Microsoft Rolls Out Quality Updates to Power Apps Modern Controls in Canvas Apps

Microsoft has announced a set of quality-focused updates to modern controls in Power Apps canvas apps, targeting nine core controls such as Text, Combo Box, Date Picker, and Number Input to improve reliability, performance, and consistency. These refinements are designed to make modern controls more dependable in production apps and more intuitive for makers, while laying the groundwork for future enhancements.

Here’s what that means for makers:

• Combo Box – Built for scale

  Handles thousands of items seamlessly. With the SearchText output property enabling server-side filtering, it scales to even the largest datasets.

• Date Picker – View-mode you can trust

  Now truly read-only in DisplayMode.View. Date formats and time zones are consistently honored, and the calendar flyout behaves properly on mobile.

• Text Input – Performance, fixed

  OnChange now fires on blur — not every keystroke — eliminating common performance issues and unintended formula side effects.

• Text – Now interactive

  With OnSelect, you can trigger navigation or actions without adding a separate button. AutoHeight recalculates correctly, and vertical alignment now defaults to Middle.

• Number Input – Finally consistent

  Styling aligns with Text Input. OnChange fires on blur and step clicks. Min and Max validation now prevents runtime configuration errors.

• Tab List – Design control without workarounds

  New Appearance options (Transparent, Subtle, Underline, Filled) give you built-in styling flexibility — and item order is preserved as defined.

• Radio – Works the way you expect

  Item order is maintained, View mode is properly read-only, and selections inside galleries no longer require double-clicking.

• Link – Authoring experience aligned

  Text wrapping works correctly, and Alt+Click opens links in the editor — just like classic controls.

• Info Button – Accessibility improved

  Flyouts expand reliably, click behavior is smoother, and focus is now managed automatically.

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Microsoft Unveils Power Platform February 2026 Feature Update

Microsoft has rolled out its February 2026 feature update for Power Platform, bringing deeper AI integration, new app-building tools, and improved governance capabilities across Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Pages. Highlights include public preview of Microsoft 365 Copilot chat inside model-driven apps and enhanced agent collaboration tools, alongside modern controls, theme reuse, and expanded administrative features that help teams build and manage solutions more effectively.

Here’s what’s new:

• Work Smarter Without Leaving Your App

  M365 Copilot chat is now embedded directly inside model-driven apps. Users can ask questions, reason over in-app data, and connect insights from documents and conversations — all within the flow of work.

• Turn Agents Into Action-Takers, Not Just Responders (Public Preview)

  Power Apps MCP introduces agentic capabilities that transform app experiences into agent tools. Agents can parse unstructured data into forms, create records, and flag items for human review — accelerating data entry and reducing manual effort.

• Design Cleaner, More Professional Apps — Faster (Public Preview)

  The modern Card control helps makers build responsive, structured layouts using a single layout-aware control — reducing complexity while improving UI consistency.

• Standardize Your Branding in Seconds (Generally Available)

  Theme copy-paste lets you reuse colors, typography, and design tokens across canvas apps — eliminating repetitive styling work and ensuring brand consistency.

• Reduce Errors with Built-in Confirmation Prompts (Generally Available)

  The Confirm() function adds a fluent modal dialog that prompts users to confirm or cancel actions — helping prevent accidental clicks and improving user experience.

See the full list of Power Platform updates.

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Dynamics 365 Enhances Contact Center Security for Sensitive Customer Interactions

Microsoft is rolling out enhanced security features in Dynamics 365 Contact Center to help organizations securely handle high-trust customer interactions, such as payments and identity verification, while protecting sensitive data. The update introduces capabilities like Secure Consult & Transfer, enabling agents to involve external secure endpoints without exposing confidential information. This marks a strategic step toward compliant, friction-free service workflows for industries with strict privacy requirements.

Here’s what you need to know:

• What is Secure Consult & Transfer?

  Secure Consult & Transfer protects customer journeys by enabling agents to involve external secure endpoints in conversations — while maintaining strict privacy and compliance boundaries.

• How the security works

  Secure numbers are configured through specific contact settings. During runtime, the platform automatically enforces protections — no manual intervention required. These settings are flexible and can apply to consult, transfer, or both.

• How consult and transfer works

  Administrators can control recording and transcription during consult and transfer — choosing to follow workstream settings, stop recording while continuing transcription, or stop both. They can also configure whether customers are placed on hold or managed according to workstream rules during consult.

• Why use it?

  It protects sensitive customer data without disrupting workflows while enabling secure payment and identity verification scenarios with trusted endpoints. Compliance controls for recording and transcription are applied automatically and safely in real time.

Secure your transactions with your customers using a reliable CRM. Discover the power of customer relationship management and contact us today.

