impact of copilot frontier enabling in organization

Enabling Copilot Frontier does not change the behavior of existing generally available Microsoft 365 Copilot features for the whole tenant. Frontier is an opt-in, tenant-level early-access program that adds access to experimental and preview AI capabilities alongside current experiences.

Key organizational impacts

1. Frontier features are preview/experimental
   • Frontier provides early access to innovative and emerging AI capabilities (for example, agents like Cowork) before general availability.
   • These features are subject to change and may have restricted or evolving functionality.
   • They are designed for evaluation, feedback, and learning rather than broad, business-critical deployment.
2. Access is explicitly controlled by admins
   • Frontier is managed at the tenant level, but admins choose which users or groups can access Frontier features.
   • By default, no users have access to Frontier features.
   • Admins can safely enroll only selected users (for example, a pilot group) to minimize impact.
3. Scope of impact
   • Frontier affects access to preview features in:
     • Web apps (Microsoft 365 Copilot app, Word, PowerPoint, Excel on the web).
     • Agents (such as Cowork) available via the Agent Store.
   • Existing standard and deferred release channels remain unchanged; Frontier is an additional, opt-in layer.
4. Governance and control
   • IT admins retain explicit control over which users can access which Frontier features and agents.
   • For agents like Cowork, availability is further governed by Agent settings (for example, allowing agents built by Microsoft and controlling which agents appear in the Agent Store).

How to enable Frontier with minimal impact

1. Limit Frontier access to a small pilot group
   • In the Microsoft 365 admin center:
     • Go to Copilot > Settings > User access > Copilot Frontier.
     • On the Web apps tab, choose Specific user groups and assign only a test/pilot group.
   • This ensures only selected users see Frontier features such as Cowork.
2. Control Frontier agents (including Cowork)
   • In the Microsoft 365 admin center:
     • Go to Agent > Settings > Allowed agent types.
     • Ensure Allow apps and agents built by Microsoft is checked so Microsoft Frontier agents (like Cowork) can be used.
   • Use Agent settings to restrict specific agents to specific users or groups, so Cowork is only visible to the pilot audience.
3. Enroll only necessary admins and users
   • Ensure only the admins who need to manage Cowork and other agents are enrolled in Frontier.
   • Enroll only those users who will actively test Cowork, keeping the blast radius small.
4. Monitor and adjust
   • After enabling Frontier for the pilot group, allow time (up to a few hours) for features and agents to appear.
   • Collect feedback from pilot users and adjust group membership or agent availability as needed.

This approach enables exploration of Cowork and other Frontier capabilities while keeping impact limited to a controlled set of users and preserving stability for the rest of the organization.

References:

• Get started with the Microsoft Frontier program
• Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot scenarios in the Microsoft 365 admin center
• What is Frontier?
• Get started with Cowork (Frontier)
• Manage Cowork for your organization
• Use Cowork (Frontier)
• Enable a feature - Microsoft Q&A