Here’s What Happened at Microsoft Inspire 2023

Last week was the annual Microsoft Inspire conference held for Microsoft partners worldwide. At Inspire, Microsoft rolls out the newest product launches and updates that will impact how we work for years to come. Here are 7 announcements from Microsoft Inspire 2023 you should know about.

1. Microsoft 365 Copilot Updates

The long-awaited Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing is here! The launch timeline? Kind of.

Microsoft announced that Microsoft 365 Copilot will cost $30 per user per month as an add-on to their business SKUs, including Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Premium, E3 and E5. Microsoft believes the capabilities Copilot brings are well worth the cost. As for launch date, no further details were provided as to when Copilot will become generally available yet, but the expectation is sometime in late Q3.

2. New Bing Chat Enterprise

To follow up from the new AI-powered Bing experience released earlier this year, Bing Chat Enterprise is tailored for the workplace, and goes a step further to include commercial data protection. Bing Chat Enterprise is in preview now and is included in Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium. Soon it will be available outside of Microsoft 365 licensing for $5 per user, per month.

3. Process Mining in Power Platform

On August 1, Power Automate will be able mine your workflows to identify obstacles and how to clear them. According to Microsoft Power Automate process mining will enable organizations to, “Get insights for process improvement by capturing rich visual process maps, analyzing end-to-end processes with AI-powered root cause analysis, and unlocking hierarchical views with interactive drilldowns.” Included in the new process mining capabilities are templates where after just a few selections you can start mining your processes for insights.

4. Sales Copilot

Microsoft made several sales automation announcements at Inspire. One of the standouts is Microsoft Sales Copilot. Microsoft is integrating AI (Artificial Intelligence) into sellers’ daily activities and across Office apps with the objective of boosting productivity and personalization in customer interactions. And the cool part is it is a standalone product that works with not just Dynamics 365 Sales, but also Salesforce and other CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems.

5. Azure Migrate Enhancements

Organizations running soon to be end-of-support Windows Server 2012 R2 can now leverage Azure Migrate to move apps and databases to Windows Server 2016 or 2019 in Azure. Azure Migrate is a free tool for performing an Azure migration and includes discovery, assessment, business case analysis, planning, migration, and modernization capabilities.

6. Promotions and Discounts

Several promotions and discounts were rolled out at Inspire. Here are a few notable offers to take advantage of:

• 30% off Microsoft Teams Premium through the end of 2023.
• 15% off Microsoft 365 E3 for existing Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers purchasing in CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) NCE (New Commerce Experience).
• 15% off Microsoft 365 Business Premium for new Microsoft 365 customers purchasing in CSP NCE.
• 20% off Windows 365 Enterprise for existing Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers purchasing in CSP NCE.

7. For Partners: Solution Assessment as a Service offerings

Microsoft announced a new Solution Assessment as a Service (SAaaS) offering that assists Microsoft partners to provide data driven recommendations to support their customers’ cloud migration. Each Solution Assessment is a Microsoft funded engagement that intends to accelerate cloud adoption while helping customers maximize their investments in Azure, Microsoft 365, and cloud security.

If you noticed a common theme from most of these highlights, you would be right. AI is here and Microsoft is all in. You can catch up on all the Inspire keynotes and announcements here.

Have a Microsoft-related question or project in the works? ProArch is a top Microsoft partner ready to help maximize your Microsoft investment in ways that drive innovation and growth. Reach out to us.