Two new updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word: Smarter Creation and Researcher agent

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What’s New in Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word Microsoft continues to evolve its Copilot capabilities in Word, bringing powerful new features that enhance productivity and streamline workflows. Two newly announced updates are rolling out this fall: First out of the gate is the integration of the Researcher Agent, allowing great content generation within Word itself. The second update is bringing more of the search and creation capabilities we have in Chat directly into Word. These updates represent a meaningful step toward closing the functionality gap between Copilot in Word and Copilot Chat. For me, this is a most welcomed improvement, making it easier for end users to get the results they want even faster, with less friction and more flexibility. Deep Research with the New Researcher Agent in Word Not too long ago, Microsoft introduced the Researcher agent in Copilot Chat, but moving and editing that content required copy/paste and jumping between applications. With this coming update...

Viva pulse coming out of preview, SharePoint moving to use only B2B invitations and helping users select the most secure MFA option

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Viva Pulse is a new feature coming to organizations who have invested in the Viva platform. Viva pulse is a new application, organizations can use to measure the "satisfaction temperature" of their employees. It's easy to use for both "Feedback authors" and "Feedback providers", and is of course fully integrated into Teams to make things easily accessible for all. As an organization admin, reading up on the following material is a great way to get started. 

Viva Pulse preview was announced to end on July 14th, and according to the message center, it should be rolling out around the 20th of July to users who have been assigned with the Viva Suite license. The official roadmap item is: 117393

Microsoft is making changes to the guest invitation flow in SharePoint. The flow is moving away from the original SharePoint engine, and into the new Azure B2B invitation manager. Sharing of files remains the same, but when users are being invited to sites the new invitation experience is used. There are several settings to consider, and it is recommended for admins to go through these policies to make collaboration easier. This update should be rolling out by the end of July.

MFA is getting a new tweak. By adding a "System-preferred" policy and setting it as default, the goal is to always prompt the user for the most secure MFA option available to them. This to avoid the use of weaker options such as SMS just because the user has registered for it previously. 

Admins should go through these settings to make sure any necessary exceptions are made for those who for some reason need to use a less secure MFA option than the more secure MFA they might have registered for. The rollout has begun, and should be completed by August.