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Microsoft Teams Insider
Microsoft Teams Insider
Author: Tom Arbuthnot
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© 2025 Microsoft Teams Insider
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Microsoft Teams discussions with industry experts sharing their thoughts and insights with Tom Arbuthnot of Empowering.Cloud. Podcast not affiliated, associated with, or endorsed by Microsoft.
146 Episodes
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Richard Sewell, IT Manager, at the Chartered Institute of Housing discusses the organisation's decade-long telephony transformation, from traditional PBX through hosted VoIP to Microsoft Teams with Voca contact centre. • The journey from restrictive on-premises PBX systems to flexible cloud-based solutions • Challenges of hot-desking with legacy systems and how Microsoft Teams solved them • Why user adoption and training matter more than the technical migration itself • Managing contact c...
Nirmal Saverimuttu, CEO, at Virgin Voyages, and Michael Levy, CEO, at Numonix, discuss how Virgin Voyages is pioneering the work from sea movement with unlimited Wi-Fi and innovative remote work packages. Virgin Voyages' unique approach to crises —boutique hotel experience, no kids, free Wi-Fi, and no nickel-and-dimingHow Richard Branson's vision for free Wi-Fi for crew and passengers enabled the work from sea programmeWorking remotely from the Caribbean using Microsoft Teams with Starlink ...
Tom Richards, Senior Director, Strategy and Planning at Cisco, discusses the evolution of the Cisco and Microsoft partnership and how Cisco Microsoft Teams Rooms brings enterprise-grade management, AI capabilities, and multi-platform flexibility to Microsoft Teams Rooms. • How Cisco and Microsoft moved from competition to collaboration, delivering full MTR experiences without compromising RoomOS capabilities • The engineering behind containerising Android and MTR within RoomOS, creating a u...
Rick Garcia, EVP Product & Marketing at Momentum, discusses moving from simple workflows to AI‑assisted experiences in the Microsoft stack, from SMS agents to contextual insights across Teams data. Find out how ideas proven in tools can translate into Outlook, Power Automate and Copilot, and what's next as Microsoft brings advanced AI capabilities into the platform more quickly. Packaging practical AI texting workflows that sales teams can adopt immediatelyTranslating "bleeding‑e...
Ilya Bukshteyn, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Teams Calling Devices and Premium experiences, and Irena Andonova, who leads the Teams devices product team, discuss the latest in Microsoft Teams and AI Powered Workplace from Microsoft Ignite 2025. “Secure, Simple, Smart” - URL protection, domain impersonation detection, and simplified threading and multi-tenant activity feedThe power of Work IQ and Copilot integration across chats, channels, calls and meetingsAmbient intelligen...
Listen to Sean Gilmour, Principal Product Manager Lead for Advance Calling - Microsoft Teams, and Pratichi Dash, Product Manager - Dynamics 365 Contact Center Voice and Conversational AI , explain Teams Phone Extensibility (TPE), Unify and how they enable a single, unified phone system across UCaaS and CCaaS. • What TPE is, how it works with Azure Communication Services, and why the Unify certification matters for a level playing field • How Dynamics 365 Contact Center uses TPE to reuse exi...
Gareth Bleasdale, Senior GTM Manager: Modern Work and AI at Microsoft, explains what Copilot Chat is, how it differs from consumer AI, and practical steps to adopt it safely across your organisation. What’s included in the free Copilot Chat with Entra accountsSecurity and governance: enterprise protections, encrypted web queries, audit and e‑discoveryNew capabilities: unified history, memory and personalisation, in‑app chat in Word and Excel, GPT‑5 accessAdoption playbook for IT, business d...
MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for November 2025. Many thanks to Landis for their continued support. PowerPoint Deck Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership ChangesMicrosoft Earnings Numbers (FY26 Q1)Teams Mode for Microsoft 365 CopilotTeams Channel AgentsTeams Chat with Anyone1080p 4Mbps Town HallsCopilot Researcher with Computer UserMicrosoft Teams Rooms New FeaturesTeams Devices NewsEvents Briefings Customer and Age...
Hari Krishna Reddy Juturu, Partner Group Engineering Manager, and Avinash Prasad, Partner Director of Engineering, both at Microsoft, talk through the importance of the Apple Platforms, user experience and new features. How the team “sim‑ships” features across platforms while embracing earned, Mac‑native integrations like Menu Bar Extras, AirPods support, and native screen sharing.Why day‑zero readiness for new macOS releases matters, and how close collaboration with Apple plus early beta tes...
