TL:DR As a Cisco and Microsoft leading partner, it's great to see that, yet again, both Microsoft and Cisco remain Leaders in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for collaboration platforms with Microsoft taking the overlap top spot and with Zoom and Ring Central still hot on their heels! The decision between them is no longer about feature lists alone; it’s about which vendor best maps to the customer’s identity, networking, device, compliance, and investment across the rest of the technology stack.

On October 14th 2025, Windows 10 officially reached end of support. If you still have a PC/Laptop running Windows 10, it will not suddenly stop working - but unless you have enabled (consumer) or purchased (commercial) extended security updates, there will be no more security updates, no more feature improvements, and no AI innovation. If your device can support Windows 11…

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Cisco has again been recognised as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Wireless LAN - with Cisco "helping organisations rise to this moment by delivering smarter, more secure networks in this era of AI". For any of us who work closely with Cisco technologies or who are involved in infrastrcuture deployments, I'm sure you'll agree that this recognition isn’t surprising.

As of yesterday, 14 October 2025, Windows 10 has officially reached its end of support. Of course, Windows 10 will not just stop working, but after yesterdays monthly security updates, there will be no more unless.... Commercial Organisations pay for Extended Security Updates (ESU) or Home/Consumers, agree to "cloud back-up" which will give them 12 more months or Security updates until October 2026.

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AI tools being used in the workplace is no longer a question of if but how and what. The question is what if you could allow this in a safe and controlled way without compromising security and compliance and without leaking copirate data.? What is BYO-Copilot to Work? Whether your organisation invests and has deployed AI tools for employees or not, your people are already experimenting or using daily AI tools to boost their productivity, search and get things done at home but also at work, often outside the guardrails of IT.

Microsoft Copilot development just doesn't sleep... This time they have just announced "agent mode" which they claim could be game changer in the way we (humans) work with AI agents (Copilot). Called "Agent Mode" this latest update marks is not just about new features, but a significant shift in how we interact with Office apps through Copilot.

Why agents need a new foundation Over the last year, developers have been experimenting with AI agents in every imaginable form. Agents are not just chatbots or copilots — they are autonomous software components that can reason about goals, call tools and APIs, collaborate with other agents, and adapt dynamically. Whether it’s a retrieval agent […]

Warching this year from the sofa, #Cisco #WebexOne showcased just how far their open ecosystem, agentic AI and plarform integrarion has come. This is my short reflection from the Webex One 2025 keynote.

The responses and workflows you get back from AI is only as good as the content it can reason over or leverage. If your content (data) is not in good shape and healthy (relevant, up-to-date etc) then it "isn’t ready" meaning your experience of AI will be "sub optimal" at best. This is where Microsoft's upcoming SharePoint’s Knowledge Agent comes it.

Microsoft has started to broaden their AI horizons by adding their first (not Open AI) model into Copilot. Microsoft are integrating Anthropic’s Claude models into Microsoft 365 Copilot which marks a significant pivot from their exclusive OpenAI-centric approach. Microsoft are also working on their models which we already see on Copilot Plus PCs which will at some point make their way to Copilot.

Cisco yesterday announced what they referred to as a "significant milestone" in Europe’s journey toward digital sovereignty. Their Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio is a comprehensive, air-gapped solution designed to give European organisations full control over their digital environments - from infrastructure, through collaboration, through to data. This will be available from the end of this month (September 2025…

Microsoft have made their monthly-updated Power Platform Licensing Deck publicly available. Now, you might think this is not worthy of a blog post, but for many organisations, this information has always been hidden away meaning organisations had to talk to Microsoft or their licensing / support partner to "understand" how Power Platform is licensed against a bunch of different scenarios. …

It's back!  Starting November 1, 2025, Microsoft Teams is officially "back" in the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise suites globally, but the choice to have it not sit with organisations and not Microsoft! After years of regulatory issues, stalls, conceats and negotiations as well as regional licensing inconsistencies, Microsoft has reached a landmark agreement with the European Commission…

Microsoft Copilot is adding with two new major updates (this time for the consumer experience) that bring it closer to the more personalised AI experience users have been asking and waiting for. Copilot Memory Management One of the biggest asks for the consumer version of Copilot has been its lack of persistent memory, something that ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot have both had for a little while.

Microsoft is in the process of Copilotizing Business / Enterprise versions of your Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote) even for users that don't have a Microsoft 365 Copilot License. Microsoft say that "These updates help make Copilot your true personal AI assistant for work: Whether you’re drafting a document, analyzing a spreadsheet, or catching up on email, Copilot is right there, ready to answer questions, create content, spark ideas, and automate tasks.

Microsoft has confirmed in a blog that they are streamlining its Copilot add-on portfolio by incoprating their specific role-based solutions into the core Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. Starting mid-October, Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance will no longer carry the additional $20 US per user/month premium, making advanced AI capabilities more accessible to businesses of all sizes What’s Changing with Copilot Pricing…

Microsoft (after months of testing) is launching native eSignature support in Microsoft Word. Why? To streamline document approvals without leaving your document and without needing to pay for expensive/third party eSignature tools. eSignature Support in Word Microsoft Word has quietly gained a feature that is aimed to save multiple email chains, PDF exports, and “please print, sign, scan, and send back” headaches.

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