Episode 402 – Declarative Agents with Andrew Connell
Welcome to Episode 402 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In today's episode, we’re thrilled to have Andrew Connell (AC) joining us once again. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll recognize AC as a repeat guest and one of the early voices who encouraged us to launch this podcast. In this episode, we’re diving deep into the world of Microsoft Copilot agents from a bit of a developer’s perspective . We expand on insights from Episode 400 and helping us understand some additional intricacies of how Copilot works under the hood. We’ll break down the different billing models and some limitations in what they provide and why having at least one $30 license is key to unlocking the semantic index. We’ll also explore how Copilot uses semantic indexing to ground responses in your organization’s data, and how it respects user permissions through access control lists. But it’s not all smooth sailing—AC also walks us through some of the current limitations, like missing metadata and large file indexing. He also shares a potential workaround using Azure AI Search for those needing more comprehensive coverage. Finally, we this weeks Microsoft Build Conference and tease a potential future episode where ACw will return to talk about custom Copilot development.
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Andrew Connell
LinkedIn
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BlueSky
Newsletter: The Full Stack Dev's Microsoft 365 Playbook
Podcast: Code. Deploy. Go Live. - codedeploygo.live
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Show Notes
Episode 400 – Microsoft 365 Copilot Declarative Agents and Copilot Studio Agent Builder
Create Copilot agents in Microsoft 365 Business Chat and Teams
Grounding an agent to specific public websites
Semantic indexing for Microsoft 365 Copilot
Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot
About the sponsors
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33:55
Episode 401 – Zero Trust in Microsoft 365
Welcome to Episode 401 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben Stegink and Scott Hoag dive into the intricacies of implementing Zero Trust principles within Microsoft 365 environments. They explore the foundational aspects of Zero Trust, starting with identity management and the importance of Entra ID. They also cover:
Identity Management: The critical role of identity in Zero Trust, including MFA, password policies, and least privilege access.
Endpoint Security: Strategies for verifying and managing devices, including compliance checks and the balance between corporate and BYOD devices.
Networking: The complexities of securing network traffic in a SaaS environment, including conditional access policies and the emerging Global Secure Access feature.
Application Management: The role of Defender for Cloud in monitoring shadow IT and ensuring data security across various applications.
Data Protection: Techniques for safeguarding sensitive information, including DLP policies and the upcoming network-level DLP capabilities.
Join us as we unpack these topics and provide practical insights for enhancing your organization's security posture with Zero Trust.
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Show Notes
Zero Trust deployment for technology pillars
Securing identity with Zero Trust
Secure endpoints with Zero Trust
Secure endpoints with Zero Trust
Secure applications with Zero Trust
Secure data with Zero Trust
Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment
About the sponsors
Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!
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39:09
Episode 400 – Microsoft 365 Copilot Declarative Agents and Copilot Studio Agent Builder
Welcome to Episode 400 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben and Scott explore how IT professionals and developers can leverage Microsoft 365 Copilot’s declarative agents and the Copilot Studio Agent Builder to enhance productivity and streamline workflows within their organizations. Declarative agents allow you to define specific tasks and workflows, enabling Copilot to assist users more effectively. With the Copilot Studio Agent Builder, creating these agents becomes a streamlined process, even for those with minimal coding experience. Listen and learn how to build, deploy, and manage these agents, licensing considerations, and best practices to maximize their impact in your organization.
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Show Notes
Use the Copilot Studio Agent Builder to Build Agents
Copilot Studio Agent Builder Templates
Publish and Manage Copilot Studio Agent Builder Agents
Build and Install the Declarative Agent in Copilot Studio
Copilot Studio Licensing Information
About the sponsors
Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!
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36:20
Episode 399 – Azure Infrastructure as Code with Greg Suttie
Welcome to Episode 399 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, we bring you another interview from the MVP Summit. In this episode, we were able to meet up with long time listener Greg Suttie and talk about his path to becoming an MVP as well as some of what he's been working on in Azure. We cover everything he been doing with Infrastructure as code around Bicep, Azure Verified Modules, Azure Bicep Configuration files and more!
Greg Suttie Greg is an Azure MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer.
He also a passionate developer with 25 years experience, mainly with Microsoft Technologies and background is a .NET developer since the start of .NET. – He was one of the first 50 people in the world to become an MCSD developer back in the day. Recently awarded the Outstanding contribution to the Microsoft Community UK Winner and then the Outstanding contribution to the Microsoft Community Global Winner both for 2023.
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Show Notes
Greg Suttie - MVP Profile
Greg Suttie's blog
Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)
What is IaC
What is Bicep?
Comparing JSON and Bicep for templates
Quickstart: Integrate Bicep with Azure Pipelines
Azure Verified Modules
Azure Verified Modules
What is the Azure Well-Architected Framework?
Azure Quick Review Docs
Azure Quick Review Github
Azure Bicep Parameters
Bicep Configuration Files
Export a resource from the Azure Portal
Visual Studio Code
GitHub Copilot
About the sponsors
Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!
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31:04
Episode 398 – PowerShell and Intune with Harm Veenstra
Welcome to Episode 398 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode Ben meets up with Harm Veenstra at the annual Microsoft MVP Summit. They chat a bit about Harm experience as an MVP and his path to becoming an MVP. Then the move into a few technologies near and dear to Harm, PowerShell and Microsoft Intune. They start off talking about some of the ways Harm uses PowerShell and some of his favorite scripts. They talk about how he uses PowerShell with Intune, in particular using it with remediation scripts.
Harm Veenstra
Harm started working at 18, from a ServiceDesk employee to a workspace and system engineer at a large insurance firm in the Netherlands. 1996, those were the days! After working there for almost 11 years, Harm had different system engineer jobs and learned much about Citrix, Cisco, VMWare, storage, and Microsoft. Currently, He's employed at NEXXT (https://www.nexxt.one) as a Consultant, mainly in Endpoint Management, but He does anything Microsoft 😉 (Client, Server, 365, and Azure).
And… He became a Microsoft MVP in March 2024 in PowerShell!
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Show Notes
PowerShell is fun w/ Harm
Connect with Harm on LinkedIn
Harm's MVP Profile
Microsoft PowerShell documentation
Microsoft Intune documentation
Intune Remediations
Microsoft Graph PowerShell
About the sponsors
Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!