Tag: Microsoft 365 Copilot

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Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption: Practice Makes Perfect

As we all get back into the flow of work following the Christmas and New Year break, Microsoft continue to announce new features for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft 365 Copilot has been available to “everyone” to buy and use now for a year now and it’ actually hard to conceive that it only actually ben 12 months! That said, I know hundreds of organisations that are using it every day and getting a great experience from it. I also know others (and people in my own organisation that have a bit more of a “hmmmmm and it’s ok” mindset to Copilot.

As I head back into my first full week at work with Copilot at my side, it’s worth looking at just how far it has come. From taking notes and summarising content, helping me catch up things I have missed (or forgotten) and evening being my companion to help me thrash out ideas, explain things, get a different opinion – Copilot is by my side.

Copilot is like that tireless colleague who’s always ready to lend a hand, doesn’t get tired, doesn’t take a lunch a break and doesn’t need to pop out for a coffee when I need it! I often describe Copilot as a drunk intern, in that it adds huge amounts of value to my day, but it doesn’t solve every work problem, nor can it assist with every task. It can’t make decisions for me, do my executive reports, remember to do things for me (there’s other tools for that) and can’t actually do my job for me. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a tool, a powerful tool, but like any tool, its effectiveness hinges on how you use it and more importantly how you don’t!

Having helped many customers and seen the results it can have, as well as my own experience of integrating Copilot into my daily work (and personal online life) routine, it takes time. It not as simple as allocating a licensing and clicking the Copilot button. Good adoption and useful results require practice (lots), sharing what works, and an understanding of its capabilities and limitations. In this blog. I share a few little tips we have learned on the way, coupled with some tips to see value every day.

1. Results may not be instant – Practice makes perfect

You may hear people say “it is rubbish” or “it didn’t do what I thought”, or “Copilot can’t help me in my job”.

This is sometimes true, but nearly all of the time, it is simply not! Copilot can certainly help you brainstorm ideas, answer questions, explain content and even get a third person review on something you have created, but it it is not going to transform you into a master mathematician, coder, web designer or salesman overnight.

Like learning a new musical instrument (my son is learning the trumpet at the moment) or a language, it takes time (and patience) to get the hand of pretty much any tool.

Success comes (and I see it every day) by embrace the learning curve, trying new things and giving yourself room to grow alongside this technology which is constantly evolving and improving. Working with Generative AI is a totally different way of working with technology so give yourself time to work with it. There is no AI Natives (yet!).

2. Don’t get fired – Copilot for everyone but not for everything!

Think of Copilot as your co-pilot, not as the captain of your work. Copilot is there to assist you in what you do but not to take over. While it might draft a great email or executive summary, help you expand on a point or explain something, only you (as the Pilot) can ensure it aligns with your objectives and ask and that what it produces resonates with your audience.

Remember you are accountable for what Copilot produces for you – Copilot is the co-pilot. You are always in command. Copilot will remind of this, but do. Check the content, is it what you needed and asked for. Does it seem correct, read well and has it used the right content and context. If Copilot get’s it wrong, its your block on the line not Copilot’s.

Your expertise and personal touch are irreplaceable, and you are still responsible for what it produces. Don’t look silly buy not checking what it produces!

3. Remember you are human – It is not!

The Human Touch is everything. For example, when using Copilot to write or reply to a sensitive email, or when writing a personal response to something, Copilot can absolutely provide you with a solid starting point or provide guidance on how to write it.

We have all read those emails comms that are so obviously written by AI. It’s easy to spot an email from someone you know that has clearly left AI to write for them!

Empathy, nuance, and authenticity and the way in which you communicate is what makes you. It’s important to use what Copilot (or an AI) creates as a draft or a guide and ensure you inject your personality and insights to make your communication truly impactful and truly you.

4. Copilot is not a mind reader – be clear in your asks

Copilot doesn’t inherently understand the nuances of your specific situation, so back to my drunk intern analogy, you need to give it context around what you want your assistant to do.

Copilot can “summarise a report” but won’t know how you would like this summarised, the tone you woudl like, who you are summarising it for and how long you want it unless you tell it. Be explicit about the how you want the output (the goal), the context of what you need, and your expectations for how you want the output to be presented.

Remember the formula for Copilot promoting is G.C.S.E – Goal, Context, Expectations and Source.

5. Don’t leave sensitivity to chance

Microsoft 365 Copilot will adhere to your company identity and access management, respect DLP policies and even understand sensitivity labels if they are used.

Many organisations however do not use these (though are starting too), but regardless, make sure you check that you are not feeding Copilot confidential customer information when creating responses for other customers or sharing internal information that is not supposed to be shared.

People get scared that Copilot may share sensitive information. Since Copilot is the assistant and not the author, you are responsible for checking that the data you have fed it (or referenced) can be used and shared externally.

There are new tools coming to help users better protect privacy and for IT / Sec to control what Copilot accesses, but it’s still “on you”. Remember Copilot can’t get the sack – you can!

6. Copilot will not replace learning but it can help you learn.

Some like to portray that they are an expert over night with AI tools like Copilot. Sure Copilot is great at simplify complex concepts or helping you know how to do something in say Excel or Word. Copilot is also really great at helping you understand seomthing, can explain something complex “as if i am a 10 year old” and so on, but it’s not a substitute for your own learning journey.

That said, I find Copilot is great for helping you to learn something. It can help you “learn” the basics about a topic, put things into different perspectives, and even help map learning paths and helps you find resources. At the end of the day, it is still you that will learn what you are learning, but Copilot is really great at helping you learn in your way…

7. Copilot has an appauling memory

One fo the things Copilot is really bad at (by design currently) uis remembering things. This mean that not only will it not ask you how that report went, or if your customer replied to the email it helped you write.

In fact Copilot cannot (currently) evcen remeber past convrsations or preferences so once you “start a new conversation”, all history of that task you were working are forgotten.

