Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Imagine your team spending less time on manual tasks and more time serving your mission. PubSec.ai guides you every step of the way:

• Clear guidance for Executives, IT Administrators, Developers, and Frontline staff
• No-code templates to speed up rollout
• Governance strategies that keep you compliant

PubSec.ai features:

• Monthly Copilot community calls for government customers using GCC licensed environments (4th Tuesday of each month) – Including archives of past topics
• Foundational videos & quick how-to demonstrations
• A curated view of Microsoft’s official roadmap for coming GCC features
• Documents & other resources for GCC customers in the Public Sector including:
  • AI Era Essentials – A comprehensive guide to understanding the essentials of AI in the public sector (.PDF)
  • The Value Of Copilot For Microsoft 365 On Public Sector Organizations (.PDF)
  • Copilot Chat User Training Guide (GCCv2) – User training guide for Copilot Chat, available in both PPTX and PDF formats for the GCC environment (.PPTX, .PDF)
  • Designing an AI Strategy – Slide Deck. Delivered by Kevin Tupper to AI Government Leadership Program (.PDF)

Join the community at:

• Public Sector AI – Secure, compliant AI that frees time and improves outcomes for government
  https://pubsec.ai/

Looking for a review of the Security Copilot announcements made at Microsoft Ignite 2025?

You’re in luck! We have a 1 1/2 hour overview coming on December 4th, 2025 (8-9AM) that’s just for you, delivered by Microsoft’s Security Engineering team.

DECEMBER 4 (8:00 AM – 9:30 AM) Security Copilot Skilling Series | Discussion of Ignite Announcements

Ignite 2025 is all about driving impact in the era of AI—and security is at the center of it. In this session, we’ll unpack the biggest Security Copilot announcements from Ignite on agents and discuss how Copilot capabilities across Intune, Entra, Purview, and Defender deliver end-to-end protection.

And in case you hadn’t heard: Security Copilot is now INCLUDED in the subscription for organizations licensed for Microsoft 365 E5. (And also coming for G5 as well!) Read this post below for more information:

At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we announced the general availability of SQL Server 2025. This marks the latest milestone in the more than 30-year history of SQL Server. It is also a key part of our commitment to the one consistent SQL promise, delivering consistent experience across on-premises, cloud, and SaaS environments, with one engine and one unified platform.

SQL Server 2025 features:

• Built-in AI and developer-first enhancements, all with the T-SQL you already know.
• Access AI models of your choice—hosted locally or in the cloud—and securely use your data to fit your business needs.
• Simplify data processing with native JSON support, built-in REST APIs, and change event streaming.
• Get near real-time analytics by replicating SQL Server data to Microsoft OneLake using database mirroring in Microsoft Fabric.
• Best-in-class security, performance, and availability
  • Boost performance and reliability with enhanced query optimization, optimized locking, and improved failover for better uptime and concurrency.
  • Strengthen security with Microsoft Entra ID authentication through Azure Arc, reducing potential vulnerabilities.
• SQL Server 2025 on Linux
• SQL Server 2025 on Azure Virtual Machines – Optimized for
• Increase productivity with GitHub Copilot integration in Visual Studio Code and SQL Server Management Studio 22.
• Develop faster using the new Microsoft Python driver for SQL Server (mssql-python) for a seamless experience across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

For a full run down of the announcement, visit:

• BLOG: SQL Server 2025 is Now Generally Available
  https://aka.ms/sqlserver2025blog

I keep hearing Work IQ & the Microsoft Graph conflated.

INTRODUCING “WORKIQ” FOR MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT & AGENTS
At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we introduced Work IQ—an intelligence layer that powers Microsoft 365 Copilot and custom agents with deep contextual reasoning. It learns how you work, who you collaborate with, and the content you use, enabling smarter, more personalized AI experiences.

Microsoft Graph, on the other hand, is the backbone API that provides secure, unified access to Microsoft 365 data—users, files, emails, calendars, and more. It’s the gateway for developers to build apps and automations.

How do they complement each other?

• Graph = Data Access Layer
  Microsoft Graph ensures secure, permission-aware access to enterprise data.
  
• Work IQ = Intelligence Layer
  Work IQ enhances Copilot with memory, organizational signals, and predictive insights.

Together, they deliver personalized, compliant, and context-aware productivity experiences.

For more information visit:

• BLOG: Microsoft Ignite 2025: Copilot and agents built to power the Frontier Firm:
  “Microsoft 365 Copilot with Work IQ: AI built for work”
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/11/18/microsoft-ignite-2025-copilot-and-agents-built-to-power-the-frontier-firm/?user_id=68e8a7d4fb2ae10d2ec0b9d3&sn_type=LINKEDIN&cpost_id=6924108ad7be072746d72cdd&post_id=100009073835184&asset_id=ADVOCACY_205_691f984a4c8e362644ab99b8#microsoft-365-copilot-with-work-iq-ai-built-for-work

Agent readiness looks different for every organization but this framework provides principals and best practices across people, process and platform, giving you the ability to design, deploy and integrate agents effectively and at scale, relative to your enterprise objectives!