Power BI February 2026 Release Brings Smarter Copilot, New Reporting Tools

Power BI’s February 2026 update brings a wave of enhancements focused on usability, AI integration, and reporting performance. The latest release continues Microsoft’s push to make analytics more intuitive and impactful for businesses.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Copilot & AI Just Got Smarter

  The Copilot character limit has increased to 10,000 characters across all surfaces—Standalone, Report Pane, Apps, Mobile, and Embedded. This means you can now write longer, more detailed prompts to get richer, more precise AI-powered insights.

• Reporting: Input Slicer Upgrade

  The Text Slicer is now officially renamed to Input Slicer—and it’s more powerful than ever. Users can filter reports using free-form text with flexible options like exact match, contains, or starts with—making data exploration faster and more intuitive.

• Modeling: Safer, Smarter DAX

  A new DAX function, TABLEOF, joins NAMEOF as its companion. Together, they make your DAX formulas more resilient by referencing model objects that automatically adapt to renames—reducing fragile text-based logic and improving maintainability.

• Visualisation: Pie PRO (Filter)

  Pie PRO (Filter) enhances pie and donut charts with advanced labeling and category-level reference markers.This gives users better performance context and the ability to interact directly with chart data.

• Other Updates: Fabric Copilot Capacity

  Fabric Copilot capacity allows organizations to centralize Copilot usage across Power BI Desktop, Pro, and Premium per-user workspaces into one designated capacity. Starting February 8, 2026, the tenant setting for Fabric Copilot capacities will be enabled by default.

Check out the full list of Power BI’s February 2026 update.

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Power BI Makes Input Slicer Generally Available to Simplify Free-Form Filtering

Microsoft has announced that the Input Slicer—formerly known as the text slicer—is now generally available in Power BI, giving users the ability to type or paste text directly into a visual to filter report data more flexibly. The new Input Slicer lets report consumers apply text-based filters with operators like contains or starts with, and can even collect free-form user input for scenarios such as comments or task flows.

Here’s what you need to know:

• What can you do with the Input Slicer?

  Quickly narrow down reports by typing full or partial values — whether it’s an Order ID, Customer Name, or Product Code. Instead of selecting items one by one, simply type what you’re looking for and let Power BI do the filtering instantly.

• How to get started

  Create sample data in a blank report. In Power BI Desktop, go to Modeling > New Table and enter your DAX expression. Then build a simple bar chart using Product and Sales so you can see the slicer in action.

• How it works

  Add the Input Slicer from the Visualizations pane and drag your desired field (e.g., Product) into the Field well. Type a value like “a” and press Enter — matching results instantly appear (e.g., Apple, Banana, Date, Grape).

• Advanced filtering options

  Choose how your input matches your data using operators like contains, starts with, or exact match. You can also switch between allowing multiple values or limiting the slicer to a single selection.

• Where this shines

  Perfect for sales teams reviewing specific accounts, support teams searching for tickets, or any scenario that requires fast, precise filtering across large datasets.

Unlock the full potential of your data with Power BI. Discover how Business Intelligence can transform your organisation—contact us today.

Microsoft Rolls Out February Update for Visual Studio 2026

Microsoft has released its February 2026 update for Visual Studio, delivering a fresh set of improvements across AI assistance, diagnostics, and core developer workflows in the IDE. The latest Visual Studio update continues the platform’s evolution with smarter tools and performance refinements aimed at helping developers stay productive in real-world development scenarios.

Here’s a quick rundown of the newest features designed to make you faster, sharper, and more efficient as a developer:

• Smarter Test Generation with GitHub Copilot

  Generate unit tests for your C# code faster using Copilot. Just type @test in Copilot Chat, describe what you want to validate, and it creates the test code for you — with support for xUnit, NUnit, and MSTest.

• Slash Commands for Custom Prompts

  Access your favorite custom prompts faster using slash commands in Copilot Chat. Type / and your saved prompts appear at the top of the list, marked with a bookmark icon for easy access.

• C++ App Modernization (Public Preview)

  Copilot-powered modernization for C++ is now available in Public Preview. Upgrade your C++ projects to the latest MSVC versions and resolve upgrade-related issues with guided assistance from Copilot.

• DataTips in IEnumerable Visualizer

  Debugging just got easier. You can now use DataTips inside the IEnumerable Visualizer. Hover over any value in the grid to see the full underlying object — the same DataTip experience you’re used to in the editor or Watch window.

• Analyze Call Stack with Copilot

  When debugging pauses, select Analyze with Copilot in the Call Stack window. Copilot reviews the current stack and explains why execution stopped — whether your thread is waiting, looping, or blocked.

• Profiler Agent with Unit Test Support

  The @profiler agent now works with unit tests. Use your existing tests to measure performance improvements and optimize code more effectively. It can automatically discover relevant unit tests or BenchmarkDotNet benchmarks that exercise performance-critical paths.

