Microsoft Ignite 2024 just wrapped and there was no shortage of huge Copilot announcements. Let’s rephrase that: There was a relentless stream of big, fascinating, exciting Copilot news. New agents. New security tools. New pricing. It was frankly hard to keep up.

That’s why today we’re going to break down the biggest take-aways and discuss some of the opportunities they give you, the trusted partner.

1. Copilot Actions: Automate Everyday Tasks Like Never Before

Microsoft introduced Copilot Actions, allowing users to automate repetitive tasks such as scheduling emails and compiling weekly reports. This feature is currently in private preview.

Actions streamlines client workflows, helping to reduce manual effort, increasing efficiency and productivity.

Partners might see this as an opportunity to deepen consulting services to implement and customize Copilot Actions for clients, helping them stay competitive and excel in the digital age.

2. New Copilot Agents: Enhancing Team Collaboration

Microsoft also announced a series of new agents that work alongside teams.

Facilitator Agents work within Teams meetings and chats, taking real-time notes. These agents are in public preview for customers worldwide and are available on desktop (Windows/Mac), web, and iOS/Android (consumption only).

The Interpreter Agent provides real-time speech-to-speech interpretation during meetings, and users can choose to have it simulate their own speaking voice. Interpreter will begin with supporting nine languages including Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish, and will be available for public preview in early 2025.

In Business Chat, Employee Self-Service Agents answer common questions about company policies and other topics such as how to open an IT helpdesk ticket. Microsoft employees are already benefiting from this, seeing a 36% increase in self-help success rate for IT issues. Now available in private preview, it will be available more broadly in early 2025.

By incorporating them into their daily workflows, these agents can transform how teams interact and operate, improving collaboration. For partners, there is an opportunity to help clients create agents tailored to their needs, deepening client relationships with ongoing support and customization.

3. Agents in SharePoint: Transforming Knowledge Management

AI agents are now showing up in SharePoint. They will enable users to turn SharePoint sites and documents into scoped agents that act as subject matter experts.

For instance, a team lead can create an onboarding agent to onboard new team members, providing them with access to the most current information and the source files.

These agents are now in general availability and have already started to roll out, with expected completion by the end of this calendar year.

This enhances knowledge accessibility within organizations, helping clients find information faster (with two billion files added to SharePoint and OneDrive every day, there is certainly a lot of content to sift through)!

Partners might focus on providing training and support to help clients maximize the benefit of SharePoint agents, empowering them to navigate and utilize their information repositories effectively.

4. Quick Machine Recovery & Windows 365 Link: Empowering Every Employee to Work Securely

Windows 365 Link, a password-less device for Microsoft 365, enables desk-based users to securely work on a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud. It is now in public preview and will be generally available for $349 in select markets starting April 2025.

Quick Machine Recovery is a new solution to help customers recover from unexpected disruptions. It also gives admins the ability to execute targeted fixes from Windows Update on PCs even if they’re unable to boot. This feature will be available to those in the Windows Insider Program in early 2025.

There is an opportunity for you to sell and support these devices to help your clients to stay ahead in hardware solutions, and offer secure, cloud-based work solutions to address evolving security needs. By incorporating these devices and features into offerings, you can support your clients during critical times, modernize the workplace, and elevate the standard of IT support.

5. Copilot Analytics: Measuring Adoption and Business Impact

Copilot Analytics will be generally available in early 2025 as a component of the new Copilot Control System. This allows IT and business leaders to measure the adoption and business impact of Copilot and agents. As part of the new Copilot Analytics, Viva Insights will be included in Microsoft 365 Copilot at no additional charge.

Furthermore, the new Business Impact Report, now available in public preview, is designed to help organizations understand how Copilot usage relates to KPIs.

This new capability empowers your clients to see the value of their investment in Copilot, making it easier to plan strategically.

You can harness this data to show the effectiveness of the solution you have implemented, solidifying your role as trusted advisor. These insights also open the door for you to recommend additional services, driving new revenue and deepening your client relationships.

6. Pricing Updates: Introducing Monthly Billing

Keeping up on Microsoft licensing and pricing changes is always key.

