What Are Microsoft Copilot Agents?
Microsoft Copilot Agents are AI-powered applications that can reason, plan, connect to your company's systems, and complete real tasks — either working alongside you or entirely on your behalf, without needing you to babysit every step.
Unlike the basic Copilot chat that just answers questions, agents go much further. They take action: sending emails, updating records, routing customer queries, analysing data, filing requests, and even coordinating with other agents. All within the secure Microsoft 365 environment.
A Copilot Agent = an AI app that uses reasoning + your company's data + connected systems to complete real business tasks — automatically and securely.
As Microsoft's Work Trend Index 2025 reveals, 82% of business leaders are confident they will use digital labour to expand their workforce capacity within 12–18 months. Copilot Agents are how that vision becomes operational reality.
Why Copilot Agents Matter in 2026
The modern workplace is being squeezed from both sides. Employees are overwhelmed, and leaders want more output. AI agents are the bridge between what's possible and what's already happening at the world's most advanced companies.
Companies that have embraced AI agents — what Microsoft calls "Frontier Firms" — consistently outperform their competitors across revenue growth, brand differentiation, cost efficiency, and customer experience, according to IDC research sponsored by Microsoft (November 2025).
A Frontier Firm is an organisation that has moved beyond basic AI chat and has fully embedded agents into its daily business processes — transforming how work gets done at scale.
The 3-Phase Journey to Becoming a Frontier Firm
Microsoft maps every company's AI journey across three distinct phases. Understanding where your organisation sits today helps you plan what to prioritise next.
Human with Assistant
Every employee has a Copilot AI assistant that helps them work faster — summarising meetings, drafting emails, and finding documents instantly.
Human-Led Agents
Agents join teams as "digital colleagues," taking on specific, repeatable tasks under human direction and supervision.
Human-Led, Agent-Operated
Humans set direction and agents run entire business processes and workflows autonomously, checking in only when needed.
Most organisations in 2026 are in Phase 1 or early Phase 2. The competitive advantage — and biggest productivity leap — lies in moving toward Phase 3. Understanding the different types of agents is the first step.
3 Types of Copilot Agents Explained
Not all agents are equal. Microsoft classifies agents on a spectrum from simple to advanced, based on their complexity and what they can do independently.
Retrieval Agents
Simple. Answer questions by pulling information from your company's documents, SharePoint, policies, and FAQs. Perfect for self-service HR portals and IT knowledge bases.
Task Agents
Mid-complexity. Take real actions: updating a CRM, routing a ticket, sending a notification, booking a meeting. Triggered by events or user instructions.
Autonomous Agents
Advanced. Reason, plan, and operate entire workflows with minimal human involvement. Can coordinate with other agents and make independent decisions.
Most experts recommend starting with a Retrieval agent — like an HR FAQ bot or IT help desk agent. Once your team is comfortable, move to Task agents for workflow automation, then advance toward Autonomous agents for full process transformation.
Pre-Built Microsoft Agents You Can Use Today
You don't have to build anything from scratch. Microsoft has released a growing library of purpose-built agents included with your Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Here's what's available in 2026:
| Agent | What It Does | Best For | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researcher | Tackles complex multi-step research using OpenAI's deep research model and M365 search | Strategy, analysts, consultants | Generally Available |
| Analyst | Advanced data analysis with chain-of-thought reasoning — turns raw data into insights using OpenAI's o3-mini model | Finance, operations, marketing | Generally Available |
| Facilitator | Moderates Teams meetings, generates real-time notes and action items automatically | All meeting users | Generally Available |
| Interpreter | Real-time multilingual translation during Teams meetings | Global teams | Generally Available |
| Surveys | End-to-end survey management — create, distribute, and analyse | HR, customer feedback teams | Generally Available |
| Knowledge | Content management and organisation in SharePoint | Knowledge managers, intranet admins | Public Preview |
| Project Manager | Automates project management across Planner and Teams | Project managers, team leads | Public Preview |
| Word Agent | Creates and iterates full documents using web data and referenced files | Writers, legal, HR teams | Frontier Program |
| Excel Agent | Data visualisations and insights directly in Excel | Finance, data analysts | Frontier Program |
| PowerPoint Agent | Builds and iterates full presentations from your data and briefings | Sales, marketing, leadership | Frontier Program |
| Learning | Curated AI skill-building resources tailored to your role | L&D teams, new employees | Frontier Program |
Researcher is your deep-dive investigator — it searches the web and your M365 data to produce comprehensive reports on complex topics. Analyst is your numbers person — give it a spreadsheet or dataset and it will analyse, interpret, and visualise the patterns using advanced mathematical reasoning.
Real Business Examples: Companies Using Agents
The best way to understand Copilot Agents is to see them in action. Here are real companies deploying agents across the simple-to-advanced spectrum.
