
- 0:38 Recent podcasts and briefings
- 2:48 2026 focus areas: Work IQ, agents in Office, Copilot Chat
- 5:26 Agent building, Agent 365 and the Frontier Firm
- 5:48 Teams roadmap: unified Copilot chat, channel agents, facilitator
- 7:27 Rooms, devices, webinars and Teams Phone themes for 2026
- 8:17 Places, SharePoint agents and Planner changes
- 9:21 Copilot roadmap: Office agents, image and video generation
- 10:01 26 million Teams Phone users
- 11:10 Teams features: Copilot in Calls app, custom recap templates, frontline hub
- 12:32 Security: messaging safety defaults, external collaboration modes, chat with anyone
- 12:56 Slack to Teams migration tool, devices and events
Key insights
- Microsoft has published a new public figure of 26 million Teams Phone users, around 30% growth over the last two years.
- Excel, PowerPoint, Word, project manager, knowledge and list agents start landing broadly from February, web first then desktop.
- Much of the new Office agent capability reaches Copilot Chat, the free tier, not only licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users.
- Teams messaging safety features switch on by default for all users, covering risky file types, malicious URLs and user reporting.
- External collaboration controls in Teams Admin Center simplify to open, controlled or custom modes, rolling out mid-February.
- Teams chat with anyone is enabled by default but currently limited to Teams Essentials and Business SKUs in preview.
- Microsoft has released a free native Slack to Teams migration tool using zip export, blob storage and a PowerShell script.
- Copilot in the Calls app post-meeting experience and OpenAI's GPT image 1.5 model in Copilot are now rolling out.
Insights summarised by AI from the episode transcript, reviewed by the Empowering.Cloud team.
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