Microsoft Teams Insider

Adam Jacobs, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, works in IC3—the real-time communications platform team behind Microsoft Teams. With four years at Microsoft and a decade at Polycom before that, Adam shares insights from the backend of one of the world's largest communications platforms.

• How IC3 supports Microsoft Teams at massive scale, including cost considerations for new features and AI capabilities

• The current state of Cloud Video Interop and why it remains important for some enterprise customers

• Moving transcription to new platforms to support AI and M365 Copilot strategy

• Real-time processing challenges for AI features, including face and voice recognition technologies

• Adam's journey from IT director to Polycom to Microsoft, and the value of understanding both customer and partner perspectives

Thanks to Pure IP, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Andrew Wigmore, Teams Product Owner at defence contractor BAE Systems, shares insights from his 40-year career and the company's journey to Microsoft Teams and the cloud.

• Migrating 45,000 phone numbers from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams in a single morning

• Managing 65,000 E5 users and doing over a third of a billion minutes of Teams audio annually

• The cultural shift from on-premises infrastructure to evergreen cloud services at a defence company

• Rolling out Microsoft Teams Rooms across 180 meeting spaces, including executive home offices

• Operator Connect telephony across 11 countries, including challenging regions

• Cloud adoption, security, and export control requirements in defence

Thanks to Ribbon, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

MVP Tom Arbuthnot shares all the latest Microsoft Teams and Copilot news and announcements in less than 15 minutes for February 2026.

Many thanks to Neat for their continued support.

PowerPoint Deck
Enhanced M365 Copilot Memory​
Copilot Chat (free) in Outlook with all emails and Calendar​
Ilya Bukshteyn's ISE keynote​
Microsoft Teams Licensing Changes April 2026​
Places Roadmap Updates​
Express voice enrolment​
Meet App Becomes Events App​
Teams Live Events and API are retiring​
Multiple phone numbers on Teams Phone Devices​
Transitioning Teams Android Device Management​
Events
Useful Links:
Briefings:
Real AI Use Cases in the Contact Centre with Luware Nimbus - Costs, Risks and Benefits - Marcel Gaufroid, Head of Sales – EU, at Luware​
Microsoft Places in 2026: APIs, Desk Booking, and Copilot Context - Brennan McReynolds, Product Strategy Lead for Microsoft Places​
Pure IP's Platform Strategy that Simplifies Enterprise Communications - Adnon Dow, Chief Strategy Officer at Pure IP​
AI Voice Agents - Sean Keegan, Developer Evangelist for Azure Communication Services at Microsoft​
Teams Insider Podcasts
The role AV Distribution play in Microsoft Teams Rooms with Jenny Hicks, Technical Director at Midwich UK​
Logitech's New Rally AI Cameras and Multi-Camera Microsoft Teams Rooms with Henry Levak, VP of Product for Logitech for Business​
Microsoft Places in 2026: APIs, Desk Booking, and Copilot Context Brennan McReynolds, Product Strategy Lead for Microsoft Places​
Microsoft Teams Rooms and Phone Journey at Toyota Financial Services JT Elliott, Unified Communications and Collaboration Manager, at Toyota Financial Services​​

Mahendra Sekaran, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, leads product management and data science for IC3 (Intelligent Conversations and Communication Cloud)—the core communications platform powering Microsoft Teams.

• IC3's role as the backbone for Microsoft Teams, supporting 320 million monthly active users and 26 million PSTN users

• How AI is transforming internal productivity at Microsoft, from daily briefings to real-time data insights

• Microsoft's vision for AI-native phone experiences and the future of intelligent call handling

• Why 2026 is the year of scaling agentic AI, with Microsoft Teams evolving into a hub where agents interact with humans

• How AI tooling is changing product management and engineering, from coding agents to AIOps for incident response

• The potential for granular personalisation in user experiences based on AI-driven insights

Thanks to AudioCodes, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.

Jenny Hicks, Technical Director at Midwich UK, joins the podcast to share insights on AV distribution and the evolving Microsoft Teams Rooms landscape.

• What distribution is and the value it brings to the Microsoft Teams Rooms ecosystem

• How the pandemic accelerated UC adoption and shaped hardware preferences

• The rise of all-in-one devices and why refresh cycles have slowed

• Sustainability, ESG reporting and the case for modular systems

• Why Microsoft certification matters and how hardware choices affect long-term support

• AI readiness and future-proofing meeting room investments

Thanks to Logitech, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud.