Episode 430: Scouting out Microsoft Scout

- Welcome to episode 430 - of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast recorded - live on 06/15/2026. - This is a show about Microsoft three sixty - five and Azure from the perspective of IT - pros and end users, where we discuss the - topic or recent news and how it relates - to you. - In this episode, Ben and Scott explore Microsoft - Scout, the new desktop AI application announced at - Microsoft Build. They walked through the real onboarding - experience on both Mac and Windows, the licensing - maze and admin controls needed to activate it, - and how Scout's architecture - ties together models, automations, - and integrations like MCP servers, GitHub Copilot, and - WorkIQ.

- Let's go Scout out Microsoft Scout. - Today, we're gonna talk about - Microsoft Scout, - aka - Microsoft's new desktop - application - that interacts with, well, all sorts of things. - Traditional - skills, like you might be using, like Cloud - Code style skills, like we've talked about in - the past. Agents, - interacts with local file system, web browsers, - has WorkIQ - integration - ish.

I think we should talk about that - and kinda - how that manifests and comes together, supports MCP - servers, local skills, all sorts of cool stuff. - So this was announced at Build, - Microsoft Build a couple weeks ago. So it's - in the Frontier program. Customers can go and - grab it.

Although, - maybe we should start with it's both an - m three sixty five - Frontier thing plus a GitHub Copilot thing - for some of the AI usage - and and all of that. So I don't - know where you wanna start. I think a - good grounding is, like I said, Scout is - a desktop application - that interacts with - cloud LLMs plus your local file system, local - web browser, - supports MCP integrations, - supports skills, - both import from GitHub and traditional marketplaces, - create your own kind of thing.

I think - it's got some interesting concepts and things going - on that we can spend a little bit - of time and talk about. But why don't - we talk about onboarding and getting this all - going? - Let's start there because - I went in to onboard this, and it - was - I will say it was an interesting experience - to onboard this because - it's different. It's different.

We'll start there. So - I downloaded it right away when I wanted - to get this set up and start playing - with it. And - you download the application - and start running it, and this is macOS. - We should also say this is both on - macOS and Windows already.

So when they announced - it came out with it, they came out - with it for both platforms. - And you're immediately prompted with a Microsoft three - sixty five login - and a GitHub login. - So I was like, okay. Perfect.

Let me - go log in. And I got blocked right - away. I couldn't log in because - it - the documentation - on this is mixed. What I have seen - is - this requires - both some level of Microsoft three sixty five - Copilot licensing because this has to be enabled - in Microsoft three sixty five in order to - work.

There's some admin controls there. So the - first thing I had to do was I - had to actually log in to Microsoft three - sixty five - as an admin - and - enable it within - my Microsoft three sixty five tenant. So the - prerequisites are a Microsoft three sixty five workers - school account, a Microsoft three sixty five Copilot - access, - and an active Microsoft three sixty five Copilot - license assigned to your account, local admin permissions, - which that's to install the app, and a - GitHub Copilot license.

That is two Copilot licenses, - Scott. - It's Copilot for your Copilot. It is. So - it's going in, logging into the admin workspace, - and I was trying to find it right - here where it actually - was - in the admin center, and I lost it - in my documentation.

- But there is I think it's in the - Copilot - settings in the admin center, and I am - not sure why I'm not finding it here - admin. - Yeah. There's the access setup, admin access overview. - Who does?

Documentation - is on. You have to be enabled in - Frontier, like you said. Go turn that on, - and then - go. - And this is where it's I would say - it's a little mixed in the admin center.

- The Microsoft guidelines walk you through setting up - an Intune policy - or a GPO policy. - So you could do this through AD to - actually enable Frontier - on the machines. - So there's either a configuration policy that you - have to set to enable this or - a GPO to just and it it pushes - down that registry setting to enable on your - device. So you can probably work around that.

- Right? You could go download ADMX files, make - changes to your local machine, all of that - to get it enabled. Easiest way is Intune - or GPO. So I got that pushed down, - went to go log in to Scout again, - and now it's okay.

You need to get - Hub Copilot license. - Perfect. I have - GitHub - Pro, - and - this is a license I already had for - my personal account. And it was like, so - well, I had the license, but it said, - oh, guess what?

Scout does not work with - GitHub Pro on a personal one. You need - an enterprise GitHub Copilot license. - So then I had to go into my - organization in GitHub, - go purchase GitHub - Copilot for - my enterprise - account. And once I had that for enterprise, - now I was actually finally able to sign - in.

