Build a scalable and profitable SMB security practice with Microsoft and inforcer

Jason Ulacio, inforcer

Welcome everyone. This is the first of a series of webinars that we're doing with Microsoft, particularly around Copilot and with the broader Microsoft Copilot team. This one specifically is going to be around the new announcement that Microsoft has had over the last few weeks, with some new Copilot experiences, commercial updates and business model changes, and some great new ways that you can lean in to build more services and revenues as an MSP.

I'm Jason Ulacio, SVP of business development here at inforcer. I joined the company about a year and a quarter ago and, prior to that, I worked at Microsoft, so I have come across a few of our guests before. With us today we have Sneha Daggubati, principal partner solution architect, as well as Jason Thompson, who leads the AI workforce SMB sales team and is driving much of the go-to-market effort around Copilot here in the Americas.

We're going to cover a breadth of things: an introduction to the new Copilot experiences and updates; what the commercial updates are and what usage-based billing looks like; what all of that means for you; a couple of demos and a product walkthrough; and a deep dive into the admin experiences that Microsoft has built to help you manage and track usage and ongoing expenses around Copilot. The chat is open, so feel free to drop questions in as we go. People from the inforcer team will help answer inforcer-related questions. As this is part of a series, we'll take in your questions around Copilot and the Microsoft partnership, track them, and make sure they become part of our follow-up webinar sessions.

About a third of those on the call today are completely new to inforcer, so I want to share some background on what we do before handing over to our Microsoft partners. The MSP market is going through another transition. Two decades ago we saw the shift from break-fix to managed services. With the rise of ransomware and threat attacks, managed security services became a major focus. Then COVID and remote work accelerated the move to the cloud, and we saw real standardization around Microsoft and Microsoft 365 services, with many MSPs leading with Business Premium and building services on products such as Entra and Intune. Now we have the rise of AI and a rush to build and deliver AI services. That involves getting customers' environments ready and protected so they can use AI safely, while also transforming your own business to become an AI-forward MSP, or what some call a managed intelligence provider.

inforcer was founded in 2022 by people from the MSP channel, including an MSP owner and a technical leader within an MSP. They saw that MSPs were struggling to manage and scale their Microsoft businesses and practices, so they built multi-tenant capabilities to help deploy and manage Microsoft at scale. We launched the first MVP in late 2023 and have since onboarded more than 1,500 MSP partners. Those MSPs now manage more than 100,000 SMB customers and businesses through inforcer, covering more than seven million users or endpoints. Our mission is to help MSPs take their customers on a Microsoft maturity journey and build more profitable services and businesses on top of Microsoft. We're a global company founded and headquartered in the UK, with offices in Los Angeles and Tampa, locations across EMEA, and a presence in Melbourne covering APAC.

inforcer is a unified platform with broad coverage of the Microsoft 365 stack, spanning what we call left of boom and right of boom. We help MSPs automate the deployment, configuration and ongoing management of Microsoft products, policies and features across their estates. Our assessments provide visibility into tenants and any configuration drift. We've also built multi-tenant administration for user, group, application and device management. As MSPs move into AI services and the Copilot world, we've developed features for Copilot services, readiness assessments and shadow AI management. This quarter, we'll also ship a SharePoint management solution geared toward cleaning up environments and delivering secure AI services packaged with data governance. This summer, we launched our right-of-boom threat detection and response solution to catch threats that get through, automatically contain and remediate them, with support from our human SOC and agentic flows. As attacks become more AI-driven, they increasingly need to be defended with AI.

That gives you an overview of what we're offering at inforcer and how we can help. Jason, are you ready to take over? I'm going to pass it to another Jason.

Jason Thompson, Microsoft

Good morning and good evening, everyone. Thank you to Jason and the inforcer team for inviting us to this community call. There's been a lot of Copilot news recently, so we want to make it practical. We'll cover what's changing, how usage-based billing works, and what it means for your MSP business and SMB customers. I'm Jason Thompson, sales director for Microsoft's SMB customer segment, and I'm joined by Sneha Dagupati, our partner solution architect.

