Microsoft 365 E7 Explained – The new “AI Frontier Suite” Today marks one of the biggest shifts in Microsoft’s productivity and security stack since the launch of Microsoft 365 E5 back in 2015. Microsoft has officially unveiled Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite, a new top‑tier offering designed…

GPT‑5.4 Thinking rolling out in Microsoft 365 Copilot Hot on the heels of GPT‑5.3 released this week, which I covered in my last blog – Microsoft is now rolling out support for GPT‑5.4 Thinking to Copilot Studio early release environments and to Microsoft 365 Copilot users with priority access,…

Apple Raised the Stakes – How Microsoft Should Respond with a new Surface Go Apple has just reset the entry-level laptop conversation by announcing premium looking MacBook which starts at just $599 (£599 UK). Whilst not a comparison in terms of specs, it will make people look twice... At a time…

Microsoft Rolling Out GPT‑5.3 Instant to Microsoft 365 Copilot Users Microsoft has started rolling out OpenAI’s GPT‑5.3 Instant across Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio, bringing a noticeable upgrade in speed, clarity, and task‑aligned responses. This update is now live for users with…

Microsoft say that the Enterprise AI race will not be won by bigger, smarter models alone. Context is the layer that turns AI into real business value - and most organisations are missing it.

Windows 365 Devices: ASUS, Dell, and Microsoft Expand the Cloud PC Ecosystem Microsoft’s Cloud PC vision took another confident step forward this week with the introduction of two new Windows 365‑powered mini PCs from ASUS and Dell – compact, secure, cloud‑first devices designed to boot straight…

Ways to Build Agents: Nube to Pro Whilst at Microsoft's AI Tour this week, I was asked my many people, the difference between building agents in AI Builder (in the Copilot App), Copilot Studio and Azure AI (and Foundry) when it comes to creating agents at work. As such, I thought I'd dop a quick…

What are Microsoft 365’s New AI Watermarks? Microsoft is soon rolling out a new AI watermarking policy across Microsoft 365 - and while the headlines make it sound dramatic, the real story is more nuanced. The change is part of a broader push toward transparency in AI-generated content, and it’s…

Are you leaking company data to non-sanctioned AI Apps? We repeatedly hear stories around personal and corporate data being leaked on the web through the un-sanctioned use of consumer grade AI tools like Grok, ChatGPT and others. A report last week revealed how data from a popular AI App "Ask AI"…

Microsoft AI Tour London Morning all. I'll be at the AI Tour in London today talking and showcasing two of my favourite Microsoft technology areas. Copilot+PCs and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Dropby the device booth to say hello, the Copilot stand or register for my short (and first) Lightening Talk on…

AI Prompting Guide: Get Better Results with Copilot and ChatGPT Generative AI is now woven into the way we work both at work and home. Whether you’re drafting content, analysing data, or simply trying to get unstuck, tools like Microsoft Copilot can be transformative - but only if you give them…

Microsoft Expands Copilot Connectors: What the New Integrations Mean for Microsoft 365 and Enterprise AI Microsoft has expanded the Copilot Connector catalog with 35 new connectors so Microsoft 365 Copilot can reach many more external systems and data sources directly, with new developer tooling…

Is AI Forcing the Network conversation organisations have been avoiding? Artificial intelligence is no longer just changing applications – it’s exposing the limits of enterprise network infrastructure. In their Q2 earnings report, Cisco’s leadership team described the current campus refresh cycle…

What are Copilot connectors? A Copilot connector is the plumbing that brings your organisation’s external content into Microsoft 365 so Copilot can ground answers in real, company-specific data. Practically speaking, a connector extracts or fetches items from a third‑party system (files, tickets,…

Cisco updates contract terms in Response to Market Volatility Cisco’s recent update to partner contract terms, prompted by rising memory prices, has caught attention across the partner and customer community. Of course any change that vendors make that has potential to impact pricing protection or…

I had FOMO this year not being at @Cisco live with the rest of #TeamCisilion but enjoyed catching up on some of posts and live streams. Was great to see Cisco really defining their role in AI Ready Secure Networking. Here's my highlights. What were yours? #CiscoLive

