{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Inside Microsoft 365 E7, Or, How Four Equals Seven","description":"Polaris is a production of Synozur \u2013 the transformation company. Synozur reimagines business for our clients, navigating the complexities of transformation and strategy with ease. In this episode of Polaris, we explore Microsoft\u2019s game-changing March 2026 announcements \u2013 including the Microsoft 365 E7 \u201cFrontier Suite,\u201d Agent 365 for AI governance, and the new Copilot Cowork capability \u2013 and unpack what these innovations mean for business and technology leaders navigating the AI-powered future. Key Takeaways Microsoft 365 E7 (\u201cFrontier Suite\u201d): Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 E7, the first new top-tier enterprise plan since 2015. Branded the Frontier Suite, E7 bundles all of E5 with Microsoft 365 Copilot, the new Agent 365 platform, the full Entra ID identity suite, and advanced security (Defender, Intune, Purview). This $99\/user\/month plan (GA May 1, 2026) signals that AI capabilities and enterprise trust are now inseparable \u2013 AI and security\/governance come as one package. Agent 365 \u2013 Tackling \u201cAgent Sprawl\u201d: Agent 365 is Microsoft\u2019s response to uncontrolled AI \u201cagent sprawl,\u201d the proliferation of chatbots and Copilots across organizations. It provides a single control plane for all AI agents (including third-party bots), giving each agent a unique Entra ID and allowing IT to observe, govern, permission, audit, and if needed, shut down agents. CIOs and CISOs get the ability to say \u201cyes\u201d to AI innovation without losing control, as Agent 365 ensures compliance with security and data policies for every bot. Agent 365 goes generally available May 1, priced at $15\/user (and is included in E7). Copilot \u201cCowork\u201d \u2013 The Next Evolution of AI at Work: Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork, a new capability transforming Copilot from a one-off Q&A assistant into a persistent digital coworker that can engage in long-running, multi-step collaboration across documents, apps, and time. Instead of just answering a single prompt, Copilot with Cowork can carry context over multiple interactions and proactively check in as tasks progress. Copilot Cowork is in private preview (via Microsoft\u2019s Frontier program) \u2013 not broadly available yet \u2013 but it offers a glimpse into how AI will work alongside people continuously, not just reactively. Microsoft also disclosed that Copilot is now model-diverse, dynamically choosing between OpenAI\u2019s GPT and Anthropic\u2019s Claude models depending on the task, giving organizations greater resilience and flexibility. \u201cIntelligence + Trust\u201d \u2013 Microsoft\u2019s Strategy Shift: A core theme is that AI at scale demands equal investment in security, identity, and compliance. Microsoft is bundling AI innovations with governance tools by design. For example, E7\u2019s introduction pairs M365 Copilot and Agent 365 together, and new governance features are rolling out: Purview Data Loss Prevention now covers Copilot prompts and outputs, sensitivity labels apply to content generated in tools like Viva Engage, and upcoming AI security posture enhancements are in preview. Microsoft\u2019s clear message: \u201cSecurity is not a luxury when it comes to AI\u201d \u2013 future enterprise AI solutions must bake in compliance and trust from the ground up. Practical Updates and \u201cFrontier\u201d Readiness: Alongside the big announcements, Microsoft delivered smaller but significant updates to improve day-to-day productivity and readiness for this AI-driven era. Microsoft Teams Copilot\u2019s Intelligent Recap can now summarize themes across multiple meetings \u2013 threading decisions over time, not just per meeting. Copilot can also condense long Teams chat threads into tables or key insights, a boon for catching up on busy channels. Viva Engage (Yammer) received a revamped, more engaging article publishing experience, ensuring employee communications remain accessible and visually rich. On the content management side, SharePoint\u2019s 25th anniversary came with the introduction of \u201cSharePoint skills\u201d \u2013 essentially custom instructions or templates (written in Markdown) that organizations can use to guide Copilot on preferred styles or procedures for common tasks. This lets companies tailor AI outputs to their standards without coding. All these updates underscore the trend that AI is becoming a first-class enterprise workload, integrated deeply into how work gets done \u2013 and organizations should prepare both their tech stacks and their people for that reality. Promotional Quotes (Chris McNulty): \u201cAI capability and enterprise trust are no longer separable.