At Microsoft Digital, the company’s IT organization, we shape and propel many of our groundbreaking products through our role as the company’s Customer Zero—and we want to tell that story. At this year’s Microsoft 365 Community Conference (April 21-23 in Orlando, Florida), we’re hosting a variety of sessions focused on change management, AI adoption, and how we manage governance in the era of the Frontier Firm.
As Customer Zero for Microsoft 365 Copilot, we embedded the technology into our employees’ daily workflows and carefully monitored the results. That journey from early experimentation to broad adoption of the tool across our organization continues to guide the company as we explore what comes next.
Today, that’s agents.
“Copilot changes how our employees work. Agents are changing how the work gets done. Our focus is to make the technology practical and valuable, so people want to use it daily.”
Stephan Kerametlian, senior director, business program management, Microsoft Digital
We’ve reached a level of maturity with Copilot that allows us to move from individual productivity to systems that can reason and collaborate on our behalf. Our focus now is on driving the adoption of agents across the company, grounding them in our workflows to solve problems.
“Copilot changes how our employees work,” says Stephan Kerametlian, a senior director in Microsoft Digital. “Agents are changing how the work gets done. Our focus is to make the technology practical and valuable, so people want to use it daily.”
Adoption doesn’t happen without trust
As we’ve empowered employees with more capable AI tools that can help automate tasks and make decisions, we’ve been equally focused on making sure the right safeguards are in place.
Innovation and safety are extremely important—the challenge is to enable both at the same time. And this is where governance comes in.
“We’ve spent a lot of time getting governance right. This means giving people confidence, not slowing them down. When employees know the guardrails are there, they feel empowered to experiment and innovate safely.”
David Johnson, principal PM architect, Microsoft Digital
At Microsoft, good governance is what makes innovation sustainable. It’s how we protect the company, our data, and our customers, while still giving employees the freedom to build and push boundaries with AI.
“We’ve spent a lot of time getting governance right,” says David Johnson, a principal PM architect in Microsoft Digital. “This means giving people confidence, not slowing them down. When employees know the guardrails are there, they feel empowered to experiment and innovate safely.”
How Microsoft does IT: Managing and governing agents—empower with risk-aligned oversight
Session description: See how Microsoft Digital empowers employees with tools to build and manage agents. From agent management with Microsoft Agent 365, to securing our environment with Microsoft Defender, to managing our productivity estate with Microsoft Purview, this session offers broad insights into how we use our own technology to accelerate agentic innovation while mitigating risk.
Speakers: David Johnson, Naveen Jangir, and Mike Powers
David Johnson leads our internal Microsoft 365 and productivity services with responsibility for tenant strategy, architecture, and governance. He manages how we empower employees with guardrails and manages our capability onboarding and tenant configuration.
Naveen Jangir is a principal architect in Microsoft Digital. He drives Microsoft 365 security and compliance strategy and leads tenant architecture and capability onboarding, while overseeing secure adoption of services across the enterprise.
Mike Powers is a senior service engineer and AI administrator in Microsoft Digital who manages Copilot features, Agent 365, and enterprise AI operations. He partners with internal product groups and security stakeholders to make sure AI tools and agents are deployed responsibly and governed effectively.
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“How Microsoft does IT: Managing and governing agents—empower with risk-aligned oversight.”
More on AI agents and governance at Microsoft
- Read the guide to how we’re tackling Microsoft 365 Copilot governance internally at Microsoft.
- See how we’re embracing the agentic future to become a Frontier Firm.
- Learn how we deployed the Employee Self-Service Agent at Microsoft.
Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming engineering time with AI in Azure DevOps
Session description: AI tools embedded directly into Azure DevOps (ADO) are changing how engineering teams work, eliminating manual tasks without creating separate tools or increasing cognitive load. This session explores how ADO AI Chat and the AI Work Item Assistant accelerate coding workflows at Microsoft. You’ll learn how to improve your backlog quality, sprint hygiene, and downstream effectiveness of GitHub Enterprise and Copilot, helping your teams reclaim capacity and focus on the work that moves products forward.
Speakers: Gopal Panigrahy and Sumit Dutta
Gopal Panigrahy is a product leader and member of our product management team in Microsoft Digital. He’s an advocate for our customer-first approach to product development and is passionate about helping people overcome challenges in the era of AI.
Sumit Dutta is a product-minded technology leader working at the intersection of AI, enterprise platforms, and scalable product design. Offering a strong blend of engineering knowledge and product strategy, he focuses on building systems that are not just functional but also extensible and reliable.
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“Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming engineering time with AI in Azure DevOps.”
More on AI and IT engineering at Microsoft
- Learn how we’re reclaiming engineering time with AI in Azure DevOps at Microsoft.
- Read about powering the new age of AI-led engineering in IT at Microsoft.
- Discover how we’re streamlining engineering at Microsoft with Azure DevOps.
