Microsoft announce groundbreaking products and updates at Microsoft Ignite event
Microsoft’s hottest event of 2024, Microsoft Ignite, took place at the end of last year. There were over 80 new products and features announced, offering the opportunity to unleash the full potential of Microsoft.
This post will summarise some of the key announcements.
As expected, the main highlights were around Microsoft 365 Copilot but some of the smaller, less attractive features have got us just as excited.
Let’s start with Microsoft 365 Copilot; with an estimated 30 million active Copilot users, it’s no surprise that Microsoft has invested over 20 billion dollars in groundbreaking advancements in AI.
To further enhance the Copilot experience, Microsoft has announced new agents to help achieve more across the 365 ecosystems. These agents supercharge Copilot’s capabilities, adding specialised skills and automating certain tasks.
Agents in SharePoint: Agents in SharePoint are AI assistants tailored to specific tasks and subject matters using data gathered from SharePoint. For specific tasks, any SharePoint use can create a customised agent based on specific files or folders or sites. Imagine asking for the latest financial report or last week’s project update, and it being produced almost instantaneously 24/7/365. Copilot has got you covered.
Agents in Teams: Microsoft has announced two exciting new agents to bolster its ever-growing modern communication tool. Facilitator and Interpreter are two fundamentally different tools with one thing in mind – productivity.
- Facilitator – This agent is embedded into Teams meetings to automatically take real-time notes, allow seamless collaboration and ensure important information is highlighted as the conversation is happening.
- The Interpreter agent is possibly the most exciting update to come to Microsoft Teams since its conception. It offers live interpretation and translation in up to 9 different languages so participants can speak and listen in their language of choice. You can also choose if you would like the agent to simulate your voice to make for a more familiar and inclusive experience. (Preview beings in 2025).
Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform has also had some major new announcements focusing on AI, Infrastructure and Data and Analytics.
Within all three falls Microsoft Fabric, Azure’s new-ish data analytics platform which helps you organise and analyse large volumes of data in real-time, enrich and improve insights and then put it all into visually appealing and meaningful reports to improve your business insight across all levels.
We’re looking forward to testing these updates out and sharing our experiences with you….
