Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast

Welcome to Episode 434 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. Microsoft announced Project Perception on 2026-07-27 with a lot of “workforce of AI agents” language. In this episode, Ben and Scott discuss what Perception really is, what it needs from your tenant, what it costs, and what happens the first time an agent asks you to approve something. Six agents. Seven playbooks. Every one manually triggered. Each agent gets its own Entra Agent ID and a permission grant. There’s a lot to unpack.

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Show Notes

Save $200 at TechCon365 with code Ben200: https://www.techcon365.com/Seattle/

What is Project Perception?

How Nationwide stays ahead of attackers with Project Perception

Key concepts in Project Perception

Agent categories in Project Perception

Microsoft Security Copilot Security Compute Units and capacity

Work with playbooks in Project Perception

Prior podcast context

Ep 431: Agent Governance Is the New App Governance

Ep 419: Security and AI 

Ep 416 and Ep 412 

Ep 406: Agents of Insight 

Ep 377: Microsoft Copilot for Security 

Sponsors

Nasuni is a leading unstructured data platform for enterprises where file data is mission-critical for both people and AI. Nasuni powers the operational file layer where work happens — helping organizations manage, protect, and activate data so teams can work smarter, reduce costs, and operate securely without limits.

Intelligink — Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

Welcome to Episode 433 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben and Scott discuss how Microsoft 365 authentication is moving from “make passwords safer with MFA” to “remove phishable authentication wherever possible.” The practical conversation for IT pros is no longer just whether MFA is enabled. It is which methods are allowed, which users are still on SMS or voice, how passkeys change the user experience, and how to balance security, accessibility, recovery, and support load.

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Show Notes

Passkeys were supposed to replace passwords, but they’re failing for the most predictable reason

Microsoft Entra authentication overview

Passkeys by default and retirement of Microsoft-provided SMS and voice authentication

Plan a phishing-resistant passwordless authentication deployment in Microsoft Entra ID

Run a registration campaign to set up a passkey or Microsoft Authenticator

Practical Protection: Understanding Entra ID and Passkeys

Important Change Coming for Entra ID Passkeys in November 2025

Microsoft to Stop Providing Telephony-Based Authentication Methods for MFA in February 2027

How to enable passkeys (FIDO2) in Microsoft Entra ID

Sponsors

Nasuni is a leading unstructured data platform for enterprises where file data is mission-critical for both people and AI. Nasuni powers the operational file layer where work happens — helping organizations manage, protect, and activate data so teams can work smarter, reduce costs, and operate securely without limits.

Intelligink — Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

Welcome to Episode 432 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben and Scott discuss how AI is not eliminating Microsoft 365 and Azure consulting, but it is changing what clients think they are buying.

Your support makes this show possible! Please consider becoming a premium member for access to live shows and more. Check out our membership options.

Show Notes

Inside Consultants’ Messy Shift From Hourly Billing

Episode 431: Agent Governance Is the New App Governance

Microsoft 365 Copilot readiness report

Microsoft 365 Copilot usage report

Microsoft Secure Score

Sponsors

Nasuni is a leading unstructured data platform for enterprises where file data is mission-critical for both people and AI. Nasuni powers the operational file layer where work happens — helping organizations manage, protect, and activate data so teams can work smarter, reduce costs, and operate securely without limits.

Intelligink — Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

Welcome to Episode 431 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben and Scott get into why agent governance is quickly becoming one of the most pressing challenges for Microsoft 365 administrators. As agentic workflows become more common across Copilot, Copilot Studio, and third-party platforms, organizations are dealing with a sprawl problem that looks familiar but hits differently. Agents bring their own identity, data access, permissions, lifecycle, and security concerns all at once, and unlike traditional apps, a single user can now have dozens of agents acting on their behalf or autonomously across Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, and beyond.

The episode walks through Microsoft Agent 365 as a starting point for building that control plane, including the agent registry, user and permission scoping, and the certification tab where publisher attestation gives some visibility into compliance claims though with notable gaps. Ben and Scott also touch on the Shadow AI preview in the Frontier program, the challenges of graph permission readability in the permissions view, and why the agent lifecycle problem, think what happens when the person who built a custom agent leaves the org, is something administrators need to start thinking about now before consumption billing turns an unmanaged agent into a surprise line item.