As a tip – I tend to have a couple of chats running in parallel so I can switch between contexts as I need to. ChatGPT now has this capability to imagine* it is only time before this comes to Microsoft 365 Copilot

8. The Roadmap is every changing

The last time I looked, there was 112 new features in development and 18 that are currently “rolling out”. This AI technology is evolving rapidly and Copilot is no exception.

New features and improvements roll out regularly. It’s worth checking on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap from time to time to ensure you stay informed about what is coming. There are also a plethor of blogs like this one, user communities, webinars and formal training to help you stay abreast of the latest innovations and tips.

Knowledge is power – the more you know, the more you can leverage Copilot to your advantage.

9. Integrate Copilot into your daily routine

Consistency is key. Copilot really adds avlue when you use it little and often and when it’s seamlessly woven into your daily workflow. Here are some reaaly simple habits to form:

  • Start your week with a recap: Use Copilot to remind you of any emails you did not repond to last week from your peers or boss, to prepare you for your upcoming meetings, or to sugegst a date your team (rememeber it knows who works for you) are available for an afternoon off-site.
  • Start Your Day with Copilot: Use Copilot in the morning to outline your your day, important tasks or get you up-to-date on something. You will soon be able to schedule Copilot to do certain tasks for you.
  • Catch on and control your meetings: One of Copilot’s hero capabilities is to help ypou catch up on a meeting you missed, take notes for you in a meeting and even help keep the meeting flowing.
  • Remeber your GCSEs: Before engaging with Copilot, know what the Goal is you are trying to achieve. Give Copilot context on how you wnat it done and ensure it knows what you expect. Clear questions yield better answers.
  • Share and Collaborate: Encourage your team to adopt Copilot and share tips. Collective learning amplifies benefits.

The true power of Copilot lies in how you incorporate it into your daily routine:

10. Don’t Give up

You may not always get the instant results, don’t give up. Ttry again, ask others what works for them and check out help and guidance. There’s loads.

  • Stay Curious and ensure you experiment with different prompts and functions. You might discover new ways Copilot can assist you.
  • Reflect Regularly by taking time to assess how Copilot is impacting your work. Adjust your approach as needed to maximise benefits.
  • Share your success so other can benefit from what you have learned and what works best for you.

Final Tips

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a remarkable assistant that can amplify your productivity, spark innovation, and even make mundane tasks more manageable. But remember, it’s a tool designed to enhance your capabilities – not replace them. By using it thoughtfully, staying informed about its features, and integrating it into good work habits, you can unlock its full potential.

Technology is a force multiplier, but it’s the human element that truly makes the difference. Copilot offers incredible capabilities, but it’s up to you to wield them effectively. Use it wisely, continue to learn, and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Your proactive engagement and thoughtful application are what turn a powerful tool into transformative results. So take charge, embrace the technology, and watch how it elevates the work you do every daym, little my little, bit my bit can make a huge difference in a week.

Oh and don’t forget to share your successes with others.

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Streamlining Copilot Adoption: Reducing Data Oversharing in Microsoft 365

One of the concerns I often talk to organisations about, is the fear that Copilot might surface sensitive information that it should not have access to due to IT/Compliance teams not really knowing who has access to what. The phrase “Security through obscurity” is often what we heard being used.

The primary cause of this is the over-permissioning and sharing of files, which is a growing concern for organisations and one of the “blockers” often cited in Copilot Adoption.

The over-sharing problem

The ability to reason over employee data and shared organisational data is one of Microsoft 365 Copilot’s strengths over other Gen AI tools (that need feeding). These responses Copilot gives and the content it creates rely on access to data that the user already has access to across their organisation’s Microsoft 365 environment. And here often lies the problem. If an organisation has low levels of data governance, no data classification and labelling, combined with high levels of over-sharing can create real concerns for IT and Data Compliance teams.

One of the reasons that Copilot often has access to data that it “perhaps” shouldn’t have is not due to security flaw or issue across Copilot or Microsoft 365, but because files or sites have been shared too widely and have no (or the wrong) privacy and sensitivity set. Addressing this is no small task since many organisations will have million of files and tens of thousands of SharePoint and Teams sites.

Organisations and even teams within organisations often operate at various levels of maturity in governing SharePoint data. While some orgaanisations strictly monitor permissions and oversharing of content, others do not. The situation is further complicated because many people, teams and organisations have “legitimate” reasons to share “some” data widely within the organisation. This can mean users in your organisation may make choices that result in the oversharing of SharePoint content. As an example

  • Users may save critical files in locations accessible to a wider audience than intended.
  • Users may prefer sharing content with large groups rather than specific individuals.
  • Users might not pay close attention to permissions when uploading files.
  • Users may not understand how to use sensitivity labelling (if enabled) to control access.

Services such as Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 utilise all data to which individual users have at least View permissions, which might include broadly shared files that the user is unaware of. As a result, users might see these applications as exposing content that was overshared. Oversharing can lead to sensitive information being exposed to unintended recipients. Users, while well intentioned, might not always grasp the implications of their sharing choices. They might overlook permissions or opt for convenience over security.

As a result, it’s important to use the permission models in SharePoint to ensure the right users or groups have the right access to the right content within your organisation. The following sections describe the key steps that administrators can implement to configure their SharePoint permissions model to help prevent data oversharing.

Dealing with Oversharing

The good news is that Microsoft is adding new features to SharePoint and Purview to make it easier to see, understand and control over sharing across Microsoft 365 with a hope to help adoption efforts and wider roll out of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This includes new Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) and enhancements for Data Loss Prevention policies in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and SharePoint Advanced Management. These can help automate site access reviews at scale and add controls to restrict access to sites if they contain highly sensitive information.

Microsoft have also released a blueprint guide for organisations planning to or deploying Copilot. These are nicely tailored to adjust to those with mainly Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licenses respectively.

These new tools IMO are going to be vital to help organisation understand and address oversharing so they feel more feel confident in their employees adopting AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot.

AI is really good at finding information, and it can surface more information than you would have expected. This is why it’s really important to address oversharing. Typically, these issues are a by-product of good collaboration, particularly across Teams, SharePoint sites and OneDrive.