So - GPOs, - downloading the application, - two different licenses, one a $30 a month - license. The other one, I think, is 18 - or $19 a month. So a cumulative $50 - a month in licensing - for Copilot between GitHub Copilot and Microsoft three - sixty five Copilot. - Now I was finally able to log in - and actually start using it.

This is all - before you've even said hello world or asked - a question or anything like that? I don't - even know what the UI looks like or - anything. I had to go set all of - this up before it even let me log - in to the application and get past the - initial splash screen once I installed it. It's - a little bit of work.

It's a little - bit of work. Yeah. So so a a - little bit. Right?

$50 before you even turn - it on and download the thing. So - why don't we talk a little bit about - that initial experience and what that looks like - and kinda how it comes together? So Scout's - a desktop application again. You kinda want it - running twenty four seven or as close to - twenty four seven as you can get depending - on your needs because it has these heartbeats - and automations - and other things that you can stand up - in it because it's got OpenClaw - ish whatever running in the background.

So, effectively, - the Cron job can go and run and - push out your prompts - on a schedule. So you get presented with - this window that's k. I can chat. I've - got automations, - cocreations, - things like that.

So why don't we talk - a little bit about new chats - and what that looks like? So you just - go in, you fire up a new chat. - You're gonna get some - light prompts - around things, like, what should I focus on, - block some focus time with me, find my - chat with my manager or my direct reports, - whatever it happens to be, put those together. - So you can go basically, hello world or - start with one of these kind of baked - in prompts - to get you up and running.

You get - to select a model that you run with. - So there is a model selector. - That becomes important because you're gonna select a - default model as part of your settings. So - are you gonna run with Opus four six, - GPT five five?

Are you gonna do Opus - four eight, which came out recently? Or are - you gonna go into auto mode and let - it choose what's out there? I would say - this is another part of the admin thing. - We mentioned that you need to get Hub - Co pilot license.

Right? And it's because when - you actually go run these, it's consuming - GitHub Copilot. - And I mentioned this because you brought up - these models. - The models that you have available to you - in Scout - are dictated - by which models you make available to your - organization - in GitHub Copilot.

So that's another one of - those admin pieces once you get in here - is, like you said, I have cloud opus - 464845 - GPT - five five five three. I don't have any - of the Google ones. I could go enable - Google - in GitHub Copilot, and then those would chart - start showing up here. Or if I wanted - to limit GPT or Claude depending on - my models I want available to my users, - you can control the model availability, but it's - all done through your GitHub Copilot - admin settings.

This is a little bit more - of that model overload thing because not only - are you paying for GitHub Copilot, - but models - have different costs - for input tokens, output tokens. Basically, - what are you gonna burn through in token - usage on GitPilot, - on on on Scout as you're kinda chatting - and going about your day to day that's - there. So it is an important - cognitive thing, I think, - to think a little bit about what the - model is. So, like, I can say with - my employer, I'm a little bit lucky in - that I get unlimited usage, so I don't - worry about token consumption or things like that.

- But I think in a world of - API, - per API call, per token kind of pricing, - which is very much like the way the - world is headed right now, - you do need to be intentional and think - about that a little bit. What's the best - model for - maybe your business? If you're a singular business, - maybe you think Opus, - I don't know, four eight is better than - GPT five five given, like, the vertical you're - in or the place you are. So maybe - that's the only thing you make available, or - you make the whole smorgasbord available.

You put - folks in auto mode and hope they stick - to it. Like, it it's a weird kind - of dynamic to get out there, but it - is one of those things given, like, GitHub - Copilot pricing and how that's changed over time. - Like, you do have to think a little - bit about what are the models you expose - and what are the models that are gonna - work best for your use - cases and and your business. Right.

So select - the model, first thing. The other thing you - can do I mean, I don't know why - you'd want this, Scott, unless you're just having - fun with it. We talked about this. This - doesn't seem super enterprising.

- You can pick your personality - for how they respond. Default, helpful, and professional. - Okay. Enterprise makes sense.

Enthusiastic - intern. So excited about everything. I mean, - maybe. But then the other one, and maybe - if you're just a child at heart or - you don't get enough of your teenagers that - are sarcastic, you can actually choose a sarcastic - teenager personality - where Scout will respond to you with eye - rolling and reluctantly helpful responses.

- To me, that feels a little gimmicky. I - don't know. Some people have fun with it. - Sarcastic teenager, maybe you just wanna giggle out - of your clawed responses.

- I mean, we do use the Carrot app - on whether that can also be a little - bit sarcastic, teenager ish, - but those two things you can pick when - you go set up your prompts. - This episode is brought to you by Trusted - Tech. If you're managing Microsoft three sixty five, - you already know licensing isn't simple. E three - versus e five, the brand new e seven - licenses, - Copilot security bundles, and with price changes coming - in July - 2026, - the stakes are getting higher.

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So you go set up a - prompt. - You fire it off. So, - like, you can ask Microsoft Scout what it - can do. I think playing around with some - of the given, like, the workplace nature center - of it.

Right? It is focused in m - three sixty five is what can you do - for me in m three sixty five? Go - read my inbox and tell me give me - a stack rank list of my top three - priorities right now, that kind of thing, which - you you can totally do because there is - that WorkIQ - integration. There is.

And that's one of the - prompts when you start that first new chat - is you have a button that can click, - what does it do? And you can it'll - just auto fill in some text in the - chat dialogue that says, what can you do? - Show me tools and capabilities. - And it is what we mentioned, code and - repo, working with files, editing code, - running build test, - lints, - working on files in your Skelte workspace - browser, going through navigating websites, - doing Microsoft three sixty five stuff with all - the IQ, OneDrive, Outlook, - creating drafts, replies, calendar events.

They have skills - for documents, PowerPoint decks, different settings, and we'll - talk more about this, automations, heartbeat - checks, things like that, and then search prior - sessions. And then it does give you a - few of those specialized skills it has, editing - loop pages, - a doc x, PPT x, - web artifacts builder for interactive HTML dashboards. - So it gets you started there. I think - the first thing I thought through, - and I would be interested to hear - your take on this a little bit is - you spin this up, and, obviously, it's different - licensing.

- But adding to that cognitive load is and - I'm like, okay. Now I have Scout. There - is a ton of overlap - between what Scout can do and what Microsoft - three sixty five Copilot can do. There's also - overlap now between what Scout can do and - what GitHub Copilot can do.

And because of - the licensing requirements, - in order to have Scout, I now have - those other two. Anyways, like, how do I - start rationalizing - if I'm gonna start a chat, do I - go into GitHub Copilot, and do I do - some of the chat there? Do I go - into Microsoft three sixty five and chat there? - Do I go into - Scout and chat?

If I'm working with code, - do I wanna be in GitHub Copilot or - Scout? There's - in my mind now, there's - a lot of overlap. There are a few - unique aspects to all of these, - but it's just more - which copilot - do I use when, - and - how do I decide - I think it's a hard one because every - time you're chatting in Scout, you are consuming - tokens - in GitHub Copilot. Yep.

That's a weird decision - right off the bat because if you're already - licensed for m three sixty five Copilot - and you're using m three sixty five Copilot - under your existing licensing, maybe you're using things - like Cowork - successfully, and you've been able to do automations - and skills and things over there, maybe that's - enough for you. And you don't need Scout. - I think Scout bridges an interesting gap between - all of - those because - m three sixty five Copilot can't interact with - your local desktop.

So that's a big downside. - That's a big one. M three sixty five - Copilot also does not have MCP integration. - So if you're working with an MCP server, - like in my case, maybe, - like, even if I wanna do something like - use, like, the Microsoft Learn remote MCP, I - can't do that from m three sixty five - Copilot.

I have to go over to - something else that's out there. So I don't - think the trade off is the cognitive load - of when to use what. The trade off - is how much money do you have - and how many tokens - token credits do you have? Because the consolidated - experience of having both access to your work - data via WorkIQ, - things like that, plus - LLM access, plus local file system, MCP, skill - integrations, - and the Kron scheduler makes it a pretty - powerful thing, right, to be able to go - and do that.

So if you did have - access to all of them, I would think - about things like, do I need this automation - to be scheduled? Yes or no? Well, if - I need it to be scheduled, I should - I'll I'll just go run that in in - Scout because I can set up that automation, - or I can have a heartbeat that runs - on a schedule, - have that come through kind of thing. Is - it an MCP integration?

I can't do that - in m three sixty five Cobalt. Therefore, I'm - going to go - into this other tool to spin those things - up and get them going. So I found - Scout to be super helpful for like, in - my day to day, building HTML mock ups, - building reports, - having the m MCP integrations is really good. - Like, in my world, like, I do a - lot with Kusto and Kusto telemetry.