The Agent Readiness Framework, announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025, integrates both strategic vision and operational execution across 5key pillars:

• Business & AI strategy alignment: align agents to business priorities to support relevance and enable potential impact.
• Business Process Mapping: document and contextualize workflows to help agents operate within defined parameters and support business goals.
• Technology & data foundation: assess data readiness, integration patterns, and platform choices to enable agentic AI use cases
• Organization readiness & culture: reimagine team structures and invest in workforce skills to support responsible integration of agentic AI systems
• Security and Governance: establish controls and accountability to help promote safe, secure, and responsible use of agentic AI systems.

Why should you care? Organizations that self-identified as having higher agentic AI readiness reported scaling AI and agents at a 2.5x faster pace than those less prepared in the Agent Readiness survey!

Check out the eBook to learn why it’s important to:

• Strategically align agent-based projects with core business objectives
• Enhance transparency and value by mapping out business processes
• Build a secure, scalable technology and data foundation
• Prepare people, structures and culture to develop trust
• Embed responsible AI governance early to support safe adoption

Download it here:

• WHITEPAPER: Agent Readiness Framework – Pillars and Practices
  https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-ai-agent-assessment.html
  .

We’re honored to share that Microsoft has again been recognized as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). We believe this recognition reinforces Microsoft Sentinel‘s position as an industry-leading, cloud and AI-powered SIEM—designed to solve SOC challenges head-on and streamline modern security operations.

To review the announcement & download the report, visit:

• INFO: Microsoft named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SIEM
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/10/16/microsoft-named-a-leader-in-the-2025-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-siem/?msockid=06377db5fd83631014c06baefce96218

Turn raw spreadsheet data into actionable insights, visual dashboards, and KPIs in minutes with native Microsoft 365 Copilot integration in Excel:

• NEW Agent Mode in Excel automates complex analysis, creates pivot tables, and builds interactive dashboards without manual setup. Streamline text analysis, formula generation, and complex calculations right inside Excel
• NEW COPILOT function for Excel categorizes feedback, scores sentiment, or automates repetitive tasks directly within Excel cells
• NEW Formula AI Autocomplete in Excel helps you find the most suitable functions based on context or your own natural language descriptions & generates accurate formulas from plain language prompts

Watch Microsoft 365 Director Jeremy Chapman demonstrate all 3 of these new AI innovations, made available ONLY through Microsoft 365 Copilot:

For more videos on Microsoft 365 Copilot from Microsoft Mechanics, visit:

• Microsoft Copilot Mechanics – Jeremy Chapman
  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXtHYVsvn_b8MTl8mD8FBJIB_cSGkEaT9

Announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025, Project Opal is a new way to get task-based work done. It combines an advanced reasoning model, computer use, and Windows 365 Cloud PC to tackle the time-consuming tasks and busywork that fill your day.

Here are the capabilities:

• Task-First Experience: Start new jobs, re-run previous ones, or pick curated suggestions—all observable and steerable.
• Advanced Reasoning Model: Turns your request into a dynamic plan, sequences the right tools, and adapts mid flow to complete the job.
• Computer-Use: Executes certain steps in Microsoft Edge within a compliant Windows 365 for Agents Cloud PC.
• Real-Time Observability: Watch jobs live or review later with a detailed plan, replay view, and activity timeline.
• Steerability: Get notified when input is needed, take control, provide info, and let Opal resume.
• Admin Controls & Security: Opt in with granular admin controls including allow lists, scenario starters, and context.

Try it today in Frontier! Learn more here:

• Read “Introducing Project Opal: A New Way to Get Task-Based Work Done“
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/Microsoft365CopilotBlog/introducing-project-opal-a-new-way-to-get-task-based-work-done/4470999
• Watch Microsoft Ignite breakout “BRK280: Project Opal in Action: Executing Task-Based Work”
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lh8X1Yr56o

If you need to get caught up quickly on all the announcements made at Microsoft Ignite 2025 for a particular technology area, check out the Microsoft Ignite “Book of News”.

INSTANT SUMMARIES:
There are summaries that can be generated with the help of AI called “Instant Summaries”. Select “TDM” or “Builder” Please refer to the original BoN item for full details.

✅ Microsoft Ignite “Book of News”
(The index of the book is in the image to the right.)

• https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2025-book-of-news/

These are the visual assets (images) used during the keynote:

✅ Microsoft Ignite “Visual Assets”:

• https://msftglobalcomms-my.sharepoint.com/personal/global_msftglobalcomms_onmicrosoft_com/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fglobal_msftglobalcomms_onmicrosoft_com%2FDocuments%2FNorth%20America%2FEvents%2FIgnite%202025&ga=1

Did you miss the Microsoft Ignite 2025 opening keynote? This is the recording:

Here’s some of what you missed:

• Agent mode for Word, Excel & the Office Agent for PowerPoint
• Agents for Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook now available at ‘no cost’ with Copilot Chat
• Security Copilot now included for M365 E5 customers
• NEW Copilot App Builder – Build apps with just natural language
• NEW Microsoft Agent 365
• NEW AI Model Router
• …

▶️ Microsoft Ignite: Opening Keynote

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1210&v=TUeET4zY95c&feature=youtu.be