Alex Pozin | Director of Product Marketing | Microsoft

From early 2025, Microsoft will make access to SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) available at no extra cost to Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions. Outside of this, SharePoint premium (which includes SAM ) will be available at a cost of around $3 per user each month.)

New Capabilities in SharePoint Advanced Management

There are also new features for SAM that Microsoft says will provide greater control over access to SharePoint files. 

  • New permission state reports (available now) can identify “overshared” SharePoint sites. The site access review feature can then provide a easy way to ask site owners to review and address permissions.
  • Restricted Content Discovery – which should start to roll out this month in public preview (December 2024), will allow IT admins to prevent Copilot from searching and processing data in specific sites for content and result generation. This does not prevent direct access to the site meaning that users can access the content directly as normal. This feature builds on the SharePoint Restricted Access Control, which was released last year, and lets IT admins restrict site access to specific sites to just “site owners” only, while also preventing Copilot from indexing and summarising files in these sites.

One of the use cases for this, are for where there are data locations containing information that needs to be contained to a set of people – such as financial reports, M&A planning, amnd other secret stuff. IT need to be confident that these locations and files will not show up in SharePoint searches and will be well out the reach of Copilot or other AI tools, essentially making sure that nobody can accidently or unintentionally be aware of, see or access the content. This is where Restricted Content Discovery comes in – locking down and hiding this information from plain site and from Copilot’s retrieval augmentation and indexing.

New Capabilities in Microsoft Purview

Microsoft are also adding new capabilities in Purview too. Purview is available as standalone or is part of Microsoft 365 E5.

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Microsoft Purview is a centralised hub within Microsoft 365 that helps organisations meet regulatory and compliance requirements. It helps organisations manage their compliance obligations, protect sensitive data, and mitigate risks within their Microsoft 365 environment.

Here, there are new tools to help identify “overshared files” that can be accessed by Copilot. These includes oversharing assessments for Microsoft 365 Copilot in the Data Security Posture Management (DPSM) tool which is now in Public Preview (from December 2024) and can be accessed via the newly revamped Purview portal.

DSPM Portal in Microsoft Purview

The oversharing assessments are designed to highlight data that may present exposure risk by scanning files for sensitive data and identifying data repositories such as SharePoint and Teams sites where access permissions appear to be too wide and broad. The tool will also provide recommendations to admins and site owners for ways to mitigate oversharing risk, such as adding sensitivity labels or restricting access from SharePoint.

For example, DSPM can detect and help you deal with controlling ethical behaviour in AI (example demo environment below). For all the recommendation, Microsoft provides a simple step by step “wizard” to help IT and Compliance add policies.


Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention for Microsoft 365 Copilot, also in public preview, enables IT and security admins to create data loss prevention (DLP) policies to exclude certain documents from being processed by Copilot based on a the file or sites sensitivity label. This applies to files held in SharePoint and OneDrive, but can be configured at other levels, such as group, site, and user, to provide more flexibility around who can access what.

Insider Risk Management has also been updated to detect “risky AI usage.” This even includes user prompts that contain sensitive information and attempts by users to access unauthorised sensitive information. What’s key to note here is that this feature is not just limited to Microsoft 365 Copilot and also also covers Copilot Studio, and ChatGPT Enterprise.

Oversharing Blue Prints

I really like this. Microsoft’s new blueprint resource pages on Microsoft Learn provide recommended approaches and guidance for organisations to help them understand, mitigate and manage oversharing during what they define as the three main stages of Microsoft 365 Copilot deployment.

  • Pilot [Pilot]
  • Wider Deployment [Deploy at Scale]
  • Organisational Rollout [Operate]

Microsoft provide two blueprint designs. A “foundational path” and what they call an “optimised path” that uses some of the more Microsoft 365 advanced data security and governance tools found in Microsoft 365 E5 subscriptions.

Is there funding available to help?

It depends – but most likely!

Microsoft have a Cyber Security Investment Program open to select/specialist partners like Cisilion. These provide funded workshops, assessments and proof of value deployments across key Security workloads including Microsoft Purview as well as structured Copilot pilot deployments, vision and value

Organisations should speak to their Microsoft Solutions Partner for more information. You can contact Cisilion here should you need to.

Conclusion

In many of the discussions I and my team at Cisilion have with customers, we see that almost all of the organisations we work still have concerns over data governance in the realm of AI access. Of these most expect Microsoft to help them address these whilst some have already invested in third party tools to help them get a “grip” on their data and sharing.

We have seen a plethora of customers invest/upgrade to high-tier Microsoft 365 plans (including E5 Security and Compliance) or full Microsoft 365 E5 in order to gain access to Microsoft Purview. Some argue these tools should be provided as part of their Copilot investment, so it is great to see Microsoft meeting customers in the middle and at least providing some of these tools as part of this license investment.

The issue is not Copilot per-say, but it is that Copilot with it’s ability to access compnay data is causing more organisations to double down and look at the existing issues they have of too many SharePoint Sites, too much over sharing, orphaned data (data with no owner) inadequate data classification and labeling.

By addressing security and data governance and levering the new tools available, this at least should solve one of the blockers to AI adoption.

The second is Adoption and Change Management – more on that in the next blog post!

Useful links.

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What are Copilot Pages?

Microsoft yesterday, announced the next stage of the evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot with Wave 2. Amongst the many new features was the launch of Copilot Pages. This innovative feature is the first step into the new evolution of Copilot which is set transforming how employees interact with Microsoft AI in a new collaborative environment.

What are Copilot Pages?

Copilot Pages is a dynamic, persistent canvas integrated into Copilot chat, designed to facilitate what Microsoft call “multiplayer AI collaboration”. It allows users to turn insightful Copilot responses into durable, editable content that can be shared with teams for further collaboration.

“This is an entirely new work pattern – multiplayer, human to AI to human collaboration”.
| Jared Spataro | VP of AI at Work | Microsoft.

