Below are all of the latest feature updates coming to Microsoft 365
Automated Security Assessments mapped to the CIS Controls
I am excited to announce the soft-launch of an automated tool, CloudCapsule, I’ve been working on over the past year that automates your M365 security assessments against the CIS Controls. I started CloudCapsule because I saw the need to streamline the assessments of Microsoft 365 tenants to a trusted standard like the CIS Controls. My goal is to help rise the tide of security in the space and enable MSPs with a tool that allows them to achieve better security while also helping them understand the why behind the policy configurations being put into place.
The tool not only performs automated evidence collection for the CIS Controls but it also detects tenant misconfiguration against security best practices. You can run a free assessment against a tenant so check it out! (Please note it does not work against M365 dev tenants)
Microsoft Teams
1. Live chat for small businesses
How this will affect your organization
Live chat will be available in all Microsoft 365 Business plans (Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium). Global admins and Teams admins will be able to configure the feature through the Teams Admin app (available in the Teams App Store). Other users in the organization will not see this functionality in Teams until you enable it.
Live chat features include:
- Customer chat integration in Teams: Website visitors can engage on the website and chat with the business team natively in Teams chat and channels
- Tailored for small businesses: Simplified features that address small business needs, including:
- Collecting website visitor contact information
- Connecting visitors to an available user in Teams chat by auto-assigning
- Reassigning or closing conversations right from Teams chat
- Posting customer requests and associated transcripts in Teams Channel
- Dashboard with all customer requests for a given timeframe
When will this happen:
mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025.
2. SMS for calling plans
How this will affect your organization
We will roll out SMS chat in calling plans for customers in the United States and Canada. This capability would enable customers to send and receive SMS natively in Teams. Admins can enable SMS for users who have calling plans. Users will start to see PSTN (public switched telephone network) contacts in various search areas to start a SMS chat in Teams.
When will this happen:
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.
3. New “Tag mentions” filter for the Activity feed
How this will affect your organization
Users will have a new Tag mentions filter in the Activity feed to see their tag mentions in their chat and channel messages.
When will this happen:
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.
4. Edit your display name in meetings
How this will affect your organization
In Microsoft Teams, while in a live meeting, participants will soon be able to edit their display name for the duration of the meeting. This name change is for the meeting duration only and does not affect a participant’s original name on their People card. The feature is off by default for all tenants. Admins can turn it on for their organization in the Teams admin center for all or selected tenant members. These members can then enable the feature in their private scheduled meetings.
If turned on for the tenant, a meeting organizer can turn the feature on for their meeting in Meeting options > Let people edit their display name. The feature is OFF by default in Meeting options and has to be enabled by meeting organizer.
When will this happen:
Early April 2025 (previously mid-March) and expect to complete by mid-April 2025
5. More predictable recording experience with Who keeps recording
How this will affect your organization
This feature provides an in-product message in the chat that displays the recording owner’s information, making it easier for participants to reach out to the correct recording owner when needed.
When will this happen:
early March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025.
6. Allow presenters to moderate Q&A
How this will affect your organization
Organizers of town halls and webinars will be able to select and assign presenters to also moderate the Q&A, allowing them to manage and publish questions asked during the event.
When will this happen:
Late February 2025 and expect to complete by early March 2025.
7. End Session for Attendees and Return Presenters to Green Room
How this will affect your organization
Organizers and presenters can now end the session with this new “End Event” button for town halls, webinars, and structured meetings. After selecting this button, attendees will see a message on stage stating that the session has concluded, and presenters will return to the Green Room.
When will this happen:
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.
8. Manage Teams Premium from a single place in the Teams admin center
How this will affect your organization
New feature that allows admins to discover, monitor, and manage Microsoft Teams Premium on a single page in the Teams admin center (TAC).
Before this rollout, admins navigate to multiple portals to manage licenses, view usage reports and manage settings.
After this rollout, admins will be able to:
- Manage licenses: Admins can view license information, assign licenses to users, monitor license utilization, and review and act on end user license requests.
- Monitor usage: Admins can track which features are being used through the Teams Premium usage report and identify opportunities to drive further adoption.
- Manage settings: Feature Advisor provides admins a single view of ALL settings along with the status on configuring and deploying Teams Premium features. It highlights any pending actions needed to fully utilize the premium features.
- Review your Teams Premium subscription: The new experience provides detailed information on Teams Premium licenses, such as the total count, assigned count, unassigned count, and license requests. It also allows administrators to assign licenses that have already been purchased from the Microsoft 365 Admin center.
When will this happen:
end of January 2025 and expect to complete by early February 2025.
9. Enable transcription policy by default
How this will affect your organization
We are updating our default policy settings for transcription for new tenants. Before this rollout, the setting was off by default. After this rollout, the setting will be on by default. This change applies to new global policies created for new tenants. Existing policies in the Teams admin center will not be changed; however, tenants that have not customized any part of their Teams meeting policy will be impacted.