At Ignite, several commercial licensing and pricing updates were also announced, including a new monthly billing plan for annual term subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Rather than making an upfront annual payment, customers who purchase annual term subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales, and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service can choose to pay monthly. This option will be introduced on December 1, 2024, and will cost 5% more than the annual billing option.

Starting on April 1, 2025, Microsoft will standardize the monthly billing price for all new and renewing annual term subscriptions. This standardization will ensure consistency and transparency across all platforms.

Copilot in 2024 was about the hype. 2025 is about adoption.

Despite all the excitement around Copilot, there is still room to improve the adoption journey, and this Ignite session highlighted several key barriers to usage:

• Only 53% of users know what tasks to use Copilot for (“the knowledge gap”).
• Only 46% of users feel equipped to make the best use of Copilot (“the skill gap”)
• Only 37% of users believe they are able to realize the full potential of Copilot (“the confidence gap”)

While 79% of leaders think their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive, 60% worry their organization lacks a plan and vision to implement AI.

By understanding these key announcements related to Microsoft Copilot and potential adoption hurdles, you can position yourself as a forward-thinking partner ready to help your clients navigate this dynamic landscape, and help them realize their vision.

Want to position your team as the Copilot experts to make adoption happen? We can help.

To uncover your clients’ security needs and build the best path for Copilot for Microsoft 365 adoption, check out Block 64’s Copilot Readiness Assessment. (You’ll get your first eligible client assessment free between now and December 31, 2024.

The post All the Copilot News from Microsoft Ignite 2024 for Partners (Hint: It’s a Lot) first appeared on Block 64.

Block 64 ITAM data, put to work

This report analyzes data obtained from over 300 organizations across North America using Block 64‘s ITAM management platform. The data offers a snapshot of real-life vulnerabilities, opportunities, and potential challenges across more than 200,000 endpoints. For this edition, we surveyed a new batch of 211,428 endpoints across 348 organizations in North America, providing fresh insights into the current state of IT environments.

So, let’s dive in.

A Historical Month for IT – For All the Wrong Reasons

July 2024 was a challenging month for IT leaders, marked by significant disruptions including a major outage at Crowdstrike and a notable Microsoft Azure outage. These incidents highlighted the critical need for resilience and rapid response capabilities within IT infrastructures.

Impact of CrowdStrike Outage on North American Customers:

For those living under the rocks, CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, experienced a significant service interruption due to a technical issue in their update deployment. This outage impacted many organizations globally, highlighting the vulnerabilities even within top-tier cybersecurity providers. According to CrowdStrike, the issue stemmed from a corrupted update file that led to sensor malfunctions across multiple endpoints.

From our scan, we found that CrowdStrike sensors were installed on 43% of systems inventoried. This suggests that up to 18% of our surveyed organizations (63 out of 348 customers) were likely impacted by this outage. The incident underscores the necessity of having a robust ITAM system to quickly identify affected assets and implement corrective measures.

Microsoft Azure Outage:

The Azure outage, which lasted nearly 10 hours, was caused by a combination of a DDoS attack and subsequent internal failures. This disruption had a global impact, affecting businesses dependent on Azure services for their operations. Microsoft reported that the DDoS attack overwhelmed their defenses, leading to cascading failures within their infrastructure.

Lessons and Recommendations:

• Get proactive: Ensure your organization has a rapid response team ready to handle such disruptions. For a deeper dive into resilience strategies, check out our friends at Softchoice’s podcast about resilience and prevention.
• Follow the updates: Read Crowdstrike’s latest update – including details about resuming deployment operations and new options you can choose to decide how you want to receive automatic updates
• Modernize ITAM: Regularly update and audit your ITAM management systems to swiftly identify and mitigate the impacts of outages. Consider leveraging Block 64’s insights and tools to enhance your organization’s resilience against similar incidents.>> Related: Find out why ITAM is modern IT’s secret weapon – Read our blog

IT Leaders Being Pressured to Deliver Copilot, Need Support

As AI continues to transform the business landscape, IT leaders face increasing pressure to develop comprehensive AI adoption plans. Microsoft reports that 60% of Fortune 500 companies have adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, but many businesses are still navigating their AI strategies.