Andrew Liptrot, Service Owner for AV and Workplace Technology at Haleon, shares how a global estate is moving from traditional video rooms to Microsoft Teams Rooms with clear standards, fewer components, and stronger operations. Four room archetypes to match business outcomes: Meet, Create, Engage, and InfluenceConsolidation on a lean set of components, with emphasis on reliability, supportability, and lifecycleInternal design capability, visual room design, and partner delivery against agr...
In this episode, Tormod Ree, Chief Product and Engineering Officer at Neat, shares his view on where meeting room technology is heading and how Neat plans to differentiate while staying simple and reliable for customers. AI across the experience: device-side media understanding, and platform features will move meetings from basic framing to experiences that adapt to the interaction in the room.Hybrid work isn’t solved: organisations still struggle to give remote participants equal presence fo...
Wesley Budd, Partner Solutions Architect at Microsoft, explains how partners are driving real-world impact with Microsoft 365 Copilot. The role of partners in readiness, security, adoption and changeWhy agentathons are gaining traction and what they mean for Copilot StudioHow partners are using AI Builder and Copilot Studio to build tailored solutionsHow the Copilot Jumpstart programme is helping partners accelerate customer successOpportunities for partners to unlock business transformation ...
Microsoft Teams Monthly Update - October 2025 Copilot Chat (free) in Office AppsUnified Copilot Chat in TeamsAgent Mode in Excel and WordTeams Channel AgentsAnthropic Claude Models Come to CopilotOffice Agent (Anthropic)Bring Consumer Copilot to Work?New Teams FeaturesTeams Devices NewsEventsThanks to Neat, this month's benefactor, for your support of Empowering.Cloud and the community. Note that this is an audio-only version of the update, so if you would like to see the accompanying slides...
Andre Razzuri, Associate Director at IQVIA, explains how IQVIA rolled out Microsoft Teams Rooms to 650 rooms globally, creating standards and managing a global environment. Why IQVIA standardised on Lenovo Windows 11 MTRs for cost, supportability, remote management and user experienceDeploying 200 rooms per year with a small core team through strict global standards and robust remote toolingWhere they partnered with AVI-SPL for boardrooms and global rollouts, and how responsibilities are sh...
Simon Dudley, independent consultant and with extensive former experience at Polycom, Lifesize, and Logitech, examines how customers, OEMs and resellers can navigate the increasingly commoditised video conferencing market. Simon and Tom discuss: • Why most video bars are “good enough” and what that means for differentiation • How ESG, financial transparency, and global distribution are becoming key buying factors • The importance of understanding your A/B/C brand status as a vendor or resel...
Irena Andonova, Head of Product for Teams Devices at Microsoft, discusses the evolution of Teams Rooms, Phones and Devices AI is transforming physical meeting spaces—supporting speaker attribution, voice isolation, and real-time summarisation, even in unscheduled in-person meetings.Voice and face enrolment enables accurate transcript attribution across Windows and Android platforms.AI-powered features in Teams PhonesHow AI is being embedded into the Pro Management Portal to support large-scal...
Microsoft Teams Monthly Update - September 2025 Malicious URL Protection for TeamsImproved Organization Chart in Profile CardControl External Access by Domain for Specific Users and Groups5 Unify Certified Contact CentersNew Teams Desk Phone Transfer UITouch Console Support for MTRoW BoardsBrowser Support for MTRoW BoardsSales, Service, and Finance Copilots now included with Microsoft 365 Copilot LicenseImproved Copilot Chat in Office AppsEventsThanks to Ribbon, this month's benefactor, for y...
Matt Hurst, Senior Director of Strategic Business Architecture at Ribbon, joins Tom Arbuthnot to discuss the significant changes occurring in telco infrastructure with AI, analytics, and automation. Matt clearly explains how Automation, Containerisation and AI work and apply in telco and also large enterprise infrastructure. The telecommunications industry is embracing containerisation and automation to address competitive pressures, security requirements, and operational efficiency challeng...
Tom Arbuthnot discusses Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption with Karoliina Kettukari, Head of Modern Work at OP Financial Group in Finland. OP Financial Group has licensed approximately half their workforce for M365 Copilot, with strong support from senior management and eager employee adoption. The organisation also utilises Copilot Chat for an additional 50% of their licensed user base, particularly for roles working primarily in customer systems rather than M365 applications. Meeting summari...
Bo Pintea from Huddly talks about the evolution of multi-camera setups and their role in creating more immersive and equitable meeting experiences. Bo shares insights from his Microsoft journey and current role at Huddly, covering: Why IP-based AV and edge AI are critical for scalable multi-camera deploymentsThe science behind camera angles, spatial reasoning, and reducing hyper-gaze fatigueHow AI agents are reshaping meeting dynamics—from intelligent shot selection to real-time tran...























