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Microsoft has announced Wave 4 of Copilot, adding three new capabilities to the Copilot app – Home, Code and Autopilot (formerly Scout).
But this is more than an interface update. It signals the next stage of Copilot – moving from AI that helps us complete individual tasks to AI that can take on work, support business processes and act on our behalf.

From assistance to action

Chat remains the place to ask questions, brainstorm, summarise and create. Cowork takes this further, letting users hand off a piece of work and get a finished result back. Autopilot goes further still – an always-on digital teammate that keeps work moving even when you’re not.

What's new in Wave 4

What's new in Wave 4

  • Home, with Office built in – Chat and Cowork now share one starting point, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint are built right into Copilot. Ask for a budget model or a launch brief and you get a real, editable file that’s live for the whole team – no copy-and-paste, no stray versions.
  • Code – Describe the tracker, dashboard or small app you need in plain English, and Copilot builds it and runs it securely inside your Microsoft 365 environment. It’s built on the same technology as GitHub Copilot, so people who aren’t developers can build what they need.
  • Autopilot – Give it a name, a role and a goal, and it gets to work – following up on threads, running recurring tasks and picking projects back up days later without being prompted. Take a supplier review, for example: Autopilot can build the schedule, handle the prep and chase stakeholders for updates.
  • Today – A proactive view across mail, calendar, Teams and tasks that shows what you missed, what needs attention now and what can wait. The draft reply, the proposed reschedule and the forgotten follow-up are already waiting for you.
  • @Copilot in Teams – Mention Copilot in a channel, group chat or meeting, and it works from the whole team’s shared context. Ask why a decision was made and it pulls the background from across conversations, so nobody has to explain it again.
  • Richer business context – Copilot can now draw on Power BI data, plus Dynamics 365 and Power Platform data. When a salesperson writes a proposal, deal history and support tickets can go straight into the document without switching apps.

Wave 4 is rolling out through Microsoft’s Frontier early access programme:

  • Code reaches Frontier customers from the end of September.
  • Autopilot and @Copilot in Teams enter private preview.
  • Today follows in private preview in October.

General availability dates are still to be confirmed.

So, what does this actually mean for businesses?

The question isn’t just “What can the new Copilot do?”

It’s “Where can it make a meaningful difference in our business?”

For organisations, now is the time to look beyond individual productivity and identify the processes where AI could create genuine value. Start with the areas where people spend too much time on repetitive work, moving between systems, searching for information or completing manual processes.

Then ask:

  • Where could AI remove friction or save meaningful time? 
  • Do we have the right security, data and governance foundations in place? 
  • How will we measure whether the use case is delivering value? 
  • Are our people ready and equipped to work differently with AI? 

You don’t need to transform everything at once. Start with a clear business problem, test a high-value use case, measure the outcome and scale what works.

What does this mean for partners?

For partners, the conversation is changing too. It’s becoming less about “Do you want Copilot?” and more about “What could your business do differently with AI?”

That’s an opportunity to have broader conversations with customers about AI readiness, security, governance, adoption and the use cases that deliver real business outcomes.

Default spending limit: The default spending limit will be 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, which can be adjusted by admins. For example, a customer with 100 M365 Copilot Business users could consume up to 400,000 Copilot Credits per month under the default spending limit, with UBB charges based on actual usage.

Availability: The change will begin rolling out to eligible customers in supported markets. It will initially not be available in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. We’ll share additional information as availability expands to these markets.

Cowork billing through CSP gets simpler

The Copilot licence still covers everyday Copilot. Cowork and the other agentic capabilities in Wave 4 run on usage-based billing, using Copilot Credits.

From 1 December 2026, usage-based billing will be switched on by default for new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licences purchased through CSP, including stand-alone licences and bundles. That means less billing set-up and a faster path to Cowork for your customers.

Admins keep control with spending limits, policies and alerts, and users can see their own credit usage in Copilot. For partners, that opens a clear, ongoing role:

  • helping customers choose the right scenarios
  • forecasting consumption before it scales
  • showing the value delivered for every dollar spent

Earn as your customers adopt Cowork

Microsoft is backing this shift with the Copilot Cowork CSP Activation Incentive. It’s a one-time reward for eligible indirect resellers and direct bill partners who help their CSP customers activate Cowork and keep using it. It sits on top of your existing CSP earnings, and it’s open to new and existing customers, including those who haven’t bought Copilot yet.

Alt text: Copilot Cowork CSP Activation Incentive – earn $50 per qualified incremental Cowork monthly active user, up to $12,500 per customer tenant. Step 1: Activate – customer reaches 50+ Cowork monthly active users and $2,500+ monthly Cowork consumption. Step 2: Sustain – both thresholds still met at the end of month three. Step 3: Earn – a one-time payout based on growth in qualified Cowork users.

The new Copilot gives us more capability.

The next step is working out where that capability can create the most value.

This is where Crayon can support – please reach out to your account manager to continue the conversation.
 

Further Reading
Microsoft blog: Introducing the new Copilot with Home, Code and Autopilot – The Official Microsoft Blog
Partner blog (includes the full partner checklist and links): The new Copilot is here: The opportunity for Microsoft partners
The Announcement FAQ: Copilot Partner FAQ

Additional Resources
Review the UBB for SMB partner opportunity presentation (PPT) and UBB Default On FAQ.

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