Current Adoption and Usage:

Our latest data shows that 47% of users are not fully utilizing all Microsoft 365 products, a slight improvement from the previous month’s 49%. Specifically, 68% of users are not using Microsoft Teams, and 55% are not using Microsoft Outlook, reflecting minimal changes from June’s report. Here’s what we suggest:

• Identify key pilot groups within your organization to test Copilot’s functionalities, focusing on teams already using Microsoft 365 products extensively.
• Assess security and licensing impacts as part of the Copilot Readiness Assessment.

Ongoing Security Vulnerabilities Being Overlooked

Security remains a critical concern, with our July 29 report revealing a significant, ongoing presence of critical vulnerabilities across the North American IT landscape.

• 74% of endpoints are critically exposed: The report indicates that 74% of endpoints are exposed to at least one critical vulnerability with a CVSS score of over 9.0, a drastic increase from 60% in the previous month. This spike highlights the escalating security risks faced by organizations.
• AutoCAD Vulnerability: We newly discovered that a critical vulnerability in legacy AutoCAD versions (prior to 2023.1.4 or 2024.1.1) is affecting about 1,000 endpoints across 50 customers. This vulnerability allows maliciously crafted CATPART files to cause crashes, data breaches, or arbitrary code execution.
• SQL and Windows Server Exposures: 37% of organizations are running unsupported SQL servers, and 44% have SQL servers in extended support. Additionally, 52% of organizations still operate unsupported Windows servers, a slight decrease from the previous month’s 53%.

Bottom line: Take action. These security trends necessitate immediate action to strengthen security protocols. Organizations must prioritize regular security audits and updates to mitigate these risks, using a solution such as Block 64’s Security Reports.

Trends in IT Asset Management (ITAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM)

Effective ITAM and SAM is crucial for optimizing resources and maintaining a robust IT infrastructure. This section examines the current trends and highlights areas that need attention.

• Out-of-Warranty Hardware: The percentage of out-of-warranty hardware remains stable at 44%. This indicates that a significant portion of IT infrastructure is aging, potentially leading to higher maintenance costs and increased risk of hardware failures.
• Server Utilization: Servers using less than 25% of available resources stayed consistent at 97% on an endpoint basis. However, from an organizational perspective, there was a significant increase, with 70% of organizations running servers at less than 25% efficiency, up from 60% in June. This jump highlights a growing inefficiency that needs addressing to optimize IT operations and reduce costs.
• Java Exposure: Changes in Oracle’s Java licensing have led many companies to reassess their software usage strategies, potentially increasing expenses by up to 90%. Our findings show that 55% of customers are using a commercial version of Java, slightly down from 56% the previous month.

Putting It Together: ITAM Trends for 2024 Reveal Action Needed

The persistent issues highlighted in this report underscore the urgent need for strategic revisions in IT security and asset management. The first step is gaining insights into your current state to address gaps effectively.

• Leverage Block 64’s platform to illuminate IT blind spots and optimize resources efficiently: Contact us for a demo or sign up for a free trial to start mastering your IT environment.
• For a comprehensive evaluation of your readiness for Copilot adoption, explore our Copilot Readiness Assessment – free if you sign up before August 31, 2024.

Subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter:

Stay updated with more research, news, and advice for IT professionals by subscribing to our newsletter on LinkedIn.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

The post Crowdstrike, Copilot and Conquering Risk: CIO Trends for July, 2024 first appeared on Block 64.

Since its release, organizations worldwide have rapidly adopted Copilot, driven by its continually expanding features and capabilities. Recent updates include priority access to the GPT-4 Turbo, expanded image generation and enhanced functionalities in SharePoint and Teams.

But regardless of all the hype, business leaders are facing questions:

Is your business ready? Do you have the right licensing and security requirements? Most importantly: Will Copilot pay off?

The key to success comes down to having the right tools, processes and people in place. So, how do you make sure your business has what it needs for a successful Copilot launch?

In this article we outline why you need to assess your Copilot for Microsoft 365 readiness. We’ll also explain the risks to rushing in, challenges to finding answers and how tools such as Block 64’s Copilot Readiness Assessment can help.