Copilot Pages -Key Features

  • Dynamic Collaboration: With Copilot Pages, employees can work directly with Copilot on a shared page, prompting and refining responses together as a team rather than individually in silos.
  • Persistent Canvas: The pages are persistent, meaning collaborative efforts are saved and can be revisited and edited at any time by anyone.
  • Team Learning: This feature encourages learning from each other’s prompts, enhancing the overall quality and depth of the information gathered.

Getting Started with Copilot Pages in 5 Steps

  1. Access Copilot Pages: Open your Copilot chat and look for the new “Pages” tab. Click on it to create a new page or access existing ones.
  2. Create a New Page: Click on “New Page” to start a fresh canvas. You can name your page to keep your projects organized.
  3. Collaborate with Your Team: Invite team members to your page by sharing the link. Everyone can contribute by adding prompts, refining responses, and editing content.
  4. Save and Revisit: Your pages are automatically saved. You can revisit and edit them anytime, ensuring your collaborative efforts are always up-to-date.
  5. Share and Export: Once your page is finished, you can share it with others outside your team or export it for presentations, reports, or further analysis.

Check out the Microsoft Video for more.

Where are Copilot Pages Stored?

Copilot Pages are .loop files stored in a new user-owned SharePoint Embedded container. IT Admins can manage these files using Loop admin switches and other governance tools. The feature supports various compliance and manageability capabilities, including GDPR compliance, Intune device management, and data loss prevention. IT admins manage these .loop files just like any other files (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx, etc.). They support all the features of the SharePoint file system, including everything detailed here. 

Additional capabilities, such as programmatic API access for third-party tools, are expected in Q4 CY2024.

Read more in the Copilot Admin Support Pages:

Availability

Copilot Pages is rolling out “later this month” for Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers and will soon be available to all Microsoft 365 subscribers. Loop must be enabled in your environment.

Do you have it in your Tennant yet?

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Announcing Copilot Wave 2: Exciting New Features and Enhancements

This afternoon (16th September 2024), Microsoft passionately announced (almost 9 months after Copilot was officially available to any organisation) the latest updates coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of what they are calling “Wave 2”. The 30-minute-long session, hosted by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Jared- Spataro, unveiled a heap of new features, capabilities and performance enhancements were announced across the entire experience.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (THIS IS NOW IT’S NEW OFFICIAL NAME) provides enterprise data protection, ensuring the same level of security and compliance protection as other services like files, SharePoint, and emails. Microsoft said that significant improvements have also been made to PowerPoint and Excel based on feedback, including the introduction of Python integration in Excel.

Some of these things are “generally available” from today and others are coming in the next few weeks and months. – See the end.

Evolving the purpose and role of Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft told today, how Copilot is evolving from an individual productivity assistant to a collaborative partner at work. Copilot can utilise various content sources such as files, chats, calendar invites, and emails to generate rich outputs based on the needs of the user and teams of people. You will have seen in the various demos how the product demos now showcase how Copilot facilitates collaboration and achieves outcomes, making both personal and teamwork more efficient and effective.

They have also focussed lots on performance and stability enhancements with huge investments in their Azure Data Centres.

Microsoft also wanted to ensure organisations know just how much they focus on providing the same level of enterprise data protection to Copilot as they have with files, email, SharePoint etc.

So, here’s my pick of what’s new and most cool!

1. Copilot Agents

Microsoft is also broadening the definition of “agents“, ranging from personal AI assistants to fully autonomous agents. These agents span across a spectrum, from human-in-the-loop to fully autonomous.

This is the top announcement for me, I think. Agents (aka Custom GPTs,) have been a very popular discussion with my customers. When Microsoft talks about agents, they use it in its broadest term with an agent being anything from an AI assistant helping you retrieve information right (a foundational agent capability), all the way to autonomous support agent, meaning the agent does not need a human to intervene for it or for it to be able to do its work. Wow Right!

You will see Microsoft focusing on agents across the entire spectrum – giving organisations the ability to create agents using natural language to “support whatever custom business process you are trying to automate“. This will be going into public preview later this month Copilot Agent Builder will be part of Copilot Studio as I understand it.

As an example, say an issue out in the field required further research and follow-up and the team keeps all their customer records from deployment info to maintenance reports on a SharePoint site. Like many organisations, there’s loads of valuable information stored here, but it takes ages to sift through it and find what is needed. Now with Copilot Agents, an agent can be built from any SharePoint site library or folder. It’s possible to create an agent with a single clip and in just a few seconds, your agent is ready to be used and shared with your team and it can be simply added to the department’s team’s chat.

Once created, created agents can be customised and things like topics and knowledge can be enhanced as well as the actions it can take. These can be connected to third party apps such as Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

2. Copilot Pages – Powered by Loop

This is the second biggest announcement and combines two of my favourite parts of Microsoft 365 – Copilot and Loop.

Accessed through BizChat, Copilot Pages, allows users to create side-by-side pages for real-time collaboration. Built on Loop components, these pages enable multiple users to work together and update data simultaneously, enhancing teamwork and productivity.

This can be used when you are working in BizChat – pulling Copilot’s response into a sharable canvas (Loop spaces) built for real-time multiplayer collaboration with Al. Copilot can then be used to improve and expand upon subject matter, build visualizations, and bring in additional content.

Copilot Pages.

Biz Chat will be the place where you can start and finish most of your work before you transition it to your format of choice. Within Biz Chat, you’ll also soon see a button to move the output to the final experience – says move to Outlook, move to Word, move to PowerPoint etc., but you can do all of the pre-work in Bizchat which Microsoft’s customers say is where they spend “most” of their time.

3. Biz Chat Enhancements

Copilot Biz Chat, will, as I discussed above have the ability to send output to the final app for you to finish your work. You’ll see a send to button making workflow faster and just feel smoother and more integrated.

4. Utilising Email and Bizchat for Business Insights

Copilot can now use email and Bizchat to identify patterns and information, recall similar situations, and access relevant content from various sources. This feature is designed to help discover strategies such as price reduction, promotional offers, and ad campaigns as example by reasoning over email and chat threads to help solve business challenges.

5. Copilot in PowerPoint Improvements

Copilot democratizes advanced features in Excel by allowing users to use natural language to access them. PowerPoint improvements include the ability to easily build custom narratives, sections, and flow within presentations. Branding options ensure consistency with company logos, fonts, colours, and styles. PowerPoint’s new narrative builder, with creative control over the flow, reordering topics, deleting unwanted ones, and adding new ones.

Copilot helps create presentation outlines quickly, offering image suggestions from approved sources or AI-generated options. It designs slides in company branding with various layout choices.

PowerPoint’s new features include adding picture notes to slides, built-in slide transitions, and animated text. These features help users create professional-looking presentations quickly and easily, using their own corporate-branded content.

Leveraging corporate templates requires that marketing teams integrate their organisations branded assets into a SharePoint OAL (Organization Asset Library) in order to be able to create presentations with organisational images. This is scheduled for release in Q4 2024.

6. Copilot in Word

Copilot in Word has new features including (finally) allowing it to reason over more document sources including emails, chat, meeting content and files etc making this much easier to get documents created while referencing multiple sources of information.

7. Copilot Enhancements in Teams

Improvements are coming to Teams based on user feedback. Copilot can now reason over chat in addition to meeting transcriptions. This entered public preview today.

8. Copilot in Outlook Improvements

Outlook’s new Copilot feature, ‘Prioritise my inbox’, organises emails based on topics, keywords, and important people. It identifies important contacts like your boss and their boss, enhancing email organisation and efficiency.

Since Copilot can reference emails, meetings and attachments as well as knowing who your colleagues are when you are drafting it can save a huge amount of time as it understands the context in which you are working. This new feature is rolling out now, with early access for some insider rings.

Summary

As I am sure you are, I am excited about these new features (and there’s still more to come) and improvements and look forward to your feedback on the announcements.

In summary, here’s what was announced again and when it will be available (according to Microsoft).

Image/Table – (C) Microsoft.

Are there things you were expecting to hear about but didn’t?
Oh and if I missed anything, let me know!!!

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Copilot | Microsoft 365 – Huge enhancements coming in July

Windows Keyboard with Copilot Button

As we enter Microsoft’s new fiscal 2025, there a bunch of enhancements coming across the board to the Copilot experience inside the Office Copilot experience which im[acts PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Microsoft Loop. Microsoft regularly update the Office Apps, Team, and rest of their products, including Copilot, but the changes rolling out feel more like a “service pack”!

Here’s the key things coming to the app experiences this month and remember, you can always access the Microsoft 365 Copilot Roadmap –> here <–

AI Powered images coming to PowerPoint and Word.

Microsoft are making it much easier to add visuals to both Word and PowerPoint documents with Microsoft Designer in Copilot. This will make it much easier for content creators to get the right image for a document or presentation and will add to the image options within these apps.

With this update, you will be able to create AI-generated image directly from Word and PowerPoint with a simple prompt in additional to using the existing options for stock images as before.

Up until now, this has required users jumping to a browser to create an image in Bing Image Creator or Microsoft Designers, whereas now, they will be able to do this straight from the Copilot prompt in Word and PowerPoint upon which they will be able to create an image from scratch or find and use an existing image from Microsoft’s stock photography library to select from. Microsoft say that PowerPoint, Designer will automatically add the image into a “compelling slide design”.

Image of adding AI images via Word and PowerPoint via Copilot.
Image (c) Microsoft

Additional “Document Support” in PowerPoint

Also coming this month, Copilot will support grounding for presentation creation from both encrypted Word documents and PDF files, providing more options for users to create presentation from. This gives users richer context to build new presentations, in addition to referencing.

Copilot in PowerPoint “General Improvements“

Rolling out in June/July and following lots of feedback from users, creating a new presentation from a Copilot is about to get much better with regards the quality or presentations created with more relevant content and images and improved consistency including:

  • Refined designs for title, section, and content slides.
  • Improved presentation structure with agenda, section and conclusion slides. 
  • Enhanced abilities to improve transitions and animations across presentation content.
Microsoft Image showing new PowerPoint Copilot capabilities.

Copilot is also getting the ability to ground itself on your organisations’ people-centric data and insights from the Microsoft Cloud, Microsoft Graph, and the web using Bing Search. This brings Copilot up to the same level of that of Teams, Copilot Chat and Outlook, meaning that users can stay in the app, ask questions, and maintain focus on creating their presentations without having to jump into dfferent apps or windows.

Refreshed Copilot experience n PowerPoint.


Copilot in Excel is coming out of Preview

In July, Copilot in Excel is also coming out of “preview”.

The first noticable indication will be that Microsoft drops the “in preview” lable that users currently see when using Copilot in Excel.

Secondly, Copilot in Excel is also getting expanded data structure support, meaning it wont be limited to working with just data in tables. Yes, Copilot in Excel will be able to works on data ranges resembling tables so long as the data being worked on contains a single row of headers on top (such as filtered data). Along with this, Copilot in Excel will also now be able to provide more comprehensive answers, just like Word and PowerPoint, Teams and Outlook,

Next up, the edit box will be available on any Excel worksheet, regardless of the selected cell and Copilot will reason over the nearest table, or data range resembling a table, to the user’s selected grid area on the same worksheet.

Finally, Copilot in Excel will provides more conversational and comprehensive answers to a wide array of Excel-related questions, meaning that users can now receive step-by-step instructions to help with complex formulas, fixing errors in formulas or how to do something in Excel.

Copilot in Excel - Image (C) Microsoft
Image (C) Microsoft.

Copilot in Loop

Copilot is coming to Loop too – one of my favourite “new” apps, with what Microsoft call “Copilot-assisted Loop page creation”

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft Loop, it is described as “flexible canvases that assist users in organising and sharing their work with teams.”

Loop users can now utilise Copilot to transform a blank page into a structured document primed for team collaboration in record time. Whether starting from scratch or using an existing page or template, Copilot can swiftly generate a Loop page tailored to specific requirements, be it a project plan, a feedback session, or any other collaborative effort.