We'll walk through the latest Copilot announcements, explain what's changed, look at the evolving commercial model, including usage-based billing and what it means for partners and customers, and then hand over to Sneha for live demos. We want to share both the technology and the business opportunity evolving around Copilot.

Customers are putting AI to work in four ways. First is assist: help me do a task, such as drafting an email or getting a quick answer. Next is delegate: multi-step tasks that need information from several apps or sources. Then there's build, where customers want help creating or coding applications. Finally, there's automate: a digital assistant that performs work on the user's behalf. For partners, the starting question is what customers need help with across these four areas.

Copilot Chat supports assist and helps with everyday tasks inside Office apps. Co-work supports delegate: the customer gives it a goal, and it works through steps across apps, skills and connected data. Code supports build, allowing customers to describe an application in plain language even if coding isn't their day job. Autopilot supports automate. Previously called Scout, it's a digital agent or teammate that can be personalized and work on the user's behalf. These capabilities are now being brought together in one place.

The new Home experience gives customers a simple starting point, so they can focus on what they want to accomplish rather than choosing a model. Copilot Chat will likely cover most everyday end-user needs. It works securely with context through Work IQ, and users can choose a model or use auto mode to balance accuracy, speed and cost. In Co-work, the user supplies a goal instead of a prompt. It breaks the goal into steps, selects the appropriate skills, tools and model, and uses Work IQ to ground the task in relevant emails, files and data. Customers can also create skills to help Co-work follow a consistent process.

With Code, customers can describe an app in plain language. Apps can run locally or in the cloud and be published as managed apps that IT can govern. Autopilot, previously Scout, is now being brought directly into the Copilot app. It is a personal digital agent that can take on work even when the user is not working. Depending on the controls applied, it can have persistent memory, learn how the user works, understand priorities, and be personalized with a name, identity and skills. It has its own ID and mailbox, can be tagged in a Word document for input, or included in an email thread and asked to run a task.

Many customers are already using shadow AI and free tools. One challenge for partners is helping customers take the first step with Copilot. Copilot in 30 is now available as a 25-user, 30-day Copilot Business trial through CSP, focused on first-time Copilot customers. It is intended to help customers try premium AI and build a business case before buying. For partners, the goal is to create pipeline, prove value and convert successful trials to paid deployments. Microsoft will provide customer-targeting data, a success planner for relevant use cases, and short micro-skilling videos through the Partner Skilling Hub. The aim is to create a repeatable path from customer interest to paid seats and expansion.

The commercial model is also changing. The most powerful model isn't always the right one for a task. At some point, greater model capability stops adding meaningful value. Drafting a simple email doesn't need the most advanced model, while a complex, multi-step job in Co-work or Autopilot can benefit from additional capability. Partners can help customers understand where advanced AI improves an outcome and where everyday AI is sufficient. The commercial logic is to license customers for everyday AI and add usage-based AI where it is needed.

User subscription licenses cover everyday AI and provide a predictable per-user, per-month cost. Usage-based billing covers advanced workloads, such as tasks delegated to Co-work or agents such as Autopilot. These jobs can run for hours, involve multiple steps and use multiple data sources, so they consume Copilot credits. Usage-based billing complements the user subscription license by giving users access to advanced AI when needed. A useful analogy is a plug-in hybrid car: the subscription license is the battery that covers most driving at a predictable cost, while usage-based billing is the fuel tank that provides more range when the task needs capabilities beyond the license. Copilot's auto feature aims to use as much licensed value as possible, then apply usage-based capability when the task requires it.

For partners, the hybrid model creates new revenue opportunities and requires new capabilities. Partners will need strong AI FinOps capabilities because customers will look to them to plan consumption and optimize spend. Starting December 1, all new Copilot Business seats will have usage-based billing enabled by default. When a partner sells a Copilot Business license, it automatically sets up an Azure subscription with a pay-as-you-go limit of up to 4,000 Copilot credits, or $40 per user per month. Partners can adjust the limit up or down and can disable capabilities at tenant level where appropriate. The Azure subscription provides a foundation for usage-based services, while customers gain access to advanced products such as Co-work.

