Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork Explained with Bas Brekelmans, Software Engineer at Microsoft

Bas Brekelmans, Software Engineer at Microsoft, focused on Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork, explains its architecture and use cases.• How Copilot Cowork runs entirely in the Cloud, unlike local machine-based alternatives, enabling enterprise-grade security, audit and compliance• The multi-model approach using Anthropic's Sonnet and Opus, with the flexibility to switch to the best available model• Built-in and personal skills for calendar management, document generation and automated workflows• Extensibility through MCP servers, enabling integration with third-party and line-of-business applications• Scheduled tasks and autonomous email handling that save hours of manual work each day• Enterprise compliance features including Purview integration, eDiscovery support and rich audit logsThanks to Crestron, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Damian Lewis, Digital Workplace Specialist at BSI, shares the story of designing and deploying Microsoft Teams Rooms across BSI's new London headquarters, the Acre.• Moving from an antiquated AV setup to a fully cable-free, Microsoft Teams-centric environment• The spectrum of room types: from Jabra PanaCast BYOD “hot offices” to Neat Board Pro casual spaces, and full multi-camera divisible Q-SYS rooms with presenter tracking• How proof-of-concept testing in the old office helped shape vendor selection for Jabra, Neat, and Q-SYS• Room booking with Matrix integrated into Microsoft 365, including scheduling panels across hot offices, parenting spaces, and multi-faith rooms• User adoption lessons: building champions, online inductions, and fortnightly AV "ask me anything" sessions to bring colleagues up to speed• Managing a global Microsoft Teams Rooms footprint from Sydney to San Jose using Jabra Pro Portal and OEM tooling• Replicating the adoption playbook at BSI's North America office and planning for smaller-scale rollouts at existing sitesThanks to Jabra, 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 April 2026.Many thanks to AudioCodes for their continued support.PowerPoint DeckPlaces Insider Live​Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork Updates​Anthropic Models for Copilot​AI Flex Routing in EU and EFTA​New SharePoint Experience​Microsoft Teams & AI Powered Workplace News and Roadmap​Teams Devices News & New Devices​Upcoming Events​Useful Links:BriefingsNEW Neat Board 32 & Neat Pad Pro: Full Product Walkthrough & Key Features with Darin WorthingtonMicrosoft Places Deep Dive with Microsoft - Customer Feedback, Deployment, Licensing with Chris Fitzsimmons, Brennan McReynolds & Craig McClellan​Enterprise Voice Infrastructure Options On-Prem. Private Cloud and Cloud-Native with Ribbon and AWS with Gordon Eddy (Ribbon Communications)Multi-Platform UCaaS at Scale with NUWAVE iPILOT with Tony at NWNTeams Insider PodcastsFrontline Workers: Market Opportunity and Enterprise Mobility with Patrick Watson (Cavell) & Stewart Wright (Spectralink)​Teams Queues App Explained — Shared Call History, Copilot, and What's Next with Sean Gilmour (Microsoft)Novo Nordisk's Microsoft Teams Rooms Journey — Thousands of Rooms with Christopher Amdi Mark (Novo Nordisk)Work IQ, Agent Types and the Road to the Frontier Firm with Alev Tamer & Chris Wheeler

