Copilot Cowork Is Here — But Can You Control the Costs?

Copilot Cowork is here but so are Copilot Credits, cost controls and awkward ROI questions. This month, Russell Smith and Craig Birch also dig into Windows Ready Print, NTLM’s future, and Microsoft’s passkey push.

Episode overview

• Copilot Cowork is generally available but the real story is cost control. The episode explores how AI agents could automate work in the cloud, why access is controlled, and why organizations may need “AI FinOps” to manage Copilot Credits, budgets, dashboards and ROI before usage scales.
• Windows printing gets a security-first makeover. Microsoft is rebranding the Modern Print Platform as Windows Ready Print, moving towards Internet Printing Protocol-based printing and reducing dependence on legacy Class 3 and Class 4 print drivers that have long been a security headache.
• NTLM’s days are numbered and admins need to audit now. Microsoft plans to disable NTLM in a future Windows release, with IAKerb and LocalKDC functionality intended to help reduce fallback scenarios. But hard-coded legacy dependencies could still break applications if organizations do not test first.
• Passkeys are becoming the new default for Microsoft identity. The hosts discuss Microsoft’s move towards passkeys in Entra ID, the phasing out of SMS and voice authentication, and why phishing-resistant MFA is becoming a critical part of the secure-by-design push.

Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!