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Dani Kahil breaks down the growing complexity of Copilot and AI agents in the Microsoft ecosystem and how practitioners can make sense of it. The conversation focuses on practical mental models, minimum viable agents, and real-world use cases, including document-heavy processes in higher education. The core insight is that successful AI adoption depends less on tools and more on clear roles, scoped responsibilities, feedback loops, and realistic expectations of non-deterministic systems.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/813

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to distinguish between Copilot experiences, products, and build tools across Microsoft platforms
• Why diagrams and visual models help reduce AI and Copilot confusion for teams and leaders
• How to define a minimum viable agent to prevent scope creep
• Why treating agents like junior co-workers improves outcomes
• How feedback loops and incremental task expansion make agents useful in production

✅ Highlights

• “It took me a lot of time to kind of process the information.”
• “I always like visuals and kind of diagrams.”
• “There are so many different versions of the different copilots.”
• “These are completely separate products.”
• “I started looking at them as roles and job functions.”
• “Treat your agent like a co-worker.”
• “In two minutes, you can build an agent, and it’s useless.”
• “Start with a very simple instruction at the beginning.”
• “It will never be 100%. That’s the nature of generative AI.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Diagram to download: https://danikahil.com/microsoft-copilots-and-ai-agents-ecosystem-diagram/
• Youtube video of my walkthrough of the diagram: https://youtu.be/nZ8g11YthYI
• Microsoft Power Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform
• Azure AI Foundry: https://azure.microsoft.com/products/ai-foundry
• Windows Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-11?wincampaign=Copilot

✅Keywords
copilot, ai agents, power platform, microsoft 365, copilot studio, agent builder, azure foundry, power apps, automation, generative ai, minimum viable agent, ai adoption

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

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If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

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In this episode of AI Unfiltered, Kristen Perdue explains why AI adoption fails when leaders treat it like standard software instead of a fundamental shift in how organisations operate. The conversation focuses on executive mindset, cultural alignment, and communication gaps that quietly derail AI initiatives. Kristen shares how to prioritise the right use cases, close AI literacy gaps, and re‑engineer processes so AI drives growth rather than amplifying broken workflows.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/812

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Why AI adoption is a leadership and culture challenge, not an IT rollout
• How executive misalignment undermines AI strategy and execution
• How to prioritise AI use cases based on real operational bottlenecks
• Why overconfidence in AI skills creates risk across organisations
• When process re‑engineering must happen before automation

✅ Highlights

• “AI is a different way of doing business. It’s not really a tool.”
• “It doesn’t work like software. It is a completely new way of doing business.”
• “Most approached it going, well, should I roll out AI?”
• “We started throwing darts at a dart board anywhere it landed.”
• “AI multiplies good and it multiplies bad.”
• “Only 21% of the companies deploying AI even touched re‑engineering their processes.”
• “That lack of communication is the reason initiatives fail.”
• “People are confident, but they score 40 out of 100.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Generative AI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_artificial_intelligence
• Process re‑engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_reengineering
• McKinsey study on AI and process re‑engineering: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai-how-organizations-are-rewiring-to-capture-value
• Section AI literacy report: https://www.sectionai.com/ai/the-ai-proficiency-report

✅Keywords
ai adoption, executive alignment, ai strategy, generative ai, ai literacy, change management, process re-engineering, business transformation, leadership mindset, ai governance, organisational culture, applied ai

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

🎙 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/811

This episode explores how organisations can move from AI curiosity to real, everyday value through the practical adoption work of Carina de Vries. Drawing on hands-on experience, it reframes AI from a tool conversation to a problem-first mindset. The focus is on building trust, improving quality, and creating small habits that stick. Listeners will learn why one-off training fails, how behaviour change really happens, and how to design an AI adoption journey that fits daily work rather than disrupting it.

👉 What you’ll learn

• How to shift AI conversations from tools to real user problems
• Why small, repeatable habits matter more than broad AI training
• How to design an adoption journey that builds trust and confidence
• Ways AI can improve both productivity and quality of work
• How to help people move from experimentation to daily AI use

✅ Highlights

• “I discovered ChatGPT and it helped me get back to work in just an hour a day.”
• “It’s just another tool in the toolbox, so what do you want it to deliver to you?”
• “We talk too much about the tool instead of a daily problem a user can relate to.”
• “People are already in a mindset that the current tool they’re using is better.”
• “It’s about building the habit, not just doing a one-off training.”
• “Make it small, because we tend to tell everything about the product all at once.”
• “If you can continue it another 30 days, then it’s going to be a habit.”
• “I wouldn’t know what to do without it because it’s saving me so many hours a week.”

🧰 Mentioned

• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com
• Microsoft Copilot:https://copilot.microsoft.com
• M365 Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-copilot
• Copilot Chat: https://copilot.cloud.microsoft
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio
• Gamma.app: https://gamma.app
• Microsoft Teams: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams
• Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com
• Ignite: https://ignite.microsoft.com
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
ai adoption, copilot, chatgpt, user adoption, habit building, productivity, ai literacy, change management, microsoft 365, prompts, workplace ai, digital transformation

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith