AI Agent Becomes the Next Big Upgrade for Windows 11 Users

In Today’s edition:

1. Windows 11 Takes a Leap Into AI-Powered Automation as AI Agents Become Native Features

2. TWO WEEKS AWAY: Hands-On Make.com Automation Workshop + Holiday Social

3. Anthropic Unveils Its Most Powerful Claude Model Yet With Claude Opus 4.5

4. TOOL REVIEW: Aden is the New AI-Native ERP Built to Unite Projects, Finance, and Operations

5. Exciting Career Opportunities for Product and Project Management Professionals

Reading time: 4 minutes

HEADLINE NEWS

Windows 11 Takes a Leap Into AI-Powered Automation as AI Agents Become Native Features

Microsoft is shifting Windows 11 toward what it calls an “agentic OS,” embedding AI agents directly into its core user experience starting with the taskbar. The goal is to let these agents handle background tasks, research, and file-automation in a smoother way for users.

• Windows will integrate AI agents into the taskbar, enabling them to handle work like searching files, automating admin tasks, or running workflows.

• The “Ask Copilot” feature expands, combining local file search, conversations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, and launching agents from the taskbar.

• Agents will show their status via taskbar badges (e.g., green check when done, yellow exclamation when needing input) and hover windows to monitor progress.

• A sandboxed “workspace” environment will isolate agents for security and manageability via a new platform layer called Model Context Protocol (MCP) for tool/agent discovery.

• Beyond the taskbar, Microsoft is bringing Copilot into other parts of Windows (like File Explorer for document summarisation, rewriting text, hybrid local/cloud AI) to deepen integration.

This move signals Microsoft’s ambition to turn Windows from just an operating system into an “assistant-rich environment” where AI agents are deeply embedded and doing work for you. For users and small business owners looking to streamline workflows, this could mean less friction and more automation — though it also raises questions around control, privacy, and how well these agents will work in practice. Read More

TWO WEEKS AWAY: Hands-On Make.com Automation Workshop + Holiday Social

The PM Network Alliance’s hands-on automation workshop and holiday social is now just two weeks away, and seats are filling quickly. If you’ve been meaning to explore automation or want to finally build a workflow that saves time and reduces routine manual tasks, this is the session to attend. This meetup combines practical learning with networking, making it a valuable way to close the year with new skills and meaningful connections.

EVENT DETAILS:

• Event Date & Time: Tuesday, December 9, 2025 — workshop runs from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM EST, followed by the holiday social until roughly 8:00 PM.

• Location: Make.com Office – 223 S West St, 14th Floor, Raleigh, NC.

• Format: A live hands-on workshop where you’ll build a real automation, followed by a relaxed holiday networking social.

• Topic Focus: Learning how to create automated workflows using Make.com, including where AI fits into the automation process.

• What to Bring: A laptop and a real workflow use case — the session is designed for active participation, not passive viewing.

Why it matters:

This meetup is a chance to gain a skill that can meaningfully improve how you work. With automation and AI becoming essential tools in project delivery and operations, attending this workshop ensures you’re ahead of the curve rather than catching up later. If you want to close out the year with momentum, capability, and community, now is the time to lock in your spot.

REGISTER HERE

Anthropic Unveils Its Most Powerful Claude Model Yet With Claude Opus 4.5

Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.5, its most advanced large-language model to date, built for high-stakes tasks like coding, autonomous agents, and complex workflows. Compared with prior versions, Opus 4.5 delivers stronger reasoning, tool-use, long-task support, and is more efficient — often requiring fewer tokens or less human guidance.

• Opus 4.5 outperforms prior models on major benchmarks such as code generation and tool-driven workflows, making it top-rank for coding and “computer use.”

• It supports an “effort” parameter — letting developers trade between speed and depth: more compute/time yields higher-quality outputs.

• The model handles long-horizon tasks better (e.g., multi-step coding projects or complex document generation) with improved context-management and memory, reducing need for human oversight.

• Opus 4.5 is available widely — via Anthropic’s apps, API, and major cloud platforms (including cloud-ML platforms like Vertex AI) — at a more accessible price point compared with previous “top tier” versions.

• It’s well suited for “agentic workflows”: automating office tasks (spreadsheets, slide decks, document prep), orchestrating sub-agents, and integrating with software tools — enabling reliable, scaled automation of repetitive or complex tasks.

Claude Opus 4.5 represents a potential force-multiplier: you could use it to automate long, tedious workflows (like status-report generation, financial forecasting, or code maintenance), freeing human resources to focus on strategy, creativity, or client relationships. At the same time, its availability on cloud platforms and relatively affordable pricing lowers the barrier for adoption. As long as you integrate Opus carefully (with human review), it could significantly boost productivity and reduce overhead — a useful “AI wingman” for complex, multi-stakeholder projects. Read more

Aden is the New AI-Native ERP Built to Unite Projects, Finance, and Operations

Aden is an AI-native, multi-agent ERP platform designed to unify project delivery, finance, inventory, procurement, training, and other core business functions into a single intelligent system. It’s built for project-centric businesses; from contracting and construction to manufacturing, healthcare, and beyond; helping them replace fragmented tools and spreadsheets with one central “source of truth.”

• Agentic Project Management — AI-assisted project planning, tracking, and delivery under a unified dashboard.

• Agentic Finance & Accounting — Automated accounting, cost tracking, and real-time profitability visibility per project.

• Agentic Inventory & Procurement Management — Smart monitoring, inventory optimization, and automated procurement workflows.

• AI-Powered Training & Certification Module — Rapid onboarding, compliance, and workforce upskilling with adaptive, role-specific training paths.

• Low-code / Integration Platform — Easy integration with legacy systems and ability to extend/customize workflows via APIs and a low-code dev layer.

For project managers overseeing complex operations or multiple concurrent projects, Aden offers a compelling value: it turns business operations into a single, data-driven engine… where planning, execution, cost tracking, inventory, procurement, staffing, and training all feed into one system. This not only brings clarity and accountability but also gives you real-time visibility into project profitability, resource utilization, and business risks. By automating routine tasks and consolidating data silos, Aden helps teams scale without losing control, a major advantage when juggling many moving parts and striving for predictable project outcomes.

TOOL LINK

Exciting Career Opportunities for Product and Project Management Professionals

• Project Manager I @ Baker Power & Process LLC

  📍 Charlotte, NC.

• Project Manager @ North Carolina Central University

  📍 Durham, NC.

• Project Manager @ Salas O'Brien

  📍 Charlotte, NC.

• Agile Product Owner - Small Business @ The Hartford

  📍 Charlotte, NC.

• Product Manager - Hybrid @ XPO

  📍 Charlotte, NC.

THAT’S A WRAP