The Copilot credit estimator helps partners discuss expected spend. It can identify how many users will use Co-work and whether usage is likely to be light, medium or heavy, then recommend a credit budget. Users can also check credit usage in Co-work by typing /cost and reviewing spend over time.

The partner opportunity now spans three revenue streams. First is license revenue from Copilot Business seats, standard margin and incentives. Second is services revenue from AI strategy, security, compliance, adoption and spend governance. Third is usage-based revenue from Co-work, Work IQ APIs and frontier products such as Autopilot and Code. Sneha will now walk through the new Copilot Home experience, Autopilot as a digital teammate and the FinOps tools for managing consumption.

Sneha Daggubati, Microsoft

Good morning and good afternoon. I'm Sneha Daggubati, principal partner solution architect at Microsoft. I'll walk through some of the latest Copilot innovations. Copilot now has a new Home tab and is being positioned as a super app and a new operating system for work. Home brings Chat and Co-work together in a unified experience. Chat is the place for instant, conversational interaction. Co-work is where users delegate a task and rely on it to run the work end to end. Code brings solution-building closer to business users. A user doesn't need to understand coding; they need to describe the desired outcome in natural language. Copilot handles the planning and builds a dashboard, automation, tracker or workflow.

Consider a small business owner planning a new coffee shop in Austin. They can use Copilot Chat as a thinking partner to brainstorm launch ideas, target audiences, value propositions, potential customers, differentiation from Starbucks and launch slogans. They can then ask which idea fits a $15,000 budget and receive an investment breakdown. In this scenario, Copilot helps the user think, but the user continues to drive the conversation.

Once the owner has selected an idea and needs to plan the launch, they can move to Co-work. The task may require research across multiple sources and decisions about positioning and marketing. The user delegates the goal, and Co-work plans and executes it. Additional requests can be queued while Co-work is running, so the user can ask it to also create marketing one-pagers or campaign handouts without waiting for the original task to finish. Co-work realigns its plan and incorporates the new requirements. The result can include a complete launch workbook with week-by-week spending, target KPIs and a launch plan that can be shared with the team.

Office in Copilot capabilities allow users to edit Microsoft 365 documents created by Co-work and collaborate with colleagues and Copilot in the same experience. A user can mention a colleague and ask them to review a plan, just as they would collaborate in a Word document, Excel workbook or PowerPoint deck in OneDrive. Co-work is also available in mobile apps, enabling users to add instructions and continue execution while away from their desks.

The next stage is execution. The business owner can ask Code to build a launch planner using a natural-language description of the scenario, budget and desired outcome, without specifying a programming language, architecture or design. Copilot handles the reasoning and planning, then builds the app. It can also ask whether the data should be short-lived or persisted. If the user chooses SharePoint, it can create or connect to a SharePoint site. In the demonstration, Code builds a launch command center in minutes.

Today, the user decides when to move among Chat, Co-work and Code. Around or after Microsoft Ignite, smart routing is expected to recommend the right mode and automatically route a prompt to the capability best suited to the task. That reduces the need to teach users the differences between each mode.

When an app is published, it is hosted on Microsoft Copilot Managed Runtime. This hosting infrastructure gives apps identity, security and governance within the Microsoft 365 trust boundary. Apps built using third-party services can also be brought into Copilot Managed Runtime through an SDK. Because the solution is backed by GitHub Copilot, a business user can create an app with low-code or no-code experiences, then hand it to a developer to open in GitHub Copilot or through the CLI for version control, maintenance and additional capabilities.

Autopilot appears as a separate tab inside the Copilot application. The first time it is launched, the user creates and names a digital teammate and can define its appearance, including shape, face, color and expression. Autopilot has its own identity, mailbox, storage and access to tools, and appears in the organizational chart as reporting to the user. It is personal, proactive and persistent. Rather than waiting for every prompt, it can follow routines defined by the user. For example, it can review email drafts and create proposed responses without sending them, running the task at a set time each day.

