The release of new features and feature improvements continues to speed up, and yet we still have a major bundle of updates for the Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps each Spring and Fall. 

In North America, this means that July is a giant month. July is about that the time that many North American businesses can catch their breath and consider all that is new. The release update train starts in the spring and works its way around the world with the ending station in North America. The train station dates can be found here. 

Big shifts include Power BI and Data leaning heavily into their marriage with the incredible Microsoft Fabric landscape. Microsoft Fabric is a short name that encompasses a HUGE amount of technology options. Similarly to the Power Platform it is hard to contain all of what it can do in six letters (Fabric), but the name also is appropriate given that stitching together all of the different data needs is the accomplishment. This includes transformation, integration, analysis, access, and so much more. 

We also can't talk about this release without mentioning Copilot and Agents and not only Agents that you can use and that you can build, but also agents for the Power App makers. The plan designer supports the maker in creating and building using business language. Diving into this so expect to see more posts on this topic. Most of the Microsoft MVPs for Business Applications are deep in the weeds with Agents right now so if you follow any of their blogs or posts on LinkedIn, I am sure you are overwhelmed with the art of the possible. (or just overwhelmed) The space is moving quickly with weekly changes and awesome releases.

Power Pages has also had Agent injection "Recent updates include AI-powered features like Web Agents for multi-platform engagement (email, Teams, WhatsApp), AI-assisted form filling for improved productivity, dynamic list visualizations for better insights" _{retrieved from Microsoft Power Platform 2025 release wave 1 plan overview | Microsoft Learn}   They said it so well. Power Pages puts the sexy in Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE apps while also providing external authenticated access. They are also data driven which is an interesting twist and has always been a variable for deployments. Microsoft has also added additional deployment support for Power Pages.

Power Automate has taken business process automation to the next level in this release. Transforming the more complex business processes through new human "in loop experiences" and more management through the new automation center.  You would think that AI would "replace" Power Automate, but instead Copilot and Agents become a marriage with Power Automate. 

Not much needs to be said about Copilot Studio it has its own messaging and everyone is talking about it - Copilot Studio is flying faster than a multi-million-dollar military jet. Chatbots, Agents, autonomous agents.

The Microsoft built, Model Driven Power Apps, falling under the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement umbrella have also all been updated. Check out the details on the release pages here 

It was a beautiful Saturday on May 31st in Redmond, Washington when over 600 people descended on the Microsoft Reactor Building to hear great speakers talking about Microsoft Fabric.

The speakers and attendees were great. The speakers made time for questions and the questions were asked and answered with heartfelt passion and conviction. The organizers were also treated to some extra hustle requirements when the total number of attends was more than twice than was expected a week before kickoff.

As a person who doesn't always spend most of their time in the world of "Data" I learned a lot more about one of the most exciting platforms that is not discussed enough. Everyone can rave about AI, but data is the blood that drives the beating hearts and data is often found everywhere.

This is why it was with great to learn about the expansion of data mirroring and the reach for Microsoft OneLake. Sources that many clients already own such as Microsoft Dataverse, Snowflake, Azure SQL and SQL Server on-premises (accessed using the Azure Data Gateway).

Other key technology advances were also shared.

Security continues to be a focus and enhanced security features have been added including the ability for more rich administration. This includes defining access permissions once and having them consistently applied in numerous places. 

There was also a significant amount of time spent on near Real-Time processing and productivity of queries. It was great to hear people taking performance seriously. In the past performance often becomes the forgotten stepchild that only gets considered when there is a problem or gets overlooked because of the advancement in hardware, but bottlenecks are not just hardware! 

Microsoft Fabric also includes Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and when I first started learning about and watching the use of Azure Synapse Analytics, I watched the deep, deep technical gurus climb the steep learning curve, so it was nice to hear that this learning curve is also being addressed. As some would say, the path to simplicity must first deep dive into the complexity. "Simple" is by far not the correct term, but as technology matures, grace and usefulness does get impacted by complexity, so leaning towards use and usability continues to be seen from the Microsoft development teams.

As an application focused resource, I continue to watch the new features that are related to business rules and as such the announcement that Microsoft Fabric now supports user data functions was an interesting one. To get "User Data Functions" summarized I asked for a little help (thank you ChatGPT) and here is what I found out "User Data Functions are reusable, parameterized functions that you define using T-SQL or Spark (PySpark/Scala) and then call from various components in Fabric. They encapsulate business rules, data transformations, or logic that you want to apply consistently across your data environment." so these have some very interesting potential.

and down the rabbit hole when I asked how UDFs related to or could be used with the Power Platform

"User Data Functions (UDFs) are a Microsoft Fabric feature and not native to the Power Platform, you can bridge them into Power Platform solutions—particularly when working with Power BI, Power Apps, or Power Automate that consume or manipulate data from Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, or Synapse Lakehouse."

One of the coolest benefits for companies working with the Microsoft Stack is that it is always pushing the bleeding edge and always offering mind bending options and notice that I have not even mentioned Microsoft Fabric and AI Foundry! 