Microsoft's Own Internal Copilot Results
Before recommending agents to customers, Microsoft deployed them across its own organisation. The internal results are impressive and publicly reported:
- Customer Service: 11.5% faster case resolution in a 600-person experiment (Azure Core team, Nov–Dec 2023)
- Finance: 60% reduction in case resolution time in cash collections (Oct 2023–Aug 2024)
- Sales: 9.4% higher revenue per seller among regular Copilot users (687 sellers tracked, Jan–Jun 2024)
- Marketing: 21.5% increase in conversion rates on Azure.com using Copilot-assisted marketing (Jun–Sep 2024)
- HR: 42% greater accuracy in answering employee questions through AI-powered self-service (Oct 2024)
- IT: 36% increase in self-help success rate — fewer employees needed to call a human agent for support
How to Build Your Own Copilot Agent (Step-by-Step)
You don't need to be a developer. Microsoft provides Copilot Studio — a low-code/no-code platform that lets anyone create, test, and deploy a custom agent using natural language.
Go to Copilot Studio
Visit copilotstudio.microsoft.com and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account. You need a Copilot Studio or M365 Copilot licence to publish agents.
Describe Your Agent in Plain English
Click "Create agent" and describe what you want — e.g., "An agent that helps new employees find HR policies and answer onboarding questions." Copilot Studio configures the initial setup automatically.
Connect Your Data Sources
Choose from 1,500+ connectors to link your agent to SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, or any system your company uses. This is what makes the agent genuinely useful.
Add Automation Workflows (Optional)
Use the Power Automate integration to add rules-based actions — e.g., "If a user submits a leave request, notify their manager and update the HR system automatically."
Test and Publish
Test your agent in the Studio preview, adjust its tone and knowledge base, then publish to Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, a website, or any channel your users need.
Monitor via IT Admin Controls
The Copilot Control System gives IT admins full visibility — usage analytics, security controls, and compliance reporting all in one dashboard.
Eneco, a European energy company, used Copilot Studio to build a new customer-facing chatbot in just 3 months — half the time their previous chatbot took to develop. Result: 67% of customer conversations are now handled satisfactorily by the AI agent (up from 40%), processing 24,000 chats per month vs 10,000 before.
The Agent Store: Discover & Deploy Agents
Not sure where to start? The Agent Store inside Microsoft 365 Copilot is your marketplace for discovering ready-made agents from Microsoft, trusted technology partners, and your own organisation — all security-validated and ready to deploy.
- Discover: Browse a personalised catalog of agents from Microsoft, partners like Adobe, Atlassian, ServiceNow, and internally-built agents from your colleagues.
- Deploy Quickly: No lengthy procurement process. Agents are ready to use with minimal setup and instant deployment.
- Admin Control: Every agent has been validated for security, compliance, and performance. IT retains full control over which agents are accessible to which users.
Microsoft Agent 365 (currently in early access) is a centralised control plane for managing all agents across your organisation — Microsoft-built, partner, and custom agents — in a single admin interface. Think of it as the command centre for the agent-powered enterprise.
Security, Trust & IT Controls
The most common concern businesses have: "Is it safe to let AI agents access our company data?" Microsoft's answer is built directly into the architecture. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built on four non-negotiable trust commitments:
- Data secured at rest and in transit — Copilot Agents use the same enterprise-grade encryption as all Microsoft 365 services.
- You control your data — Agents only access what the user already has permission to see. No agent can ever access restricted data.
- Your data never trains AI models — Microsoft does not use your organisation's data to improve or train foundation AI models.
- Copyright protection — Microsoft's Customer Copyright Commitment means if a third party sues you over Copilot-generated content, Microsoft will defend you and cover the costs.
Beyond these commitments, the Copilot Control System gives IT administrators three layers of oversight: security & governance, management controls (who uses which agents), and detailed measurement & reporting dashboards.
How to Get Started with Copilot Agents Today
Start Free: Copilot Chat
If you have a Microsoft 365 licence, you already have access to Copilot Chat — the free tier with web-grounded AI, basic agents, and Enterprise Data Protection. Start experimenting here at zero additional cost.
Included with M365Upgrade: M365 Copilot License
For full agent capabilities — Researcher, Analyst, the complete Agent Store, and advanced custom agents — you need the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence ($30/user/month). This unlocks the complete frontier firm toolkit.
Paid Add-OnBuild: Copilot Studio
Ready to build your first custom agent? Start with a simple SharePoint FAQ bot or an HR policy agent. Most basic agents can be built in under 4 hours with no coding required.
Low-Code BuilderLearn: Microsoft Adoption Hub
Microsoft's AI Agent Hub at adoption.microsoft.com has playbooks, prompt libraries, and best practice guides for every team to make the most of agents.
Free ResourcesReady to Deploy Your First Copilot Agent?
Whether you're just getting started with Copilot or ready to build full autonomous workflows, our guides walk you through every step.
📋 View Licensing Guide How Copilot Works →