Two seemingly contradictory truths currently characterize the AI landscape: it’s a rapidly accelerating field, while simultaneously, numerous businesses are actively leveraging its capabilities. Microsoft’s recent announcements at Ignite 2024 illustrate this duality. The conference highlighted the ongoing evolution of AI, the benefits customers are already realizing, and Microsoft’s proactive approach to future-proofing its technologies.
This year’s Ignite event featured approximately 80 new products and features. These range from expanded functionalities in Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhancements within the Copilot + AI stack and new Copilot+ device offerings. Underlying each of these developments is Microsoft’s sustained focus on security. The company’s Secure Future Initiative (SFI), launched a year ago, has solidified security as a fundamental priority. To this end, Microsoft dedicates 34,000 engineers to this endeavor.
Over 200,000 individuals registered to attend Ignite this year. Attendees had access to over 800 sessions, demonstrations, and expert-led labs presented by Microsoft and its partners. For those unable to attend in person, most of the content is available on-demand.
Copilot’s Growing Momentum
Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI assistant designed to enhance workflow, continues to gain traction. Nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 are now using Microsoft 365 Copilot.
This trend mirrors a wider industry shift. According to a recent IDC study, generative AI is experiencing significant adoption, with 75% of surveyed companies implementing it in 2024. Furthermore, for every dollar invested in such technology, businesses are witnessing an average return of $3.70, with some leaders reporting returns as high as $10.
Microsoft’s investments in Copilot are demonstrably paying dividends for its customers. The company has shared over 200 customer success stories highlighting how Copilot is driving AI transformation, fostering innovation, and streamlining operations.
Several customer examples detailed at Ignite include:
- Eaton: The intelligent power management company used Microsoft 365 Copilot to operationalize processes, improve data access, centralize knowledge resources, and enable its teams to focus on higher-value tasks. Copilot helped Eaton document over 9,000 standard operating procedures, resulting in an 83% time savings.
- McKinsey & Company: The consulting firm is developing an agent to accelerate client onboarding, which has led to a 90% reduction in lead time and a 30% reduction in administrative work in its pilot program. The agent automates complex processes, identifies relevant expertise, and serves as a central hub for communication. This could translate into significant time savings for consultants.
Boosting Productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft continues to enhance productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot. New features include:
- Copilot Actions: Now in private preview, this function allows users to automate daily tasks through simple prompts, such as generating meeting summaries, compiling reports, and summarizing emails. Actions can be set up directly within any Microsoft 365 app, thus helping users concentrate on more impactful work.
- New agents in Microsoft 365: Designed to amplify individual output and reshape industrial procedures, they include:
- Agents in SharePoint: These are natural language AI assistants that can provide data from specific SharePoint sites, files, and folders, thus making it easier to find answers and make informed decisions.
- Interpreter: This agent, coming in public preview in early 2025, provides real-time speech-to-speech interpretation in Teams meetings, with the option of simulating the user’s personal voice.
- The Employee Self-Service Agent: Available in private preview in Business Chat, it helps employees find answers to common policy questions and simplifies key actions on HR and IT-related issues. It can be customized in Copilot Studio to meet an organization’s unique needs.
Other agents in public preview are capable of taking real-time meeting notes in Teams and streamlining project management in Planner.
Copilot + AI Stack
The Copilot stack is designed to empower users to create innovative products. Microsoft is introducing Azure AI Foundry, which provides access to existing Azure AI services, tools, and new capabilities such as:
- Azure AI Foundry SDK: Now in preview, offers a unified toolchain for designing, customizing, and managing AI applications and agents. It includes prebuilt app templates accessible through familiar tools like GitHub, Visual Studio, and Copilot Studio.
- Azure AI Foundry portal (formerly Azure AI Studio): Now in preview, provides a visual user interface to help developers discover AI models, services, and tools. It also assists IT admins, operations, and compliance teams in managing AI applications at scale.
- Azure AI Agent Service: Coming soon to preview, will allow developers to orchestrate, deploy, and scale enterprise-ready agents.
Microsoft also continues to strengthen its commitment to Trustworthy AI with new tools, including new AI reports and risk/safety evaluations for images, helping organizations ensure AI applications are safe and compliant. AI reports will improve observability, collaboration, and governance for AI apps and fine-tuned models, while evaluations for image content will help customers assess the frequency and severity of harmful content in their app’s AI-generated outputs.
Copilot+ Devices
Microsoft is expanding its Cloud PC solution with the introduction of a new device class built for secure connections to Windows 365. Windows 365 Link is a secure device for Windows 365, currently in preview, and will be available for purchase from April 2025 in select markets with an MSRP of $349. It allows users to work securely in the Microsoft Cloud with a Windows desktop experience.
Other new capabilities for Copilot+ PCs for commercial customers include leveraging the processing power of native processing units (NPUs) to deliver local AI. With improved Windows Search, and the new Recall experience (preview), finding what you need on your PC is easier than ever by just describing what you are looking for. These features are releasing first to our Windows Insider community on Copilot+ PCs before rolling out more broadly to our customers.
BlackRock and Microsoft: A Strategic Alliance
Four years ago, BlackRock, a leading asset management firm, formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft to transition its Aladdin platform to Microsoft Azure. This migration laid the groundwork for the rollout of generative AI tools for global clients, including Aladdin Copilot.
Aladdin Copilot, powered by generative AI, optimizes connectivity across the platform, leverages Microsoft technology to deliver instant answers, increase efficiency, discover new business insights, and enable scale. Today, approximately 60% of BlackRock’s Copilot users engage with it on a weekly basis.
BlackRock has also chosen to move its on-prem CRM solution to the cloud with Dynamics 365, due in part to its native integration with Teams and Outlook.
Strength in Security
Recognizing the evolving threat landscape, Microsoft emphasizes a collaborative approach to information security. As part of the Secure Future Initiative (SFI), Microsoft is holding the Zero Day Quest, a public security research event focused on AI and cloud security, with a $4 million award pool, in addition to its ongoing $16 million annual bounty program.
Microsoft is also addressing graph-based attacks, which exploit relationships between digital assets. The launch of Microsoft Security Exposure Management is a pivotal step in transforming cybersecurity with savvy data and AI-based strategies. By incorporating Microsoft graph data with customer’s third-party security tools, a powerful single pane of glass is created, thus helping cybersecurity teams prevent cyber intrusions.
These announcements represent only a fraction of the new features and updates unveiled at Ignite. Keynote sessions from Microsoft leaders are available live and on-demand.
