If you’ve been following the whirlwind of announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2025, you know it’s been a season of big ideas, new tools, and plenty of lively discussion. I (and baby on board) had the chance to attend in person this year and I’m so grateful for the many conversations and long awaited in person meetings that took place. At our latest MCT Tech Talks session, I had the pleasure of connecting with fellow trainers, MVPs, and community leaders to share insights and unpack what’s new, and what’s next, for Microsoft 365, Copilot, and the ever-evolving world of AI agents. Below is a recap of our conversation.
Agents Everywhere!
The star of the show? Agents. Admin agents, knowledge agents, and of course Agent 365. One MVP took the liberty of making a parody video of the Ignite Keynote and it was FOUR MINUTES of only the words “AI, Copilot, and Agents” (is anyone that surprised?). That being said, it’s clear Microsoft is doubling down on making Copilot and agent capabilities more accessible across Teams, SharePoint, and the Microsoft 365 admin center. I’m especially excited about the governance controls rolling out for SharePoint and Teams, which show promise to make life easier for admins and trainers alike.
We had a great discussion about the SharePoint Knowledge Agent (shoutout to Adam Harmetz for his deep dives on LinkedIn!) and the new agent mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These features are bringing the “agent boss” concept to life, letting us co-create and collaborate more intuitively—right in our flow of work.
Agent 365: Where Governance Gets Real
Agent 365 is a game-changer for organizations looking to manage the creation, sharing, and lifecycle of custom agents. I’m thrilled to see Microsoft investing in visibility and security, especially for those of us who’ve wrestled with “ghost agents” lingering in our tenants. It’ll be interesting to see as this tool evolves whether managing 3rd party and external partner agents will be as transparent as they market it to be. The map feature begins to showcase this as pictured below, but I don’t have any external connectors or agents in this tenant yet. We’ll have to stay tuned together!
Alongside the new licensing model, Agent 365 makes agents capable of truly becoming our assistants—handling emails, research, and follow-ups, all while staying compliant and secure. Here’s a sneak peek at what this is intended to look like: Use and collaborate with agents | Microsoft Learn. I’m still waiting for licenses to become active in my tenant, but can’t wait to see this in action for myself. Agent 365 is currently available for Frontier Firms.
Security Copilot & Licensing Updates
Security was another hot topic, with Security Copilot now included in E5 licenses—a huge value-add for organizations upgrading from E3. New features like watermarking and clipboard controls in Edge add extra layers of protection, helping keep sensitive data safe in our hybrid work world. This is one area that I don’t spend too much time in, but if you have an even more digestible way of breaking down the news for all the Defender updates that Copilot or the recap from the Book of News, I’m all ears.
GPT-5 & Copilot Chat
We also chatted about GPT-5 becoming the default model for Copilot. While it’s powerful, there’s a bit of a learning curve, and responses can be more detailed (sometimes more than you bargained for!). The consensus? More suggested prompts and awareness of how to use the model effectively (also custom instructions!) will help users get the most out of these tools. Copilot chat capabilities are expanding, even for users without a paid license, which raises interesting questions about the value proposition for paid users. With the added benefits of agent mode, office agents (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), and scheduled prompts, I’m still sold on the license, but with the way things are going we may see those in the included version one day too.
Practical Takeaways & Community Spirit
As always, the best part of any conference or tech talk is the conversation and hearing how others are applying these tools in real-world scenarios. Whether you’re just starting with Copilot or deep into building custom agents, remember: the real magic happens when we share, connect, and learn from each other. So keep networking! Soak up those hallway chats—they’re often where the real insights emerge!
Haven’t checked out the full Book of News yet? Here it is! Microsoft Ignite 2025 Book of News
What Ignite announcement are you most excited about? Leave a comment below or reach out—I’d love to hear your thoughts!