2026 Role‑Based training for Microsoft 365 Copilot users I’m a huge believer in role‑based learning because it gives people practical, relevant ways to bring AI into the work they already do. Wherever you are on your Copilot journey – curious beginner or confident user – these sessions can help…

The AI Codex Moment – Why the Coding Models Became Front‑Page News The last week has felt like a turning point in the AI landscape. Not because of a single product launch, but because two of the biggest players in the industry effectively declared that the next frontier isn’t chat, search, or…

Create Agents in One-Click from your OneDrive  Microsoft has now made it possible to create grounded knowledge “agents” directly from OneDrive. If you’ve not seen this yet, it allows you to select up to 20 OneDrive for Business files and create an agent you can use to ask natural‑language…

Microsoft Q2 FY26 Earnings: Cloud & AI Power Record Growth Microsoft has opened 2026 with a landmark quarter that firmly positions them as the global leader in enterprise cloud and AI adoption. In the earning report, Microsoft has achieved milestones with cloud revenue surpassing $50 billion for…

Microsoft Teams Licensing Updates: More Premium Features for Everyone Microsoft has announced some big changes to the Teams licensing model, aimed at making more  advanced features available to everyone along with updates to their Places products set which is now firmly more rooted as a key part…

M365 Copilot Image Generation Levels Up, and Video Summaries are coming to Copilot Notebooks Microsoft has kicked off 2026 with two significant enhancements to Microsoft 365 Copilot - both providing a clear signal to how improvements in multi-media creation in AI will support creativity,…

Satya Nadella’s Call for an “AI Reset” – What Business Leaders Must Prioritise in 2026 Following Satya Nadella's looking forward to 2026 post, this blog explores the detail behind it and why 2026 must move beyond AI slop and shift toward trusted, outcome‑driven AI projects and systems that deliver…

What is Copilot Checkout? Microsoft and PayPal’s new AI-Powered Commerce Experience. Microsoft and PayPal have officially joined forces to launch Copilot Checkout, a groundbreaking integration that redefines the online shopping experience. This collaboration merges Microsoft’s conversational AI…

What is Copilot Real Talk Mode? And how to use it. Back at the "Fall update in October", Microsoft announced that a new talk mode called "Real Talk" was coming to Copilot. This has been available in the US for a while in preview but is now available in the UK. This (currently) optional chat mode…

Copilot gets free GPT‑5.2 upgrade with “Smart Plus” mode Microsoft has begun rolling out GPT‑5.2 across Copilot on the web, Windows, and mobile as a free upgrade. It sits alongside GPT‑5.1 rather than replacing it, giving users a clear choice between speed and deeper reasoning. GPT‑5.2 is…

Automatic Alt Text on Copilot+ PCs: A Small Feature with a Big Accessibility Impact Microsoft has rolled out a useful update to the Office Suite apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint which creates automatic, "on‑device" Alt Text generation for images. This is a great way of helping content become…

Here's how you can use @OpenAI #SORA2 inside @Copilot @microsoft365.microsoft.com youtu.be/yRa2ogqNTqU?...

How to get free security updates for Windows 10 If you are a home/consumer user using Windows 10 - because you are unwilling to, or unable to (due to hardware restrictions) to upgrade to Windows 11, and not able or wanting to buy a new modern PC, this blog shows you how to take advantage of…

GPT-5.2 now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot Microsoft has just (11th Dec) started rolling out OpenAI's GPT‑5.2 across Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio, marking another significant leap in AI-powered productivity. The differences between GPT5 and GPT5.2 provide "a significant upgrade in…

When the Cloud Sneezes: a look at the ‘Outage Season’ The past few months have been a bruising reminder that even the biggest cloud providers can stumble. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Cloudflare have all suffered major outages, disrupting any services that rely on them from websites to shopping sites…

More Anthropic Models coming to Microsoft Copilot Microsoft is making a major change to how AI models are integrated into Copilot experiences. From 7 January 2026, Anthropic’s models will be enabled by default for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users, moving away from the current opt-in setting to…

