Microsoft Teams continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Known as “Teams Mode for Microsoft 365 Copilot” this essentially means Copilot is coming to Teams Group Chats as a participant in Teams Chat and Channels. This is an example of how quickly new features are landing, and why organisations need to stay on top of change management and user awareness.
This latest feature is rolling out to Frontier firms (early adopters) now and to everyone else over the next month or so.
Teams Mode:Copilot in Group Chats
Copilot has been available in Teams for a while, but it’s now becoming a member of the chat space itself.
Since most conversations with Copilot happen in a “private, one-on-one setting”, this new feature let’s members of the chat have Copilot inside that chat instance, meaning it can chat and engage in a group setting rather than just one on one.
Note: you need to @ mention Copilot to add it to a chat, you cannot currently add it to the chat roster during chat creation.
When you add Copilot into a chat, you empower it to take care of tasks such as:
- Summarise past discussions so no one has to repeat themselves.
- Highlight decisions made and owners of tasks.
- Help new chat or team members get up to speed in seconds.
- Act as a knowledge anchor so people don’t have to chase information.
Instead of asking colleagues “where are we with the transfers”, you can now simply ask Copilot directly from the chat
“@Copilot give me an exec summary of where are we with the transfers?”, to get a clear, actionable answer instantly from Copilot, based on the threads, chats and files in the chat.
The Pace of Tech Change
These latest features show how fast the products we use every day are evolving and being updated. With changes happening across most apps we use every day, it also creates challenges and well as new ways to work.
- Awareness: Many users don’t even know these features exist.
- Adoption: Without guidance, people fall back to old habits.
- Consistency: Teams only works well when everyone uses it in the same way and knows how to use all the features well.
- Confidence: investing in change management and proper training helps users feel confident in using the tools and help prevent shadow IT
This is where change management and ongoing training become critical. It’s not enough to roll out Teams once and assume people will adapt. Organisations need to:
- Build awareness campaigns around new features.
- Provide bite-sized training and “what’s new” updates.
- Encourage champions to model best practices.
- Treat Teams as a living platform, not a one-off deployment.
Final Thoughts
Copilot in Group Chat is just of the new features coming to Teams this month. But this is not just about new features . This is part of a bigger story about how AI and collaboration tools are being fused together and reshaping teamwork and become one. The organisations and teams that thrive will be the ones that embrace the pace of change, invest in continuous learning, and help their people get the most out of these tools.
This is less about updates to the productivity tools we use as change and feature updates will continue to come thick and fast. Change Management is about ensuring you maximise your tech investment, reduce shadow IT and building confidence in the use of the tools you deploy and make available to people to empower them to get things done quicker, faster or better!