- So having things like the fabric the Microsoft - fabric - MCP server there - help helps me a whole bunch, right, to - spin those things up and - and get them going. There are some trade - offs. So it's like they built in skills - for for, like you said, document creation. So - they've got, like, a DOCX skill, they've got - a PowerPoint skill, - things like that, but they're limited.

So I - don't know if you've played around with any - of these. Like, I I went and created - I have not. I went in and I - was iterating on a document - with - with Scout. - And I don't know what it's using for - these skills in the back end.

I didn't - go dig around on the file system or - anything like that. I imagine it's a bunch - of npm - kind of just pull in things and use - open source components, things like that. But, like, - I was working on a document with it, - so it generated - doc v one kind of thing over its - iteration over mine. I had the document closed - at the time, so I wasn't accessing it.

- I went and opened up the doc, and - I had it open, and I said, well, - let's go make these changes. It couldn't make - those changes because I had the document open. - So because I had the document open and - it couldn't make the changes, guess what it - did? It created a new version, and it - said, hey.

I've created a new document with - a new name. So I went and opened - that document up, and I was like, oh, - this is a fluke. Right? This can't be - the way this thing works.

I said, okay. - Let's iterate on the new document. Sorry. Document's - locked.

I can't get access to it. Blah - blah blah. And rinse, repeat, and go down. - So so there are some limitations - or things like that that come together, but - it's far easier - if you do the kind of cocreate slash - workspace experience - to put some of these things together.

So - in my case, like, if I already had - a bunch of, let's say, CSVs that I - extracted from Kusto and I wanted to put - those into - a Word document or an HTML report, it'd - be really easy for me to dump all - those CSVs into a single directory, pull that - into a cocreate session, and and then say, - hey. Go build me this report one time - thing. You just gotta know that - iterating over it then becomes well, now I'm - using maybe, like, Copilot inside of Word or - inside of PowerPoint, - things like that once once they're out there - and - and ready to go.

Yeah. In terms - of when I use this, one cost is - absolutely part of it. So I just ran - that sample query just so people have somewhat - of an idea. The what can you do?

- Show me your tools and capabilities. - Just one question, I don't know, like 10 - words. Here's those responses. - And my AI usage in GitHub updates fairly - real time.

That single question - cost me 16¢ - in GitHub Copilot. So you can imagine - as you would iterate on code and go - through tokens, this is not a complex - task by any means. It is very easy - to burn through - dollars - in a hurry. - You and I did some tests.

That's where - you have to be mindful of the model - you use. Yep. You do have to do - things, - and I found this to be helpful. So, - unfortunately, Scout doesn't expose it.

But thinking about - things like your context window and context rot, - just like you would inside of GitHub Copilot - chat, GitHub Copilot CLI, Cloud Code, all these - things. So every time you're starting a new - chat, it's a new session. - So you can do things like have a - long running session. Eventually, you have to compact - those sessions or say - if you tell it, you say, hey.

Save - my session so I can go pick it - up in a new chat. It'll actually create - a session dot MD or a plan MD, - and it'll give you the full file path - to it. And then you can go and - pull that up and say, hey. Go reload - this context and push me into a new - chat, - say things like that along the way.

So - it's a little weird. Like, you do have - to be kinda mindful of where it's at - and what it's doing, and is it giving - me, like, the the right set of things - that are out there. There's also some things - that aren't in your control. So if you - go into Scout and you try and add - the WorkIQ MCP server, you can't because it - says the work m the WorkIQ MCP server - is already built in.

But when you go - and ask a question in Scout, you say, - go - go - grab my three latest chats from my direct - reports kinda thing, you'll see that it actually - fires off PowerShell commands. So it's running WorkIQ - from the command line, I think, to try - and reduce token usage, like, in in ins - and outs and and things like that. So - that's a pattern you see in a lot - of products today where they're leveraging LLMs, but - the LLMs are calling into CLIs. So you - just kinda see that in action - over in things like Scout - as you're running it and getting it up - and going.

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com/tco. - It's interesting. I would compare - Scout. - I would say the times I would go - into Scout would be if I'm in Wodland.

- It would be the times I would normally - go in and do something in Claude - Cowork. - That's how I would compare Scout. - Scout is actually what I wish - when Microsoft announced Microsoft or Microsoft three sixty - five Copilot co work, I don't know what - the official name is. When they announced that - co work, I was hoping it was gonna - be more something more like what Scout is.

