How does Microsoft actually roll out updates across M365 — and how much control do you really have? Ben and Zach break down the update lifecycle across the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem in episode seven of 365 Explained.

In this episode, we explore:

💠The "rings" model — from dev teams to dogfooding to your tenant

💠Targeted release vs standard release — and where to find the settings

💠Office app update channels — current, monthly enterprise, and semi-annual (spoiler: Microsoft no longer recommends semi-annual for most users)

💠How Teams updates differently to the rest of Office

💠The OneDrive sync client and its own update rings

💠Where Windows fits into the picture

💠Message Centre vs the M365 Roadmap — and why you need to watch both

💠How Copilot Frontier adds yet another layer to all of this

Whether you're an admin trying to get ahead of changes, or you're just tired of users asking "why don't I have that feature yet?", this one's for you.

Or listen on all good & bad podcasting platforms alike

Microsoft has announced Microsoft 365 E7, "The Frontier Suite", the first new enterprise tier above E5 since 2015. It goes GA on May 1st at $99/user/month, wrapping E5, Copilot, Agent 365 and the full Entra Suite into one SKU.

In this episode, Ben and Zach break down what's inside E7, how the enterprise licensing ladder has evolved from E1 through to E7, and whether the pricing math adds up vs buying à la carte. They also get into what's still missing from the bundle (Teams Premium, calling plans, attendee packs) and whether E7 actually solves the add-on sprawl problem.

There are also questions Microsoft hasn't answered yet: is Agent 365 a tenant-level unlock or a per-user licence? Who do you actually need to licence? And what does this mean for organisations still on E3 or E5?

Topics covered:

• History of Microsoft enterprise SKUs (E1, E3, E4, E5, E7)
• What E7 adds: Copilot, Agent 365, Entra Suite, advanced security
• Pricing breakdown: $99 bundled vs $117 à la carte
• What's NOT included: Teams Premium, calling plans, attendee packs
• The Agent 365 licensing question
• Who should consider E7 vs staying on E5

Links:

• Microsoft announcement: https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/03/09/introducing-the-first-frontier-suite-built-on-intelligence-trust/
• Microsoft 365 blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/03/09/powering-frontier-transformation-with-copilot-and-agents/

Copilot Frontier keeps showing up across M365 admin centres, but it's not well explained and the documentation doesn't make it much easier. In this episode, Ben and Zach dig into what Frontier actually is, why it exists as a separate thing from targeted release, and what's in it right now. From Researcher and Analyst agents through to the Opal computer use agent.

We talk through the admin controls (and the inconsistencies across them), licensing questions nobody has answers to yet, MCP servers appearing under the Frontier banner, and whether you should turn it on for your users.

We'd love to hear what you're doing with Frontier in your environments. Get in touch on LinkedIn or leave a comment on YouTube.