The Challenges of Deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365

The path to successful Copilot implementation is fraught with challenges and resource-intensive demands:

1. Complex Security Requirements: Ensuring security compliance is paramount when getting ready for Copilot. Adopting a Zero Trust security model is required – and that demands rigorous adherence to security policies and standards. Evaluating and addressing vulnerabilities in your IT environment is critical to protect data, networks, and applications from potential threats.
2. Intricate Licensing Demands: Understanding and managing licensing requirements for Copilot can be daunting. Accurate data on your current licensing status is necessary to identify gaps and optimize costs. Given that Copilot requires specific Microsoft 365 licenses and additional fees, a thorough analysis ensures that your investment aligns with organizational goals and maximizes ROI​.
3. Deep Understanding of Current Productivity Tool Usage: Maximizing the benefits of Copilot hinges on the effective use of existing productivity tools. Assessing current usage patterns of applications like Teams and OneDrive is essential to ensure they are being utilized to their full potential. This analysis helps identify areas for improvement, driving better adoption rates and preventing resource wastage​.

Why Readiness Matters: The Real Risks of Unprepared Adoption

Rushing into Copilot adoption without proper preparation can lead to several serious consequences:

1. Wasted Investment and Slowed Innovation: Choosing an inappropriate pilot group can lead to poor adoption rates and misleading feedback, which may derail your entire AI initiative. Additionally, investing in tools that are not fully utilized squanders resources and fosters skepticism towards future technology adoptions, ultimately stalling innovation​.
2. Security and Compliance Risks: Inadequate security measures significantly heighten the risk of data breaches and intellectual property theft, exposing the organization to substantial vulnerabilities. Furthermore, non-compliance with regulatory standards can result in severe financial penalties and reputational damage, underscoring the need for robust security protocols​.
3. Operational Disruption: Improper integration of Copilot with existing workflows can lead to decreased productivity rather than the intended improvements. Without proper planning, these disruptions can cause underutilization of the tool and increase the burden on IT support, counteracting the benefits of adopting the new technology​.
4. Missed Opportunities: Failing to identify high-impact use cases restricts the potential return on investment, as the most beneficial applications of the technology are overlooked. Additionally, an inability to scale the solution effectively means the organization misses out on significant competitive advantages that could be gained through broader adoption​.

Introducing Block 64’s Copilot Readiness Assessment

To navigate these challenges and mitigate risks, Block 64 has developed the Copilot Readiness Assessment. This powerful tool provides a comprehensive analysis of your organization’s readiness for Copilot adoption in just 15 minutes of setup time.

What the assessment covers:

1. Security Evaluation:

• Assesses your M365 and Azure Secure Scores against Microsoft’s recommendations
• Identifies potential oversharing risks and sensitive data exposure

2. Licensing Analysis

• Evaluates your current licensing status and identifies gaps
• Helps you understand Copilot-ready licenses and considerations for frontline workers

3. Usage Optimization

• Analyzes your current usage of collaboration tools and Copilot-integrated applications
• Identifies opportunities for improved adoption and productivity gains

The Outcome: Actionable Insights

Upon completion, you’ll receive a detailed, multi-page report packed with data-driven insights, recommendations and alerts, including:

1. Your organization’s overall Copilot readiness score – with detailed steps to remediate security and licensing gaps
2. A shortlist of recommended users for your pilot program, based on the most likely group to deliver maximum impact
3. Estimated human hours saved in one year by implementing Copilot
4. Clear recommendations for improving your readiness and maximizing ROI

Getting Started

Embarking on your Copilot readiness journey is simple.

Simply visit our Copilot Readiness Assessment sign up page and follow the steps.

In the race to harness the power of generative AI, proper preparation is your strongest ally. Block 64’s Copilot Readiness Assessment provides the clarity and insights you need to make informed decisions, reduce risks, and pave the way for a successful Copilot for M365 implementation.

Don’t leave your GenAI future to chance. Get your Copilot Readiness assessment started in just 15 minutes and take the first step towards transforming your organization’s productivity.

Start Your Copilot Readiness Assessment Now

The post How to get ready for Copilot for Microsoft 365 first appeared on Block 64.