Features for controlling the actions of agents — ensuring they don’t misbehave — bring the enterprise-level controls required by IT/security pros and business leaders alike.
Cloud Wars Microsoft Analysis
Microsoft provides three distinct patterns — orchestrator/specialist, MCP-based connected agents, and browser session use — for agent development; discover recommended use cases for each.
AI and Microsoft expert Paul Swider details a personal health assistant he’s built called Tula that unifies all of a patient’s data and aims to level the healthcare playing field.
Microsoft and AI expert sorts out key pricing questions and licensing considerations for Copilot Studio-built agents, and explains why costs still pose confusion for some customers.
Skills codify workflow details that are too often managed as ‘institutional knowledge,’ making those instructions accessible and reusable for agentic AI automation.
New feature rollout includes support for tapping — or building — reusable skills that Cowork can invoke to complete a task or workflow on a user’s behalf.
As initial release of ‘control plane’ becomes widely available, Microsoft is expanding agent registry, Shadow AI protections, and threat detection capabilities.
The amended partnership shows both companies are evolving; it’s not a falling out. The question for organizations is whether they are ready to make similar strategic shifts to focus on governance and outcomes.
Companies need to apply their philosophy to AI initiatives to drive success; optimal use of the Microsoft stack can create a strong philosophical foundation.
Brent Wodicka, CTO of AIS, explains how ISVs and corporate software developers need to build ‘agent-friendly pathways’ to software platforms to enable autonomous actions.
Voice-agent templates enable introduction of real-time voice into Dynamics 365 Contact Center for better customer experiences, agent productivity in core workflows.
Deloitte partner says most organizations are still in the transition phase of tapping AI in their ERP environments, but the technology can improve data consistency and improve financial compliance.
Addition to Microsoft 365 Copilot helps users sort through large amounts of data and conversations to determine required near-term actions and build comprehensive plans.
Updates include learned context and skills that get applied to future sessions as well as automatically created content that adheres to corporate standards.
Recent studies highlight the need to invest in AI for long-term strategic benefits — including driving enterprise transformation — where traditional ROI measurements may not apply.
Toolkit acts as a gatekeeper, preventing unauthorized access by AI agents and addressing top risks including goal hijacking and memory poisoning.
‘Agent Nodes’ make it easier for the reasoning and orchestration intelligence of agents to plug into established workflows for customer service, procurement, and more.
Latest MCP product from Microsoft works with cloud or on-premises SQL databases for efficient, secure connections to corporate resources without requiring language or framework expertise.
Plugin for popular coding platforms injects the ‘skills’ needed to deliver agentic automation without deep knowledge of an organization’s Dataverse environment.
Round of enhancements also includes simplified prompting during agent-building processes, new content moderation controls to govern sensitive material.