Your support makes this show possible! Please consider becoming a premium member for access to live shows and more. Check out our membership options.

Show Notes

Overview of Microsoft Agent 365

Episode 409 – Preparing for Copilot​- Securing Your Microsoft 365 Data and Beyond​

Episode 425 – Exploring Collaboration and Governance at the MVP Summit with Joy Apple

Manage agents in the Microsoft 365 admin center

Agent management in Microsoft 365 admin center

Shadow AI in Microsoft 365 admin center (Preview)

Understand agent details in Microsoft 365 admin center

Sponsors

 

Nasuni is a leading unstructured data platform for enterprises where file data is mission-critical for both people and AI. Nasuni powers the operational file layer where work happens — helping organizations manage, protect, and activate data so teams can work smarter, reduce costs, and operate securely without limits.

TrustedTech is a leading Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) specializing in Microsoft Cloud services, Microsoft perpetual licensing, and Microsoft Support Services for medium and enterprise-sized businesses. Their robust team of in-house, U.S.-based Microsoft architects and engineers are certified in all 6/6 Microsoft Solutions Partner Designations in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

M365 Licensing Consultation

M365 Tenant Assessment

Copilot Readiness Assessment

ShareGate is your migration and governance solution for Microsoft 365. ShareGate helps your teams simplify tenant migrations, get Copilot-ready, and take control of Microsoft 365 governance.

Intelligink — Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

Welcome to Episode 430 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, where Scott and Ben dig into Microsoft Scout, the new desktop AI application announced at Microsoft Build. They walk through the real onboarding experience on both Mac and Windows, the licensing maze and admin controls needed to activate it, and how Scout’s architecture ties together models, automations, and integrations like MCP, GitHub Copilot, and Work IQ. Along the way they cover the model selector and personality options (everything from professional to sarcastic teenager), the automations and heartbeats that run on schedules to update you on industry news, monitor workflows, and manage meetings, and the limitations and workarounds around skills, session management, and local file access. They also sort out where Scout overlaps with and differs from Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot, how to rationalize all three for ROI, and what token-based, consumption-based pricing means for enterprise AI strategy.

Whether you’re a pilot user or just AI-curious, this episode cuts through the hype to show why Scout’s local-first approach is a game-changer for MCP workflows, custom skills, and offline automation, and what it actually takes to adopt Scout as your desktop AI hub. Hosted by Scott and Ben, two industry veterans passionate about AI and automation, it delivers practical, actionable insights for technical leaders, developers, and productivity enthusiasts. Join us as we unravel Scout’s potential to redefine your desktop AI experience, because knowing how to navigate its complexities now can save you time and money tomorrow.

Show Notes

Introducing Microsoft Scout: Your always-on personal agent

Microsoft Scout (Frontier) documentation

Announcing the new Work IQ APIs

Work IQ: Production‑ready intelligence for every agent

Get started with Microsoft Scout

Admin access overview for Microsoft Scout

Microsoft Scout — Automations, Memory, Heartbeats

Sponsors

TrustedTech is a leading Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) specializing in Microsoft Cloud services, Microsoft perpetual licensing, and Microsoft Support Services for medium and enterprise-sized businesses. Their robust team of in-house, U.S.-based Microsoft architects and engineers are certified in all 6/6 Microsoft Solutions Partner Designations in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

M365 Licensing Consultation

M365 Tenant Assessment

Copilot Readiness Assessment

ShareGate is your migration and governance solution for Microsoft 365. ShareGate helps your teams simplify tenant migrations, get Copilot-ready, and take control of Microsoft 365 governance.

Nasuni is a leading unstructured data platform for enterprises where file data is mission-critical for both people and AI. Nasuni powers the operational file layer where work happens — helping organizations manage, protect, and activate data so teams can work smarter, reduce costs, and operate securely without limits.

Intelligink — Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!