Attendees at this year’s Microsoft Ignite conference may have had the mistaken impression that Redmond’s flagship messaging service had given way to other technology initiatives. The number of stage announcements directly related to Teams was surprisingly modest, raising questions behind the scenes about the giant’s priorities. The business reality, however, looks very different. Details published simultaneously on the company’s tech blogs show that what we saw during the main presentations was just the tip of the iceberg. Teams not only remains a priority, but is undergoing one of the most comprehensive evolutions in its history.
Underpinning this change is ubiquitous artificial intelligence, which, in a ‘platform penetration’ model, becomes the lifeblood of the entire ecosystem. Copilot in Teams gains new analytical powers, allowing it to process chat history, meeting transcripts and calendar data to generate contextual summaries and conclusions. Significantly for the partner channel, Microsoft has launched a public preview of features to improve secure collaboration with external parties, addressing the real needs of companies working in hybrid models.
The most interesting conclusion from Ignite 2025, however, goes beyond the application layer itself. Microsoft is clearly adopting a holistic approach to collaboration, integrating three pillars: software, hardware (such as dedicated video bars) and advanced security. An example of the latter is the new architecture for blocking executables and other threats before they even reach the communication channels. This is a strategy in direct competition with the model adopted by Cisco, where deep integration of hardware and software is the strength of the offering.
This positioning puts the competition in a challenging situation. Although players such as Zoom and RingCentral continue to fight for the market, only Google, with its Workspace suite, is able to offer a similar synergy of productivity and communication tools. Microsoft, by combining the capabilities of Teams with the power of Office and imbuing the whole thing with artificial intelligence, is cementing its leadership position.
