The Power of AI with Copilot for Microsoft 365

19.03.24

In the ever-evolving world of technology, businesses are constantly seeking innovative solutions to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and stay ahead of the competition.

Microsoft has again stepped into the spotlight with its revolutionary tool – Microsoft Copilot.

In this blog post, we will explore what Copilot for Microsoft 365 is, its capabilities, and how businesses can harness the full potential of this ground-breaking technology.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a smart tool that uses artificial intelligence to boost your productivity. It works seamlessly with popular Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more.

With Copilot, you get real-time intelligent assistance, making it easier to be creative, productive and improve your skills. The tool utilises advanced AI algorithms called large language models (LLMs), specifically the Generative Pre-Trained Transformers (GPT) like GPT-4. These LLMs leverage deep learning techniques and extensive data sets to understand, summarise, predict, and generate content, providing you with effective support in various tasks.

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Harnessing the Power of AI with Copilot for Business

The adoption of AI by small and medium businesses is rapidly increasing, with 72 percent of businesses with fewer than 200 employees familiar with AI tools, and 48 percent using them daily.

Copilot is a game-changer, automating routine tasks, streamlining workflows, and providing valuable insights for informed decision-making.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 can help you to summarise emails, analyse sales data in Excel, draft proposals in PowerPoint, and summarise meetings in real time using Teams.

Copilot empowers businesses to save time and make data-driven decisions efficiently.

What Can Copilot Help You Achieve?

Some examples of the tasks Copilot can perform for you:

OUTLOOK Draft email responses

Ask Copilot to summarise the day’s emails – flagging those that require a response and drafting custom replies to each one. It can also summarise long email threads, highlighting questions that still require an answer.

EXCEL Analysing data

Copilot can answer questions about your data sets in Excel, identifying trends and creating visual graphs. It can give you correlations, what-if scenarios and can suggest formulas based on your queries.

TEAMS Summarise meetings

Copilot can summarise key discussion topics, opinions and actions in real-time during a Teams meeting.

WORD Create first drafts

From a simple prompt, Copilot can create a first draft of a document, looking at information from across your business. Alternatively, it can add content to existing docs, and help strike the right note with a suggested tone of voice.

With 64% of people struggling to find time and energy to perform in their roles, and 70% of people saying they would delegate tasks to AI to lessen their workload, now is the time to leverage AI to give your employees a whole new way of working.

How is Copilot for Microsoft 365 Benefitting Businesses?

According to Microsoft's Work Trend Index Special Report, What Can Copilot’s Earlier Users Teach Us About Generative AI At Work?, 70% of Copilot users after 3 months were more productive, and 68% improved the quality of their work. Impressively, 85% said it helped them get a good first draft faster, and 64% said it helped them spend less time processing emails, which is a huge benefit to help with overcrowded inboxes.

Microsoft 365 Copilot inherits your business's Microsoft 365 security privacy and compliance policies, so providing you’re confident in your set-up, you can rest assured that the AI tool will safeguard your data, and documents will only be seen by those who are meant to view it.

Microsoft Loop Enhances Collaboration

Microsoft offers a centralised platform that empowers employees to streamline project-related information, promoting collaboration and creativity. Loop, with its adaptable interface, enables users to organise workspaces based on individual preferences, ensuring seamless synchronisation across various Microsoft applications.

With Copilot seamlessly integrated into Loop, teams can synergise their ideas more effectively.

Copilot's contribution extends to refining generated responses and fostering enhanced collaboration within the Loop environment. This integration enhances the overall efficiency and consistency of collaborative efforts, providing a dynamic and responsive framework for teams to work together seamlessly and innovate collectively.

Simplifying Transactions in Microsoft Teams

The innovative Teams Payments app introduces a seamless solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to effortlessly handle payments during Microsoft Teams meetings. Developed in collaboration with industry leaders such as GoDaddy, PayPal, and Stripe, this application enhances customer interactions and streamlines the payment process.

By integrating payment capabilities directly into the Teams platform, Microsoft empowers SMBs to efficiently manage and collect payments, fostering a more accessible and convenient experience for both businesses and customers alike. This strategic partnership aligns with Microsoft's commitment to facilitating efficient and effective digital transactions within the collaborative environment of Teams.

Exploring the Benefits of Microsoft Teams for Business

How to get Microsoft 365 Copilot

License requirements for Microsoft Copilot

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available as an add-on plan. You will need one of the following licenses before you can install and use Copilot:

Microsoft 365 E3 / E5
Office 365 E3 / E5
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 A3 / A5 for faculty*
Office 365 A3 / A5 for faculty*

*Available for Cloud Solution Providers only, or via Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES).

App Requirements for installing Microsoft Copilot

Your Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider will be able to help you with the setup of Copilot in Microsoft 365.

Microsoft Entra ID

Users need Entra ID accounts (formerly Azure Active Directory). Use the onboarding wizard in the Microsoft 365 admin centre for user addition or synchronisation.

Microsoft OneDrive

Certain Microsoft Copilot features, like file restore and OneDrive management, require a OneDrive account. Enable OneDrive for users through the OneDrive setup guide in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.

Microsoft Outlook

Copilot is compatible with the new Outlook. Switch by selecting "Try the new Outlook" in the existing client. To integrate Copilot into the new Outlook, sync Microsoft 365 settings under View and manage settings.

Microsoft Teams

Use the Microsoft Teams setup guide in the Microsoft 365 admin centre to configure settings. Copilot in Teams works on Windows, Mac, web, Android, and iOS. Enable referencing meeting content post-meeting by enabling transcription or recording.

Microsoft Teams Phone

Copilot supports VOIP and PSTN calls. For VOIP, a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license is needed; for PSTN, a Teams Phone license and calling plan in addition to Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft Loop & Microsoft Whiteboard

Enable Copilot with Loop and Whiteboard by enabling them in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. More details in the Loop and Whiteboard setup guides.

Office Feature Updates Task

Essential for core Copilot experiences in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Allow it to run on schedule and access required network resources.

NEED HELP WITH SETTING UP COPILOT?

As a certified Microsoft Partner, we have the expertise to assess your systems for AI-readiness and present the potential for effortless integration of Microsoft Copilot. Contact us Today.

Microsoft's Dedication to SMB Growth

As Microsoft continues to deliver powerful tools for SMBs, UK businesses are encouraged to explore the latest Microsoft 365 products and access free resources, training, and guidance to support their growth. Having a good Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) is also greatly beneficial for helping you set up your organisations software's correctly, to work efficiently for your business.

Are You Looking For a New Microsoft CSP To Help You Navigate These Latest Updates?

As a Microsoft Partner, we can evaluate your systems for AI-readiness and show you the opportunities you have for seamless integration of Microsoft Copilot. We can work with you to identify your business goals and challenges that can be addressed with AI and Copilot.

Contact us today and our team will work with you to develop a plan to maximise the impact of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Call 01384 400 600, email info@syscom.plc.uk or submit a contact form below.

Further Information

Managed Microsoft 365

Experience seamless licensing and subscription management tailored to your needs and discover a whole new way to work with our expertise as your Microsoft cloud solution provider.

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Microsoft 365 for Business

Improve productivity and offer your customers a better service when you take advantage of the capabilities within Microsoft 365.

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Remove the stress of monitoring and maintaining your systems by using outsourced IT services from our team of qualified experts.

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