PPCC24: Copilots and Agents are core to Power Platform roadmap, Microsoft says

Forty eight million people now use some element of Power Platform, according to Microsoft. It’s a big number, but one that the company believes could still grow rapidly as the team pushes forward on its latest AI-centric product vision. Microsoft is adding new layers to Power Platform that they positioned this week at Power Platform Community Conference as an evolution of the tool set. They also acknowledged that this transformation will require a shift toward new levels of automation that will redefine user roles and expand the definition of apps, workflows, and related services.

The Copilot story already extends across all Power Platform services, but Microsoft plans to move that story further with an agent-centric agenda, representatives told the event audience this week. Agents can take different forms, typically either working alongside a human user or operating autonomously. Noting an IDC estimate that organizations need to develop 1 billion new applications by 2028, Microsoft CVP for Business Industry and Copilot Charles Lamanna urged the audience to think about the ways Power Platform could offer solutions to meeting the demand for accelerated application development and deployment. In particular, he suggested that deploying a corps of new AI-based agents could be the answer for Power Platform professionals tasked with meeting the demand for new apps. 

It's you. You have your Copilot and you have a team of expert agents to help you build your solution. These agents are expert visual designers, data modelers, security experts, app developers, code generators, this team together with other people co-authoring…is how we're going to create the billion apps. We're gonna automate tons of different processes, gonna visualize and understand data everywhere inside the company and many more agents are going to come.”

“Agentive” experiences will expand

Microsoft has made broad use of the term “agentive” to describe their current vision across Power Platform in which Copilot tools and services can be deployed to take a more active role in business processes.

Agents in Copilot can work in a range of roles and settings, from prompt-driven to autonomous. They will still rely on grounding in data, actions, and permissions through existing Copilot controls. Lamanna noted that he expects autonomous agents, which work independently once deployed, will have a major influence on the direction of Power Platform. He described the impact he foresees on workflow automation: