Microsoft Copilot was launched as the everyday artificial intelligence (AI) companion earlier this year and has been rolled out across platforms and products. Bing, Edge and Microsoft 365 have all received the Copilot upgrade which adds in new features, user support functionality and improved user experiences. The goal of the technology is to improve productivity and enhance collaboration across teams, making life just that little bit easier for the business and its people.
But what’s actually included in the Copilot stable?
Copilot in Microsoft Teams
This is activated when a meeting is being transcribed, Copilot in Teams summarises key discussion points and provides a bird’s eye view of different conversation topics. It breaks down who said what and provides real-time action items. Copilot is also surfaced through a new app called “Business Chat”, which allows users to ask for information or data using your natural language.
Pros:
– It helps you to catch up with what’s going on in a meeting if you happened to miss the first few minutes
– You can use the real-time action items to make a To Do list
– You get a rapid summary that helps you quickly identify hot spots and requirements
Cons:
– It doesn’t work in meetings hosted outside of your organisation
Copilot in Word/PowerPoint/Excel
In Word, Copilot is a lot like ChatGPT in that it helps you to create different types of content from a blank page by giving you a first draft or some starting ideas. It can rewrite your text, help you build tables, search for information in real-time to support your writing, and generate a summary of your document quickly so you can share it with others. In PowerPoint it helps you make presentations great again with prompts, information gathering and the ability to pull content from other presentations that supports your work. In Excel, Copilot helps you to visualise and manage your data a lot faster than ever before, really changing how you work with the platform and your data.
Pros:
– Pull information from other documents and sources easily and quickly into your working document
– Get ideas, research and information using prompts and questions
– Turn text into tables
Cons:
– It is an assistant, not a co-creator so content needs to be checked and edited to ensure accuracy
Copilot in Outlook
When it comes to Outlook, Copilot can really make life a lot easier. Emails are always a deluge and Copilot makes it less of a swamp and more manageable. It helps you draft emails quickly, summarise information across lengthy email trails, plan events effectively, and streamline your inbox.
Pros:
– It makes managing email a lot more efficient and you’ll notice the difference when it comes to productivity
Cons:
– You will need to still double-check summaries and content in case the AI has missed something. It’s not infallible.
Copilot with Mint
The ability to use AI across so many different platforms and products has the potential to fundamentally transform productivity and collaboration in any business. With Microsoft 365, Copilot is integrated into daily applications so smoothly that users are empowered to do more, and to develop their own skills when it comes to working with AI tools. In other tools, such as Microsoft Power Platform, Copilot radically enhances user capabilities – users can create chatbots and automation and code at speed.
The value of this technology lies in its ability to make things faster and easier while also providing real-time support that improves productivity and engagement. It is the future, today. And it is seamlessly accessible within the Microsoft ecosystem, powering companies and empowering employees.