Microsoft 365 Price Changes: Preparing for July 2026 With over a 1,000 new features and updates across the Microsoft 365 stack in the last couple of years, Microsoft has confirmed that the commercial Microsoft 365 suite will undergo pricing increase from July 1, 2026. This follows "adjustments" to…

Microsoft Ignite 2025 – “The Agentic Shift” Microsoft used Ignite 2025 to tell the world that "agents are now the primary interface for enterprise work". The focus throughout Ignite was about evolution from chat-bots to multi-discipline teams of agents across organisations and the unlaying…

What is Work IQ? Microsoft Ignite 2025 focus this year saw Microsoft fully committed to Agentic AI as the next platform layer. Across all of the briefings, keynotes, technical sessions, and partner announcements, Microsoft repeatedly emphasised that AI is no longer an add-on - and that is becoming…

Windows at 40: Milestones that changed computing for ever It was Forty years ago (now that makes me feel. Old) that Microsoft launched Windows 1.0. This was a graphical shell that was layered over MS-DOS. Whilst it was clunky, slow, and barely usable - it created the framework and vision for what…

With Security Copilot now part of Microsoft 365 E5 – what do you actually get? At Ignite this week, Microsoft announced that Security Copilot will now be included in Microsoft 365 E5 (and E5 Security) at no additional cost. Security Copilot delivers "AI-powered, integrated, cost-effective, and…

Sora 2 now in Microsoft 365 Copilot At Ignite 2025 this month, amongst a long list of AI and Security updates, Microsoft announced that OpenAI’s Sora 2 text-to-video model is now integrated into Microsoft 365 Copilot in their Create Agent bringing AI video into enterprise productivity. Sora 2 can…

Microsoft 365 Copilot for small and medium businesses Microsoft has just announced a much more affordable aka cheaper (but fully featured license) for small and medium businesses. From December 1st, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business becomes available to organisations with fewer than 300 users. It’s…

Windows 365: What, Where and Why? As Windows 365 settles well into its forth year, there have been huge advancements in capability, connection methods, endpoint innovation, and licensing options - with even more expected as Microsoft Ignite approaches next week In my role, I spend a lot of time…

AI Explained: 9 Key Concepts You Need to Know in 2025 Artificial intelligence, whilst a phrase used in most of our daily lives, can feel huge, strange, unknown, scary, exciting and sometimes even intimidating. In this post I decided I would strip back the noise and waffle and share nine crisp,…

Cisco 360 Partner Program: Driving Partner and Customer Value in in the AI Era This blog summarises the key updates from Cisco Partner Summit 2025 regarding the Cisco 360 Partner Program and its impact on partner profitability, customer value, cross-selling, AI specialisations, and new pathways.…

I Tuned into Day 1 of Cisco Partner Summit 2025 yesterday "online"., where they spotlighted Secure AI infrastructure as the backbone of transformation. From Unified Edge to zero-trust security and full-stack observability. My review is below :-)

Copilot Researcher Agent gets “Computer Use” Yes, the Copilot Researcher Agent, once focused purely on gathering and summarising information, can now take action on your device through a capability called Computer Use.  This provides secure interaction with both public and gated web content…

Windows 11 bringing new “Ask Copilot” to the taskbar Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels can start testing a new Copilot search experience which is available through the Windows Search bar. To get started go to Settings > Personalisation > Taskbar > Ask Copilot to enable the experience.…

No Agenda? No Excuse. Copilot can now help with agenda creation. Let’s talk about one of my biggest pet peeves: the agenda-less meeting invite. You know the type. A calendar ping lands in your inbox with a vague title like “Catch-up” or “Project Sync,” zero context, and no prep materials. You’re…

Microsoft “App Builder” & “Workflow” Agents Microsoft is expanding its Copilot Frontier Programme with two powerful new agents. These are the App Builder and Workflows Agents. These put "app creation" and automation directly into the hands of everyday users, with zero coding needed just an idea…

Teams gets Copilot “Group Chat” Microsoft Teams continues to evolve at a rapid pace. This month Copilot is coming to Teams Group Chat as a participant in Teams Chat and Channels. This is an example of how quickly new features are landing, and why organisations need to stay on top of change…

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Happy #BackToTheFutureDay. 40 years since Oct 26 1985