Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Accenture is leveraging Microsoft’s secure, governed & compliant Artificial Intelligence – Microosft 365 Copilot – for their entire workforce:

Deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to 20,000 employees might sound like a big undertaking, but Accenture was just getting started.

The global professional services firm is rolling out Copilot across its workforce to around 743,000 people – the equivalent of a city roughly the size of Denver. It’s the largest enterprise Copilot deployment to date, according to Microsoft, and Accenture says it’s paying off.

Ninety-seven percent of employees reported completing routine tasks 15 times faster with Copilot and 53% reported significant improvements in productivity and efficiency, according to 2025 company data involving 200,000 users.

“Copilot is a personal digital colleague,” says Tony Leraris, Accenture’s chief information officer. “It changes the way our people work, the way they research, ideate, analyze and execute many daily activities.”

The scale of Accenture’s Copilot deployment is striking – as is how the company has approached it. Accenture moved intentionally, starting with a large group, then extending that deployment even wider. Every step of the way was an opportunity to learn, set guardrails and understand how Copilot was changing the way people worked before continuing further.

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Read the full article here:

• Accenture is rolling out Copilot to a workforce the size of Denver. Here’s how they’re doing it.
  https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/digital-transformation/accenture-is-rolling-out-copilot-to-a-workforce-the-size-of-denver/?msockid=06e86a239891619a01c67c42998b60fd

I was recently asked if Microsoft had training available for Executive Assistants/Administrators. 

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LIVE: Executive Office Team Experiences with Copilot and Agents
There is a one-hour, no-cost virtual event coming up on June 8th, 2026 specifically for the Executive Office team interested in harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot & Agents:

• Monday, June 8, 8:00 AM – 9:00AM
  Executive Office Team Experiences with Copilot and Agents
  Through real-world scenarios and “day‑in‑the‑life” examples, you’ll see how Copilot and role‑aligned agents help Executive Office teams move beyond task execution to strategic enablement—anticipating needs, reducing friction, and accelerating outcomes across the executive agenda.
  
  What You’ll Learn
  • How Copilot supports Executive Office workflows across scheduling, inbox management, meeting orchestration, briefings, communications, and follow‑through
  • Role‑specific use cases for Chiefs of Staff, Executive Admins, Executive Operations, and Executive Communications
  • How prebuilt agents (Researcher, Analyst, Writing Coach, PowerPoint Agent, and others) support executive readiness, decision framing, and leadership communications
  • How agents can automate and assist with repeatable executive-office processes, such as:
    • Agenda and briefing preparation
    • Action item tracking and follow‑ups
    • Executive updates and recurring reports
    • Communication drafting and refinement
  • Best practices for using Copilot and Agents while maintaining security, confidentiality, and consistency in executive-facing work
    
• Date/Time:
  • Monday, June 8, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
• Registration:
  • https://msit.events.teams.microsoft.com/event/msit.23afe9b5-722b-4f6d-a939-4de5f17d2550@72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47

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ON-DEMAND: How Executive Admins get more done with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Additionally, the following quick video is specifically for those Admins – orated by 2 of Microsoft Executive Assistants that support a couple of our Corporate Vice Presidents:

• On-demand
  How Executive Admins get more done with Microsoft 365 Copilot
  The final session brings everything together through the lens of an Executive Assistant’s workday. You’d learn how they use Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage busy schedules and keep their boss’s day organized and on track.
  
  You’ll see real examples of how Copilot helps with:
  • Preparing for meetings
  • Drafting and refining emails
  • Planning travel and events
  • Summarizing emails and meetings
  • Finding information across files, chats, and sites
    
• (Part of the “Microsoft 365 Copilot app learning series: Real‑world scenarios for your workday” at https://aka.ms/M365CopilotAppSeries.)
• View recording:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neFVrxeL7mI

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WRITTEN: Empower your Workforce with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Executives Use Case
Lastly, we have some training modules that people in executive leadership roles can go through that may be useful for their administrators as well.

This module enables students to perform a series of Use Case exercises that build their Microsoft 365 Copilot skills in Executive-related business scenarios.

Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Synthesize communication insights using Microsoft 365 Copilot across Microsoft Teams.
• Use Copilot in Word to create an executive briefing report.
• Use Copilot in Excel to perform budget forecast analysis.
• Use the AI Project Manager agent in Planner to create a new project plan.
• Create an agent that provides performance metrics, monitors key indicators, and flags emerging issues.

Try it at: Empower your Workforce with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Executives Use Case – Training | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery (Preview) is a native service inside the Entra admin center (in preview) that provides “identity resilience” for those concern about unintentional or unauthorized modifications to Entra. 

Entra Backup & Recovery provides:

1. daily backups with 5-day rolling retention
2. object-level restore
3. reporting that provides insight into what will change when a restore is executed. 
4. recovery audit logs for compliance  

Entra Backup & Recovery comes at no additional cost for either the service or the storage of Entra backups.

For more information on Entra Backup & Recovery, visit:

• Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery documentation – Microsoft Entra

The world of work is undergoing a profound transformation. reshaping how organizations operate, innovate, and compete. In this landscape, Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is emerging as a strategic enabler, not just a technical solution. It’s redefining how businesses empower their people, secure their data, and adapt to constant change.

Microsoft is at the forefront of reimagining DaaS, extending beyond virtual desktops to deliver a platform for business agility, resilience, and human-centric innovation. Our Leader position in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service for three consecutive years, we believe, reflects our commitment to driving this evolution.

