Microsoft Ignite is an annual conference for developers and IT professionals hosted by Microsoft. This year, as expected, almost all of the announcements were related to AI in some way. In this article we’ve summarised some of the key takeaways from the event.

Bing chat enterprise is being replaced with upgraded Copilot

It’s farewell to Bing Chat Enterprise and hello to a new revamped Copilot experience. The new Copilot, which is due to launch on December 1, 2023, isn’t just a chatbot, it’s a secure place for commercial data for those using Microsoft’s Entra cloud-based identity management service. You may be wondering, why the name change? Caitlin Roulston, Director of Communications at Microsoft said “Renaming ‘Bing Chat Enterprise’ to ‘Copilot’ reflects our vision to create a unified Copilot experience for consumer and commercial customers.” 

Data analytics platform Fabric Analytics now available

During the Ignite conference Microsoft made numerous announcements about data platform solutions. The biggest of those announcements is the new Fabric Analytics software-as-a-service offering, which is now generally available. 

Fabric enables data governance and a single capacity pricing model that scales with growth, and it’s open at every layer with no lock-ins. Fabric integrates Power BI, Data Factory and the next generation of Synapse to offer customers a cost effective, easy to manage modern analytics solution for the era of AI. You can read more about the Fabric announcement here. 

Introduction of Microsoft SharePoint Premium

Continuing with the AI related announcements, we have the introduction of SharePoint Premium. Microsoft’s new AI-powered solution to transform content management, content experiences and get content ready for Microsoft Copilot. SharePoint Premium combines the features of SharePoint and Syntex, providing AI-driven solutions to empower people, automate workflow at scale, and prepare content for AI and Copilot for Microsoft 365. New features will include: 

  • Content experiences to help information workers in their flow of work, allowing them to seamlessly discover, interact and collaborate with hundreds of file types, while providing fresh content using AI analytics with branded document packaging. 
  • Content solutions that optimise critical business processes with AI, security and automated workflows. 
  • Content governance which will maintain security and compliance by managing the content lifecycle and control access with simple, yet powerful tools. 

New AI tools Copilot Azure, Copilot for Service and Copilot Studio announced

During Microsoft Ignite 2023, the company announced three new Copilot offerings across its software and services portfolio: Copilot for Azure, Copilot for Service and Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides. Here is a brief summary of each solution: 

  • Copilot for Azure – Copilot for Azure is Microsoft’s answer to the recently announced Duet AI in Google Cloud. Like Google’s AI, Copilot for Azure takes the form of a chat-driven assistant for cloud customers, suggesting configurations for apps and environments and helping with troubleshooting by identifying potential issues — and solutions.  
  • Copilot for Service – Copilot for Service on the other hand is designed for customer service use cases. It integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) software including Microsoft’s own Dynamics 365, Salesforce, SAP, Workday and ServiceNow to answer sales-related questions and offer next-step suggestions. 
  • Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides – Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides taps generative AI to summarise information potentially useful to frontline workers and translate those summaries into overlays on equipment that they’re maintaining. 

Microsoft also launched Copilot Studio, a new platform that delivers tools for connecting Copilot for Microsoft 365 — the Copilot in apps like Excel, Word and PowerPoint as well as Microsoft’s Edge browser and Windows — to third-party data. 

Improvements to Azure Services

Azure AI, security, and data services are set to improve with Ignite 2023, bringing with them the promise of a more intelligent and resilient cloud environment. The Book of News also highlights Microsoft’s advancements in hybrid cloud solutions, meeting the changing requirements of companies that use both cloud and on-premises infrastructure.
 

If you’d like to view a more comprehensive list of the announcements from the event head to the Ignite Book of News here.