There's a growing sense that current technologies are on the verge of reshaping how businesses operate. The challenge for many organizations is moving from isolated experiments to a cohesive, company-wide strategy. At this year's Microsoft Ignite, the focus is on providing the tools to do just that, building intelligence into every layer of a company's workflow, from its data centers to its daily employee tasks.

The overarching vision is to help businesses become more adaptive and innovative by weaving advanced capabilities directly into the fabric of their operations. The announcements at Ignite revolve around a few key themes for achieving this.

Making Tools Work in Tandem with People

The goal is to build systems that augment how people naturally work. Updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot and a new emphasis on automated assistants are designed to connect more deeply with a company's unique context.

A key development is what Microsoft calls "Work IQ." This is essentially an intelligence layer built from a company's own data—emails, files, meeting notes, and collaboration patterns. It allows tools to understand work habits and relationships, helping to surface relevant insights and suggest logical next steps. Now, developers can use APIs to tap into this layer to build custom assistants tailored to specific business processes.

Empowering Problem-Solvers Across the Organization

Innovation isn't limited to a dedicated R&D team. The people closest to a problem are often best equipped to solve it. Microsoft is introducing tools that allow employees in various roles to create their own automated assistants for daily tasks.

For these assistants to be effective, they need to understand business data in a meaningful way. This is addressed by two new systems: Fabric IQ and Foundry IQ.

1. Fabric IQ unifies different types of data—analytical, operational, and location-based—into a single, coherent model that reflects how the business actually runs. If a company already uses Power BI for reporting, that existing data work can be leveraged to give these assistants immediate context.
2. Foundry IQ acts as a central knowledge system, connecting assistants to multiple data sources, including Microsoft 365, custom apps, and the web. This provides a consolidated foundation for more accurate and reliable automated workflows.

To bring this all together, the Microsoft Agent Factory program offers a single, metered plan for businesses to start building these assistants using Microsoft Foundry and Copilot Studio, with options for technical support and training.

Ensuring Oversight and Security

As automated tools become more common, the need to manage and secure them grows. Microsoft estimates that by 2028, businesses could be using over a billion automated agents, creating a new frontier for IT governance.

The response is Microsoft Agent 365, a suite designed to observe, manage, and secure automated assistants, whether they're built on Microsoft's platforms or come from third-party sources. It integrates familiar security and compliance tools like Defender, Entra, and Purview to protect these systems, applying many of the same policies and protections used for human employees.

These highlights represent just a portion of the news from Ignite. Keynote sessions from Microsoft executives are available to view live or on-demand, and the full "Book of News" offers a detailed compendium of all announcements.