\u201d \u2013 Chris emphasizes that advanced AI features must go hand-in-hand with security and governance. \u201cAgent 365 gives CIOs and CISOs the ability to say yes to AI innovation without losing control.\u201d \u2013 Highlighting Microsoft\u2019s solution for managing the new \u201cWild West\u201d of proliferating AI agents in the enterprise. \u201cSecurity is not a luxury when it comes to AI.\u201d \u2013 A pointed reminder that robust security and compliance are prerequisites (not optional add-ons) to any AI deployment at scale. \u201cAI is now a first-class enterprise workload.\u201d \u2013 Signaling that AI isn\u2019t experimental anymore \u2013 it\u2019s becoming as mission-critical as email or databases in modern business. References OpenAI\u2019s GPT \u2013 OpenAI\u2019s groundbreaking series of large language models that sparked the generative AI revolution (e.g., https:\/\/openai.comopenai.com). ChatGPT \u2013 OpenAI\u2019s widely-used conversational AI assistant, which popularized AI chat for everyday tasks (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ChatGPT). Google \u201cGems\u201d (AI Workspace assistants) \u2013 Google\u2019s Gemini Gems, customizable AI experts introduced into Google Workspace in 2025 (https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/google-workspace-gems-ai) Salesforce \u201cAgentforce\u201d & Super Bowl Ad \u2013 Salesforce\u2019s digital agent platform Agentforce was promoted in a whimsical Super Bowl 2025 campaign featuring actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson (https:\/\/dailycommercials.com\/salesforces-super-bowl-lix-2025-ad-mcconaughey-and-harrelson\/DailyCommercials, Feb 10 2025). \u201cShadow IT\u201d \u2013 Term for unauthorized or un-managed IT systems and apps used inside organizations. Agent sprawl is described as the AI equivalent of shadow IT ( IDC AI Agent Forecast \u2013 Industry analyst IDC predicts 1.3 billion AI agents will be in circulation by 2028, reflecting the explosive growth of autonomous agents (https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/introducing-the-first-frontier-suite-built-on-intelligence-trust\/ Official Blog, Mar 9 2026). Microsoft 365 E7 Announcement \u2013 \u201cFrontier Suite\u201d top-tier M365 plan announced Mar 9 2026, bundling E5 + Copilot + Agent 365 + Entra + advanced security (https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/introducing-the-first-frontier-suite-built-on-intelligence-trust\/ Blog by Judson Althoff). Microsoft Agent 365 \u2013 New AI agent management and governance platform (announced Mar 2026, GA May 1 2026) that addresses AI oversight Microsoft \u201cCopilot Cowork\u201d Preview \u2013 The next evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling long-running collaborative AI assistance (revealed Mar 2026 as part of \u201cWave 3\u201d Copilot updates) SharePoint\u2019s 25th Anniversary & AI Skills \u2013 In March 2026, Microsoft celebrated 25 years of SharePoint and introduced custom \u201cSharePoint AI skills\u201d (markdown-based prompts to guide Copilot\u2019s behavior for org-specific tasks) (https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365\/blog\/2026\/03\/02\/sharepoint-at-25-how-microsoft-is-putting-knowledge-to-work-in-the-ai-era\/ 365 Blog by Jeff Teper). \u201cFrontier Firm\u201d Concept \u2013 A term from Microsoft\u2019s 2025 Work Trend Index, describing organizations that fully embrace AI and hybrid human\u2013agent teams. These early Frontier Firms demonstrate significantly higher productivity and optimism. March Madness & Spring Training \u2013 Pop culture references to the NCAA basketball tournament and MLB baseball preseason, respectively, which were humorously noted but not the focus of this March 2026 tech episode M365 Community Conference 2026 \u2013 A major Microsoft 365 community event (April 21\u201323, 2026, Orlando, FL) mentioned during the episode\u2019s events roundup ( AI+IM (AI & Information Management) Summit 2026 \u2013 Industry conference by AIIM (Association for Intelligent Information Management), April 28\u201330, 2026 in Baltimore, MD TechCon 365 Chicago 2026 \u2013 Microsoft 365 and Power Platform conference scheduled for June 15\u201319, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago Polaris is available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks. Polaris is produced with help from Riverside.fm. Our theme song, \u201cAlternative Dream\u201d is provided courtesy of Adobe.  Additional music and sound provided by IndieGuy Records. Graphic design by Josh Brantley. Chapters 0:00 Introduction to Microsoft AI Innovations 1:37 News and Data Points 3:29 Microsoft 365 E7 11:51 Events 12:38 Personal Reflection 14:23 Next On Polaris 14:54 Closing ","author_name":"Polaris Pathways - a Synozur podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/polaris.synozur.com","html":"