How Microsoft does IT: Microsoft 365 governance in the age of Copilot and agents
Session Description: Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot agents are powerful tools, but without proper governance, you could be putting your company at risk. In this lightning talk, you’ll learn how Microsoft Digital protects our enterprise while enabling employee innovation with Copilot and agents.
Speaker: David Johnson
Johnson brings hands-on experience operating Copilot and AI-powered agents inside Microsoft, with a focus on identity, permissions, data boundaries, and real-world misuse prevention. He takes real-world lessons and makes them practical for others.
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“How Microsoft does IT: Microsoft 365 governance in the age of Copilot and agents.”
More on governance at Microsoft
- Learn about how we’re tackling Microsoft 365 Copilot governance internally at Microsoft.
- Check out our guide to deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot in five chapters.
- Read how we’re powering data governance with Purview Unified Catalog.
Accelerating AI adoption with Copilot controls: Lessons from Microsoft Digital
Session description: Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI agents unlock productivity gains, but without careful oversight they can also introduce security and compliance risks. The session covers how the Copilot Control System helps scale AI safely, including adoption insights and satisfaction signals. You’ll also see demos of popular agents, including the Employee Self-Service Agent and the Admin agent.
Speakers: Amy Ceurvorst and Reshma Kapoor
Amy Ceurvorst is a director of business programs In Microsoft Digital. She’s worked extensively with Copilot controls and evangelizes a unified way to view Copilot health reports that help administrators understand Copilot health.
Reshma Kapoor is a senior product manager in Microsoft Digital with 20 years of experience leading and shipping products at scale. She is customer‑obsessed, grounding product decisions in real customer signals to deliver intuitive, high‑impact experiences.
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“Accelerating AI adoption with Copilot controls: Lessons from Microsoft Digital.”
More on AI and Copilot adoption and deployment
- Read how we’re shaping AI management at Microsoft with Agent 365 and Copilot controls.
- Explore our five-chapter guide to deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot internally.
- Learn how we deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Engage at Microsoft.
How Microsoft does IT: Driving adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents across Microsoft
Speakers: Cadie Kneip and Stephan Kerametlian
Session description: Our team at Microsoft Digital led the first enterprise-scale deployment of Microsoft 365 Copilot, launching to more than 300,000 employees and vendors worldwide. Learn how the team drove adoption using change management strategies to encourage employees to thread Copilot into their daily work. Now we’re doing the same for agents across the enterprise. Learn best practices for accelerating adoption and maximizing value while guiding your own journey with Copilot and AI agents.
Cadie Kneip is a senior business program director and the Copilot Champs community lead in Microsoft Digital. She specializes in turning complex AI initiatives into confidence-building pathways that help employees thrive in an AI-powered workplace.
Stephan Kerametlian is a senior director in Microsoft Digital, where he leads our global change management efforts for Copilot and agents. He thrives on learning how people use AI and on finding ways to get more people to embrace the technology.
Sign up for the session
“How Microsoft does IT: Driving adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents across Microsoft.”
More on adoption and deployment of Copilot and agents
- Explore our guide on how we deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot internally.
- Find out how we’re skilling up for the future of work at Microsoft with Agent Launchpad.
Real-world adoption stories: A fireside chat with a key customer
Session description: Pull back the curtain on the customer experience with Copilot adoption. Join this fireside chat with a Microsoft customer to hear about lessons learned and the real impact that Copilot is delivering across their organization. You’ll glean practical insights you can apply immediately at your own company.
Speakers: Karuana Gatimu and Sam Crewdson
Karuana Gatimu is a director of Customer Advocacy – AI & Collaboration in Microsoft Digital and a solution architect driven by a passion for people, storytelling, and leadership. With 30 years of experience at the intersection of technology and human impact, she turns complex innovation into compelling narratives that help organizations adopt change and deliver business value.
Sam Crewdson, a principal product manager in Microsoft Digital, is passionate about turning user insights into product improvements. His work focuses on driving adoption of the latest SharePoint features and helping users take advantage of the power of both SharePoint and OneDrive. Working at the intersection of IT, users, feedback, and strategy, he translates real‑world business needs into collaborative experiences that scale.
Sign up for the session
“Real-world adoption stories: A fireside chat with a key customer.”
More insights on Copilot adoption
- Learn about how we’re tackling Microsoft 365 Copilot governance internally at Microsoft
- Check out our guide for deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot in five chapters.
- Read our executive-level guide covering our Copilot deployment.
Try it out
Related links
- Find out more about the 2026 Microsoft 365 Community Conference.
- See how we’re serving as Customer Zero at Microsoft in the era of AI.
- Read about Copilot Control System security and governance.
- Learn about deploying Microsoft Agent 365: How we’re extending our infrastructure to manage agents at Microsoft.
- Discover how the Employee Self-Service Agent helps employees quickly complete IT and HR tasks.
We’d like to hear from you!