- I feel like Scout is a little bit - more comparable to Cloud or to Claude co - work than Microsoft three sixty five Copilot Cowork - is to Claude Cowork just in terms of - that functionality because I use Claude for a - lot of the things that I would use - Scout for, going in and pulling stuff out - of the browser, interacting with browser sessions, interacting - with local files, - all of that type of stuff. So that - was the chat. You talked a little bit - about - that cocreate - experience as well where you can go set - up a workspace, - working on - files, - exporting to DocX, - creating Markdown, all of that.

But you also - have in here this - automations - that you can create within Scout, where - now you can go in and create the - way Microsoft describes it, these automated multi step - tasks - that run on a schedule. Cron job type - of things where it could be something like - the example Microsoft gives. You go in, you - create this automation, - give it a name of, I want a - morning briefing, - brief description. - This you can pick - from those models that are enabled which model - you want this automation to use.

So if - you have certain automations that maybe - through prompts already, - you've determined when I'm asking about a morning - briefing that works better with GPT, but when - I'm asking about looking at code that works - better with Claude, - you can pick - what model this a particular automation uses - and then set it to run on some - type of schedule, - weekdays - at 9AM, - weekends, - end of the day, or you can set - this based on certain conditions - and then run a check where every so - often, I wanna check for this condition.

I - wanna check for this pull request - in GitHub or a certain repo. - And then just go in and set, here's - all the steps. Here's the different prompts I - wanna run as part of this automation. Here's - what Scout should do in each one of - these steps.

- Is it gonna interact with the browser? You - can actually run it with a brow headless - browser, - which I would this is one advantage to - me over Claude is Claude has to it - pops open the browser. Like, I'll go in - and look at my browser, and all of - a sudden I have a new group of - tabs open from Claude because it went and - opened the browser and it added tabs to - my browser session. But going in and then - doing things with the browser and running it - headless if you want to.

And then you - can go create this automation to now - run based on some trigger or some condition - to perform a certain set of steps, which - this is something I haven't played with. I - don't know if you've set up any automations - yet. I've done a couple. So I'll give - you some examples - of what I do.

So I have my - heartbeat. - So my heartbeat is - go check my team's messages - and my inbox for anything urgent from, like, - my team, direct reports, things like that. So - my heartbeat runs every thirty minutes - during my work hours. So I you get - to set that up in your heartbeat.

You - you can think of your heartbeat as, like, - the ongoing persistent automation that you want to - run. The issue that I ran into with - heartbeats initially was the formatting of heartbeats. - Like, you can go, hey. Tell it do - this, and then it would always come back - with, like, its own table and its own - different format.

- But because when you're putting these things in, - you're effectively, like, expressing markdown to the LLM - and LLMs love markdown, you can actually give - it, like, tabular formats. So, hey. I want - it to be formatted this way when it - comes back to me. I have these rules - for it.

So tell me if the heartbeat - worked, if it was urgent, if you encountered - an air, maybe, like, a throttle and work - IQ, - things like that, and couldn't get to it. - So that's my heartbeat. And then my automations, - I've got a couple different ones that run. - The most valuable ones to me are probably - the ones that, like, crawl the web.

And - and so I have one that's, hey. Give - me the latest tech news from, like, the - top ad creators, like TechMeme, - Y Combinator, - Hacker News, Reddit, things like that. And it - does a pretty good job of giving me, - like, hey. Here's, like, the top five things - going on in the news today.

It's kinda - like my own, like, little personal newsletter without - having to sign up for TLDR - or things like that. And then I also - have one that does industry specific news. So - for, like, me, I work in object storage - land. So I get, like, a daily briefing - of here's what's going on in Alibaba Cloud.

- Here's what's going on in Amazon s three. - Here's what's going on in - Google land. And that comes back in, like, - a nice tabular format for me - every every kind every every morning. I've played - around with things, like create a daily brief, - wrap up my day.

We were talking about - this a little bit, LLM Wikis. I tend - to be over in LLM Wiki Land for - that stuff now because I've got skills that - I've created that or that I've kinda taken - from others in massage, right, to put them - where where I need to be. But I've - got, like, skills and agents that run-in there - that are very specific to my workflows. - I would love to bring them in to - Scout as a harness or something that I - could use as a scheduler, - but I haven't found a way to do - that.

- Scout can, like, import skills, - but it's got like, I can't point it - just, like, in the agent.md - and say, okay. Go run with this thing - and and do what you need to do - with it. It hasn't quite figured out that - or have that level of maturity.

