Welcome to the Microsoft Cloud IT Podcast!

Weekly Microsoft 365 and Azure news and information for the IT Professional

The weekly newsletter to accompany our podcast about Microsoft 365 and Azure. Scott and Ben are a couple of IT Pros that with a long history with Microsoft products. Recently Ben focuses primarily on Microsoft 365 but does a fair amount in Azure, and Scott spends most of his time in Azure, but with a history in SharePoint and Microsoft 365 still enjoys that side of things as well. We started this podcast over 5 years ago and continue to enjoy chatting weekly about various topics and technically in Microsoft 365 and Azure, specifically as it relates to IT Pros.

Promotional artwork for Episode 440 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, featuring the episode title and a discussion of how professional experience, creativity, and human judgment shape the use of generative AI in IT consulting and Microsoft 365 workfl

Does your experience still show up in AI-assisted work?

Episode 440: The J Factor: Bringing Your Experience to Generative AI Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online Jay used to spend two weeks turning a customer workshop into a deliverable. Now a transcript and a Copilot Cowork skill get him there in under 45 minutes. So where does twenty-five years of experience fit when the AI does the writing? In Episode 440, recorded live at the North American Cloud and Collaboration Summit in...

8 days ago • 1 min read

Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast Episode 438 artwork for “Taking Your WorkOS and LLM Wiki to the Next Level,” featuring a laptop with digital learning, search, workflow, and knowledge management icons.

Episode 438: Taking your WorkOS and LLM Wiki to the Next Level

Episode 438: Taking your WorkOS and LLM Wiki to the Next Level Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online A few months ago, Ben and Scott started experimenting with LLM Wikis. But what happens when you stop treating an AI knowledge base as an experiment and start relying on it every day? In Episode 438: Taking Your WorkOS and LLM Wiki to the Next Level, they revisit those systems and compare what happened after months of real-world...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 435 cover titled “Power BI Meets Git and MCP,” featuring a three-way road with Power BI, Git, and MCP icons representing the convergence of AI, version control, and Power BI development.

Episode 435: Power BI Meets Git and MCP

Episode 435: Power BI Meets Git and MCP Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online Power BI development is starting to look a little more like software development—and AI is becoming part of the workflow. In Episode 435 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott explore two Power BI MCP servers currently in preview and how they can help with tasks like writing DAX, cleaning up data models, and turning a collection of tables...

3 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 434 cover titled “Reading the Spec Sheet on Microsoft’s Agentic SOC,” featuring a digital security shield with a keyhole between bug and checklist icons against a blue cybersecurity network background.

Episode 434: Reading the Spec Sheet on Microsoft's Agentic SOC

Episode 434: Reading the Spec Sheet on Microsoft's Agentic SOC Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online Microsoft describes Project Perception as a “workforce of AI agents” for security operations. But once you get beyond that description, what does the technology actually require from your organization? In Episode 434 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott read through the details of Microsoft’s Agentic SOC to...

3 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 433 cover titled “Passkeys, Passwords, and the End of SMS MFA,” featuring a brass padlock on a laptop keyboard and a handwritten password note representing the shift toward passkeys and passwordless authentication.

Episode 433: Passkeys, Passwords, and the End of SMS MFA

Episode 433: Passkeys, Passwords, and the End of SMS MFA Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online Having MFA enabled used to be one of the biggest authentication goals for IT teams. Today, the question is becoming more specific: What authentication methods are your users actually using? In Episode 433 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott discuss Microsoft’s move toward passwordless, phishing-resistant authentication...

4 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 432 cover titled “AI-Era Consulting Billing for Microsoft Cloud Delivery,” featuring a smiling consultant working on a laptop, representing modern Microsoft cloud consulting and AI-driven professional services.

Episode 432: AI-Era Consulting Billing for Microsoft Cloud Delivery

Episode 431: Agent Governance Is the New App Governance Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online Artificial intelligence is changing the consulting industry—but not in the way many people expected. In Episode 432 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott discuss how AI is transforming Microsoft 365 and Azure consulting by changing what clients expect from technology partners and how consulting value is measured. In this...

4 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 431 cover art titled “Agent Governance Is the New App Governance,” featuring a cloud with a gear icon connected to circuit lines, surrounded by circular arrows representing the AI agent lifecycle. The artwork also includes security-themed

Episode 431: Agent Governance Is the New App Governance

Episode 431: Agent Governance Is the New App Governance Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online AI agents are becoming a standard part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, and with that comes an entirely new set of governance challenges. In Episode 431 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott discuss why agent governance is the new app governance and what IT administrators should be thinking about today before AI agent...

4 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 430 cover art titled “Scouting Out Microsoft Scout” featuring a smiling AI robot holding a magnifying glass against a futuristic digital background with network connections, binary code, and Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast branding.

Getting Started with Microsoft Scout

Episode 430: Scouting out Microsoft Scout Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online In Episode 430 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott and Ben take a hands-on look at Microsoft Scout, the new desktop AI application announced at Microsoft Build. This episode moves beyond the announcement headlines to explore what onboarding, setup, and daily use actually look like—from automations and model personalities to licensing,...

5 months ago • 1 min read

Podcast Episode 429 cover featuring a discussion about LLM wikis, Obsidian vaults, markdown knowledge systems, and AI workflow tools.

Building an LLM Wiki with Obsidian - Episode 429

Episode 429: Getting started with LLM Wikis Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online In Episode 429 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott and Ben explore a practical and increasingly popular concept: LLM wikis. The idea is simple but powerful—build a structured markdown-based knowledge vault that AI can reason over to help surface concepts, connections, and insights over time. In this episode, we cover: Building a personal...

5 months ago • 1 min read

Episode 428 cover art for the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast featuring the title "Migrating Group Policy to Microsoft Intune" over a dark purple digital network background with a global map overlay.

Episode 428: Migrating Group Policy to Microsoft Intune

Episode 428: Migrating Group Policy to Microsoft Intune Hello Reader, The next episode of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast has been released! Listen Online In Episode 428 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Ben and Scott unlock the secrets to modernizing your IT management by ditching pesky on-prem GPOs and embracing the future with Intune. Here is what they cover: How to export and analyze legacy GPOs using AI-assisted tools Recreating policies as clean, manageable configuration...

6 months ago • 1 min read