Patrick Watson, Director of Research at Cavell, and Stewart Wright, Business Development Director for Spectralink EMEA, discuss the untapped opportunity in enabling frontline workers with Microsoft Teams.• 80% of the global workforce is classified as frontline, yet many organisations neglect these workers in their Microsoft Teams migrations.• Frontline workers are often forgotten, given devices not fit for purpose, or left on legacy on-premises systems running in parallel with Microsoft Teams.• Spectralink's DECT and Wi-Fi solutions, including the Versity smartphone and 8440 feature phone, are designed for challenging environments like healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.• Unique features include Man Down alerts, pull cord alarms, hot-swappable batteries, disinfectant-resistant builds, and the AMIE cloud management platform.• Market research highlights massive potential: nearly 2 million frontline workers in UK healthcare, 2.6 million in UK manufacturing, and 7.5 million in German manufacturing.Thanks to Spectralink, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Sean Gilmour, Principal Lead PM for Advanced Calling Experience at Microsoft, discusses the evolution of the Microsoft Teams Queues app — from its origins as a purpose-built workspace for collaborative calling to the latest capabilities, including shared call history and some of what is coming next.• How the Queues app was designed for "citizen agents" — workers who handle customer calls alongside their primary roles, from HR and internal help desks to healthcare professionals and financial services• Supervisor capabilities including delegated admin, monitor, whisper, barge, and takeover — traditionally higher-end contact centre features now available in the native Microsoft Teams experience• Shared call history: why giving agents and supervisors visibility of all calls across a queue, including missed calls and shared voicemails with lightweight management, is a significant step forward• How the Queues app fits into the broader Microsoft Teams Phone ecosystem alongside Dynamics 365 and certified contact centre partners through Teams Phone Extensibility• The role of Copilot and AI in enhancing call queue intelligence, from in-call assistance to proactive insights for part-time supervisors• Endpoint support across desktop, web, and IP phones, with a mobile-first experience in development for frontline workersThanks to Luware, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Christopher Amdi Mark, Senior IT Architect at Novo Nordisk, shares how the global pharmaceutical company transformed its meeting room estate — from traditional Cisco room systems and telepresence to over 2,500 Microsoft Teams Rooms with plans for more• How the shift from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams during COVID changed what users expected from meeting rooms• MTR Windows with Logitech and Lenovo, and the early challenges of scaling too quickly• Why Cisco's Android-based Microsoft Teams Rooms brought Novo Nordisk back to a trusted partner• Why BYOD is "Bring Your Own Disaster" — and how that might evolve• Managing a mixed estate of Cisco MTR Android, MTR Windows, and traditional Room OS devices with Cisco CVI across thousands of rooms• Replacing Cisco IX5000 telepresence suites with immersive front-row MTR experiences at a fraction of the cost• Where AI fits in — from intelligent camera framing to Microsoft Copilot Facilitator in the meeting roomThanks to Cisco, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Alev Tamer, Senior Partner Solution Architect for AI Business Solutions at Microsoft, and Chris Wheeler, Senior Copilot Solution Engineer at Microsoft, break down the rapidly evolving world of Microsoft 365 Copilot agents — from personal assistants to autonomous digital colleagues.• What agents actually are and the spectrum from declarative no-code to low-code Copilot Studio agents and pro-code solutions in Microsoft AI Foundry• The frontier firm concept — three levels of AI maturity, from personal AI assistant through team-level agents to agent-operated, human-led organisations• Real-world agent examples in use today, including career coaching agents, Chris’ pub quiz agent in Microsoft Teams meetings, and autonomous complaint triage in NHS healthcare• Multi-agent teaming — how chaining specialised agents together is enabling end-to-end workflows like RFP processing without human intervention• Work IQ explained — how Microsoft Graph data, memory, personalisation, and inferencing combine to ground Copilot responses in organisational context• Governance, identity, and the challenge of managing thousands of agents with Agent 365 and existing Power Platform controlsThanks to Jabra, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Chris Styczynski, Service Owner for Unified Communication and Collaboration at Clifford Chance, shares how the global law firm approached their RFP process for migrating from Cisco on-prem telephony to Microsoft Teams.• How Clifford Chance structured their RFP into six lots for flexibility: telephony migration, switchboard, contact centre, Operator Connect, on-site support, and managed services.• Why conducting an RFI first helped pre-qualify vendors and identify the right partners for a firm of their size.• The importance of understanding user requirements before going to market, especially as telephony needs evolve with AI and collaboration tools.• How to evaluate partners beyond technical skills—considering culture, flexibility, and communication style for an 18-month project.• Key considerations for global telephony migrations, including regulatory challenges across 20+ countries.Thanks to Numonix, 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 March 2026.Many thanks to Ribbon for their continued support.PowerPoint DeckMicrosoft 365 Copilot Wave 3​Anthropic in M365 Copilot ​Copilot Cowork​Agent 365​Microsoft 365 E7​AI Workplace Roadmap​Teams Devices Roadmap​New Teams Certified Devices​Events​Useful Links:BriefingsReal AI Use Cases in the Contact Centre with Luware Nimbus - Costs, Risks and Benefits - Marcel Gaufroid, Head of Sales – EU, at LuwareMicrosoft Places in 2026: APIs, Desk Booking, and Copilot Context - Brennan McReynolds, Product Strategy Lead for Microsoft PlacesPure IP's Platform Strategy that Simplifies Enterprise Communications - Adnon Dow, Chief Strategy Officer at Pure IPAI Voice Agents - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at MicrosoftTony at NWN Explains How They Deliver Multi-Platform UCaaS at Scale with NUWAVE iPILOTTeams Insider PodcastsCTO of LabourNet on Microsoft Teams Phone and Contact Centre with a Dispersed National Workforce with Mike Love, CTO at LabourNet, Janet Souter-Dantu, Co-founder at ScopServ Integrated Services, and Vanesia Raborethe, Head of Sales at ScopServSharePoint at 25, Past, Present, and AI Future with Microsoft's Jeff TeperAI enabling real-time communications with Adam Jacobs, IC3 Principal Program Manager at MicrosoftScaling Microsoft Teams Phone and Teams Rooms at BAE Systems with Andrew WigmoreOther Useful LinksMC1247880 - Anthropic Claude Sonnet is now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot MC1247634 - Microsoft Agent 365 Generally Available May 1, 2026 MC1248392 - Enhanced issue detection in Teams Rooms on Windows and auto-remediation with Teams Rooms MC1245225 - Ad-hoc room reservation from Teams Rooms on Windows console MC1243546 - Channel Agent feature updates

Mike Love, CTO at LabourNet, is joined by Janet Souter-Dantu, Co-founder at ScopServ Integrated Services (Pty) Ltd, and Vanesia Raborethe, Head of Sales at ScopServ Integrated Services (Pty) Ltd, to discuss LabourNet's move to a Microsoft Teams-based contact centre with Landis.LabourNet, established in 1996, is a large labour law consulting firm with a national footprint in South Africa.• Why LabourNet standardised on Microsoft Teams as a single communications platform to support time-critical, high-importance client interactions• How Landis Contact Centre queues, presence-based routing, and reporting improved visibility and support availability-based call distribution across a geographically dispersed workforce• Lessons learned on adoption, process change, and why senior leaders tested the customer experience daily to drive improvements• What's next, including better use of contact centre data and a cautious, data-first approach to AI augmentation for agentsThanks to Landis, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud