Copilot Cowork is Microsoft’s most ambitious product shift in years: instead of prompting Copilot or an agent, you delegate a multi-step outcome and Cowork plans, executes, and checks in only when it genuinely needs you. But out of the box it knows nothing about your company except Microsoft 365 data if you want to automate real work, you need to tell it how things get done in your company.

That can mean your crazy expenses system, those strange approval processes done over e-mail, your messy CRM, or the unwritten rules that experienced employees carry in their heads. Left unconfigured, it’s an enthusiastic new hire forever on day one in the company. This session is about fixing that and getting work truly automated with AI.

We’ll cover the two main mechanisms – custom skills for Cowork, using SKILL.md files which translate your processes, rules, and system interactions, and MCP connections, which allow Cowork to interface with your company systems and beyond. Past the implementation fundamentals, we’ll cover what it takes to avoid ungoverned skills and MCP chaos, focusing on how to bring structure and scale to this new form of AI tailoring.

It’s a new world, and getting this bit right is how you avoid being in the CEO’s office having to explain how one of your autonomous agents was able to take down half of the company.

Assumed Knowledge:

Should understand M365 Copilot in general – though usage experience not mandatory

Practical Takeaways:

How to design and implement skills, how to achieve skill reusability across Cowork and Copilot Studio agents, how to combine with MCP for integrations

Out of Session Scope:

Agent governance and Agent 365. Copilot and Copilot Studio basics.