Microsoft opened Ignite 2025 on Wednesday with Executive Vice President Judson Althoff outlining a sweeping lineup of AI innovations designed to accelerate enterprise transformation.
The announcements mark one of Microsoft’s most significant pushes yet into intelligent automation, autonomous agents, and unified data platforms.
This year’s updates are detailed in the Book of News, with supplemental materials including product blogs, demos, and assets are available on the Ignite microsite.
The Official Microsoft Blog also highlights the most impactful updates expected to influence enterprise productivity in 2025 and beyond.
A new architecture built around interconnected “IQ layers” sits at the core of this year’s announcements, powering Copilot, intelligent agents, and data-driven decision-making across organizations.
Microsoft revealed Work IQ, a contextual intelligence layer that elevates Microsoft 365 Copilot through deeper organizational awareness. Work IQ synthesizes emails, files, meetings, chats, preferences, work patterns, and relationship graphs to predict actions, recommend next steps, and automate workflows with improved accuracy.
The company introduced Fabric IQ, a system that unifies time-series, location-based, and operational data under a shared business model. This gives organizations a real-time, connected view of operations, enabling both employees and AI agents to respond instantly to shifting business conditions.
Microsoft also announced Foundry IQ, a fully managed knowledge system that grounds AI agents using Work IQ, Fabric IQ, custom enterprise applications, and open web sources. Agents gain access to accurate and contextual information essential for enterprise-grade autonomy.
Microsoft’s expanding agent ecosystem aims to help enterprises build, deploy, and secure intelligent agents at scale.
The Microsoft Agent Factory program integrates all IQ layers into a single development experience. Organizations can build agents under a metered plan, using Microsoft Foundry and Copilot Studio without upfront licensing. Participants also gain access to Microsoft’s AI Forward Deployed Engineers and tailored, role-based AI training.
Microsoft completed the stack with Microsoft Agent 365, a new control plane enabling organizations to manage, monitor, and secure AI agents across multiple platforms.
Each agent receives an enterprise identity through Microsoft Entra ID, solving critical security challenges around authentication and access control. Agent 365 supports agents created using Microsoft tools, open-source frameworks, and third-party platforms.
