What is Power Automate, really, and why should an IT Pro care when it’s usually pitched at citizen developers?

In episode eleven of 365 Explained, Ben and Zach look at Power Automate from the admin’s side of the fence.

We cover:

• How triggers, actions and connectors fit together
• Cloud flows, desktop flows and generative flows
• When a personal flow should probably become an Azure Logic App
• Power Platform environments and why they matter
• Standard and premium connectors
• The Workflows app in Teams and its slightly confusing AI workflows
• How Power Automate supports parts of Copilot Studio and agent flows

Whether you’re new to Power Automate or you’ve been using flows without looking too closely at what sits underneath them, this is our attempt at a 101.

We say 101, but naturally it gets complicated fairly quickly.

What are you automating with Power Automate, and where do you draw the line between a personal flow and a proper business process? Let us know.

#PowerAutomate #PowerPlatform #Microsoft365 #CopilotStudio #365Explained

Recorded live at CommsvNext in Denver, Colorado. Ben and Zach are joined by Oli Lifely from Luware to talk about what happens when native Teams call queues aren't enough and you need a full contact center.

In this episode, we cover:

• The three Microsoft certification models for contact center integration: Connect, Extend, and the newly renamed Unify
• How each model handles the call differently — from SIP trunk hairpinning to Graph API signalling
• What a contact center adds beyond Queues App: skills-based routing, cradle-to-grave reporting, omni-channel, and outbound
• Where AI fits beyond chatbots — proactive SLA monitoring, natural language workflow configuration, and automated remediation
• The biggest mistakes organisations make when migrating off legacy PBXs to Teams

Whether you're hitting the limits of Queues App or planning a move off Avaya, Mitel, or Cisco, this one's for you.

How does Microsoft actually roll out updates across M365 — and how much control do you really have? Ben and Zach break down the update lifecycle across the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem in episode seven of 365 Explained.

In this episode, we explore:

• The "rings" model — from dev teams to dogfooding to your tenant
• Targeted release vs standard release — and where to find the settings
• Office app update channels — current, monthly enterprise, and semi-annual (spoiler: Microsoft no longer recommends semi-annual for most users)
• How Teams updates differently to the rest of Office
• The OneDrive sync client and its own update rings
• Where Windows fits into the picture
• Message Centre vs the M365 Roadmap — and why you need to watch both
• How Copilot Frontier adds yet another layer to all of this

Whether you're an admin trying to get ahead of changes, or you're just tired of users asking "why don't I have that feature yet?", this one's for you.

Or listen on all good & bad podcasting platforms alike