Maybe someday, - like, Code Creek gets there. I think that - would be, like, my ideal space is give - me something that does MCPs, does skills, brings - it all in, brings it together, but then - uses, like, formats like agents.md - or things like that. So I can then - wrap those skills inside an agent, and then - I can use - Scout as a harness or a scheduler.

- So it's not me going into the morning - into GitHub Copilot CLI or into Versus Code - chat and saying, hey. Create my daily brief. - I could just say, create my daily brief. - Creates my daily brief, generates that markdown file, - and it's there for me on a schedule.

- Or wrap up my day, and it automatically - wraps up my day. Go I've got, like, - a skill that, like, hey. Go out and - grab the meetings that I grab all my - meetings from my calendar for the ones that - I attended, - grab the transcripts, make sure you capture action - items, bring that stuff forward. Like, I would - just love to have that stuff run on - a schedule, - but I haven't quite figured out how to - get it over into - scout land yet.

So that's my next thing - is I wanna figure out, like, can I - translate some of those LLM work LLM Wiki - kinda workflows, - bring those over, and get them to where - they need to be because you do have - this - harness and scheduler that sits there? Albeit with - one really big caveat, the application needs to - be open - to to be able to do this. So - if you close the application, your heartbeat no - longer runs. Your automations no longer run anything - like that.

So I don't know if they - turn that into a Windows service - or something like that someday. Or if your - computer goes to sleep. It's interesting too when - you're looking at heartbeats that's here if you - wanna do sleep prevention settings. They're in settings - and power management, and you can actually go - into - the settings in Scout - and say prevent sleep.

So if you have - those always on features like the heartbeat active, - just don't ever sleep your computer, which, I - mean, in theory, this adds another cost too. - Now your computer is running twenty four seven, - consuming electricity, generating heat in my office, and - causing my AC to run more. But - that's another aspect to it. App has to - be open.

Computer has to be running, not - sleeping. Although, as you can set your sessions - and memories to be stored in OneDrive, so - all your chat sessions and memories do get - saved into OneDrive by default as well. So - those would sync across your devices. So I - think this is another - I would say another nicety of Scout is - it does have that ability to keep these - keep your sessions, your memories in sync leveraging - OneDrive.

So it writes into a couple of - different places. Maybe we should talk about this - too. So - you do get, by default, a Scratchpad, and - your Scratchpad exists inside your OneDrive. So you - have a well, what do they call the - directory for you?

Because I'm on a weird - internal build, so - something different for me. Let me think. Where - no Scratchpad was over here, does it tell - me right here? If you mouse over it, - I think it gives you the directory or - something like that.

But No. It does not. - So if you own your OneDrive, it should - be like a root folder in your OneDrive. - I just don't know if they called it - Scout or - things like that.

So I don't know either. - Copilot. Here's Copilot. Copilot.

- Let's go see if I have a Scout - one. Scout or Microsoft Scout? Do not have - Scout. Do I have Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Teams? - I don't see it there either. Maybe you - know what? I don't have any sessions.

Do - I need to go - new chat? Create - a presentation - about - Microsoft Scout. There goes all my GitHub credits, - Scott. We went through 16¢.

- This is $5 to create a presentation. - I'll just see where it goes. Maybe we'll - have to go find it might be in - the documentation somewhere too. Maybe we should read - that.

There's a couple different things that happen - here, and there's a little bit of AI - fatigue - that comes along the way. So much like - picking up any other new tool, let's say - you go from cloud code to GitHub Copilot - CLI or over to codex, things like that, - you have to migrate sometimes your skills, your - MCP integration - or configurations, all those kinds of things. So - there's no like, Scout and its skills, they - get stored in your user directory - in a in a subdirectory - called, like, m underscore skills, - and they'll sit alongside your other marketplace installed - skills that maybe you've installed for, like, Cloud - Code or GitHub Copilot, - things like that - along the way.

So there you go. Now - you got a Microsoft Scout directory. So it's - in documents. It's in OneDrive - documents in Microsoft Scout, not at the root - of OneDrive.

So if you go in there, - you'll have sessions and Scratchpad. - The cool thing with CoCreate - is - you can - create because it's running locally on your desktop, - you're not limited to just stuff in your - OneDrive. So I think that's another advantage thing. - Let's say you were working on, like, a - Git repo and you pulled it down and - it was in, like, c colon - GitHub kinda thing, you could go pull that - into a co create session and Scout would - be able to interact with it.

