11th MVP Award Rewarded

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I am actually on vacation, but as I sit here under the summer sun, toes in the pool and a cold drink within reach, I have been waiting for that email confirming that I’ve been awarded my 11th Microsoft MVP Award! As last year, I am being awarded in both the Teams and Copilot category. To say I’m humbled would be an understatement. Being part of the global Microsoft MVP community for over a decade now has been an incredible journey, filled with learning, sharing, speaking, and connecting with passionate technologists from every corner of the world. What is the Microsoft MVP Award? The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award is given to technology experts who share their knowledge and real-world expertise with communities. With fewer than 4,000 MVPs worldwide, it’s an honor to be part of such a vibrant and dedicated group. MVPs contribute through speaking engagements, writing, open-source contributions, and helping others online and offline. You can learn more about the progra...

Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier: Finally available world wide.

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Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier program:

Back in March, Microsoft the release of two new and promising agents: The researcher and The analyst agents. Initially these two agents were launched in the U.S. as part of what has been called the "Frontier" program. Frontier is designed to give Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users access to experimental, high-impact features that are still in development—allowing users to shape the future of AI in the workplace. This early-access initiative is now available worldwide, offering organizations a first look at cutting-edge AI capabilities before they become mainstream.

The Researcher and Analyst agents are built on OpenAI’s advanced models and integrated deeply with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Here is a short description of their features:

Researcher (Frontier)

Think of Researcher as your AI-powered research assistant. It combines OpenAI’s deep research capabilities with Microsoft’s orchestration and search tools to help users tackle complex, multi-step research tasks. Whether you're pulling insights from internal documents, third-party data, or the web, Researcher can synthesize it all into coherent, actionable outputs.

Analyst (Frontier)

Analyst is optimized for advanced data analysis. It uses OpenAI’s o3-mini model and chain-of-thought reasoning to iteratively solve problems—just like a human analyst would. It can even run Python code in real time, allowing users to view and verify the logic and outputs behind the scenes. This transparency is a game-changer for data-driven teams. 

How to make sure they are available to your users (or not):

  1. Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center → Copilot → Settings
  2. Under User Access, select "Copilot Frontier"
  3. Set access to “All Users” or “Specific Users under "Web and Mobile apps" (Microsoft 365 Insiders can also benefit from getting new features directly to their desktop apps)
  4. Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center → Copilot → Agent & Connectors
  5. Search for "Frontier" and make sure both agents are set available for your users (You may also deploy the app directly from this view.
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