Recapping the Big News from the Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2025

The Microsoft 365 Community Conference in Las Vegas was a whirlwind of announcements, insights, and even some unexpected rain! If you weren't able to make it or simply couldn't attend every session—let's be honest, there's never enough time—we've got you covered. We had a chance to talk with Microsoft Regional Director, 13-time MVP, and 6-time author Christian Buckley about the key takeaways and what they mean for the M365 community. Here's a rundown of the highlights:

Copilot Agents Take Center Stage

It was impossible to miss the overwhelming presence of AI, and specifically, Copilot agents, at this year's conference. Microsoft is making a significant push from a general Copilot-first approach to a more targeted, Copilot agent-first strategy. This means we're moving towards a future where specific AI agents are designed for particular use cases, making them potentially more effective and easier to adopt than a one-size-fits-all solution. 

We heard a lot about new agents like the Researcher Agent and the Analyst Agent, designed to help with in-depth research and data analysis, leveraging internal and potentially external content. Imagine having an AI assistant that can delve into your organization's data to uncover insights or conduct thorough research on a specific topic.

Another exciting development is the upcoming PM (Project Management) agent and a "people skills" agent that could revolutionize how we find information about colleagues and their roles within the organization. 
While the potential is huge, it's clear that many organizations are still in the early stages of exploring and implementing these agents. So, if you're feeling like you're behind, don't worry—you're not alone! 

Governance and Security: Still Top of Mind

With all this new AI power comes the ever-critical consideration of governance and security. Good news: Microsoft seems to be more thoughtfully integrating governance tools from the outset with these new features, a welcome change from past experiences where governance often felt like an afterthought. Sessions with Microsoft's Adam Harmetz highlighted some of the advancements in admin-side governance for these new AI agents. 

But this doesn't mean IT leaders can sit back and relax. The responsibility for your data and how it's used is ultimately yours. While Microsoft is providing more tools, organizations still need to do the prep: content cleanup, permissions reviews, and defining clear policies. Solutions like Orchestry can help bridge the gaps and provide more comprehensive, automated governance across your environment.

One notable improvement is the new permission report in SharePoint Premium, which will show all sites or groups a user has access to. While it's high-level and won't show "the how" or "which specific files," it's a great step forward in understanding access. SharePoint Advanced Management is also getting new reports, including a content management assessment and a SharePoint agent access report. That latter is particularly important now that SharePoint agents are deployed by default with M365 licenses or pay-as-you-go setups.

Speaking of pay-as-you-go for Copilot, there was a cautionary tale shared about a large pharmaceutical company that racked up a $25,000 bill in just 18 hours after enabling it for SharePoint agents! Thankfully, Microsoft is introducing better billing policies and reports to help manage these costs.

In SharePoint and Viva News…

SharePoint continues to evolve, with AI playing a significant role. The ability to create SharePoint pages using Copilot from a prompt or a document was a standout demo. Imagine quickly generating structured pages with relevant content and images, which can then be refined to match your organization's style guide. Other welcome SharePoint improvements include flexible sections for more visual design freedom and a new editorial web part. And for those struggling with internal jargon, an AI-generated acronyms web part is on the horizon! 

Microsoft Viva also saw several updates, with a focus on improving corporate communications and employee experience. Features like Copilot-powered news summaries and the integration of storyline in Teams are designed to make information more accessible and engaging. For corporate comms teams, the new communications dashboard in Viva Engage and the ability to publish to Engage from Viva Amplify offer more streamlined ways to manage and measure internal campaigns. Viva Amplify, in general, is shaping up to be a powerful internal marketing tool, allowing you to create and distribute campaigns across multiple channels like SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook. 

A significant change in sharing is the upcoming "hero link." This aims to simplify the often-confusing process of sharing files by providing one consistent link that works across Teams, Outlook, and the address bar, with a much-improved UI for managing permissions. This should lead to fewer confusing sharing links and better control over who has access to what—and hopefully less oversharing.

OneDrive Updates and Other Tidbits

OneDrive received some interesting updates, including a Google NotebookLM-like audio overview of content and the ability to ask Copilot questions about images. PDF annotations and the much-applauded colored folders on mobile are also coming. And it's worth noting that unlicensed OneDrive users' data will eventually be moved to the bin, so make sure you're aware of the implications. 

The Value of Community

Beyond the specific announcements, the conference reinforced just how strong the Microsoft 365 community is. Conversations in the expo hall, questions asked during sessions, and networking opportunities are often where the real learning happens. Whether it's a large annual event or a smaller regional gathering, connecting with peers is invaluable. 

The Microsoft 365 landscape is changing at an incredible pace, and it's an exciting time to be part of it. Stay curious, keep learning, and don't hesitate to reach out to the community—and us at Orchestry—as you navigate these new frontiers.