Image showing Copilot in Loop.
Image (c) Microsoft.

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Microsoft 365 Roadmap: Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365

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Two-weeks with Microsoft Copilot | Teams and Outlook.

Title Image for using Microsoft Copilot for two weeks

I have been using Copilot for Microsoft 365 for two full weeks in within our organisation (no test/dev platforms) since Microsoft made this more generally available on the 14th January 2024.

Two weeks on, I wanted to share my experience of using Copilot in Microsoft 365 fairly aggressively. I am breaking this blog into a series, focusing on different aspects of the experience starting today with the apps I spend most time in (as I am sure you do too) – Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook.

The other question I will try to answer is – so far, two weeks in, is it worth the £25 pupm!

Great Expectations

Despite working with organisation readiness since June with a focus on organisational data and security readiness, using a combination of labs and “closed” demo labs, this was the first time I had real hands-on exposure to the hype that is Microsoft Copilot. Like many, I was impressed by the many iterations of Microsoft’s sizzle videos, sneak peaks and on-stage demos from Microsoft and their early access programme (EAP) users and as such I was extremely excited to finally get my hands on the real thing and use it within our organisation (as part of an internal adoption trial).

One thing to note, before diving into this blog is that my personal expectations for Copilot were (and still are) extremely high.

The Copilot Onboarding Experience

This walks through the first couple of days from getting a license to being able to use Copilot in anger.

I closed my Office 365 apps (we are running on latest versions which is a pre-req) and slowly the Copilot experience begin to “light up in my apps”. First to get Copilot treatment was Microsoft Teams, followed by Microsoft Word. A few hours later, Copilot “lit up” in other apps including Loop, PowerPoint and Excel followed the next day (yes next day) in Outlook. The mobile apps also became Copilot active about the same time.

On getting a license assigned, I received an email tell me my organisation had assigned me a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license, but nothing happened in my apps.

I closed my Office 365 apps (we are running on latest versions which is a pre-req) and slowly the Copilot experience begin to “light up in my apps” – but not all at once. First to get Copilot treatment was Microsoft Teams, followed by Microsoft Word.

A few hours later, Copilot “lit up” in other apps including Loop, PowerPoint and Excel followed the next day (yes next day) in Outlook. The mobile apps also became Copilot active about the same time.

Other members of our initial internal pilot, had a similar experience but not in the same order.

One thing to note, is that if you are part of the first tranche of users within your organisation, then, Microsoft “kicks off” the Sementic index engine which runs across your tenant. This takes a few days (longer for larger organisations) and works from most recent events and content backwards. This means that things seem to “turn on” or “work” at different times initially. Users added later have a more rapid onboarding experience.

A Word on Data Preparation

Much of the technical preparation and guidance for organisation adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot is around data readiness and the need for “proper” adoption and training for users as Copilot is not like another new feature you simply turn on – well at least if you want to get the best out of it and demonstrate high returns on your £25 pupm investment. Much of this “readiness” is not a new requirement as such, but the way in which Copilot works is, and should, be a wake up call for organisations to spend time implementing a proper data governance and lifecycle policy.

Much of this preparation is just good practice, but in Copilot terms, not having the above will impact not only the user experience but accuracy and usability of the service unless you spoon feed it the data you need.

Why? This is because, what makes Copilot unique is it’s access to the Microsoft Graph and your underlying data which is powered by Microsoft 365 Search and the Semantic Index. This involves three key pillars around data;

  • Understanding where your data is located and who has access
  • Understand the context of your data – this includes key words, titles, versioning etc
  • Understanding the data the organisation needs (and does not need) – archive, search terms, lifecycle management, retention etc.
  • Access and accessibility – data privacy, security (access control), and other policies in place.

This many organisations, getting these things in shape (if not already) is not a simply task – it takes time, structure, training (especially if you are going to label and classify data) and often process change. If you don’t have these things in place, its not a show stopper for Copilot but it might mean you expose existing risks (Copilot operates under the user’s context). As such, Copilot is a good trigger point/reason to look at this – whilst ensuring good business change, adoption and training are undertaken to give users the information they need to work better with your company data

Once concern I have, is that with the entry point to Copilot now just a single license, organisations may not give this area the right level of attention which may lead to user issues, sudden changes in policy (what do users have access to) and un expected results.

That said, if you are working in Teams and Outlook where the data it is referencing is more recent, relevant to the meeting or conversation or “part” of the chat or email – the data stuff is less relevant…

I have covered this more in other articles….

Copilot for Microsoft 365 – First Impressions

#BeyondExpections and far better than using ChatGPT

Ok this is a bold statement but you need to remember that Microsoft 365 Copilot uses GPT-4 (and GPT-4 Turbo) under the hood.

Copilot in Microsoft 365 instantly adds value to my day. What makes this so so so much better that a standalone tool (and even Copilot in Edge) is the fact that it is embedded natively into your Microsoft 365 apps and services. There is then the fact that not only does it work in the context of your apps, it also operates within your organisations Microsoft 365 data and compliance boundary and the way in which it leverages the Microsoft Graph to “perform its voodoo”. Copilot in Microsoft 365 uses a sophisticated data access methodology which uses Retrieval Augmented Generation against content and context, retrieved from the Microsoft Graph (with the Semantic Index). This means that Copilot not only understands what data to use, but is also aware and understands the relationships with the data, it’s context, your meetings, emails, recent files, team members, people relations and interactions and more.

Image (c) Microsoft – The Microsoft Graph

The combination of Copilot and the Graph API enables Copilot’s powerful features, and this is just the start. Microsoft also supports the increasing use of connectors and plug-ins, which allow data ingestion or connection to the Microsoft Graph. This means you can “plug-in” or “connect” third-party data sources to Copilot and extend its reach beyond the Microsoft 365 environment, while still being protected by the “trust boundary”.

