Data & AI Roadshow Recap: Where Frontier Meets the Real Work

Day Three of our Virtual Roadshow brought data and AI together, and the through line was clear. The technology is ready, but value shows up when you pair it with governance, clean data, and a program that keeps people moving forward. Here’s the recap of what we covered and where to point yourself next. 

Microsoft AI Platform: What’s New 

What We Discussed 

Copilot has quietly become an evolved product. Model choice, real document editing, multi-agent research, and the Frontier preview program now ship inside the same license most of you already own. 

• Copilot now lets you pick between Claude and OpenAI models in chat, and Researcher runs a “Model Council” that compares responses from both 
• Edit mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can make multi-step changes across worksheets and slides instead of one cell at a time 
• A new Legal Agent in Word reviews clauses against a counterparty and can ground itself in your standard playbook 
• Cowork in the Frontier program runs multi-threaded sessions, accepts file grounding, schedules work overnight, and produces high-quality decks and documents 
• The Frontier program is free with your M365 Copilot license, opt-in by user, and runs under full enterprise data protection 

Key Takeaways 

• If your team tried Copilot six months ago and walked away, it’s time to revisit 
• Turn on Frontier for IT and a small group of power users to start 
• Anthropic models are noticeably stronger for Excel and PowerPoint work 

How eGroup Can Help 

We help organizations enable Frontier the right way, train users on the new edit modes, and run hands-on sessions so people see what’s actually possible today. 

Governing the AI Platform 

What We Discussed 

Agent sprawl is the new SharePoint sprawl, and the tools to manage it just arrived. Agent 365 is the new control plane, but governance still spans eight different admin centers. 

• Agent 365 went GA on May 1, 2026, and gives you a central registry, lifecycle controls, security and activity views, shadow AI scanning, and Purview integration 
• Governance now spans eight control planes, including Agent 365, Teams, Power Platform, Foundry, Purview, Entra, M365 admin, and Windows 365 for Agents 
• Registry sync lets you pull in agents from Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex, Databricks Genie, and Salesforce Agentforce 
• Licensing runs $15 per user per month, standalone, or it comes bundled into the new E7 SKU 
• Sharing controls let you limit who can hand agents to others, which slows the sprawl before it starts 

Key Takeaways 

• Governance is now the most common starting engagement we see 
• License is per user, not per agent, and applies to creators, managers, and consumers of A365 managed agents 
• Pick where your line in the sand is for agent tool permissions before you need to defend it 

How eGroup Can Help 

We design agent governance frameworks, configure the eight control planes to match your risk posture, and help with Purview, Entra, and Agent 365 license planning. 

Data for AI 

What We Discussed 

Good AI needs good data, and Microsoft Fabric gives you a single platform to clean, store, and serve it. Data modernization works best as an iterative effort tied to business use cases. 

• Five data risks show up in almost every environment: oversharing, stale content, sensitive data drift, permissions sprawl, and shadow AI 
• The EQIP framework moves you through Educate, Quantify, Identify, and Protect, with the E and Q as the foundation 
• Fabric’s medallion architecture moves data from bronze (raw) to silver (cleansed) to gold (business-ready), then exposes it through a semantic layer that AI can actually read 
• Copilot shows up three times in Fabric: building the report, chatting with the report, and publishing data agents that surface anywhere in M365 
• Fabric IQ adds an ontology layer that lets you write rules and triggers that act on your data automatically 

Key Takeaways 

• Start with a business use case, then modernize the data behind it 
• The semantic layer is what makes AI fluent in your business 
• Our Data Foundation Accelerator stands up a working Fabric environment in a trial tenant for free 

How eGroup Can Help 

We design and build Fabric environments, run Purview cleanup engagements, and help organizations move from one-off reports to a sustainable data governance program. 

Today’s Power Platform 

What We Discussed 

Power Apps and Power Automate now have an agentic front door. End users can now describe an app in plain English and get a working prototype, which changes how business and IT collaborate. 

• vibe.powerapps.com lets you describe an app in plain language and generates the data model, pages, and sample data for you 
• The App Builder and Workflow agents in Frontier let you build apps and automations directly from Copilot chat 
• Copilot Studio has matured to include MCP server connectors, computer use for legacy systems, and Windows 365 for Agents as a controlled runtime 
• The app development model is shifting because users can now bring working prototypes to IT instead of stick figure requirements 

Key Takeaways 

• Vibe coding is a prototyping accelerator, not a replacement for IT hardening 
• Computer use opens the door to old systems that don’t have APIs 
• Governance still decides what gets shared, who connects to what, and where production lives 

How eGroup Can Help 

We turn vibe-coded prototypes into production solutions, design Copilot Studio agents that integrate with your line of business systems, and provide Power Platform training for both makers and IT. 

Operating an AI Program 

What We Discussed 

A Center of Excellence is the structural decision that determines whether AI sticks. Governance alone produces a safe program nobody uses, and enablement alone produces energy that fades into a compliance incident. 

• A healthy COE covers five responsibilities: business alignment, guardrails, risk and compliance, enablement, and innovation 
• The first adoption pitfall is rolling out tools months before training, then assuming users will figure it out 
• The second pitfall is treating training as the finish line when it’s really the starting line 
• Community matters because users need a place to ask questions, share wins, hear about updates, and find someone a few steps ahead 
• The three zone agent control framework splits makers into a citizen sandbox, a power user space with sharing, and an IT-grade Foundry development 

Key Takeaways 

• Build enablement for the long arc, not just launch week 
• Persona-based training drives faster wins than generic feature tours 
• Communities need to be seeded, moderated, and celebrated. They don’t run themselves at the start 

How eGroup Can Help 

Our OCM team stands up COEs, designs champion programs, builds persona-based training, and partners with your IT team on the agent control framework that fits your culture. 

Managing Costs and Getting Started 

What We Discussed 

Use case discovery is where most programs stall. Lead with business questions instead of technology questions, and balance Copilot licenses with consumption-based agents to keep the budget realistic. 

• Better discovery questions sound like “where are customers frustrated,” “where are systems breaking down,” and “where is too much time spent in Excel or email.” 
• Microsoft’s Adoption Scenario Library is a curated set of use cases organized by function and industry 
• A vibe-coded use case finder can interview users with an agent and catalog the ideas into SharePoint for you 
• The license math matters: a 1,000-person org can move from roughly $250K per year on full Copilot to around $27K per year by mixing Copilot licenses with consumption-based Studio agents 
• Five pragmatic steps move you forward: publish an AI charter, deploy Copilot Chat, find use cases, deploy solutions, and tell the stories 

Key Takeaways 

• Copilot Chat is free with M365 and includes enterprise data protection. Get it to everyone 
• Agents built in Copilot Studio can be consumed by users without a paid Copilot license 
• Charters reduce anxiety. Stories reinforce adoption 

How eGroup Can Help 

We run use case discovery workshops, help draft AI charters, optimize your licensing mix, and stand up the operating program that turns ideas into deployed solutions. 

Turning Insight into Action 

The constant across all six sections is iteration. Deploy a use case, modernize a slice of data, gather feedback, and do it again. The technology is ready, the governance tools are here, and the people side is where most of the wins live. 

If any of this resonated, reach out, and we will find 30 minutes on my calendar to dig into whichever piece is most pressing for your team. Thanks to everyone who joined us live, and a big thank you to fellow eGroupers- Chris, Phil, Cameron, and Hayley for sharing the stage during the LIVE event. 

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