When will this happen:
early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025.
Microsoft Entra ID
1. New Identity Secure Score recommendations in General Availability
How this will affect your organization
New Identity secure score recommendations are available which could positively or negatively impact your score. Check out the full announcement for the full list of added recommendations
Full Announcement: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/identity/new-identity-secure-score-recommendations-in-general-availability/4369133
Microsoft Intune
1. Update to Apps user interface experience in Intune
How this will affect your organization
This is an admin center UI update only. The updated Apps area includes:
- Scenario-focused navigation structure that brings monitoring in line with management workflows.
- Updated navigation naming to align with the Devices area, such as App protection polices will become Protection.
- A dedicated list of monitoring reports and key metrics and reports on the overview page.
- Platform specific navigation pivots that show menu items applicable to that platform.
- Consistency across list views to search, sort, and filter data.
Before
After:
When will this happen:
start in early February 2025 and enabled for all admins by the end of the month.
Microsoft Copilot
1. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat rolling out
How this will affect your organization
Enterprise-ready AI chat with agents for Entra account users (formerly known as Microsoft Copilot)—is now starting to roll out to customers. Copilot Chat is available at no additional cost for Entra account users with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Copilot Chat is also accessible on the web at m365copilot.com.
Full Announcement: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/01/15/copilot-for-all-introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-chat/
When will this happen?
GA
2. Video creation in Copilot Visual Creator powered by Clipchamp
How this will affect your organization
Clipchamp brings video creation skills to Visual Creator in Copilot. Simply type your prompt, and Clipchamp will generate a bespoke script, source high-quality stock footage, and assemble a video project complete with music, voiceover, text overlays, and transitions. This provides you with a first draft, which you can open in the Clipchamp app to continue editing. You can then export the video to mp4, which will be saved in OneDrive and count towards your OneDrive quota, ready for sharing. This feature is ideal for creating informational videos, video messaging, how-to guides, demos, and video presentations. Available on the Microsoft 365 Copilot plan. The video creation skill does not generate new video clips, animations, images or audio. We use content in existing Microsoft 365 service asset libraries (enterprise compliant stock media), to bring your video to life
When will this happen?
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-March 2025.
3. Take notes in Microsoft OneNote directly in the workflow from the canvas
How this will affect your organization
If users frequently take notes in OneNote, they may spend time manually preparing meeting agendas, capturing notes during meetings, or gathering relevant information about projects to stay effective and productive at work. With the new Take notes with Copilot feature, users can now use a natural language prompt editor directly on the canvas to pull relevant information from their Microsoft 365 documents, messages, and emails into their notes.
Full Announcement: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/gather-and-create-notes-with-copilot-in-your-personal-onenote-notebooks-directly/4294053
When will this happen?
mid-January 2025 and expect to complete late March 2025.
4. Select Microsoft SharePoint sites when writing prompts
How this will affect your organization
When writing Copilot prompts in the chat box, users will be able to use CIQ to search for and select Microsoft SharePoint sites.
When will this happen?
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.
5. Select Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft OneDrive folders when writing prompts
How this will affect your organization
When writing Copilot prompts in the chat box, users will be able to use CIQ to select Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft OneDrive folders using the existing Attach cloud files icon.
When will this happen?
mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.
6. Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management: Separate retention policies for Copilot and AI apps
How this will affect your organization
This new feature provides the capability for admins to configure separate retention policies for various Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI apps. As a result, admins will have the option to configure policies that can delete Copilot and Generative AI interactions faster. Organizations will now have controls to configure different retention policies for Microsoft Teams Chat, Copilot, Copilot studio, and ChatGPT Enterprise.
When will this happen?
mid-February 2025 (previously late January) and expect to complete by late February 2025 (previously mid-February).
Microsoft Admin
1. Microsoft Defender for Office: Introducing “Threat classification” for email
How this will affect your organization
**REQUIRES Defender For Office 365 P2 License**
We will introduce Threat classification details to enhance your ability to understand the intent behind email attacks. This update will allow you to integrate Threat classification information across key experiences, enabling better detection, analysis, and response. The Threat classification system utilizes large language models (LLMs), machine learning (ML) models, and other advanced techniques to understand the intent behind threats, providing a more accurate classification. As the system evolves, you can expect new Threat classifications to be added to keep pace with emerging attack methods.
When will this happen:
early January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025.
2. Microsoft defender for Office 365: Tool tips and pointers in the Quarantine portal
How this will affect your organization
We are introducing tool tips and guidance in-product to help enlighten admins about the Quarantine feature and to further eliminate the need to raise support requests for such guidance.
This guidance can be accessed by clicking on the Resolution to common issues on the Quarantine portal.
When will this happen:
GA