There’s a reason AI agents have been all over LinkedIn and tech news lately. A project called OpenClaw, released by an independent developer in early 2026, went viral almost overnight, pulling in 335K + GitHub stars within weeks of launch.
It got people’s attention because it made something real and tangible: autonomous AI agents that take actions, complete multi-step tasks, and move data between systems without a person clicking through each step.
That moment shifted the conversation. It wasn’t just developers getting excited. Business leaders, operations managers, and finance teams started asking the same question: if this is possible, what can we do with it inside our own business?
The good news for businesses already in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem is that you don’t need to look outside it.
Microsoft’s Power Platform, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio are delivering exactly this kind of capability right now, with the governance, security, and oversight built in from the start.
What’s Actually Changed in 2026
The idea of automating business processes isn’t new. What’s changed is how accessible it’s become. Microsoft’s 2026 release wave 1 for Power Platform and Power Automate introduces a next-generation AI Copilot embedded directly into the flow designer.
Instead of needing a developer to build an automation from scratch, business users and IT teams can now describe a process in plain language and have Copilot draft the flow for them. Cloud flows, desktop RPA, and process mining are all covered in the same environment.
For technical teams, this doesn’t reduce the need for good architecture and governance. It removes the low-value build time, so your team can focus on the decisions that actually matter: data handling, approval logic, error management, and compliance.
For business leaders, it means the gap between “we think this process could be automated” and “here’s a working prototype we can test” is now much smaller than it used to be.
Work Queues, Process Mining and Smarter Automation at Scale
One of the updates that tends to get overlooked in the wave 1 release is the enhancement to work queues in Power Automate.
As businesses move from running a handful of automations to building a broader programme, the ability to monitor, prioritise, and manage high volumes of automated work becomes essential. The updated work queue tools give both IT teams and operations leaders better visibility into what’s running, what’s waiting, and what needs attention.
Alongside this, new object-centric process mining capabilities are landing inside Power Platform. This means you can analyse a real process inside your business, map where the delays and handoffs are happening, and then build a solution in the same environment.
The path from “we suspect this process is inefficient” to “here’s the data showing exactly where the friction is, and here’s the automation we’ve built to fix it” is now a single connected workflow.
For manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and finance teams handling high volumes of repetitive tasks, this combination is worth paying close attention to.
Copilot Studio: Building Agents That Work the Way Your Business Does
Copilot Studio is where the agent-building conversation gets really practical for Australian businesses. The 2026 wave 1 release plan includes several capabilities that close the gap between what OpenClaw-style tools can do and what’s safe and supportable inside an enterprise environment.
The “computer use” feature lets Copilot Studio agents automate web and desktop applications, including legacy systems that don’t have modern APIs or integrations.
If your team is manually copying data between an old system and a spreadsheet, or navigating a web portal to pull reports each week, this is exactly the kind of task that becomes a candidate for automation.
Trigger configuration with end-user credentials means automations run as the individual employee, not a generic service account, keeping permissions clean, auditable, and aligned with your security policies.
Custom MCP server connections allow agents to reach external data sources securely, so you’re not limited to what’s already inside your Microsoft tenant.
These agents can also be deployed directly inside Teams, Outlook, or a Power App, so employees interact with them in the tools they’re already using every day, without needing to learn a new platform.
One pattern we’re seeing across Australian businesses right now is strong enthusiasm for agents and automation, combined with uncertainty about where to draw the boundaries. That’s a healthy tension. Getting governance right early is what separates a well-run automation programme from a future sprawl problem.
If your team starts building and deploying Copilot agents without a clear structure, you can end up with the same shadow IT issues that complicated early cloud adoption for many businesses.
Copilot agent sprawl is already a real consideration for businesses that have moved quickly, and it’s much easier to address before it takes hold than after.
For business leaders thinking about the broader picture, the question isn’t just “what can we automate?” It’s “how do we build a system of work where agents and people operate together effectively?”
If your leadership team is already having that conversation, the shift to an agentic system of work and what it takes to be ready for it is worth working through.
Turning This Into Action for Your Team
The 2026 release wave updates are significant, but the most common barrier I see isn’t technology. It’s knowing which process to start with and having the confidence to take the first step in a structured way.
We run M365 Automation and AI Opportunity Workshops for exactly this reason. We come to your business, walk your leadership and technical teams through what’s possible with Power Automate, Power Platform, and Copilot Studio, and then we take one of your real manual processes talk you through how it could be automated using Microsoft tools.
It’s hands-on, it’s specific to your environment, and it gives your team a clear picture of what’s achievable before any significant investment is made.
It’s the fastest way to go from “we’ve heard about automation” to “we can see exactly how this would work for us.”
About the Author
Carlos Garcia is the Founder and Managing Director of CG TECH, where he leads enterprise digital transformation projects across Australia.
With deep experience in business process automation, Microsoft 365, and AI-powered workplace solutions, Carlos has helped businesses in government, healthcare, and enterprise sectors streamline workflows and improve efficiency.
He holds Microsoft certifications in Power Platform and Azure and regularly shares practical guidance on Copilot readiness, data strategy, and AI adoption.
There’s a reason AI agents have been all over LinkedIn and tech news lately. A project called OpenClaw, released by an independent developer in early 2026, went viral almost overnight, pulling in 335K + GitHub stars within weeks of launch.
