Three Microsoft questions to answer before 2027

Most IT teams we talk to aren’t short of Microsoft licences. They’re short of time to work out which parts of Microsoft actually move the needle.

Going into 2027, three questions keep coming up in our customer conversations. They’re the three we’ll answer in the room at Ignite the North on 3 December.

1. How do we give people secure access from anywhere, without running a VDI estate?

Hybrid working is settled. How people reach their apps and data often isn’t. Plenty of organisations still rely on VPNs, on-premises terminal servers or ageing VDI kit that’s expensive to maintain and hard to secure.

Azure Virtual Desktop moves the desktop into Azure. Users get a full Windows experience on any device. IT gets one place to patch, secure and scale, and you only pay for the capacity you use.

It suits: organisations with ageing remote access infrastructure, seasonal or contract workforces, and anyone whose apps need to sit close to data already in Azure.

In the session: a live environment, what it costs to run, and the questions to ask before you migrate.

2. If our main site went down tomorrow, how long would we be out?

Most organisations have backups. Far fewer have a recovery plan that’s been tested end to end. Backup gets your data back. Disaster recovery gets your business back.

Azure Site Recovery replicates your servers to Azure so you can fail over in a planned, repeatable way. You can run test failovers without touching production, so DR stops being a document in a drawer and becomes something you’ve proven works.

It suits: organisations running a single server room or data centre, regulated businesses with recovery time obligations, and anyone whose cyber insurer has started asking harder questions.

In the session: what a realistic recovery time looks like, how failover testing works, and how to weigh the cost against the risk.

3. What happens when Copilot stops answering and starts doing?

Copilot Cowork is the biggest change to Microsoft 365 Copilot since launch. Instead of answering a prompt, you describe the outcome you want. Cowork builds a plan and carries it out across Outlook, Teams, Excel and your files, with you approving the steps that matter.

It runs inside your existing Microsoft 365 security and compliance boundary, so your identity, permissions and data policies apply as normal. It needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, with Cowork tasks billed on usage.

It suits: teams with repeatable multi-step work such as reporting, research and meeting follow-ups, and anyone who has bought Copilot licences and wants more back from them.

In the session: live examples, the governance you need in place first, and how to work out where it pays back.

The rest of the day

Opening keynote: Rob Fawcett, Founder & Principal Consultant at The Human CTO, takes the biggest announcements from Microsoft Ignite and answers three questions: what did Microsoft actually announce, what’s worth acting on now, and what can wait?

Closing talk: Mark Agnew, adventurer and author of Find Your Polar Bear, on thriving when the ground shifts beneath you.

Thursday 3 December 2026

x+why, 100 Embankment, Manchester

Arrivals from 10:00, sessions close at 4pm, drinks and networking until 5pm

Free to attend