3 min read
Illustrative image
Date
19 February 2026
Venue
The Oyster Box Hotel, Umhlanga
Time
12:00 to 16:30
Format
Working session
Setting the scene
We opened 2026 in Durban with a simple position: AI is no longer experimental. It is a competitive advantage, and the gap between the businesses using it and the businesses watching it is widening every quarter. The Copilot Experience was built for the leaders who want to be on the right side of that gap.
The Oyster Box gave the afternoon its setting, and the format did the rest. No theory-only keynotes. Four and a half hours of demonstrations and working conversation on how Microsoft Copilot is already being applied across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Surface Copilot+ PCs to streamline operations, automate everyday work, and turn business data into actionable insight.
What the afternoon covered
The sessions moved through the Microsoft ecosystem in the order most businesses meet it.
Copilot in Microsoft 365 came first: mail, meetings and documents, the everyday work where minutes saved multiply across every person in the business. Then Copilot inside Dynamics 365, where the conversation shifted from personal productivity to business decisions: pipeline, service and finance data answering questions in plain language instead of waiting for a report. The device conversation closed the loop, with Surface Copilot+ PCs on the tables and Braintree's Hardware as a Service model showing how a fleet refresh becomes a monthly line item instead of a capital event.
Running underneath all three sessions was the question every IT leader in the room eventually asked: how do we deploy this securely and responsibly at scale. That conversation, on governance, data boundaries and rollout discipline, carried through to the drinks afterwards.
Three things worth taking home
Copilot value starts in the everyday.
The first measurable wins are not exotic. They are in the mail, meetings and documents your people touch every day. Measure there first, build the habit, and the more ambitious use cases have a foundation to stand on.
Your data decides the quality of your Copilot.
The Dynamics 365 sessions made the dependency plain: Copilot is only as good as the business data behind it. A single, trusted source of customer and operational truth is what turns a clever prompt into a confident decision.
The device is part of the AI stack.
AI-ready work needs AI-ready hardware. Surface Copilot+ PCs bring the models onto the desk, and Hardware as a Service makes the refresh affordable: a predictable monthly amount per device instead of a procurement cycle, with the fleet staying current as the technology moves.
What stayed with us
KZN turned out, asked practical questions, and stayed long past the formal close. The appetite in that room is also why we came back: three months later the Modern Work Power Session brought Microsoft, Arctic Wolf and Braintree to the same venue, to a room that had grown.
The Afternoon
In the room
Moments from the afternoon at The Oyster Box, from the welcome through the sessions to the evening drinks.
Bring the Copilot conversation to your business
Everything the room saw on 19 February, from Copilot in Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 to AI-ready Surface devices, is a working session we run directly with your team. Doug Morrison runs the Modern Workplace and Copilot playbook at Braintree, and the conversation starts with one email.
Start the Copilot conversation
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