Boost your productivity further by partnering your Dynamics 365 and Power Platform with custom business applications. Contact us today!

Microsoft SQLCon Co-Located With FabCon: What You Need to Know

Microsoft is spotlighting key reasons data and analytics professionals won’t want to miss SQLCon, taking place in Atlanta this March. Co-located with the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference, the event aims to bring together the SQL community for learning, collaboration, and insights into the evolving data landscape.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Event Details

  SQLCon will take place on March 16–20 in Atlanta. One registration gives you access to both conferences—no double sign-up needed—unlocking sessions across SQL, Fabric, and AI.

• Who Should Attend?

  DBAs, developers, data engineers, architects, and leaders building data-driven teams. Connect with engineers, MVPs, and product teams through live conversations, Q&A sessions, and deep technical discussions.

• Why Attend SQLCon?

  Explore 50+ deep-dive sessions covering SQL Server, Azure SQL, SQL database in Fabric, performance tuning, security, modernization, and AI-powered solutions—plus hands-on workshops where you’ll leave with practical scripts and patterns you can apply immediately.

• What Makes It Even More Valuable?

  Get a front-row seat to where SQL is heading. Hear directly from engineering teams, catch first-look announcements, and see live demos across SQL tooling, drivers, SSMS/VS Code extensions, Copilot integrations, and Fabric SQL experiences.

Get your tickets now.

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Dynamics 365 Introduces Holistic AI Performance Measurement for Contact Centers

Microsoft is introducing a new performance measurement framework designed to give contact centers a holistic view of how their AI agents truly perform in real-world interactions, beyond traditional metrics like handle time or satisfaction scores. The updated approach focuses on understanding, reasoning, and response quality to help businesses benchmark and improve AI agent effectiveness across channels such as voice, text, and visual interactions.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Rethinking What “Great” Support Really Means

  A 2017 study by Harvard Business Review found that customers don’t want to be pampered — they want fast, low-effort resolution. Two agent profiles stood out: empathizers and controllers — both effective in different contexts.

• Smarter AI Through Real-Time Style Adjustment

  AI agents can learn from top-performing human agents and adapt their approach in real time based on conversation context — applying the right tone and control level when it matters most.

• The Performance Benchmarks That Matter

  High-performing AI agents consistently hit 70–75% first-contact resolution, 78–90% customer satisfaction, sub-800ms response latency, and industry-aligned average handle times.

• The Core Mechanics of Every Interaction

  Whether human or AI, every interaction follows three steps: understand the issue, reason through the solution, and deliver a clear, effective response.

• Moving Toward a Unified Performance Score

  The future of AI agent evaluation lies in a composite score — one holistic measure that balances resolution, satisfaction, speed, and reasoning quality into a single view of performance.

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Visual Studio Enhances Visual Studio with Built-In and Custom AI Agents

Visual Studio now includes a suite of built-in AI agents tailored to core developer tasks such as debugging, profiling, testing, and modernisation directly within the IDE. In addition, Microsoft is launching a preview framework that lets teams build their own custom agents — connected to internal knowledge sources — for workflow-specific automation and insights.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Built-in agents

  Preset agents support debugging, profiling, testing, and modernisation—using your solution’s call stacks, diagnostics, and project context to deliver insights grounded in your actual codebase, not generic advice.

• Bring your own: Custom agents (Preview)

  Custom agents let you build tailored experiences using the same powerful foundation—workspace awareness, deep code understanding, tool access, and your preferred model. You can also connect them to internal documentation, design systems, APIs, and databases so they go beyond what’s in your repo.

• Get started

  Create a .agent.md file inside your repository’s /GitHub/agents/ folder to define a custom agent. This feature is in preview, and if no model is specified, the agent uses the one selected in the model picker.

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Dynamics 365’s Quality Evaluation Agent Now Supports Conversation Monitoring at GA

Microsoft has announced the general availability of the conversation capabilities in the Quality Evaluation Agent for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Contact Center. The update expands AI-driven evaluation coverage across customer interactions, marking a significant milestone in automated quality oversight for support teams. The release signals Microsoft’s continued push toward scalable, AI-assisted service operations.

Here’s what’s new:

• What is QEA?

  The Quality Evaluation Agent (QEA) is an AI-powered tool that automatically reviews support cases and conversations against defined criteria to monitor performance and ensure service quality.

• What’s new?

  Starting February 6, 2026, conversation evaluation is now generally available — joining case evaluation as a full GA capability.

• What’s coming next?

  Upcoming enhancements include multilingual support, criteria versioning, critical question flagging, simulation capabilities, and improved knowledge-source adherence.

Discover how a modern Customer Relationship Management can support your business goals. Contact us to learn more.