DaaS is about enabling new business models, supporting sustainability goals, unlocking talent across borders, and delivering seamless productivity for every organization. With Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop, organizations can more easily embrace digital transformation rethink processes, reduce costs, build resilient operations, and empower their teams to work securely and efficiently – anytime, anywhere.

To read about what differentiates Microsoft’s Desktop as a Service offering, what the Gartner Magic Quadrant for DaaS has to say about it & download the full report, visit:

• Reimagining work: Microsoft’s vision for the future of Desktop as a Service – Windows IT Pro Blog
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/reimagining-work-microsoft%E2%80%99s-vision-for-the-future-of-desktop-as-a-service/4448016

For decades, Active Directory administrators have labored to determine the causes of Group Policy issues in their networks.

From corruption of Registry.pol, to not knowing the full network path for policy objects, to not knowing when there are locks on critical sections of GP – and what was causing them, Active Directory administrators have often spent days with Microsoft Support, often resorting to unnatural acts to find a resolution.

Recently, there have been major improvements introduced to Windows 11 24H2 (26.02D) & Windows Server 2022/2025 (26.06B – coming soon) that will help ease the work required to figure out Group Policies issues:

Six amazing new changes to Group Policy

Troubleshooting Group Policy has always been about one thing: visibility. Recent Windows releases introduce six meaningful improvements to Group Policy that make troubleshooting faster, clearer, and far less frustrating.

All six changes are enabled by default in Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 (26.02D). For Windows Server 2022 and 2025, these changes are expected to be enabled by 26.06B.

Here is a closer look at the six updates and why they matter.

…

Now, if you’re not celebrating some of their GP improvements, you’re probably not a Active Directory admin. 😁 All that said, read about the updates at Andrea’s newsletter below:

• Six amazing new changes to Group Policy – by Andrea Fisher
• When Group Policy Goes Haywire: Spotting registry.pol Corruption Fast (and other problems too) | Microsoft Community Hub

The following is online recorded security breakouts & sessions from 2 Microsoft Windows virtual conferences:

WINDOWS 11/INTUNE:  RECORDINGS FROM THE MICROSOFT TECHNICAL TAKEOFF 2026: (aka the Windows 11 & Intune Conference) – MARCH 2026
These are online recordings from this year’s Windows 11 & Intune conference, known as the Microsoft Technical Takeoff.  The following are a listing of all the endpoint security-focused sessions only.  To view all the sessions for Windows Management, user experience, virtual desktops, deployments, AI & agentic features, quick machine recovery & more, visit https://aka.ms/technicaltakeoff.

Security Sessions:

• Monday, March 2, 2026: 7:30 AM The latest in Windows 11 security
• Monday, March 2, 2026: 8:30 AM Hotpatch updates demystified: answers to real-world questions
• Monday, March 2, 2026: 9:00 AM Zero Trust in action: securing endpoints with Intune
• Monday, March 2, 2026: 10:30 AM Eliminating NTLM in Windows
  
• Tuesday, March 9, 2026: 7:00 AM The latest in security for Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop
• Tuesday, March 9, 2026: 7:30 AM Secure Boot certificate updates explained
• Tuesday, March 9, 2026: 10:00 AM Least privilege on Windows with Endpoint Privilege Management
  
• Monday, March 16, 2026: 9:00 AM AMA: Getting the most from Security Copilot in Intune
• Monday, March 16, 2026: 9:30 AM Manage Apple devices at scale: Intune security best practices
  
• Tuesday, March 23, 2026: 7:00 AM AMA: The latest in Windows hardware security
• Tuesday, March 23, 2026: 7:30 AM Zero Trust DNS: Securing Windows one connection at a time
• Tuesday, March 23, 2026: 8:00 AM AMA: Secure and manage AI and agentic capabilities in Windows
• Tuesday, March 23, 2026: 10:00 AM Protect users, stop attacks: Passkeys on Windows
• Tuesday, March 23, 2026: 11:00 AM Transitioning to post-quantum cryptography

WINDOWS SERVER: RECORDINGS FROM THE MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER SUMMIT 2025 – APRIL 2025
These are online recordings from last year’s Windows Server Summit 2025, Microsoft’s annual online conference for Windows Server administrators.  These are the security-centric sessions.  Each recording is about 30min.  To see all the recordings, including those for core services, server upgrades, server management, training, etc. visit Windows Server Summit 2025.

Keynote

• Day1:7:00AM Welcome to Windows Server Summit 2025!

Security & Identity

• Day1:9:00AM Harden security and build resiliency with Windows Server 2025
• Day1:9:30AM Securing Active Directory
• Day1:11:30AM AD CS enhancements, innovations, and security
  
• Day2: 9:30AM Azure Arc-enabled management and pay-as-you-go for Windows Server
• Day2: 11:30AM Hotpatching and update management for Windows Server with Azure Arc

GitHub Copilot CLI is an AI-powered assistant that runs directly inside your terminal. Instead of manually writing commands, scripts, or debugging issues, you can simply describe what you want — and Copilot executes it.

Here’s the shift:

For Cloud and DevOps engineers, this becomes extremely powerful because most of our work already happens in:

• CLI (Azure CLI, Bash, PowerShell)
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
• Pipelines (CI/CD)

Copilot CLI sits right in the middle of all this.

For example:

Instead of:

az group create --name my-rg --location eastus

You can say:

Create a resource group in Azure named my-rg in East US

Licensing:
GitHub Copilot CLI is available with all GitHub Copilot plans. If you receive GitHub Copilot from an organization, the GitHub Copilot CLI policy must be enabled in the organization’s settings.

Read more at:

• GitHub Copilot CLI: AI Assistance from the Command Line for Infrastructure Deployments | Microsoft Community Hub