New M365 Copilot Plugin Registry

There was another very important announcement this week for Microsoft 365 Copilot: a new Plugin Registry is being introduced.

However, what I feel is more important is a shift in terminology. Within the Microsoft 365 Copilot user experience, users will no longer go to the Agents page; they will go to a Plugins page. Why?

Plugins represent a broader set of capabilities that users can use within Microsoft 365 Copilot. Plugins are made up of:

1. Agents (as we know them today)
2. Connectors, which give users access to approved services and data
3. Skills, which are reusable instructions that can be used for specialized work

The goal is to make it simpler for end users to find everything they need to assist them with Microsoft 365 Copilot in one place. Additionally, the Plugins page will be consistently available within the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), and SharePoint.

In support of this change, a new Plugin Registry is being provided for administrators to manage how all agents, connectors, and skills are made available to end users. This new registry management capability is available through the Agent 365 management experience. Administrators can review plugins built by Microsoft, customers, and partners through a single experience. They can also enable or disable plugins for users or groups and control how users gain access to them

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-copilot-blog/introducing-the-plugin-registry---one-place-to-discover-and-govern-plugins-for-m/4559682