It got people’s attention because it made something real and tangible: autonomous AI agents that take actions, complete multi-step tasks, and move data between systems without a person clicking through each step.
That moment shifted the conversation. It wasn’t just developers getting excited. Business leaders, operations managers, and finance teams started asking the same question: if this is possible, what can we do with it inside our own business?
The good news for businesses already in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem is that you don’t need to look outside it.
Microsoft’s Power Platform, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio are delivering exactly this kind of capability right now, with the governance, security, and oversight built in from the start.
What’s Actually Changed in 2026
The idea of automating business processes isn’t new. What’s changed is how accessible it’s become. Microsoft’s 2026 release wave 1 for Power Platform and Power Automate introduces a next-generation AI Copilot embedded directly into the flow designer.
Instead of needing a developer to build an automation from scratch, business users and IT teams can now describe a process in plain language and have Copilot draft the flow for them. Cloud flows, desktop RPA, and process mining are all covered in the same environment.
For technical teams, this doesn’t reduce the need for good architecture and governance. It removes the low-value build time, so your team can focus on the decisions that actually matter: data handling, approval logic, error management, and compliance.
For business leaders, it means the gap between “we think this process could be automated” and “here’s a working prototype we can test” is now much smaller than it used to be.
If you want to understand what the Power Platform can do as a foundation before stepping into the 2026 updates, the 2025 Wave 1 release is a solid starting point.
Work Queues, Process Mining and Smarter Automation at Scale
One of the updates that tends to get overlooked in the wave 1 release is the enhancement to work queues in Power Automate.
As businesses move from running a handful of automations to building a broader programme, the ability to monitor, prioritise, and manage high volumes of automated work becomes essential. The updated work queue tools give both IT teams and operations leaders better visibility into what’s running, what’s waiting, and what needs attention.
Alongside this, new object-centric process mining capabilities are landing inside Power Platform. This means you can analyse a real process inside your business, map where the delays and handoffs are happening, and then build a solution in the same environment.
The path from “we suspect this process is inefficient” to “here’s the data showing exactly where the friction is, and here’s the automation we’ve built to fix it” is now a single connected workflow.
For manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and finance teams handling high volumes of repetitive tasks, this combination is worth paying close attention to.
Copilot Studio: Building Agents That Work the Way Your Business Does
Copilot Studio is where the agent-building conversation gets really practical for Australian businesses. The 2026 wave 1 release plan includes several capabilities that close the gap between what OpenClaw-style tools can do and what’s safe and supportable inside an enterprise environment.
The “computer use” feature lets Copilot Studio agents automate web and desktop applications, including legacy systems that don’t have modern APIs or integrations.
If your team is manually copying data between an old system and a spreadsheet, or navigating a web portal to pull reports each week, this is exactly the kind of task that becomes a candidate for automation.
Trigger configuration with end-user credentials means automations run as the individual employee, not a generic service account, keeping permissions clean, auditable, and aligned with your security policies.
Custom MCP server connections allow agents to reach external data sources securely, so you’re not limited to what’s already inside your Microsoft tenant.
These agents can also be deployed directly inside Teams, Outlook, or a Power App, so employees interact with them in the tools they’re already using every day, without needing to learn a new platform.
The practical side of connecting your own business data to Copilot agents is something a lot of businesses are starting to explore right now. And if you’re weighing up what’s actually involved before committing, the reality of building your first Copilot agent looks quite different from the marketing headlines.
Getting Governance Right Before You Scale
One pattern we’re seeing across Australian businesses right now is strong enthusiasm for agents and automation, combined with uncertainty about where to draw the boundaries. That’s a healthy tension. Getting governance right early is what separates a well-run automation programme from a future sprawl problem.
If your team starts building and deploying Copilot agents without a clear structure, you can end up with the same shadow IT issues that complicated early cloud adoption for many businesses.
Copilot agent sprawl is already a real consideration for businesses that have moved quickly, and it’s much easier to address before it takes hold than after.
For business leaders thinking about the broader picture, the question isn’t just “what can we automate?” It’s “how do we build a system of work where agents and people operate together effectively?”
If your leadership team is already having that conversation, the shift to an agentic system of work and what it takes to be ready for it is worth working through.
Turning This Into Action for Your Team
The 2026 release wave updates are significant, but the most common barrier I see isn’t technology. It’s knowing which process to start with and having the confidence to take the first step in a structured way.
We run M365 Automation and AI Opportunity Workshops for exactly this reason. We come to your business, walk your leadership and technical teams through what’s possible with Power Automate, Power Platform, and Copilot Studio, and then we take one of your real manual processes talk you through how it could be automated using Microsoft tools.
It’s hands-on, it’s specific to your environment, and it gives your team a clear picture of what’s achievable before any significant investment is made.
It’s the fastest way to go from “we’ve heard about automation” to “we can see exactly how this would work for us.”
About the Author
Carlos Garcia is the Founder and Managing Director of CG TECH, where he leads enterprise digital transformation projects across Australia.
With deep experience in business process automation, Microsoft 365, and AI-powered workplace solutions, Carlos has helped businesses in government, healthcare, and enterprise sectors streamline workflows and improve efficiency.
He holds Microsoft certifications in Power Platform and Azure and regularly shares practical guidance on Copilot readiness, data strategy, and AI adoption.
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