Kathy Gibson reports from Pinnacle TechScape, Durban – Artificial intelligence (AI) can be overwhelming, so organisations should sometimes take a step back and look at specific areas.
John Press, sales and marketing manager at Microsoft, believes we are at an inflexion point in the PC market.
This is driven by three issues: AI in the form of copilots; the advent of Windows 11 with security, manageability and productivity; and the October 2025 Windows 10 end of support.
Cybersecurity is still top of mind for IT decision-makers – underlined by the statistics: between 2022 and 2025, the impact of cybercrime will be about $10,5-trillion – growing at 15% year on year. In addition, the rate of ransomware and attacks are growing at about 150% every year.
“And the first step in defence is the device,” says Press.
He outlines the three principles of zero trust: verify explicitly to always authenticate and authorise data points; use least privileged access to limit user access; and assume a breach.
Windows 11 Pro goes beyond being an OS, but is a foundational element in cybersecurity.
With AI embedded, it offers proactive, intelligent protection along with other features like smarter search, effortless meetings, and accessibility for all that offers impact for more.
AI is making its way into the corporate mainstream, he adds, with 70% of employees saying they would use it if it’s available.
Apart from the great new features in Windows 11, there is a deadline looming – October 2025 is the final end of support for Windows 10. The time to act is now, says Press.
“Initiate those discussions now, and make sure we do this in the right way,” he says.
Microsoft is making significant investments in AI, and it’s going to reinvent how users work on Windows.
Windows 11 will put AI on to all users’ desktops, says Press. “It’s going to change the way we work.”
At the heart of Windows’ AI is Copilot, which Press describes as an AI assistant on every desktop.
Microsoft Copilot combines natural language with Microsoft AI models to support workflows, find information, and create content.
Importantly, security is baked in, Press adds. “When you log in using corporate credentials, you have the ability to manage the data you are sharing according to corporate policy.”
Copilot applies large language models (LLMs) to everyday applications. It harnesses Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Graph and the LLM. How it works, is that the user makes a prompt, which is processed through Copilot, using grounding and context. This modified prompt is sent to the LLM, which sends back a result that is again processed through Copilot to ensure accuracy and context, before being returned to the user.
Microsoft takes this further on the device level, with the launch of Copilot+ PCs announced by major OEMs, that adds AI to the hardware via the neural processing unit (NPU).
As a consequence of the NPU introduction, PCs can now go up to 22 hours unplugged, at twice the speed, and more efficiently.
Press demonstrated how Copilot can help users perform tasks in a variety of Microsoft applications, including how it adds efficiency and accountability to Teams meetings.