Tech in Diagrams

Microsoft Cloud & Modern Work

Microsoft 365 is SaaS for everyday work; identity ties it together, and Copilot works on top of that same content.

Beginner 5 min Cloud Computing
Identity, services, data, assistance
  • Work session
  • Permissions
  • Copilot
EMPLOYEE · MANAGED DEVICEOne sign-inLaptop or phone, one workaccount for the whole day.user@contoso.comDEVICE TRUST · CONDITIONAL ACCESSSignals, not just a passwordMICROSOFT ENTRA IDIdentity is thecontrol planeAuthenticates once, thencarries context onward.Access decided in one place.MICROSOFT 365 · YOUR TENANTORGANISATIONAL DATA · PERMISSIONS FOLLOW THE USERNOT ACCESSIBLEFinance forecastUser is not a memberACCESS ALLOWEDTeam project planShared with the user's groupCOPILOT · ASSISTANT LAYERAsks as you, sees as you"Summarise our project status"Finds mail, files and chats thesigned-in user can already open.Grounded responseCites the content it was allowed to use.SAME PERMISSIONS APPLYSharing hygiene matters more, not less.
Modern Work connects identity, devices, productivity services, organisational data and an assistant — and the permissions carried by one identity bind the whole experience together.

Hover the person, device trust, Entra ID, the Microsoft 365 services, the data plane, the allowed or excluded file, Copilot or the permission rail to isolate related paths; click any component for a short explanation.

Next conceptWhat is a Load Balancer?A load balancer spreads incoming requests across several healthy instances of the same service.