Posted by: kurtsh | February 25, 2026

EVENT: Security at Microsoft Ignite 2025

Did you miss Microsoft Ignite 2025 in San Francisco a couple months ago? The content was very important for organizations invested in the Microsoft ecosystem – even more so for people investing in Artificial Intelligence.

Covering both the current state of the art for our customers as well as the leading edge technologies used to secure & govern endpoints, applications, data, networks, cloud presence & artificial intelligence, security leaders, architects & engineers will learn from over a hundred different breakout sessions about security for their role, on their terms.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: kurtsh | February 25, 2026

EVENT: Microsoft Pre-day at RSAC™ 2026 Conference – March 22-26th, 2026

Join Microsoft Security at RSAC™ 2026 for a week of expert-led sessions and networking. Explore solutions in threat protection, identity and access management, data security, governance, cloud security, security operations, and securing AI.

  • Visit the Microsoft Security Hub: Connect with peers, attend thought leadership sessions, and join 1:1 customer meetings.
  • Attend Sunday Pre-Day Keynote: Hear from Microsoft leaders and industry experts, followed by networking during our hosted evening reception.
  • Monday night Karaoke Party: Join peers for a night hosted by Vasu Jakkal with singing, networking, and celebration.
  • Ancillary events: Listen in on thoughtful conversations on a wide range of topics from Data Security and Threat protection, to Securing Access and all thing Agents!
  • Join us for the Post-Day Forum: Recap product innovations and tour the Microsoft Experience Center in Silicon Valley.

Register to participate here:

  • Microsoft Security Pre-day Keynote & Evening Reception – March 22, 2026 at 4:00 PM PDT
    (Palace Hotel – 2 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105 – 4:00PM-8:30PM)
    Join us to kick off RSAC™ 2026 a little early at Microsoft Pre-Day on Sunday, March 22.  Pre-Day is an exclusive opportunity to hear firsthand from Microsoft Security leaders about how AI and agents are reshaping the threat landscape, important ways organizations should be thinking about security, and what our experts predict for the future of security and AI. 
    At Pre-Day, leaders in threat intelligence will discuss emerging trends and threat actor methodology, product leaders will share what they’re focused on and how to strengthen IT and security teams in the era of agentic AI, and Microsoft researchers will highlight some of the newest areas of security research and development. And, Vasu Jakkal will share their own insights and priorities for Microsoft Security. 
    As part of the experience, don’t miss the networking reception open to all Pre-Day attendees. Plus, if you are in a CISO role, you will be invited to our CISO Dinner with Microsoft Security executives and your peers.  

Additional events to register for below:

Visit Microsoft events at RSAC™ 2026 Conference for more information:

Request private 1:1 meeting with Microsoft Security Leadership here:

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: kurtsh | February 23, 2026

EVENT: SharePoint at 25: Digital celebration event + live AMA – March 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT

Join us for a global digital event that celebrates the 25th birthday of SharePoint and looks ahead to the next chapter of SharePoint, powered by AI. This event is designed to inspire, showcasing how SharePoint’s new content AI capabilities and intelligent experiences are transforming the way people create, manage, and collaborate.

The event will include a live Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA), where you can ask your questions about the new SharePoint features directly to the product team.

Comments Off on EVENT: SharePoint at 25: Digital celebration event + live AMA – March 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT

Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by: kurtsh | February 20, 2026

INFO: References for Microsoft 365 Copilot & Copilot Chat Security & Privacy

Every now and again, I receive requests for information about the security, privacy & governance of Microsoft’s Copilot technologies, including how end user conversations are protected, how customer file, emails & chats are NEVER communicated outside of the customer’s Microsoft 365 cloud instance, how Copilot respects Enterprise data classification protections & access controls, & how customer information is NOT used for AI model training.

Here’s documented references to help you validate Microsoft’s enterprise-class focus on protecting our customer’s information when using Copilot:

Comments Off on INFO: References for Microsoft 365 Copilot & Copilot Chat Security & Privacy

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: kurtsh | February 19, 2026

INFO: “RFP Response Evaluation” & “Document Compliance” with Azure AI

Q1: Does your procurement dept issue RFPs?
Are they looking for Azure AI-based solutions to help them intelligently automate the assessment, scoring & filtering of the long, RFP responses they receive? 

“The following is a turnkey, multi-agent solution accelerator for automating the evaluation of RFPs/RFTs and Vendor/Supplier Proposals. This accelerator helps procurement teams reduce manual effort, ensure compliance, analyze vendor capabilities, and generate strategic negotiation recommendations—delivered as a structured, final evaluation report; all deployed in your Azure tenant in under an hour.”

Q2: Does your legal dept have to review many legal documents?
“Whether it’s a vendor agreement that must include an arbitration clause, or a loan document requiring specific disclosures, ensuring the presence of these critical clauses is vital. Traditionally, this kind of document review is slow, manual, and subject to human error.

