Microsoft 365 AI Workplace Update January 2026

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for the first update of 2026.Many thanks to Landis for their continued support.DeckMicrosoft 365 AI Workplace - 2026 Focus Areas​Microsoft’s continued AI Focus in 2026​7 New Microsoft Copilot Roadmap Features​26M Teams Phone Users​8 Microsoft Teams New Features and Updates​7 New Teams Rooms and Devices​EventsUseful Links:BriefingsAI Voice Agents with Azure Communication Services - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at Microsoft​Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents, Features and Control - Deep Dive with Rolf Tröndle - Rolf Tröndle walks through what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot.​Contact Center Options for Microsoft Teams - Native vs Connect vs Extend vs Unify - Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, at Pure IP discusses contact center strategies for Microsoft Teams​Teams Insider PodcastsScaling Microsoft Copilot Adoption 22,000 Diverse Users at Centrica with Bill Compton, Head of Digital Adoption at Centrica​Copilot and Agent Adoption in the Big Four Professional Services Firms with Mo Khalifa, Workforce AI Specialist at Microsoft​From PBX to Microsoft Teams and Voca Contact Centre at the Chartered Institute of Housing with Richard Sewell, IT Manager​Working from Sea: Virgin Voyages Transforms Remote Work with Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix​What Cisco Rooms bring to Microsoft Teams Rooms with Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco​

Bill Compton, Head of Digital Adoption at Centrica, shares how he's driven Microsoft Copilot adoption across a diverse 22,000-person organisation—from field engineers to call centre agents to knowledge workers.Building a strong digital champions network through gamification and peer-led changeLeveraging the included Copilot Chat to build AI literacy across the entire organisation before scaling premium licencesTaking a measured approach to Copilot rollout: starting with 25 licences and scaling to 2,000 paid M365 Copilot based on demonstrated valueCreating hybrid adoption events that reached over 3,000 employees through live streaming and on-demand contentGathering real user prompts and use cases to build internal stories and identify championsAddressing the challenges of reaching diverse workforces in protected environments like call centres and offshore platformsThanks to Luware, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for December 2025.Many thanks to AudioCodes for their continued support.PowerPoint DeckAnthropic models on by default in Microsoft 365 CopilotGPT-5.2 in Microsoft 365 CopilotMicrosoft Copilot RoadmapAgentic AI FoundationMicrosoft Planner Major Update in 2026Express Voice Enrollment in Microsoft TeamsTeams Meeting Recap and Recording APIsTeams Devices UpdateTeams RoadmapEventsBriefingsAll the Microsoft Ignite 2025 announcements in 24 minutes - Microsoft MVP Rolf Tröndle gives a comprehensive walkthrough of the news from Microsoft Ignite 2025AI Voice Agents with Azure Communication Services - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at MicrosoftMicrosoft 365 Copilot Agents, Features and Control - Deep Dive with Rolf Tröndle - Rolf Tröndle walks through what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot.Contact Center Options for Microsoft Teams - Native vs Connect vs Extend vs Unify - Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, at Pure-IP discusses contact center strategies for Microsoft TeamsTeams Insider PodcastsCopilot and Agent Adoption in the Big Four Professional Services Firms with Mo Kahlifa, Workforce AI Specialist at MicrosoftFrom PBX to Microsoft Teams and Voca Contact Centre at the Chartered Institute of Housing with Richard Sewell, IT ManagerWorking from Sea: Virgin Voyages Transforms Remote Work with Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at NumonixWhat Cisco Rooms bring to Microsoft Teams Rooms with Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at CiscoTelcos Moving Into AI With Microsoft Teams and Copilot With Rick GarciaMicrosoft Teams and AI Powered Workplace, Perspective From Ignite 2025 with Ilya Bukshteyn and Irena Andonova