Plugins extend Autopilot beyond Microsoft 365. They can combine skills and connectors so that Autopilot can interact with external systems while operating within the scope of its identity. Although it can inherit access from the user where permitted, the organization can further restrict its permissions. The user and organization can govern both the identity and the scope of access.

In a procurement scenario, the user can bring Autopilot into a chat and ask it to create a decision brief using Teams messages, email conversations and contacts in the Microsoft 365 environment, then save the brief to a team folder. Once the brief is created, colleagues can be mentioned and invited to collaborate in the document. The user can also ask Autopilot to schedule a meeting with a colleague. It checks calendars, identifies a slot, asks for confirmation and creates the meeting. Autopilot's run history shows which routines have executed. Colleagues may also be able to contact a user's Autopilot to request time or ask questions, subject to settings that determine who can interact with it, who must remain in the loop and whom Autopilot can contact.

Co-work, Autopilot, Code and Copilot Managed Runtime can consume Copilot credits based on usage. AI FinOps is the discipline partners can use to help customers manage consumption, understand the business value created by paid usage and optimize spend. Microsoft is developing capabilities to manage and control spend, understand value, forecast spend and predict usage patterns.

In the Microsoft 365 admin center, cost management under Copilot allows administrators to configure spend policies and allocate credits. End users can see their allocated and remaining spend, understand their usage pattern and plan for upcoming work. They can also receive alerts when they reach configured thresholds, such as having 20 percent of their allocation remaining.

Administrators first select the Azure subscription tied to Copilot, create a billing policy and then configure spending policies. They can define the monthly organizational limit and the per-user limit. Alerts can notify selected people when spending reaches a number of credits or a percentage of the allocated amount. Custom policies can be created for teams with different needs. For example, a marketing team generating more artifacts may need a larger allocation than another team. Policies can be scoped by user identity or by resources and environments. Administrators can also select which services a policy covers, such as allowing a team to use Co-work but not Code or Copilot Managed Runtime.

The cost management dashboard provides visibility into usage patterns so administrators and partners can make decisions about optimizing spend and reallocating licenses. This creates a managed-service opportunity for regular cost-optimization or AI FinOps reviews with customers. Additional leadership dashboards and optimization capabilities are expected around Ignite.

Jason Thompson, Microsoft

The partner opportunity around Copilot is much bigger than selling a license. It's about helping customers put AI to work and building ongoing services around the value. Pick a customer, identify the need and start the Copilot conversation. Four actions can help: become familiar with Copilot in 30 trials; review the announcements and the continuously updated partner FAQ; bookmark the usage-based billing partner opportunity deck and FAQ as they evolve toward the December 1 timeline; build AI FinOps capability using the Partner Skilling Hub content; and follow the announcements from Microsoft Ignite in mid-November. Thank you to inforcer for the partnership and for bringing the community together, and thank you to everyone who joined.

Jason Ulacio, inforcer

Thank you. Building AI services is a journey for all of us, including MSPs. It begins with helping clients get ready, continues through adoption, and expands into building custom apps and agents and helping customers manage them across their environments.

At inforcer, we're building experiences to support that journey. Our Copilot readiness assessments help MSPs identify top candidates for Copilot, suggest actions and use cases based on persona, assess security and data governance posture, and provide a step-by-step guide to prepare for rollout. Shadow AI detection helps MSPs see which unsanctioned AI tools are being used in customer environments, report that usage and start conversations about whether customers are comfortable with information going to third-party AI apps or would prefer to standardize on Copilot. We also help track Copilot adoption over time so MSPs can deliver ongoing enablement rather than treating Copilot as a one-time license.

When we shipped our initial Copilot experiences around Ignite last year, inforcer MSPs were managing approximately 16,000 Copilot licenses in January 2026. By September 30, that had grown to 409,000 licenses. Many partners are already taking customers on this journey. If you haven't started, speak to your PSM or account team. We'll return as part of this series on December 3 to share more updates from Ignite. Thank you to everyone for joining and to the Microsoft team for taking part. Have a good day. Bye-bye. See you soon.