You're not - limited like you are in, like, co work - to just your OneDrive and things like that. - Yeah. - You're out of time. Copilot needs to be - deployed ASAP, but is your tenant really ready - for it?

Years of data, permissions, and users - lurk in its shadows, ready to be exposed - by AI. - Sharegate Protect sees it all, so you can - find the exposure risks, fix them fast, and - deploy AI with confidence. - Microsoft - three sixty five governance. - We got this.

Learn more at sharegate.com/governance. - I'm giving it all kinds of permissions. It's - running scripts and installing stuff on my computer - and You're in, like, NPM land now, dude.

- It's pulling in all the things to create - a PowerPoint presentation - and get it going. So, eventually, you'll get - that. - It'll show up here eventually - at some point in time. Anything else - we wanna talk about, Scout?

We talked about - kinda heartbeats and automations. - We should talk through maybe - extensions real quick. So - I mentioned - that you've got both MCP servers - and skills available to you. So you can - go in, add MCPs - just like you would add any other MCP - server.

Is it remote, local? They give it - a name, things like that. - When I was doing mine, because I had - already migrated a bunch of MCPs - from GitHub Copilot - chat to GitHub Copilot CLI because the formatting - is different for the string formatting's - different for the JSON. I was able to - actually just pull over my j like, I - created one MCP server.

I found out where - the configuration sits on my hard drive for - Scout, and then I just kinda copy past - my actual, like, JSON over, and that lit - up Scout and worked pretty good. - Skills are interesting - because when you go to add a new - skill, it kinda directs you into the single - markdown file skill world - where you give it a description, you give - it a name, and you put your instructions - in there. You can also import skills from - GitHub. So if or from from a skills - marketplace.

From an MD. Okay. But not just - in it, not just a single MD. If - you're importing from a plug in marketplace, let's - say you have a skill that has a - subdirectory - for references - or design MDs, things like that, it'll import - all that stuff too and pull it over.

- So it's not just single markdown skills, which - I think is another benefit over m three - sixty five co work because m three sixty - five co work is still very much like - files in my OneDrive or SharePoint, single markdown - skill, - not a collection of artifacts, could be scripts, - references, - anything like that's going to come along the - way there. And then once you have these - skills and MCP is integrated, you do the - same thing you do in other tools where - you can turn them on, turn them off.

- So if you're trying to prevent context rot, - k, I'm not gonna fire up a bunch - of skills - in this given session, things like that. You - do have the ability to go and - and play with those - a little bit. - Maybe one last thing we should talk about. - Mentioned WorkIQ and that integration and how it - kinda shells out to PowerShell, things like that.

- We were going back and forth on a - thread with somebody else about WorkIQ pricing, which - was, like, all new to me. I was - like, what did they do here? And APIs - for WorkIQ. - So that's another consideration for you here as - well.

If you are deploying this, it's not - just your m three sixty five Copilot license. - It's not just your GitHub Copilot license. It's - also things like WorkIQ - API pricing - that could come back and get you We'll - put a link to that because that was - new to me as well was some of - the - usage based consumption based pricing on some of - the WorkIQ stuff that it appears there's a - lot of stuff going to consumption based pricing. - Like, AI is expensive, Scott, and people that - use a lot of it are gonna have - to pay more.

I think we are leaving - the days of - subsidized pricing. So kinda the bundled all in - kinda thing was nice while it was there. - Clearly, this stuff's at the point now where - it's costing not only the companies that make - it real money, but also their providers and - everybody else that surrounds them. So as the - checks become due, that turns into - pricing dynamics changing for consumers.

- Hey. We all got a taste of it, - but now it's gonna kinda kinda go out - there and and cost something. And I think - you're seeing that very much manifest, the shift - in GitHub Copilot pricing that's happening right now. - There's a lot of people who were living - in a land of, hey.

I was able - to do all this cool stuff without recognizing - how much it actually - cost on the back end because it had - been masked in kinda all in pricing - versus consumption based billing dynamics. It looks like - I ran this I don't know. Have you - tried this, Scott, where you start a prompt - to create a file and then leave and - go over to a chat and then go - back to the cocreate? - It looks like when I left, it just - kind of went.

No. I haven't had that - happen, but I don't think I flipped back - and forth between them. Alright. I'll play with - it some more.