"Fabric's data agents can now integrate with Azure AI Foundry via the Azure AI Agent Service"

Individuals will always have a preferred method for working.

Some individuals will push their comfort zones and always dive into the latest and greatest tooling and options and others take the stance of if it is working for me, I am not changing unless I have a huge reason to change or if I don't have a choice.

We are living in a world of more and more choices.

One of the hidden ROI benefits of Copilot is that the various consistent Copilots roll across all of the Microsoft products and stack of available technologies. This not only includes products within Modern Workplace (Excel, Word, Teams, etc.) or Business Applications (Dataverse, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Power Platform), but also a wave across all of the various "more developer or IT centric" tooling (Visual Studio, Github, Azure DevOps, etc.).

• Copilot has the ability to silently break down silos while also maintaining individual choice.

Data here, data there, data everywhere. Everyone is creating data on a daily basis, good data, bad data, helpful data, temporary data.

• In the world of noise, Copilot can be the saw that cuts through to the answers.

Speaking of data, the culture of a company contains a huge amount of proprietary data. Tribal Knowledge is a company asset that is rarely harvested and yet this knowledge can be the differentiator for a company. The difference between a "WOW" experience where issues are quickly discovered and successfully resolved and an "average" experience where people do their jobs and go home. Using AI to tap into Tribal Knowledge is an untapped goldmine. 

• Tribal Knowledge, the gold that is often untapped.

There are most likely areas of the business or processes that happen like clockwork every month or quarterly or even daily. Employees go on autopilot and get the work done that always needs to get done. They don't have to think too hard about this if they have been at the company for a long time.  Most probably don't like this type of work. It is mundane, repetitive and yet drives other dependencies so has to get done. 

• Agents might make your Employees happier. 

Speaking of employees. You might be surprised to learn that they might be using AI already. ChatGPT is right at their fingertips and although helpful might not be where you want proprietary customer or company specific questions being asked. Many a risk was taken in pure innocence. I just needed a quick image, the question was pretty generic, I didn't use any names.

• Providing people with the right AI options, that give them even more, mitigates people using tools that might introduce company risk.

Are you struggling to get your head around the various branding of AI? Consider that functionality can be built using the power of "AI" and that each functionality bundle can have a very different usage. The way it works, the way it is designed, the data that it uses, the reach and security that it leverages. Companies are working on communicating this, because for some audiences it matters.

In the world of "Business Think" the technology doesn't matter as much as what is being provided and how. If I have a specific need and that need is the same as another company, then perhaps, I just want to purchase something that meets that need. I don't necessarily need the technical details of how it is built, I just want the telephone system that allows all my employees to make calls, BUT just like buying a car, there are all the "you could also have" and "you might also need" or preferences such as color or in the case of a phone system, transcription, video, integrations, empowerment, security and the list goes on.

 Microsoft has an interesting dilemma as the world gets nosier. They empower teams, business people, technical people, partners, independent software companies and others with the power to configure their offerings and not only configure, but choice of configurations depending on need and if there many choices are not enough, they also support, deeply support extensions to their code bases. Just like walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery story. 25 choices that are slightly different and you can pick your own ingredients and make your own granola (oats, raisins, brown sugar, nuts, bake). 

Do we want choice?

Most of the time we do want choice. Try to be patient when considering that at times choices can be a bit overwhelming. Find your trusted souls, build your trusted network of gurus and most importantly have multi-person conversations on options. 

The human knowledge wells are deep, if you can tap into these without egos, fears, games, societies current anxieties, you will have more power and more information than needed to make the right long-term choices.  

Just a few fun terms to get you thinking about all you can build (Note: I did use Copilot (Microsoft Teams Copilot) to extract the definition for each of the below terms)

• Trigger Phrases: These are specific phrases or keywords that, when detected in a user's input, activate a particular topic or response in Copilot. They help in identifying the user's intent and directing the conversation accordingly.
• Nodes: These are the building blocks of a conversation in Copilot studio. Each node represents a specific part of the conversation flow, such as a question, a response, or an action. Nodes are connected to create a structured dialogue.
• Response Variation: This refers to the different ways Copilot can respond to the same user input. By having multiple variations of a response, Copilot can provide a more natural and engaging conversation experience.
• Quick Replies: These are predefined responses that users can select to quickly reply to a message. They help streamline the conversation and guide users through the interaction.
• Entities: These are specific pieces of information that Copilot can recognize and extract from the user's input. Examples include dates, names, locations, and other relevant data points.
• Variables: These are placeholders used to store and manage information within a conversation. Variables can be used to personalize responses and keep track of the conversation context.
• Power FX: This is a formula language used in Copilot studio to create complex expressions and logic. It allows for advanced customization and control over the conversation flow.

Check out the great sessions on WeDoAI 2024

AGENDA

• OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Copilot(s)
• The Power Platform
• Microsoft Power Platform Model Driven Apps built by Microsoft
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Journeys/Marketing
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center
• Microsoft Copilot Studio
• An Agent versus A Copilot