New Microsoft data innovations unlock what only your business knows

Every organization has knowledge that is uniquely its own: the way its business operates, the data it has built over time, the expertise of its people and the context behind thousands of everyday decisions.

As powerful AI models become more widely available, that unique business intelligence matters more than ever. The difference will come from how effectively organizations combine those models with the data, expertise and business context that make them unique.

Turning that intelligence into lasting advantage requires three elements to work together: human ambition to set the direction, intelligence grounded in the organization’s unique knowledge and trust to provide the foundation for operating at scale. Microsoft’s approach is designed to bring those elements together so organizations can build on what they know and create greater value over time.

That value can compound through a continuous learning loop, where AI draws on an organization’s data and expertise, improves the systems and experiences it creates and generates better outcomes over time without making the organization dependent on any single model provider.

Today at the European Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference in Barcelona, we are introducing advances across Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databases that help organizations put their data estate at the heart of a successful AI strategy.

Fabric IQ: Bring your unique business context into Microsoft Copilot

As Microsoft Copilot evolves across Home, Code and Autopilot, access to trusted business context becomes essential. Fabric IQ brings governed business context into Copilot, grounding experiences in the Power BI semantic models, metrics, relationships and business definitions organizations already trust.

With Fabric IQ in Microsoft Copilot Chat and Cowork now generally available, users can ask business questions and receive answers grounded in governed Power BI data, while Cowork can use those insights as part of broader multistep work. Integration with the new Code experience is coming through the Frontier program.

That means when someone asks Copilot for the latest sales forecast or another critical business metric, the answer can be grounded in the same semantic model that powers the organization’s reports, helping avoid confusion about which number is correct. For Power BI customers, this extends the semantic foundation they already have into Microsoft Copilot while preserving existing access controls and governance.

I experienced this myself recently as I was preparing for a sales review and asked Copilot, “What’s our latest sales forecast?” With Fabric IQ, that answer was grounded in the same governed Power BI semantic model that powers the team’s sales reporting, using the same business definitions and metrics my team already trusts. So, instead of spending the meeting uncovering and debating whose number was right, the team was able to get straight to what the numbers mean and focus on what we do next. That’s exactly the kind of experience we want to create.

For Fabric and Power BI customers, this capability is on by default in Copilot Chat and Cowork and extends the semantic foundation they already have into Microsoft Copilot while preserving existing access controls and governance.

IQ Sharing in Microsoft Fabric: Share unique business context without giving up control

Business knowledge does not stop at the boundary of a team or business unit. Organizations increasingly need to collaborate across customers, partners and broader ecosystems while maintaining control over the information they share.

IQ Sharing in Fabric, now in preview as part of Fabric IQ, breaks down company boundaries by enabling organizations to securely share data and the business context that gives it meaning, while maintaining governance over the underlying assets. Starting with key Fabric IQ artifacts and context, IQ Share is designed to evolve beyond preview to help customers discover, share and activate trusted context wherever it’s needed.

Together with OneLake mirroring and shortcuts, these investments create a more open foundation for sharing governed data and context across organizations, platforms and ecosystems.

Observability in Microsoft Fabric: Maintain visibility and control as AI scales

As organizations put more workloads on their unified data platform, they need to understand system health and address issues before they affect business and AI outcomes.

Observability in Fabric helps teams move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive operations. Cross-workspace monitoring and an enhanced Monitor Hub provide a unified view across jobs, capacities, workspaces and workloads, while Operations Agents and Activator help teams investigate issues, identify root causes with AI and automate responses.

Together, these capabilities help organizations maintain oversight as they scale data and AI.

Fabric Apps: Build applications directly on governed business data

AI is transforming how applications are created, but enterprises still need a secure, governed path from idea to production. Fabric Apps brings application development directly to governed data in Microsoft Fabric, helping organizations build and scale AI-powered business applications faster.

With new capabilities for data connectivity, transactional workloads, backend logic, storage and policy-controlled access, developers can move from prototype to production on a unified data foundation. These experiences bring application creation closer to where enterprise data and insights already live, helping more people turn data into action.

Agentic data engineering: Automate the work, stay in control

A continuous learning loop is only as good as the data behind it, which must be prepared, refined and improved without pause. As those environments become more complex, organizations need automation that can take on more of that work without pushing people or controls out of the loop.

Earlier this year, we shared our vision for autonomous data engineering. Now, new agentic data engineering features in Fabric bring that vision to life, bringing autonomous execution to complex data engineering initiatives while keeping organizations in control. Engineers define the outcome and set the boundaries. Inside those limits, the agent plans and executes the work, validates the results and refines the approach.

SQL Server on Azure Local: Keep critical data and workloads where you need them

Maintaining control over business knowledge also means having flexibility over where critical data and workloads run.

Now generally available, SQL Server on Azure Local brings SQL Server and Azure services into local environments, giving organizations more choice to run workloads closer to their applications and operations. SQL Server on Azure Local with disconnected operations, now in preview, extends that flexibility to environments where cloud connectivity is interrupted, restricted or unavailable.

These options give organizations operating across regulated, local, edge and disconnected environments greater choice over where their critical data and workloads reside and operate.

Database Hub in Fabric: Simplify database management with agentic assistance

Intelligent applications depend on operational data. Teams need a clear view of the databases that power those applications and practical tools to manage them.

Building on its introduction at FabCon Atlanta, Database Hub in Fabric is now in public preview. It provides a central control plane for managing SQL Server, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB and SQL databases in Fabric, helping administrators monitor and govern their database estate.

Complementing this management experience, specialist database agents for SQL and PostgreSQL in Database Hub in Fabric and Visual Studio Code, coming soon to public preview, help teams investigate issues, understand performance bottlenecks and identify optimization opportunities within their development environment.

Together, these capabilities help teams understand their database estate and make more informed operational decisions.

Build AI on the knowledge that makes your business different

Our goal is straightforward: help organizations use the best AI models and tools available while turning their proprietary data, expertise and workflows into an advantage that grows more valuable over time. That direction is reflected across today’s announcements as the data foundation comes into focus.

At Ignite, we’ll broaden this story across the full Microsoft Frontier ecosystem, connecting data, applications, agents, governance and infrastructure into one system that turns AI ambition into business outcomes.

Explore the complete set of announcements across Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databases in today’s blog from Arun Ulagaratchagan, Executive Vice President of Azure Data.

Jessica Hawk leads Azure Product Marketing at Microsoft, driving strategy and storytelling across the full Azure portfolio. Her team defines how Azure shows up in the market — helping customers and developers tap into the platform’s full potential across cloud, data, AI and developer innovation. 

Tags: AI, Azure, Azure Local, Copilot, Copilot Cowork, FabCon, Fabric IQ, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SQL Server, Visual Studio Code