Mo Khalifa, AI Workforce Specialist at Microsoft, discusses enterprise AI adoption, agent workflows, and Microsoft Copilot strategies with the Big Four professional services firms.• Personal productivity with Copilot: morning briefings, email summaries, and building the habit of AI-first workflows• Creating custom agents with Copilot Studio to manage customer information and support team productivity• WorkIQ and organisational memory: personalising Copilot with company-specific terminology, abbreviations, and context• The evolution from individual agents to agentic conversations where agents collaborate to complete business processes• Data sovereignty, compliance, and the EU data boundary—how Microsoft is addressing enterprise concerns around AI data processing• Adoption strategies: the 28-day habit formation, starting with Microsoft Teams meeting recaps, and making prompts relevant to specific roles• Data classification with Purview as the foundation for safe Copilot deployment and avoiding oversharing concernsThanks to AVI-SPL, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Richard Sewell, IT Manager, at the Chartered Institute of Housing discusses the organisation's decade-long telephony transformation, from traditional PBX through hosted VoIP to Microsoft Teams with Voca contact centre.• The journey from restrictive on-premises PBX systems to flexible cloud-based solutions• Challenges of hot-desking with legacy systems and how Microsoft Teams solved them• Why user adoption and training matter more than the technical migration itself• Managing contact centre users with Voca's presence controls, analytics, and supervisor dashboards• Lessons learnt about extension numbers, call transfers, and user expectations in Teams• How visibility and reporting encourage accountability in hybrid working environmentsThanks to AudioCodes, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix, discuss how Virgin Voyages is pioneering the work from sea movement with unlimited Wi-Fi and innovative remote work packages.Virgin Voyages' unique approach to crises —boutique hotel experience, no kids, free Wi-Fi, and no nickel-and-dimingHow Richard Branson's vision for free Wi-Fi for crew and passengers enabled the work from sea programmeWorking remotely from the Caribbean using Microsoft Teams with Starlink connectivityHow the shift to remote work post-COVID has made working from anywhere, even sea, a realityFor the full video, watch here.Thanks to Numonix, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco, discusses the evolution of the Cisco and Microsoft partnership and how Cisco Microsoft Teams Rooms brings enterprise-grade management, AI capabilities, and multi-platform flexibility to Microsoft Teams Rooms.• How Cisco and Microsoft moved from competition to collaboration, delivering full MTR experiences without compromising RoomOS capabilities• The engineering behind containerising Android and MTR within RoomOS, creating a unified management architecture that scales to thousands of devices• Distance Zero AI at the edge: intelligent camera framing, microphone beamforming, and background noise removal that adapts in real time• Multi-platform flexibility allowing organisations to run native MTR mode or RoomOS UI mode with seamless Webex and Zoom integration• How Cisco devices are evolving beyond collaboration tools into workplace investments, providing occupancy sensors and building data for facilities teams• The MDEP (Microsoft Devices Ecosystem Platform) initiative and what it means for the future of Android-based Teams Rooms devicesThanks to Cisco, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Rick Garcia, EVP Product & Marketing at Momentum, discusses moving from simple workflows to AI‑assisted experiences in the Microsoft stack, from SMS agents to contextual insights across Teams data. Find out how ideas proven in tools can translate into Outlook, Power Automate and Copilot, and what's next as Microsoft brings advanced AI capabilities into the platform more quickly.Packaging practical AI texting workflows that sales teams can adopt immediatelyTranslating "bleeding‑edge" ideas from third‑party automation platforms into Microsoft 365Using Power Automate and Azure AI to build real business solutions beyond basic attendantsWhy unified Teams, email, chat and SharePoint data enables true contextual insightsThe path from BI metrics to actionable signals for leaders and product teamsThanks to Momentum, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Ilya Bukshteyn, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Teams Calling Devices and Premium experiences, and Irena Andonova, who leads the Teams devices product team, discuss the latest in Microsoft Teams and AI Powered Workplace from Microsoft Ignite 2025.“Secure, Simple, Smart” -  URL protection, domain impersonation detection, and simplified threading and multi-tenant activity feedThe power of Work IQ and Copilot integration across chats, channels, calls and meetingsAmbient intelligence in Teams Rooms, including face and voice recognition for proper attribution in meeting transcripts and AI-powered note-takingTeams Admin Center AI for policy management using natural languageAI assistant in Teams Roomos Pro Management Portal for deployment, insights and estate management at scaleMicrosoft Devices Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) partnership to enhance Android device security, management and capabilitiesThanks to Ilya and Irena for their insights.

Listen to Sean Gilmour, Principal Product Manager Lead for Advance Calling - Microsoft Teams, and Pratichi Dash, Product Manager - Dynamics 365 Contact Center Voice and Conversational AI , explain Teams Phone Extensibility (TPE), Unify and how they enable a single, unified phone system across UCaaS and CCaaS.• What TPE is, how it works with Azure Communication Services, and why the Unify certification matters for a level playing field• How Dynamics 365 Contact Center uses TPE to reuse existing Teams Phone architecture and Operator Connect carriers• Coexistence with Azure PSTN/Direct Routing today, with Microsoft recommending TPE going forward• Practical AI today: agent-assist with summaries, translation and guidance, plus the roadmap towards intelligent IVR and smarter routing• Seamless call movement between Dynamics agents and Teams SMEs for faster resolutions across the organisationThanks to Numonix, this episode’s sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud