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M365 Perspective

Pre Ignite, New OpenAI deal, Teams Copilot Mode and Chat with Anyone

Ahead of Ignite in Chicago, Tom Arbuthnot unpacks Microsoft's restructured OpenAI deal (a 27% stake and IP rights through 2032), Teams' seventh Gartner Magic Quadrant leader placement, the new Copilot "Teams mode", chat with anyone via email address, and MCP connectors coming to Teams channel…

Pre Ignite, New OpenAI deal, Teams Copilot Mode and Chat with Anyone

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

I recently recorded a briefing with Preston Martin and Shannon Martin at Landis about AI for Microsoft Teams Contact Centers and Attendant Console. Take a look.

The Landis team will also be at Ignite in a couple of weeks with a stand and will be announcing a new partner program, so if you're heading to Chicago, do check them out.

We're pre-Microsoft Ignite, I will be out there next week posting all the news as it happens on LinkedIn, so follow me there if you want to stay right up to date. We are also doing Teams Fireside Chat live from Ignite, discussing the news and announcements with Kerry Perez Heffernan - Teams Product Marketing at Microsoft.

Microsoft Teams Monthly Update Video Briefing

Check out my November Microsoft Teams (and all the M365 Copilot news) update video, everything in under 15 minutes, on LinkedIn or Empowering.Cloud.

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

Microsoft and OpenAI Partnership Restructuring

Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a new agreement. OpenAI has transitioned into a Public Benefit Corporation (for-profit structure), and Microsoft now holds a 27% stake in OpenAI, valued at around $135 billion. On paper, it is a massive win on their investment.

Most interesting for us: Microsoft now has rights to all of OpenAI's IP and models through 2032, including anything that's classified as "verified AGI". Microsoft now has another 7 years to continue integrating that IP into all Microsoft products.

Anything we see OpenAI models doing, expect Microsoft to have access to the same IP and have the potential to bring it into Copilot and the Microsoft AI portfolio.

Microsoft has also launched its own Superintelligence Team—driven by a "human-centred" strategy.

Microsoft Teams Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader - Seven Years Running

For the seventh year running, Microsoft is a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, firmly in the top-right quadrant. Link to the Microsoft blog and full report.

Reading this year's report, it's evident how much this is weighted towards telephony capabilities. I wonder how much this report will need to consider AI workflows and integrations—not just in Microsoft Teams but across all these platforms.

As we move into an AI world, how well your UCaaS integrates with other business workflows, AI, and agents will be a key customer decision factor.

Teams Copilot Mode

There is a new Copilot mode called "Teams mode", though I'm not sure I'd call it a mode exactly; it is pretty clever.

If you start a one-to-one conversation in Microsoft 365 Copilot, you can jump it into a regular Teams chat, bringing the context with you to start a group conversation. You can go from single player to multiplayer.

More interestingly, you can be in a regular Teams group chat and bring Copilot into that chat as an agent (like a user you can talk to and ask questions). Everyone in the chat can engage and have context.

People who want to engage with Copilot need the M365 Copilot license. Other people in the chat or channel can see the replies, but can't engage with them yet. More details in here.

Teams Chat with Anyone with an Email Address

This feature has generated significant interest recently. The concept: if you start a chat in Teams with someone who doesn't have a Teams account by entering their email/UPN, it will send them an email with a link to chat with you as a guest. Details in MC1182004

Tony Redmond has done a good write-up of the feature and controls here.

Teams Channel Agents - Briefing Available

We now have a briefing on Teams Channel Agents on Empowering.Cloud with Sandhya Rao. She gives a demo, discusses the roadmap, and explains the objectives of channel agents.

Just announced on the roadmap: MCP connectors will be coming to channel agents. If you've got a channel dedicated to your development backlog or support tickets, having an MCP (Model Context Protocol—a way to connect to third-party systems) lets you bring that information into the channel alongside the Copilot agent.

Town Hall Gets 1080p (Teams Premium)

Microsoft will offer 1080p at up to 4 megabits bitrate for Teams Premium users in Town Hall. This really bumps up that quality.

Microsoft is investing heavily in events, webinars, and town halls - really pushing up the value proposition compared to some alternatives. More details in MC1178507

Teams Rooms and Devices Updates

All versions of Android 12 to 15 received a 1-year extension for the Microsoft Teams Certification end date and the Microsoft support end date. Android 10 and 11 remain as before, ending support September 3, 2027.

Teams Rooms on Android has had a ton of updates recently. We talked on the podcast a couple of months ago with Irena Andonova, Head of Product for Teams Devices, about bringing Teams Rooms on Android up to parity with the Windows version. New capabilities:

  • Cloud IntelliFrame support on Teams Rooms on Android (MC1158333)
  • Dynamic video tile resizing based on occupancy count from Teams Rooms on Android (MC1148542)
  • Live caption translation in Teams Rooms on Android (MC1144650)
  • Facilitator agent for scheduled meetings in Teams Rooms on Android
  • Join Town Halls and Webinars as an attendee from Teams Rooms on Android (MC1160189)

Also coming is

  • Simplified device settings for voice and face recognition on Teams Rooms on Windows or Android (MC1135396)
  • Front-of-room view control for Town Hall and Webinar in Teams Rooms on Windows or Android (MC1182706)
  • Support for multiple camera views and IntelliFrame from Teams Rooms on Windows in Teams webinar and structured meetings (MC1137599)
  • People count captured by Cloud IntelliFrame in the Pro Management portal reports (MC1151682)
  • Recommended actions page in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal (MC1154793)

If you missed it, the Selling Microsoft Teams Rooms Show (SMTR) is reborn as The AI Powered Workplace Update. Same aim to keep you up to date as quickly as possible, same Jimmy and team energy. And yes, I still need to update the blog branding :)

Microsoft 365 Copilot Updates

A lot is coming at Microsoft Ignite, but we still got some news this month.

We got the announcement of Researcher having computer use capability. If you've followed mainstream AI news, you've seen computer use in ChatGPT and Anthropic has an equivalent.

The idea: you're in a chat experience, and the AI can spin up a VM and do proactive things on that computer. It's not your computer—it's a dedicated VM—but it can search the web, engage in activities, and if you need to log in for something, it can pause, you can log in, and then it carries on.

Real-world use cases seem to be limited. I feel like agents in browsers/on your machine are more useful, albeit with way more compliance considerations.

17 New Copilot Connectors also just hit the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. Is your favourite line of business app there?

New on Empowering.Cloud

Teams Insider Podcast

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube

Events

Online events:

In-Person events:

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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