This week, we sit down with Rick Van Rousselt, Microsoft 365 MVP and managing partner at Advantive Belgium, for an honest look at what's actually working with applied AI in customer environments and what's quietly failing. We dig into the agentic shift across Agent 365, Entra Agent ID, Microsoft Agent Framework, and AI Foundry; the build-versus-buy line now that Microsoft is shipping agents into every product; and why the wave of Copilot rollouts is finally winding down. (00:00) - Intro and catc...
May 27, 2026•44 min•Ep. 344
In this episode, we explore MCP servers - the open Model Context Protocol that allows AI assistants like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT to connect to live tools and data instead of relying on outdated training data. We discuss what MCP servers are, why they are important, and review our favorite MCP servers for working with Azure. We'll also share some personal favorites! (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:48) - Show content starts. Show links - Microsoft Learn MCP Server - Azure DevOps M...
May 20, 2026•39 min•Ep. 343
Microsoft Build 2026 marks the biggest format shift in nearly a decade - moving out of Seattle to a 2,500-seat Fort Mason venue in San Francisco with a deliberate "no fluff" pivot toward AI developers, technical leaders, and enterprise architects. In this episode, we unpack what to expect across the six confirmed tracks - plus where we think Microsoft will double down on Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and agent governance. Whether you're flying to San Francisco or planning your livestream strategy fro...
May 13, 2026•34 min•Ep. 342
The Foundry Toolkit for Visual Studio Code - formerly the AI Toolkit - is Microsoft's answer to fragmented AI development workflows, bringing model selection, prompt iteration, agent building, evaluation, and production tracing into a single VS Code extension. In this episode, we walk through the full feature surface. Whether you're picking your first frontier model or shipping a hosted agent to Microsoft Foundry, this is the episode for you! (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:55) - Show conte...
May 06, 2026•30 min•Ep. 341
In this episode, we unpack nine months of lessons from Pons.io's full rebuild around agentic AI - cutting engineering outsourcing entirely, replacing HubSpot and Salesforce with an internal CRM built in seven days, and shipping dramatically more product on roughly half the staffing cost. We dig into what worked, what bit them along the way, and the practical mechanics of steering an agentic workforce with AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and Copilot instructions. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:20) - ...
Apr 29, 2026•39 min•Ep. 340
In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (06:14) - Show content starts. Show links - ALZ for SMB - GA: Smart Tier for Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage - Public Preview: Assessment of file shares hosted on servers to Azure Files - GA: Azure av...
Apr 22, 2026•34 min•Ep. 339
In this week's episode, we take a look at Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0, which has been generally available since early April. What is it, and why and how can you use it? We reflect on previous SDKs for building agents, how they relate to Copilot Studio-based and Foundry agents, and how to get started with them. Also, we share experiences using this for a real-agent solution. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (05:10) - Show content starts. Show links - microsoft/agent-framework (GitHub) - The age...
Apr 15, 2026•40 min•Ep. 338
In this episode, we reflect on Microsoft certifications and what value they provide. It's been a while since we last looked at these, and plenty has happened - what's new, what's retired, and what's useful in 2026? We also reflect on the usefulness of certifications for juniors and seniors. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:10) - Show content starts. Show links - Certification Poster - New AI business solutions credentials - Certification updates - Give us feedback!...
Apr 08, 2026•34 min•Ep. 337
In this episode, we look at Microsoft Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID. What are these new capabilities, and why should you care? We dissect them both, in contrast with agentic engineering, vibe coding, and the growing needs of governing agents. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:52) - Show content starts. Show links - What is Entra Agent ID? - What is Agent 365? - Give us feedback!...
Apr 01, 2026•31 min•Ep. 336
In this episode, we take a deeper look at Defender for Cloud and Cloud Security Posture Management. We reflect on what this is all about, what you can do, and how you should approach the capabilities as part of CSPM. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (02:42) - Show content starts. Show links - What is Defender CSPM - Give us feedback!...
Mar 25, 2026•31 min•Ep. 335
In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:43) - Show content starts. Show links - Entra ID-based identities for Azure Blob Storage SFTP - GA: Draft & Deploy on Azure Firewall - Microsoft 365 E7 (and Agent 365) - Azure Skills Plugin - D...
Mar 18, 2026•29 min•Ep. 334
In this episode, we look at the newly released Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark v2, which is now in preview. What is it, why should you care - and what changed since v1? We take it for a spin, discuss aspects of governance and regulatory compliance, and how to apply them in practice. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:57) - Show content starts. Show links - MCSB v2 - Give us feedback!...
Mar 11, 2026•30 min•Ep. 333
In this episode, we take a focused look at Startup-Scale Landing Zones. We've previously discussed Enterprise-scale Landing Zones and how the default model from the Cloud Adoption Framework is the usual approach for new deployments. SSLZ is an opinionated approach that is better suited to smaller environments. We talk about the pros, cons, differences, and how to get started. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:51) - Show content starts. Show links - Startup-Scale Landing Zone (GitHub) - Nice i...
Mar 04, 2026•31 min•Ep. 332
In this episode, we're not diving deep into a single feature of Azure - instead, we'll talk and share our insights on how to build a career working with Microsoft security. What should you know? What's relevant? What's less relevant? What are the core skills you should have? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:51) - Show content starts. Show links - No links this week :) - Give us feedback!...
Feb 25, 2026•51 min•Ep. 331
In this episode, we take a look at the transition from "vibe-coding" to shipping verifiable, production-grade AI applications. This is the critical shift from relying on "gut feel" and prompt tinkering to implementing rigorous audit trails, versioning, and security controls. We discuss why many AI pilots fail due to a lack of explainability, the specific risks of privilege expansion and data leakage in agentic workflows, and also outline how to use Microsoft Foundry/Azure AI Studio to operationa...