In my two weeks, I have found the performance of Copilot across all the apps fast and interactive and much better than I experienced with Chat GPT and the “free” version of Copilot in Edge (Bing Chat)] The main reason for this is that Copilot using the most recent and premium versions of the Open AI Large Language Models (LLM), which use the newest GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo models which mean they are not only faster but can work on, and create bigger documents, process more input and leverage multiple data sources in which to form its’ response.

Hands on with Copilot in Teams

We spend a lot of time in meetings. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index report most of spend between forty (40) and sixty (60) percent of our week in meetings so if there is anywhere that Copilot can make a welcome impact its Teams.

Copilot in Microsoft Teams is your personal assistant before, during and after meetings. The during bit is really impactful.

Using Copilot During a Meeting

In order to use Copilot to it’s fullest, you need to make sure that meetings are transcribed (ideally recorded too). Transcribing and recording a meeting retains the transcript and recording for you to “recap” later (see Teams Intelligent Recap). As the meeting organiser, you can also choose to allow Copilot in the background without transcribing (if enabled by IT), but be aware if you do not transcribe the meeting, you will not be able to use Copilot once the meeting has finished. For best results, make sure you transcribe the meeting at least (but ensure you tell or ask people first!).

When the meeting is running, you’ll see the Copilot button in the meeting ribbon and activating it, brings up an integrated interface to the right to the meeting (just like the chat window does).

Copilot “button” in Teams Meeting

Note: Copilot prompts are only visible to you. Other participants cannot see or access your prompts or see Copilot’s analysis or results from what you ask.

Using Copilot After a Meeting

When a meeting has finished (whether you didn’t attend it, missed it, or had to leave early), you can access the meeting recap from the “recap” tab in the meeting. The recap contains the notes taken in the meeting by attendees, the recording (if recorded) and the transcript (if transcribed). If you have Teams Premium or a Copilot License, you also see see the “AI Generated” notes, which contain notes and suggested actions generated by Teams AI [this is both a Teams Premium and Copilot thing].

Just like the in-meeting experience, Copilot opens in the right hand pane, where you can interact and use your prompt (as questions) to extract the information you need.

While Copilot generates the answers, it always displays the reference time in the meeting and who said it, so you can jump to the transcript or meeting recording (assuming the recorded or transcribed). This is useful in case of course the transcription is not 100% leading to Copilot making an assumption based on the transcript. Always good to check right!!

What can Copilot do in Teams Meetings?

Using Copilot in Teams is such a game changer in meetings.

You can ask Copilot literally anything around what was said in the meeting, what something means, what questions were asked, actions, sentiment and more.

The table below, shows some examples prompts against the use-case or ask that you may typically have depending on your role in the meeting (or if you attended it or not).

The example on the left is an example of how Copilot outputs the response based on the last use-case example in the table.

Use-casePrompt
Summarise the meeting so farSummarise the meeting so far. Put the information in a table clearly stating the topic discussed, key points and opinions of each people.
Discuss Pros and Cons of the topics discussedCreate a table of pros and cons for [insert topic] discussed in the meeting.
Assess the mood of the meeting.What was the sentiment of the meeting? Which people expressed their views the most and did the participants generally agree with each other?
Assess the effectiveness of the meetingWere there any unanswered questions in the meeting that need to be followed up.
Plan the follow up.What was agreed in the meeting, what suggestions were made and what would the suggested next steps be? Put the results in a table and identify the most suitable owner for each action.
Use cases and action examples for Copilot in Teams

Using Copilot in Chat (and Channels)

Copilot is also really helpful in chats or when working in conversations within Team chat. Here I see two main use cases.

  1. To catch up or summarise chat threads, missed messages or other information
  2. To help you communicate better and more to the point.

You can ask Copilot to suggest next actions from the chat context, summarise the thread or create replies for you.

Using Copilot in Chat Threads from Microsoft Teams

This available now in Chat and coming “soon” to Channels Chat in Team sites too!

Things you may choose to ask in a chat window could be.

  • Show me highlights from the past x days.
  • What decisions were made?
  • What questions have been asked since xxxday?

Hands on with Copilot in Outlook

The second place (well mine) we all spend far to much time is Outlook. Its where many conversations (that could be an IM in Teams) happen, but also where many business to business communications and more formal communication takes place.

I have been using ChatGPT and Copilot In Edge since they first came out to help me re-write “some” emails or to help me adjust the tone of what I am writing, but Copilot in Outlook takes this to a whole other level.

Its worth noting that Copilot in Outlook is still “evolving” and is not yet (disappointingly) on par with the promotional “sizzle” videos Microsoft have been showing off (but it is coming). Today Copilot works in three ways.

  1. Drafting with Copilot – where you can tell Copilot what you want to see and it will draft the email for you or you can pick from standard “templated” responses.
  2. Coaching with Copilot – where Copilot works “with” you while you are writing to help you perfect/tune your email or response
  3. Summary by Copilot which provides as it says an overview of a thread of emails which is really useful if you are catching up on a long email conversation.

Drafting with Copilot

This is what most will be familiar with (and expecting) if they have used Copilot in Edge, or Chat GPT to write text based stuff. The main difference with Copilot in Outlook is also that it can reference and access recent files inline. Here is an example of an email I asked Copilot to draft.

Copilot in Outlook – Drafting Example.

Coaching with Outlook

This is similar to drafting, but works more like Grammarly or Microsoft Editor. Instead of drafting the entire email, you start it off and then Copilot works with you on the fly to provide guidance about how to better shape and perfect your email. In this mode, Copilot doesn’t re-write the mail, it helps you to perfect it.

Copilot in Outlook – Coaching Example

Summary By Copilot

This is used to bring together an email chain (the longer the better) into key points and actions. It is not replacement for manually combing through the email thread but is really useful for playing catch up.

Summary By Copilot in Outlook.

More AI things are coming

many of the other really cool feature are yet to go live in Outlook. One of the ones I am waiting patiently for is the ability to “Follow a Meeting”. Follow will be a new meeting response (RSVP) option that goes beyond the traditional Accept, Tentative and Decline choices geared towards individuals with high meeting loads and conflicting meetings each day. Follow is the ideal RSVP option for meetings you can’t attend but still want to stay engaged and receive info about.

