Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco, discusses the evolution of the Cisco and Microsoft partnership and how Cisco Microsoft Teams Rooms brings enterprise-grade management, AI capabilities, and multi-platform flexibility to Microsoft Teams Rooms.

• How Cisco and Microsoft moved from competition to collaboration, delivering full MTR experiences without compromising RoomOS capabilities

• The engineering behind containerising Android and MTR within RoomOS, creating a unified management architecture that scales to thousands of devices

• Distance Zero AI at the edge: intelligent camera framing, microphone beamforming, and background noise removal that adapts in real time

• Multi-platform flexibility allowing organisations to run native MTR mode or RoomOS UI mode with seamless Webex and Zoom integration

• How Cisco devices are evolving beyond collaboration tools into workplace investments, providing occupancy sensors and building data for facilities teams

• The MDEP (Microsoft Devices Ecosystem Platform) initiative and what it means for the future of Android-based Teams Rooms devices

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

Rick Garcia, EVP Product & Marketing at Momentum, discusses moving from simple workflows to AI‑assisted experiences in the Microsoft stack, from SMS agents to contextual insights across Teams data.

Find out how ideas proven in tools can translate into Outlook, Power Automate and Copilot, and what's next as Microsoft brings advanced AI capabilities into the platform more quickly.

• Packaging practical AI texting workflows that sales teams can adopt immediately
• Translating "bleeding‑edge" ideas from third‑party automation platforms into Microsoft 365
• Using Power Automate and Azure AI to build real business solutions beyond basic attendants
• Why unified Teams, email, chat and SharePoint data enables true contextual insights
• The path from BI metrics to actionable signals for leaders and product teams

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

Ilya Bukshteyn, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Teams Calling Devices and Premium experiences, and Irena Andonova, who leads the Teams devices product team, discuss the latest in Microsoft Teams and AI Powered Workplace from Microsoft Ignite 2025.

• “Secure, Simple, Smart” - URL protection, domain impersonation detection, and simplified threading and multi-tenant activity feed
• The power of Work IQ and Copilot integration across chats, channels, calls and meetings
• Ambient intelligence in Teams Rooms, including face and voice recognition for proper attribution in meeting transcripts and AI-powered note-taking
• Teams Admin Center AI for policy management using natural language
• AI assistant in Teams Roomos Pro Management Portal for deployment, insights and estate management at scale
• Microsoft Devices Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) partnership to enhance Android device security, management and capabilities

Thanks to Ilya and Irena for their insights.