Feb 18, 2026•40 min•Ep. 330
In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:30) - Show content starts. Show links - Preview: Virtual Network Routing Appliance - Claude and Codex on Agent HQ (Github Copilot) - Disabling NTLM by default - What's new in Microsoft Sentinel - G...
Feb 11, 2026•19 min•Ep. 329
In this episode, we take a look at the Unified Tenant Configuration Management APIs, or UTCM. This is a set of capabilities that allow you to monitor and extract tenant configuration for automated and code-based monitoring and management. We discuss why you would use these, how they work, and also try them out by building tooling around the APIs. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:13) - Show content starts. Show links - UTCM APIs - Jussi's vibe-coded tooling on GitHub - Give us feedback!...
Feb 04, 2026•35 min•Ep. 328
In this episode, we take a look at Windows Backup for Organizations. What's the capability, and why should you use it? What's required, and anything that's missing from it? We discuss backups in general, also, and provide insights on what you should back up. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:30) - Show content starts. Show links - Windows Backup for Organizations - LEGO Arcade Machine (40805) - Give us feedback!...
Jan 28, 2026•26 min•Ep. 327
In this episode, we dissect the newly refreshed Well-Architected Framework guidance on building AI workloads. What is AI, actually? The guidance is organized into sections, and we walk through each one, sharing our insights and thoughts. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:26) - Show content starts. Show links - Google Gemini - AI Workload guidance in Well-Architected Framework - Reference architectures - Give us feedback!...
Jan 21, 2026•41 min•Ep. 326
In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding the scope beyond just Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and similar Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:45) - Show content starts. Show links - Update: Retirement date for default outbound access has been extended - GA: Tenant-owned Domain Impersonation for Teams messaging - Preview: Tenant-to-t...
Jan 14, 2026•25 min•Ep. 325
In this episode, we take a look at the brand new Microsoft Security Dashboard for AI. We initially spotted this during Microsoft Ignite 2025, and have been eagerly waiting for it to become available. And here it is! We talk about the what, how, and why of this new capability. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (02:40) - Show content starts. Show links - Microsoft Security Dashboard for AI - Fitness tests that Jussi is working on - part 1 , part 2 (in Finnish) - Give us feedback!...
Jan 07, 2026•28 min•Ep. 324
In this episode, we take a look at Azure networking topologies from the ground up. What options do we have for building enterprise-scale architectures, and when should we choose one over another? We discuss our own experiences, and also the stuff we seemingly do not know enough about. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:59) - Show content starts. Show links - Define an Azure network topology - Traditional Azure networking topology (Hub and Spoke) - Virtual WAN network topology (Managed) - Give ...
Dec 31, 2025•39 min•Ep. 323
In this episode, we dive deeper into Azure Trusted Signing, and how it can help with signing your binaries. Why should you care? What are the tools today and in the future, and how to get this done right? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:01) - Show content starts. Show links - Signtool - Introduction to code signing - Trusted Signing - Give us feedback!...
Dec 24, 2025•30 min•Ep. 322
In this episode, we take a look at three interesting - and free - tools to help you manage and secure Azure and Entra ID. We take each tool for a spin and reflect on the findings and usage. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:15) - Show content starts. Show links ‑ ScEntra ‑ azqr - Azure Quick Review ‑ EntraExporter - Give us feedback!...
Dec 17, 2025•29 min•Ep. 321
In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding the scope beyond just Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and similar Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:25) - Show content starts. Show links - Agent 365 tooling servers - Mistral 3 available in Microsoft Foundry - Microsoft 365 Copilot Business - Entra ID support for RDP Connections - Ignite 20...
Dec 10, 2025•27 min•Ep. 320
In this episode, we unpack what's new with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. During Ignite 2025, Microsoft announced that the public preview of MDC would be available shortly, and it has arrived now. We'll take a look at what changed, what didn't, and why you should care. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:52) - Show content starts. Show links - Defender for Cloud Preview - Give us feedback!...
Dec 03, 2025•27 min•Ep. 319
In this episode, we take a look at the new Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment tool. We reflect on Zero Trust in general, its application in the Microsoft security landscape, and what this exciting tool will offer you. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (05:00) - Show content starts. Show links - Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment tool - Demo of Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment (Merill Fernando) - Give us feedback!...
Nov 26, 2025•29 min•Ep. 317
Microsoft Ignite 2025 is here! We reflect on the hero announcements and what they mean for the future. Some exciting announcements were made during the first keynote, and we already had a chance to try a few of them out. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:35) - Show content starts. Show links - ESPC’25 in Dublin - Microsoft Agent 365 - Security Copilot announcement - Azure Copilot - Microsoft Foundry , and more here - Defender for Cloud - Give us feedback!...
Nov 19, 2025•40 min•Ep. 318
Microsoft Ignite 2025 is just around the corner. As is tradition by now, we take a look at what to expect from Ignite: the announcements, expectations, and sessions. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (04:55) - Show content starts. Show links - Microsoft Ignite 2025 - Give us feedback!...
Nov 12, 2025•31 min•Ep. 316
This week, we unpack the hero announcements from GitHub Universe 2025. Much of this is related to agents, agentic AI, and GitHub Copilot. We reflect on these new announcements as we proceed. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:59) - Show content starts. Show links - Agent HQ - Custom agents examples - Copilot integrations - Agentic code review in Copilot - Plan mode - Agents.md - GitHub Code Quality - Usage metrics and API - Enterprise AI controls and agent control plane - Give us feedback!...
Nov 05, 2025•32 min•Ep. 315
