Microsoft Teams Insider

Brennan McReynolds, Product Strategy Lead for Microsoft Places, at Microsoft, shares what changed during Places’ first full year in general availability and what is coming next as hybrid work patterns continue to shift.

• How Places supports flexible work planning in Microsoft Calendar and Microsoft Teams, including building and room context

• The evolution of desk booking on maps, location check-in signals, and improving confidence in finding the right space

• Why Places is focused on in-person connection and collaboration, not desk booking for everyone

• How the Places directory and Microsoft Graph APIs enable partners to manage buildings, floors, rooms, desks, and maps at scale

• Three integration patterns: spatial data in and out, occupancy and check-in signals, and extensible experiences like visitor management and digital signage

• How location context feeds Work IQ and future Copilot experiences for planning, scheduling, and room selection

Thanks to Brennan for his valuable insights.

JT Elliott, Unified Communications and Collaboration Manager, at Toyota Financial Services, shares his journey from traditional AV to deploying over 300 Microsoft Teams Rooms with Logitech.

JT's career path from courtroom AV systems through 7-Eleven to Toyota Financial Services
The decision to standardise on Logitech Rally Bars and Rally Board 65 for 300+ rooms and plans to deploy 150 more.
Experience deploying 125 Rally Boards in just six weeks with integration partner AVI-SPL
Why Toyota chose Android-based MTRs and the flexibility of Logitech's platform
The importance of observability and reliability in room system operations
Migrating from Direct Routing to Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams Phone

Thanks to Logitech, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for the first update of 2026.

Many thanks to Landis for their continued support.

Deck
Microsoft 365 AI Workplace - 2026 Focus Areas​
Microsoft’s continued AI Focus in 2026​
7 New Microsoft Copilot Roadmap Features​
26M Teams Phone Users​
8 Microsoft Teams New Features and Updates​
7 New Teams Rooms and Devices​
Events
Useful Links:
Briefings
AI Voice Agents with Azure Communication Services - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at Microsoft​
Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents, Features and Control - Deep Dive with Rolf Tröndle - Rolf Tröndle walks through what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot.​
Contact Center Options for Microsoft Teams - Native vs Connect vs Extend vs Unify - Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, at Pure IP discusses contact center strategies for Microsoft Teams​
Teams Insider Podcasts
Scaling Microsoft Copilot Adoption 22,000 Diverse Users at Centrica with Bill Compton, Head of Digital Adoption at Centrica​
Copilot and Agent Adoption in the Big Four Professional Services Firms with Mo Khalifa, Workforce AI Specialist at Microsoft​
From PBX to Microsoft Teams and Voca Contact Centre at the Chartered Institute of Housing with Richard Sewell, IT Manager​
Working from Sea: Virgin Voyages Transforms Remote Work with Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix​
What Cisco Rooms bring to Microsoft Teams Rooms with Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco​

Bill Compton, Head of Digital Adoption at Centrica, shares how he's driven Microsoft Copilot adoption across a diverse 22,000-person organisation—from field engineers to call centre agents to knowledge workers.

Building a strong digital champions network through gamification and peer-led change
Leveraging the included Copilot Chat to build AI literacy across the entire organisation before scaling premium licences
Taking a measured approach to Copilot rollout: starting with 25 licences and scaling to 2,000 paid M365 Copilot based on demonstrated value
Creating hybrid adoption events that reached over 3,000 employees through live streaming and on-demand content
Gathering real user prompts and use cases to build internal stories and identify champions
Addressing the challenges of reaching diverse workforces in protected environments like call centres and offshore platforms
Thanks to Luware, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for December 2025.

Many thanks to AudioCodes for their continued support.

PowerPoint Deck
Anthropic models on by default in Microsoft 365 Copilot
GPT-5.2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft Copilot Roadmap
Agentic AI Foundation
Microsoft Planner Major Update in 2026
Express Voice Enrollment in Microsoft Teams
Teams Meeting Recap and Recording APIs
Teams Devices Update
Teams Roadmap
Events

Briefings
All the Microsoft Ignite 2025 announcements in 24 minutes - Microsoft MVP Rolf Tröndle gives a comprehensive walkthrough of the news from Microsoft Ignite 2025
AI Voice Agents with Azure Communication Services - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at Microsoft
Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents, Features and Control - Deep Dive with Rolf Tröndle - Rolf Tröndle walks through what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Contact Center Options for Microsoft Teams - Native vs Connect vs Extend vs Unify - Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, at Pure-IP discusses contact center strategies for Microsoft Teams

Teams Insider Podcasts
Copilot and Agent Adoption in the Big Four Professional Services Firms with Mo Kahlifa, Workforce AI Specialist at Microsoft
From PBX to Microsoft Teams and Voca Contact Centre at the Chartered Institute of Housing with Richard Sewell, IT Manager
Working from Sea: Virgin Voyages Transforms Remote Work with Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix
What Cisco Rooms bring to Microsoft Teams Rooms with Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco
Telcos Moving Into AI With Microsoft Teams and Copilot With Rick Garcia
Microsoft Teams and AI Powered Workplace, Perspective From Ignite 2025 with Ilya Bukshteyn and Irena Andonova