At Microsoft Build 2026, Microsoft unveiled a coherent «IQ family» of four intelligence layers that goes well beyond the familiar Copilot chatbot: Work IQ, Fabric IQ, Security IQ — and new: Web IQ, the intelligence layer for the open web.

This article explains what sits behind each layer, how they interact, and what Swiss organisations can put into practice today.

A note on scope: Parts of the IQ family are still in preview. This article reflects the Build 2026 announcements (May 2026) and current Microsoft documentation. Feature scope and licensing details may change before general availability.

The Microsoft IQ Family: Four Layers at a Glance

Microsoft uses the term «IQ» to describe specialised intelligence layers that make enterprise and public data, signals, and context intelligently available via API — without users having to actively search for it.

Each layer is independently deployable — but the real value emerges when all four work together.

Work IQ: What Is New Since Build 2026

Work IQ received three important expansions at Build 2026. For the foundational overview, see our introductory Work IQ article.

1. Explicit Role Graph

Microsoft introduces the Explicit Role Graph: Work IQ now understands not just the formal org structure but also informal roles — who is the de-facto decision-maker on a project, who is the go-to person for technical questions in a department? This information is derived from collaboration patterns and feeds directly into how Copilot responses and agent actions are prioritised.

2. Work IQ for External Contacts

Work IQ now supports external contacts: when a customer regularly joins Teams meetings or edits files in a shared SharePoint workspace, Work IQ can (with appropriate governance configuration) provide context about the collaboration with that customer — useful for account managers before a client call.

3. Work IQ API: Public Preview

The Work IQ API entered public preview for Enterprise customers at Build 2026, allowing organisations to embed Work IQ signals into custom applications — for example, a CRM system showing the «warmth level» of a customer relationship, or a project tool suggesting relevant contacts for a new engagement.

Fabric IQ: The Intelligence Layer for Your Data

Microsoft Fabric IQ is the AI layer within Microsoft Fabric — the unified analytics ecosystem that brings together Power BI, Azure Synapse, Data Factory, and additional services under a single roof.

Copilot in Microsoft Fabric (GA since Q1 2026)

Copilot in Fabric supports data teams across four core areas: Data Engineering (natural-language instructions generate PySpark or SQL code), Data Science (workflow proposals, code explanations, ML debugging), Power BI (natural-language queries generating DAX without SQL knowledge), and Real-Time Intelligence (proactive anomaly detection on live data streams).

Autonomous Data Agents (Build 2026 Preview)

Three new agents take routine data team tasks off the plate:

• Pipeline Health Agent: Detects failed pipeline runs, analyses the root cause, and for known failures automatically retries with adjusted parameters
• Data Quality Agent: Continuously monitors quality rules and alerts the team when violations occur, including impact analysis of affected reports
• Query Optimisation Agent: Analyses slow Power BI queries and proposes DAX or data model improvements

For Swiss organisations: OneLake supports data residency in Switzerland (Switzerland North/West), ensuring no data is processed outside the country.

Security IQ: Intelligent Threat Protection

Microsoft Copilot for Security was extended at Build 2026 with three new autonomous SOC agents:

• Triage Agent: Automatically categorises security alerts by severity and context — the SOC team sees prioritised incidents instead of raw alert floods
• Threat Intelligence Agent: Automatically enriches incidents with external threat intelligence feeds, connecting alerts to known campaigns
• Remediation Agent: For known attack patterns, automatically initiates countermeasures (isolate compromised account, remove malicious e-mail rule) with a full audit trail

Web IQ: The Intelligence Layer for the Open Web

Web IQ is the fourth and newest member of the Microsoft IQ family — introduced at Build 2026 as the intelligence layer that connects Microsoft 365 Copilot to the open internet.

While Work IQ, Fabric IQ, and Security IQ draw on data within your tenant, Web IQ unlocks external sources: current web pages, news articles, documentation, product datasheets — in real time, without training-cutoff limitations.

The Four Core Capabilities of Web IQ

1. Real-time Web Grounding

Copilot responses are enriched with live web content. When a user asks «What did Microsoft communicate last week about the new EU AI Act?», Web IQ fetches current Bing search results and incorporates them into the response — with source references.

This is the key difference from a standard language model: no hallucinations about recent events, no stale information. Web IQ anchors Copilot in the present.

