Bas Brekelmans, Software Engineer at Microsoft, focused on Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork, explains its architecture and use cases.

• How Copilot Cowork runs entirely in the Cloud, unlike local machine-based alternatives, enabling enterprise-grade security, audit and compliance

• The multi-model approach using Anthropic's Sonnet and Opus, with the flexibility to switch to the best available model

• Built-in and personal skills for calendar management, document generation and automated workflows

• Extensibility through MCP servers, enabling integration with third-party and line-of-business applications

• Scheduled tasks and autonomous email handling that save hours of manual work each day

• Enterprise compliance features including Purview integration, eDiscovery support and rich audit logs

Thanks to Crestron, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

Damian Lewis, Digital Workplace Specialist at BSI, shares the story of designing and deploying Microsoft Teams Rooms across BSI's new London headquarters, the Acre.

• Moving from an antiquated AV setup to a fully cable-free, Microsoft Teams-centric environment

• The spectrum of room types: from Jabra PanaCast BYOD “hot offices” to Neat Board Pro casual spaces, and full multi-camera divisible Q-SYS rooms with presenter tracking

• How proof-of-concept testing in the old office helped shape vendor selection for Jabra, Neat, and Q-SYS

• Room booking with Matrix integrated into Microsoft 365, including scheduling panels across hot offices, parenting spaces, and multi-faith rooms

• User adoption lessons: building champions, online inductions, and fortnightly AV "ask me anything" sessions to bring colleagues up to speed

• Managing a global Microsoft Teams Rooms footprint from Sydney to San Jose using Jabra Pro Portal and OEM tooling

• Replicating the adoption playbook at BSI's North America office and planning for smaller-scale rollouts at existing sites

Thanks to Jabra, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for April 2026.

Many thanks to AudioCodes for their continued support.

PowerPoint Deck

• Places Insider Live​
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork Updates​
• Anthropic Models for Copilot​
• AI Flex Routing in EU and EFTA​
• New SharePoint Experience​
• Microsoft Teams & AI Powered Workplace News and Roadmap​
• Teams Devices News & New Devices​
• Upcoming Events​

Useful Links:

Briefings

• NEW Neat Board 32 & Neat Pad Pro: Full Product Walkthrough & Key Features with Darin Worthington
• Microsoft Places Deep Dive with Microsoft - Customer Feedback, Deployment, Licensing with Chris Fitzsimmons, Brennan McReynolds & Craig McClellan​
• Enterprise Voice Infrastructure Options On-Prem. Private Cloud and Cloud-Native with Ribbon and AWS with Gordon Eddy (Ribbon Communications)
• Multi-Platform UCaaS at Scale with NUWAVE iPILOT with Tony at NWN

Teams Insider Podcasts

• Frontline Workers: Market Opportunity and Enterprise Mobility with Patrick Watson (Cavell) & Stewart Wright (Spectralink)​
• Teams Queues App Explained — Shared Call History, Copilot, and What's Next with Sean Gilmour (Microsoft)
• Novo Nordisk's Microsoft Teams Rooms Journey — Thousands of Rooms with Christopher Amdi Mark (Novo Nordisk)
• Work IQ, Agent Types and the Road to the Frontier Firm with Alev Tamer & Chris Wheeler