But, yeah, it is. The - usage based pricing is going to be - fascinating. - Maybe - scary, not something I'm gonna want to watch, - but definitely something everybody has to start paying - attention to because more and more of it - is showing up. And, Scott, I was able - to add our podcast MCP server.

We didn't - tell everybody that. I created a podcast MCP - server. You don't wanna tell everybody that. That's - gonna cost me money.

You - are you're one of the AI providers. I'm - one of the AI providers now. No. There - is one out there as long as it - doesn't get too expensive, - but we have sponsors.

Maybe we can use - some sponsor money to provide this added benefit - to listeners. There is an MCP server for - the podcast that I created, and it is - free for now because not many people use - it, but not many people know about it. - So we can - put a link for that in the show - notes if people wanna try it if you're - listening. Oh, do you wanna do that?

You're - gonna have random AI agents - coming at you. Well, it's already out there. - I was - so all of this came out this is - the after show, maybe a little bit. All - of this came about because Cloudflare has a - new tool to check for your - websites, - AI agent - readiness, - like, the whole SEO, - a what is it?

SEO, AEO, - all the engine optimizations. - And one of them was like, oh, you - can go add these DNS entries and point - it to an MCP server, and it helps - with your - all your engine optimizations - so people can find you now, and they - have a tool to check for that. And - it was like, oh, maybe I should create - an MCP server, which led me down a - huge rabbit hole one day of creating an - MCP server. That's hosted on CloudFlare, and for - now, I'm under the quota, so it's free.

- Living the best life. Yeah. - So it is MCP server or MCP. Mcp.

msclouditpropodcast.com/mcp - because we need the MCP in there twice. - I needed a subdomain, and it added the - slash m cp, so it is what it - is. Yeah.

Yeah. It's gonna, Go play with - Scout and add the podcast MCP server to - it. I think Scout's gonna be an interesting - one. Clearly, there's - a desire to - kinda have better desktop integrations, - better - schedulers, - and things like that.

So I'm very much - aligned with you in that - this is kinda like what the GitHub or - what the m three sixty five Copilot - plus co work experience - could kind of be. Like, I I could - see it going this way. Like, there there - are very tangible benefits to having skills and - access to skills marketplaces - and MCPs - and all those things and access to multiple - models - and kinda user choice - and all of that comes with it. It's - it'll be an arson to see what the - next, - I guess, - agentic experience is that's pushed out.

Is that - built into Scout, or is that another separate - tool kind of thing? Like, where does that - investment go, and what does that look like? - That'll be an interesting one. Yes.

It absolutely - will. Yeah. You're gonna be fighting with this - thing all day as you type over there. - It doesn't look like you created the presentation.

- Yeah. You failed. AI. - You failed.

You're right. I hadn't finished the - actual deck yet. I'll generate it now instead - of just dramatically preparing to. Snarky teenagers.

- That's a weird mode. I don't know that - I, - understand that one, but maybe some folks on - the product team have some really snarky teenagers, - and they just enjoy that. I don't enjoy - the snark for my teenagers, so - that's not a bee thing. Yeah.

Who knows? - And it starts everything with ugh. Every single - prompt when it's snarky teenager is ugh. - Do I have to?

- Do you really want me to do this? - A deep sigh. Alright. Yeah.

So I I'd - be interested in other folks' experiences - with Scout. Are you building cool automations? - Did you find a nifty heartbeat? - Thing things like that work for you.

It's - a super flexible tool. So if folks do - have access to it, I'm pretty sure you - can play around and and do some interesting - things in your daily workflow and day to - day that you can't necessarily manifest in some - of the other tooling that's out there. Absolutely. - So if you are using it, let us - know.

Let us know how you're using it, - different ideas, - or other things you want us to talk - about. Probably LinkedIn. Go find us on LinkedIn. - Look for this episode post there.

Add a - comment. Give us your feedback, thoughts, - ideas, - tools, etcetera. But with that, I will let - you go enjoy the rest of your day, - Scott. Unless Scout is doing everything for you - today.

It's not. It's just more meetings. More - meetings, more trouble, more problems. - That's how it goes.

Go enjoy those meetings, - and we'll talk to you again soon. Will - do. Thanks, Ben. Alright.

Thanks, Scott. - If you enjoyed the podcast, go leave us - a five star rating in iTunes. It helps - to get the word out so more IT - pros can learn about Office three sixty five - and Azure. - If you have any questions you want us - to address on the show, or feedback about - the show, feel free to reach out via - our website, Twitter, or Facebook.

Thanks again for - listening, and have a great day.