With artificial intelligence, we can automate much of this analysis. From classical algorithms like cosine similarity to advanced reasoning using large language models (LLMs), AI offers powerful tools to compare documents and validate their contents. In this post, I’ll show how to use both techniques to verify whether required clauses are present in a document.”

Comments Off on INFO: “RFP Response Evaluation” & “Document Compliance” with Azure AI

Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by: kurtsh | January 23, 2026

WEBINARS: “AI for Work” – Understanding the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Sales & Legal

We have 4 webinars scheduled that are specific to different professions that you may want to share to help your users understand the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Sales & Legal.

  • AI at Work: Enhancing Human Resources
    2026-02-17 • 10:00 – 11:30 PST
    https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=2524624132

    Using AI, human resources (HR) teams can streamline routine tasks, get deep data-driven insights, design more user-friendly interfaces, and improve employee service. One HR team applied AI to achieve 42% greater accuracy in answering questions through employee self-service, increasing employee satisfaction and reducing the team’s administrative load.

    Hear from Microsoft leaders about our own HR journey with AI & Microsoft 365 Copilot and learn how you can adopt AI to attain significant return on investment (ROI), empower efficiency, cut costs, and innovate freely. Explore use cases specific to your role to see how Microsoft Copilot can be the flexible, scalable, and secure solution you need to stay competitive in the market. 
  • AI at Work: Transforming Finance for Improved Outcomes
    2026-03-26 • 10:00 – 11:30 PDT
    https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=3434677304

    Finance teams using AI have seen a 60% reduction in case resolution time in cash collections.1 AI solutions empower finance workers to streamline audits, make strategic decisions with more speed and precision, and remain agile in competitive markets.

    Hear from Microsoft leaders about our own Sales journey with AI & Microsoft 365 Copilot, and learn how you can adopt AI to attain significant return on investment (ROI), empower efficiency, cut costs, and innovate freely. Explore use cases specific to your role to see how Microsoft Copilot can be the flexible, scalable, and secure solution you need to stay competitive in the market.
  • AI at Work: Empowering Marketing
    2026-01-27 • 10:00 – 11:30 PST
    https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=2258775002

    Using AI tools, marketers have seen a 21.5% higher conversion rate.1 AI solutions can automate labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks by helping swiftly summarize research, draft targeted messages, and create better content—helping employees prioritize time spent on creative innovation.  

    Hear from Microsoft leaders about our own Marketing journey with AI & Microsoft 365 Copilot and learn how you can adopt AI to attain significant return on investment (ROI), empower efficiency, cut costs, and innovate freely. Explore use cases specific to your role to see how Microsoft Copilot can be the flexible, scalable, and secure solution you need to stay competitive in the market.

  • AI at Work: Boost Sales Productivity and Revenue
    2026-02-11 • 10:00 – 11:30 PST
    https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=3335237405

    AI isn’t just about productivity—it’s about transformation. Business AI-driven insights are empowering sales teams to boost productivity, customer engagement, and decision-making. One business group realized a 9.4% higher revenue per seller after using AI tools to automate or improve emails, meetings, proposals, and promotions.1 With higher-quality interactions, sellers are pursuing and closing more opportunities than ever.

    Hear from Microsoft leaders about our own Sales journey with AI & Microsoft 365 Copilot, and learn how you can adopt AI to attain significant return on investment (ROI), empower efficiency, cut costs, and innovate freely. Explore use cases specific to your role to see how Microsoft Copilot can be the flexible, scalable, and secure solution you need to stay competitive in the market.
  • AI at Work: Streamlining Legal Processes for Improved Outcomes
    [On-Demand – Previously recorded on 1/20/2026]
    https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=1648471458

    Legal teams are using AI to enhance productivity by automating and streamlining routine tasks like document review, legal research, analysis, and case management. By implementing AI solutions, legal teams can expect to reduce external spend for regulatory work by 5%.

    Hear from Microsoft leaders about our own Legal journey with AI & Microsoft 365 Copilot, and learn how you can adopt AI to attain significant return on investment (ROI), empower efficiency, cut costs, and innovate freely. Explore use cases specific to your role to see how Microsoft Copilot can be the flexible, scalable, and secure solution you need to stay competitive in the market. 

Comments Off on WEBINARS: “AI for Work” – Understanding the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Sales & Legal

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: kurtsh | January 13, 2026

INFO: Microsoft 365 Commercial Data Residency

I was asked a question about Microsoft 365 Commercial data residency and if there was somehow a possibility of a customer’s data being moved, even if temporarily into Canada, Mexico or some other country, potentially violating regulatory compliance for the organization.

The documentation is quite explicit:  Data in M365’s core services is stored in the Default Geography selected during Entra ID tenant creation. 

