Apr 21
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As AI agents move from experimentation into real-world operations, many IT leaders are asking a new kind of workforce question: Should your IT team hire agents? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, members of the Microsoft Azure team explore how agentic AI is beginning to reshape IT operations, cloud management, and the future of technical work. Agents are emerging as powerful collaborators alongside humans in the loop—augmenting teams, automating repetitive tasks, and enabling a more proactive approach to managing complex systems. This conversation digs into what agent adoption really looks like for IT organizations today, including: • How agents for IT automation are changing cloud operations. • Where trust, transparency, and control matter most in agentic systems. • What skills IT teams need as workflows shift from manual to autonomous. • How Azure Copilot and intelligent operations are influencing day to day IT work. 👉 Download the whitepaper: Intelligent IT Operations: https://aka.ms/IntelligentITOpsAzure 👉 Join the Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ Get to know the team: Ruhiyyih Mahalati, Vice President Engineering Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruhiyyih-mahalati-5895117/ Nate Waters, Senior Product Marketing Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-waters/ Rick Claus, Principal Cloud Advocate Team Lead https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickclaus/ The Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's positions as a company. This episode of The Shift was recorded in February 2026. All information about products and offers is relevant to the time of recording. #TheShiftPodcast #AgenticAI #ITAutomation #IntelligentOperations #AzureCopilot