Microsoft Ignite remains one of the most anticipated and influential events in the IT world. Every year, Microsoft unveils its newest innovations across cloud, AI, security, and modern workplace technologies. For IT leaders and digital decision-makers, Ignite sets the tone for the roadmap ahead. And this year was no exception.
As one of Microsoft’s premium partners in Belgium, we keep a close eye on Ignite to anticipate where the ecosystem is heading and what it means for our customers. Based on the trends and early signals leading into the event, here are 6 key themes and announcements that stood out to us and will likely shape 2026 and beyond.
Our key takeaways
Microsoft’s strategy for 2026 and beyond is becoming very clear:
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Licensing evolves to make Copilot and agents more accessible: With Microsoft 365 Copilot Business at $21/user/month and a simplified metered model for AI agents, Microsoft is lowering the barrier for organizations to adopt Copilot and experiment with autonomous agents.
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Security becomes AI-driven: With Security Copilot now included in E5 and AI agents embedded across Defender, Entra, Purview and Intune, Microsoft is making advanced, automated security accessible to more organizations.
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AI agents move beyond assistance: From Sales to Service to Finance, Microsoft is introducing agents that don’t just respond, but they act, execute workflows, and operate continuously.
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Productivity is being reimagined: Agent Mode in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus smarter Outlook and Teams capabilities, shows Microsoft’s commitment to making AI a true co-worker in daily tasks.
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Azure becomes the backbone of enterprise AI: New services like Foundry, HorizonDB, Fabric IQ and SQL Server 2025 position Azure as the platform for building and scaling enterprise-grade AI agents.
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Windows transforms into an agent-first OS: AI agents moving into the taskbar and Windows 365 for Agents signal a redefinition of how users will interact with their devices.
Let's have a closer look:
1. Licensing & Pricing Updates
Ignite 2025 brought several important changes to Microsoft’s licensing and pricing strategy; especially around Copilot and AI workloads.
1.1. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: a new SKU for SMBs
Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, a new Copilot offering tailored for small and midsize organizations with fewer than 300 users.
This SKU is priced at $21 per user/month and will be available starting in December 2025.
This lowers the entry barrier for organizations that want the full Copilot experience without moving into enterprise-level licensing models.
1.2. AI agent metering with simplified consumption
Microsoft also announced a single metered consumption model for organizations building and deploying AI agents using platforms like Microsoft Foundry and Copilot Studio.
Key benefits include:
- No upfront licensing
- No provisioning required
- Pay-as-you-go usage metered across agent workloads
This model is designed to make experimentation with AI agents easier and more cost-predictable before scaling.
2. Security & Compliance with AI
Security took center stage at Ignite this year, with Microsoft pushing AI deeper into every layer of the security stack; and making powerful capabilities more accessible.
2.1. Security Copilot now included in Microsoft 365 E5
Microsoft is unlocking major value for E5 customers by including Security Copilot at no additional cost.
Every E5 customer will now receive:
- 400 Security Compute Units (SCUs) per month per 1,000 users
- Up to 10,000 SCUs per tenant
This makes AI-driven incident handling and automated threat analysis far more affordable for enterprise environments.
2.2. AI-powered assistants embedded "everywhere"
Microsoft is now shipping “security agents” directly inside:
- Defender – to help analysts triage incidents and remediate threats
- Entra – to manage identity risks more intelligently
- Purview – to prevent data oversharing
- Intune – to support device management and compliance enforcement
This embedded model signals a future where every security product comes with a native AI assistant.
2.3. Security for AI agents
With AI agents becoming more common, Microsoft also unveiled new protections:
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Defender now detects and remediates attacks targeting AI agents
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Purview extends data-loss prevention controls to prevent agents from:
- oversharing information
- leaking sensitive data
- accessing content outside their scope
This is a major step toward securing the emerging agentic ecosystem.
2.4. DevSecOps: GitHub + Defender
Microsoft Defender for Cloud now integrates natively with GitHub Advanced Security, ensuring code-to-runtime protection.
This brings “DevSecOps by default” to every development team working with GitHub and closes a long-standing gap between development pipelines and cloud security operations.
3. AI Business Solutions
Microsoft expanded its portfolio of fully autonomous, enterprise-grade AI agents.
3.1. Sales Development Agent
Part of the Frontier program, this agent can:
- research prospects,
- qualify leads,
- engage customers 24/7,
- and only hand over to human reps when needed.
A major step forward for sales automation and revenue operations.
3.2. Service & Finance Agents
Microsoft introduced new specialized, workflow-aware agents designed for:
- high-volume customer service operations
- finance processes with complex dependencies
These agents move beyond simple prompts, as they operate continuously and autonomously within defined business logic.
4. Microsoft 365 & Copilot
AI continues its deep integration across the productivity stack.
4.1. Agent Mode in Word, Excel & PowerPoint
Users can now collaborate with AI on iterative, complex tasks like:
- analyzing datasets
- drafting end-to-end documents
- building project plans or presentations
This goes far beyond classic prompting: it’s true AI collaboration within the Office apps.
4.2. Copilot in Outlook
Now enhanced with:
- voice-controlled inbox triage
- autonomous summarization
- automated meeting scheduling
A major productivity upgrade for knowledge workers drowning in email.
4.3. Copilot in Teams
A new “facilitator agent” can:
- take notes
- follow the agenda
- track action items
- structure meeting outcomes automatically
This brings structure and consistency to hybrid meetings.
5. Azure, Data & Developer Solutions
Azure received some of the most strategic updates of the entire event.
5.1. Microsoft Foundry
A new unified platform, effectively an AI agent factory, designed to:
- build, train, test and deploy multi-agent systems
- run agentic workloads at scale
- integrate agents with enterprise data and systems
The Foundry Agent Service allows organizations to host multi-agent runtimes securely and efficiently.
5.2. Azure DocumentDB
A fully managed, MongoDB-compatible service designed for high-performance document workloads.
5.3. Azure HorizonDB
A new PostgreSQL-based service specifically optimized for vector and AI workloads. This is perfect for organizations exploring retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
5.4. SQL Server 2025
Now enriched with built-in AI capabilities and improved performance.
5.5. Fabric IQ
A new Fabric workload that helps AI agents understand business context, turning raw datasets into operationally meaningful insights.
6. Windows & Devices
Microsoft is turning Windows into an “agentic OS.”
6.1. Agents on the Taskbar
A new “Ask Copilot” entry point will allow users to:
- pin
- open
- and interact with AI agents
directly from the Windows taskbar.
6.2. Windows 365 for Agents
AI agents can now run autonomously in a secure, cloud-based Windows environment; isolated from a user’s local device.
This is ideal for controlled, high-trust automations.
7. The Book of News
Curious to dive really deep at everything that was unveiled at Ignite?
With every edition of Ignite, Microsoft releases its official Book of News: a clear and complete overview of all announcements, new features, and upcoming innovations across the Microsoft ecosystem.
It’s the perfect resource if you want to understand the full scope of what’s coming next: from AI and Copilot updates to cloud, security and productivity enhancements.
Discover it at: https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2025-book-of-news/
More info:
At Easi, we are preparing ourselves and our customers to take full advantage of these evolutions.
If, at any point, you want to discuss what these changes mean for your Microsoft environment, our Microsoft team is here to guide you.
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Olivier Cuyvers |
Bruno Vijverman |
Dylan Pylyser |
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