2. Bing Deep Research

Bing Deep Research is the most powerful expression of Web IQ. It is a multi-step research agent that:

• Breaks a complex question into sub-queries
• Searches and analyses dozens of web pages and documents
• Cross-references sources and identifies contradictions
• Produces a structured, fully cited summary — in minutes rather than hours

Example use cases for Swiss organisations:

• Market analysis for a new target segment («How does Switzerland regulate AI-assisted credit decisions?»)
• Competitive research before a tender submission
• Technology evaluation («Which SaaS providers meet DORA requirements for Swiss banks?»)
• Due-diligence research before a partnership

Bing Deep Research is available in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and cites all sources used.

3. Computer-Using Agents (CUA)

Computer-Using Agents are the most technically significant innovation in the Web IQ family. A CUA can — like a human — operate a browser: open web pages, type into form fields, click buttons, navigate menus, and extract information from pages.

Microsoft demonstrated concrete scenarios at Build 2026:

• Research automation: A CUA visits 20 supplier websites, extracts price lists and delivery terms, and summarises them in a structured table
• Form completion: A CUA fills in a government form based on company data held in SharePoint
• Monitoring: A CUA checks a tender platform (e.g. simap.ch) daily for new relevant tenders and routes them to the sales team
• SaaS integration without an API: When an external system has no API, a CUA can operate its web interface — e.g. extracting data from a legacy portal

CUAs in Microsoft 365 Copilot use Microsoft Entra security mechanisms: the agent acts on behalf of the logged-in user, never with elevated permissions. Every action is logged.

4. Microsoft Edge Copilot

Microsoft Edge is the primary browser surface for Web IQ. New features announced at Build 2026:

• Page IQ: Copilot analyses the currently open web page and answers questions about it («What SLAs are agreed in this contract document?»)
• Compare IQ: Multiple web pages are opened in parallel and Copilot automatically creates a structured comparison — useful when evaluating products or vendors
• Form Assist: When filling in web forms, Copilot automatically suggests values from known company or profile data
• Translation IQ: Real-time translation with contextual understanding — not word-for-word but semantically accurate and industry-specific

Web IQ and Privacy: What Swiss Organisations Need to Know

Web IQ queries are processed through Microsoft's Bing/Azure infrastructure. Microsoft's commitments include:

• No model training: Web grounding queries from Microsoft 365 Copilot are not used to train future models
• Tenant isolation: Search queries are not linked to a tenant profile — no cross-customer profiling
• EU Data Boundary: Processing occurs within the EU/EEA boundary; Swiss customers with Swiss datacenter configuration are routed through Switzerland North
• nDSG compliance: Since Web IQ does not transfer personal data from your tenant to external services (only search queries), nDSG compliance is met for standard usage scenarios

For sectors with elevated requirements (banks, hospitals), we recommend validating Web IQ features with your privacy team during the pilot phase.

How All Four Layers Work Together: A Swiss Example

Scenario: Preparing for an important public tender

A project manager at a Swiss IT services firm learns that a cantonal administration is tendering a large Microsoft 365 deployment.

1. 1Web IQ automatically searches simap.ch and finds the tender documents. A CUA extracts the requirements and uploads them to SharePoint.
2. 2Work IQ identifies which employees have delivered similar projects in the past and suggests a suitable core team.
3. 3Fabric IQ analyses historical project data in OneLake and generates an effort estimate based on comparable past engagements.
4. 4Security IQ checks in the background whether the cantonal authority appears in known data leaks or has recent security incident indicators — to assess the risk profile of the potential customer.

The result: in 30 minutes the team has a structured basis for the proposal — work that previously took half a day of manual research.

Availability and Rollout Plan (as of June 2026)

Licensing: What Do You Need for Each Layer?

An important point: Real-time Web Grounding and Bing Deep Research are included in the Copilot add-on at no additional cost. CUA capabilities are still in controlled preview.

Next Steps for Swiss Organisations

If you already use Microsoft 365:

1. 1Check whether you have a Copilot add-on — Web IQ Grounding and Deep Research are immediately available with it.
2. 2Audit your SharePoint quality with our SharePoint Best Practices Checker.
3. 3Assess your Agentic AI readiness with our free self-assessment.

If you use Power BI in production:

1. 1Start a Fabric Trial (free, 60 days) and migrate one existing workspace to Fabric.
2. 2Test Copilot in Power BI with a real dataset.

For Web IQ / CUAs:

1. 1Register for the CUA preview programme via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
2. 2Define two or three concrete pilot scenarios (e.g. tender monitoring, supplier research) and evaluate the time saved versus manual research.
3. 3Clarify internally which Web IQ actions (especially CUA actions on external websites) require an additional governance policy.

CNEXT is a Microsoft Partner in Bern and supports Swiss organisations in adopting all four IQ layers — from licensing advice and technical implementation to change management for the affected teams.