Microsoft Ignite 2025: New AI systems aim to reshape how organisations build, govern and scale intelligence

Microsoft is doubling down on its vision of AI as a core pillar of enterprise infrastructure, announcing a wave of platforms and tools at Ignite designed to integrate intelligence into every layer of work. Rather than treating AI as a final add-on, the company says the next era of digital transformation requires rethinking how organisations use AI from the datacentre to frontline workflows.

The company’s goal is for enterprises to evolve into what it calls Frontier Firms, where AI drives creativity, decision-making and continuous innovation. Much of this year’s Ignite announcements revolve around embedding intelligence deep inside organisational systems, enabling workers and AI agents to collaborate more naturally and securely.

Microsoft describes its approach through three key themes.

AI woven into everyday workflow
Microsoft 365 Copilot continues to take centre stage, now strengthened by Work IQ, an intelligence layer that learns how individuals and teams operate. Work IQ draws on emails, files, meetings, chats and workflow patterns to help Copilot surface insights and anticipate the next useful action.

Developers can now access Work IQ through APIs, allowing businesses to build agents tailored to their specific internal processes.

Intelligence everywhere inside the organisation
Microsoft says frontline workers often understand operational problems better than anyone, which is why its new agent-building tools focus on accessibility.

Fabric IQ and Foundry IQ work together to give AI agents a clearer understanding of business context. Fabric IQ unifies analytical, time-series and location data with operational systems, creating a real-time view of how an organisation runs. Foundry IQ builds on this by offering a managed knowledge system that grounds agents in data from Microsoft 365, Fabric, custom applications and the public web.

The Microsoft Agent Factory programme brings all of these elements together, offering a single plan for organisations to build, deploy and scale their own AI agents. It also includes guidance from Microsoft engineers and structured training for teams.

Governance and oversight for a new era of automation
With estimates suggesting 1.3 billion AI agents will be running business workflows by 2028, Microsoft says organisation-wide visibility is essential.

Microsoft Agent 365 provides tools to observe, manage and secure AI agents, whether built on Microsoft platforms or third-party systems. It equips them with protections from Defender, Entra, Purview and Foundry Control Plane, and integrates them into Microsoft 365’s admin and productivity environment.

Microsoft says this unified approach helps avoid a future where businesses face a new form of shadow IT created by unmonitored AI agents.