If FinOps is your thing, you might find this “Azure Savings Plan Inspector” article useful.
It’s a set of instructions for pulling data out of the Cost Management REST API to give you more insight on the right figure to choose for an Azure Savings Plan hourly commitment.
The article is here: https://bit.ly/4uFSkUY, with a worked example.
Microsoft announce Microsoft Scout, the first in a brand-new category of always-on autonomous Agents known as Autopilots.
Rather than solely relying on user prompts, this installable desktop AI application leverages Work IQ to learn your work habits and preferences over time. It works independently in the background, interacting with your Microsoft 365 data to do things like proactively flagging important meetings, or keeping an eye on your inbox and Teams for any outstanding decisions that are waiting on you.
Whilst an always-on Agent might sound like a privacy risk, Microsoft emphasise the security and compliance controls available. Scout has its own Entra identity, ensuring that any actions it takes remain within your organisational permissions. It can only view sensitive files or perform actions that you’ve explicitly approved, and its activities are fully auditable.
Licensing wise, you’ll need to be licensed for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Intune, as well as GitHub Copilot Business or Enterprise for additional token-based billing based on usage. Installation also requires specific system prerequisites and enrollment in the Frontier Preview Program, which is Microsoft’s early-access platform for experimental software.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/43Biayu and check out the Learn documentation for installation details: https://bit.ly/4xw3zBQ.
The Modern Work Plan Comparison documents are updated for June 2026.
Both the Enterprise and SMB flavours feature a handful of small adjustments this month. The change logs point out the addition of the Entra Suite, which reinforces its inclusion in Microsoft 365 E7. However, since it was already in the comparison matrix, this introduces duplication and some conflicting guidance on what you can add it to. The Government documents are untouched for June, and there’s no new release of the Education flavour.
Don’t forget that we help you navigate the (increasingly frequent) errors in these documents every month with our Cautionary Notes. You’ll find these using the one-click “Microsoft 365” filter in our subscriber-exclusive Licensing Guides Gallery, along with quick access to the documents and full change details: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery. Non-subscribers can find the documents here: https://bit.ly/4hn2hS2. If you’re a partner and prefer the Excel version, contact us from your work email address and we’ll send it right over: info@licensingschool.co.uk.
Microsoft begin an early rollout of some of the July Microsoft 365 changes.
The updates, initially announced last December, include enhanced Copilot Chat features, increased Exchange Online storage, and new Intune capabilities for specific licences. Additionally, Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3 licenses will newly incorporate Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 capabilities, and this rollout has started ahead of schedule.
You can find more details in the original announcement here: https://bit.ly/4qExvb8, and the early-rollout update here: https://bit.ly/43HZCfS.
Microsoft have updated the Power Platform licensing resources for June 2026.
The Licensing Guide contains new information outlining Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies and how they protect sensitive company information. Towards the end of the guide the Terminology appendix delivers a wave of handy new Agent-related definitions. A few small wording tweaks round off this month’s changes to the guide, which pairs with an almost-untouched Licensing Deck.
The one-click “Power Platform” filter in our Licensing Guides Gallery gives subscribers quick access to every version of the licensing resources: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery. You’ll also find details of all the changes to be aware (and wary) of with our “What’s New” and “Cautionary Notes” features. Grab your copy of the Licensing Guide here: https://bit.ly/3RYj997 and the Licensing Deck here: https://bit.ly/3RHggJS.
Microsoft announce the public preview of GitHub Enterprise Local to enable organisations to deploy GitHub Enterprise Server entirely within a customer’s infrastructure using Azure Local.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4xyesTL.
Microsoft announce a change for SQL Server Extended Security Updates (ESUs) as SQL Server 2016 approaches its End of Support date on 14 July, 2026.
ESUs are optional purchases that extend support by providing an additional three years of Critical updates for on‑premises and cloud‑based workloads. You can buy these as 1‑year ESU licences or through a Pay‑As‑You‑Go ESU meter via Azure Arc.
For SQL Server 2014, migrating SQL workloads to Azure removed the associated ESU costs. However, that’s no longer the case with SQL Server 2016, and instead ESUs are chargeable across all deployment options, including Azure VMs and Azure Stack. SQL Server 2016 ESUs are now available, providing coverage until July 2029.
For more details, you can read the blog announcement here: https://bit.ly/4enD0Yg. Subscribers can join us in July for in-depth training. Not yet a subscriber? Contact us at info@licensingschool.co.uk for details.
Microsoft have released a brand-new Copilot Credits Guide!
While some sections are the same as the existing Licensing Guides for Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform, this 12-page guide adds to that information with details of Copilot Cowork, Work IQ API, and some more guidance on AI administration.
You can grab your copy of the (increasingly rarely-published) PDF guide here: https://bit.ly/4esvZUM or view the website version here: https://bit.ly/44ov5Uz.
Microsoft announce a free 30-day trial for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business.
Available from July 2026, customers can access the trial from within Copilot Chat without needing to enter any payment information. As with the full license, you must have a valid Microsoft 365 Business license in place, and there’s a maximum of 300 users.
While a readily available trial could be a cause for compliance concerns, Microsoft provide an overview of the considerations and recommend that you have AI usage guidelines in place. To assist with this, admins, as usual, have the ability to disable trials for users within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Find the blog announcement here: https://bit.ly/4uvlSo4, the Message Centre post here: https://bit.ly/4uzcdgt, and the prerequisites for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business here: https://bit.ly/4amhBMq.
Microsoft announce two new GitHub Pre-Purchase Plans.
The first is just for GitHub AI Credits to pay for overage for GitHub Copilot, but the second covers usage across the GitHub portfolio – so you could cover monthly license costs for GitHub Enterprise or GitHub Copilot, as well as GitHub AI Credits.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4a3NN7n.