  • Overview and Definitions – Microsoft 365 Enterprise | Microsoft Learn
    “When a Microsoft Entra ID Tenant is created, a country/region is provided by the customer during the sign-up process. This country/region determines the Default Geography for all Microsoft 365 services. In some cases, not all services are able to provision in this single Default Geography. See Microsoft 365 Service provisioning mapping below for a description.”
  • Overview of Product Terms Data Residency – Microsoft 365 Enterprise | Microsoft Learn
    “Office 365 Services: If Customer provisions its tenant in … the United States, Microsoft stores the following Customer Data at rest only within that Geo: 
    • (1) Exchange Online mailbox content (e-mail body, calendar entries, and the content of e-mail attachments), 
    • (2) SharePoint site content and the files stored within that site, 
    • (3) files uploaded to OneDrive, 
    • (4) Microsoft Teams chat messages (including private messages, channel messages, meeting messages and images used in chats), and for customers using Microsoft Stream (on SharePoint), meeting recordings, and 
    • (5) any stored content of interactions with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to the extent not included in the preceding commitments.”

BACKGROUND
Note that even maintenance on cloud instances continues to be done within the US service boundary. Data for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams is replicated across datacenter regions within the country of residency to allow maintenance to be done.  No, we do not classify Canada or Mexico as the same “country” as the United States for the hosting of data for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams.

There are a few other services other than Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams that may be treated differently – specifically Planner & Viva Learning – that may be part of something called “Macro Region Geography 3 – Americas” that may include more data residency countries than the United States.  Again, the only services listed that this is relevant to (as far as I can tell) are Planner and Viva Learning. Read more here:

(BTW: A long time ago – like 10 years ago – there was a scenario in which Microsoft 365 Education customers could have their Microsoft 365 data stored at rest outside of the US but that hasn’t been the case for many years… but there’s still old comments about this one certain small web discussions,)

Comments Off on INFO: Microsoft 365 Commercial Data Residency

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: kurtsh | January 12, 2026

TOOL: Microsoft Agent Usage Estimator

Use the estimator to forecast your agent’s Copilot credit volume. Select from licensing options, agent types, and the features your agent leverages to respond to your end users. See the Copilot credit consumption impact based on these selections.

This estimator provides a monthly Copilot credit informational estimate for a single agent and makes no guarantees of final costs. While message rates and currency converter links are provided here for your convenience, this tool should not be used as a pricing calculator or a way to create definite forecasts around your monthly expenses.

(The Copilot Studio estimator is not a binding offer nor a guarantee of the final cost or availability of the product. This estimate should be regarded only as guidance and not incorporated into a contractual agreement. The actual amount of message consumption and associated cost may vary depending on the region, availability, workload usage, number of users, and other factors. You may contact your Microsoft representative before making any customer recommendations or purchase decisions. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue the Copilot Studio estimator at any time without notice.)

Comments Off on TOOL: Microsoft Agent Usage Estimator

Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by: kurtsh | January 9, 2026

HOWTO: Get started with the “Frontier” Copilot Early Access program

Frontier is Microsoft’s early access program for the latest AI innovations in Microsoft 365 giving you hands-on access to experimental agents and Microsoft app features before they become generally available. Frontier empowers you to drive innovation and shape the future of AI at work and at home, all within the security and familiarity of your own Microsoft 365 environment.

Eligibility: Frontier features are available to all Microsoft 365 customers with a Copilot license. Your organization’s admin settings may determine who can access and use Frontier features. Additionally,
individuals with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscriptions can also access and use Frontier features.

Please see instructions below for any other unique requirements:

Comments Off on HOWTO: Get started with the “Frontier” Copilot Early Access program

Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by: kurtsh | January 9, 2026

NEWS: Available today: OpenAI’s Sora 2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot

We’re excited to announce that OpenAI’s Sora 2—their breakthrough video and audio generation model—is now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

This integration brings professional-grade AI video creation directly into your familiar Microsoft 365 environment, empowering users to generate compelling video content while maintaining the enterprise security and compliance standards you expect from Microsoft.

Building on our commitment to rapidly deliver cutting-edge AI capabilities, this integration transforms how organizations create video content. The Create experience in Microsoft 365 Copilot, allows users to generate various visual content, and now generative AI videos with Sora 2, using natural language prompts with prompt templates to inspire your creations.

  • AI-powered video generation arrives in your enterprise environment: Licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users can now access Sora 2’s advanced video generation capabilities in the Create experience via the Frontier program , for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users who are who are opted in.
  • IT maintains control and visibility: Admins will have the ability to enable or disable Sora 2 functionality through a dedicated admin toggle which will be enabled when the feature is generally available. The content generated remains within your Microsoft 365 boundary with full Microsoft Purview data security and compliance controls, including audit logging, retention policies, and eDiscovery, as part of the Copilot Control System.as part of the Copilot Control System.
  • Enterprise-grade security from day one: Your data stays protected by Microsoft’s encryption, privacy safeguards, and compliance certifications. The Microsoft Product Terms and Data Protection Addendum apply to Sora 2 interactions.

For more details on:

  • What distinguishes Sora 2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot as a video creation/generation solution?
  • Where is video content data stored?
  • How is customer data secured using Sora 2 for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers
  • How do I join the “Frontier program” to get Sora 2?
  • Frequently asked questions

…read:

Comments Off on NEWS: Available today: OpenAI’s Sora 2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,

Older Posts »

Categories