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Microsoft Agent 365: The Control Plane for Operationalizing Agents for Day 2 and Beyond

Publisher IDC
Published Apr 29, 2026
Length 10 Pages
SKU # IDC21152917

Description

This IDC Market Perspective analyzes the importance of agent observability, governance, and security in operationalizing agentic AI. Agent 365’s greatest value lies in making agents visible, governable, and operationally manageable at scale. For Microsoft, the opportunity is to position Agent 365 not simply as a security layer, but as the operational system of control for the agent era.“Agent 365’s core value is that it gives ITOps and security teams a unified control plane to observe, govern, and secure agents as they move into production. Its strongest differentiation is to make agent activity visible, traceable, and manageable in ways that reduce operational risk, strengthen trust, and support confident business adoption,” said Archana Venkatraman, senior research director, Observability, AIOps, and Cloud Governance, IDC Europe.

Table of Contents

10 Pages

Executive snapshot

Key takeaways

Recommended actions

New market developments and dynamics

2026 is the year of an operational pivot regarding agentic AI

ITOps, AIOps, and platform engineering teams are overwhelmed because of:

Microsoft Agent 365: Empowering ITOps in the driver’s seat with relevant control buttons

Advice for Microsoft and Partners Positioning Agent 365 as the COntrol Plane for AGents

Learn more

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