Tom Arbuthnot's Microsoft 365 Perspective

Many thanks to Logitech, this month's Empowering Cloud Benefactor. If you are heading to ISE, be sure to drop by Logitech's stand to see their latest solutions.

Here is my first Microsoft Teams Update Briefing of the year, all the news you need to know in under 15 minutes (and you can grab the deck here).

Happy New Year, and I hope you had a nice holiday break.

It's only 9 days into January, but there is a lot of news, including new Teams features and a massive Microsoft Copilot change!

Do you want to hear about deploying voice globally on Ribbon SBC as a Service? Join me and Matt Hurst on a webinar next week.

Microsoft Teams News

Microsoft Teams website live chat widget is coming for all Microsoft 365 business plans (Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium). This will provide a chat widget for your website, which allows visitors to engage with users in your organisation on Teamas Chat. US tenants in January and the rest of the world in March. More details and screenshots here.

Microsoft Teams is getting native SMS for US and Canada Calling Plan users. It will be enabled by default, but admins will need to config for 10DLC (10-digit long code). We don't have costs yet, but I imagine there will be some per-message cost or quota. More details will follow before it's released in February.

Microsoft Teams Transcription will be enabled by default for new Microsoft Teams tenants and those without customized meeting policies in February (MC973519). This aligns with recording, already enabled by default, and Face and voice enrollment, which changes to default and is enabled this month (MC912707).

New AOSP management firmware for Microsoft Treams Rooms is starting to become available. AudioCodes were first to release in December. Check out this Microsoft blog for how to configure Intune to be sure you are ready, as well as for a list of expected firmware releases.

Microsoft has also re-emphasised the need to keep up to date with Android Device Updates. Starting June 2025, the specified devices with updates older than five months will no longer work.

The way voicemail greetings work has been updated. The recipient's name is announced for internal calls, but external callers only hear "the person“ to hide the recipient's identity (MC974356).

Finally, a nice quality-of-life feature: Meeting participants can share a link to the Meeting recap from the meeting thumbnail and Recap tab in Teams, coming February (MC966633).

Microsoft 365 Copilot news (a lot of change coming!)

Significant changes are coming to Copilot for Office 365 / Microsoft customers, all announced in late December, starting in January!

Let me try to explain it:

• What was "Bing Chat Enterprise" then "Microsoft Copilot with Commercial Data Protection, then with "enterprise data protection (EDP)" - the ad-free, grounded in the web chat, available free to all 400+ million Office 365 and Microsoft 365 users with an Entra accounts - will be "renamed" "Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat" (MC958903)
• Additionally, the Microsoft 365 app (web and mobile) will be named Microsoft 365 Copilot, and its icon will be updated.
• The new Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, available to all, will also allow end users to discover, create, and use agents. Agents grounded only on web data will be available at no additional cost. Specific agents, such as those that access shared work data, will be billed based on metered consumption (for users without a full Microsoft 365 Copilot license).
• To enable agent access, admins have to setup Set up "Pay-as-you-go billing" in the Microsoft 365 admin center; details in MC973501
• Additionally, SharePoint Agents are also now available via a PAYG model (MC952883). Microsoft is also giving 10,000 "PAYG" queries per month for agents in SharePoint free for organisations with 50 or more Copilot licences, until June 30, 2025 (MC952883)
• Microsoft is also introducing a new URL to make it easier to access Microsoft 365 Copilot on the web: M365Copilot.com

So, in summary, all O/M365 users will get access to a more capable Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat service with file upload and agent support. Admins can enable users to have PAYG for agents accessing work data, and they can access this at the new M365Copilot.com, and shortly pinned in Teams and Outlook (MC922627).

To get the office app integrations and inclusive access to agents (no PAYG), users still need the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.

Overall, I think it's great news that more functionality is being included in all suites, and a lot of agent functionality will be coming with PAYG, making more powerful Copilot capabilities accessible to more users. But no doubt, the branding of having "Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat" without the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence will be confusing for many. Expect to see a use push from Microsoft on agent adoption and use cases.

I'm expecting more announcements and details about this as it's been very quiet other than the message centre messages; stay tuned!

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Teams Insider Podcast

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• Truly Cloud Native SBCs and voice services with Mark Cobbold, Vice President of Product Management at Ribbon
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On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube

Events

Online:

• Ribbon SBC as a Service, the efficient and flexible way to deploy cloud voice globally - 14th January
• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything - January 21/22
• Copilot Fireside Chat with Dona Sarkar - 29th January

In-Person:

• ISE - 4-7 February, Barcelona
• Microsoft UC User Group London - February 26th, London
• Enterprise Connect - 17-20 March, Florida

As always, if you have questions, corrections, thoughts, or feedback, just reply and let me know.

Thanks

Tom

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