When you follow a meeting, you will get all the updates and insights about the meeting without having to attend it. It is expected later this year.

Two weeks in – Is Copilot worth the cost?

It’s still early days, but here’s my initial view. Hell yeah!

We are of course talking about just two weeks of use, in which I have “got my head around it”, educated my self (mainly out of hours) on how to write good prompts to get what I need it to do and then of course put it to practice in real life. Over that time, I:

  • Have used Copilot in Teams to take notes, write up actions and also share a summary a notes to my OneNote. Across 10 meetings, I estimate it saved me ~15 mins per meeting.
  • Used Copilot in Teams to record and take notes in 5 meetings I could not attend and then used Intelligent Recap (both a Teams Premium and Copilot feature) to capture meetings notes and actions. All five meetings were 50 mins in length and given the time I used (around 15 mins) to review the minutes and notes,this saved me 35 mins per meeting that I did not attend without me missing the “beat” of the meeting.
  • Used Copilot in Outlook a fair amount to reply to emails quickly, redraft a few team update meetings and project progressions as well as to recap email threads. I would guess this has probably saved me about an hour or so in all over the past two weeks.

If I add these up (excluding gains in using Copilot in other apps) this has given me back:

  • [15×10]+[35×5]+[1×60] = 385 mins / 6hrs 25mins over ten days
  • Around 12 hrs 50 mins (over 4 work weeks)

If we assumed an average IT role of £51k p/a – then this equates to a cost of £26.15 p/h (using £51,000/52weeks/37.5hrs). A Copilot for Microsoft 365 license is £25 pupm so based the example above (using my experience over the past two weeks) then we see :

  • Productivity saving of 12.83x£26.15 = £335.50 per month per person
  • Return on Investment of 12.62

Coming next – Word, Loop and PowerPoint

In the next blog, I’ll be covering my experiences with Copilot in Microsoft Word, Loop and PowerPoint which are the next set of apps I used most (after Teams and Outlook).

I also really would love to hear your views on Copilot for Microsoft 365

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What is Copilot Pro?

Microsoft have announced a new version of Copilot, called Copilot Pro which brings the core features of Microsoft 365 Copilot to individuals and families using Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions.

The free version of Copilot is still available (see below) for those happy with the extensive features and services (which include access to Copilot with OpenAIs GPT4 and Dalle-3 image creator but don’t need to Microsoft Office integrations offered by Copilot Pro. Here’s how they differ.

Copilot Free Edition

This is still ideal for anyone who wants to use Microsoft’s extensive Generative AI and image technology to find information, create new content, summarise and rewrite and have access to DALL-E 3 image creation technology (outside the Office 365 apps) and enables users to:

  • Access to Copilot via Windows 11, The Edge Side bar, the web (Copilot.Microsoft.com) and also as a dedicated app on Windows, Android, macOS and iPadOS
  • Use CHAT GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo for free (with some speed limitations during peak times).
  • Access Copilot via text, voice and images in conversational based search with up to 30 iterations (turns) per conversion and no limits on the number of chats.
  • Access to Microsoft’s Designer image creator (powered by Open AI DALL-E 3) with 15 speed boosts per day.
  • Access to consumer aligned plug-ins available from third party providers such as OpenTable, Skyscanner and Spotify.

Copilot Pro

This premium service costs £19 per user per month ($20) on top of your Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is aimed at individuals and families (or people that work from themselves) who want to Turbo charge their productivity and use Copilot directly from within their Microsoft 365 apps like Word and Outlook as well getting Premium, faster access to GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, along with additional premium features within Microsoft’s Bing image creator and Designer

With Copilot Pro, you get:

  • Priority access to GPT-4 and the newest GPT-4 Turbo features with no performance caps during peak times.
  • The ability to access Microsoft Copilot directly from within Microsoft 365 apps like Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. This can be used to create and re write content directly from the Office apps for content creation, drafting documents and emails, create presentations and summarise data in excel.
  • Premium features and newest features first with DALL-E 3 including ability to create content in landscape format. Subscribers also get more image creation boosts with this rising from 15 to 100 per day with Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator).

How to get Copilot Pro now

You can subscribe to Copilot Pro for $20 \ £19 a month. What is good is the commitment is only one month so can be cancelled at anytime.

Copilot Pro for Individuals.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/b/copilotpro?rtc=1

Word of caution of pricing on Family Subscriptions…

One thing you need to be aware of is how Copilot Pro is licenses for Microsoft 365 Family subscribers. You usually pay your £79 per year for the family subscription which covers up to 6 people with full Office 365, OneDrive etc.

You need to buy a Copilot Pro license for every member of your family you wish to use Copilot Pro. So this is an extra £19 per month for every family member on top of the Family Microsoft 365 subscription.

So my family of 4 that takes a Copilot Pro version of Microsoft 365 Family to over £1,000 a year! We just use a single license!

As a consumer or individual will you be investing in Copilot Pro or is the free version enough for you.

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Microsoft 365 Copilot now available for everyone including CSP customers.

Today, 15th Jan 2024, Microsoft has announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available for organisations of all sizes and individuals with no seat minimum. Microsoft Copilot Pro was also announced for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family users.

Originally annouced in March 2023 and then hitting general availability for enterprises in November 2023 with a 300 seat minimum commitment.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is Microsoft’s AI-powered productivity tool that uses/is based on the OpenAI ChatGPT 4 large language models (LLMs) and integrates your business data with the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 Apps, working alongside employees core business apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and of course Microsoft Teams.

Copilot Pro and Copilot for Microsoft 365

Copilot for Microsoft 365 Business

Microsoft has today announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now also generally available for small businesses with Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Business Standard licenses. What’s more, they can purchase between just one and three hundred (well 299) seats for $30 per person per month.

Copilot for Enterprise and Commercial with no minimum purchase

Microsoft has also removed the 300-seat purchase minimum for commercial plans and made Copilot available for Office 365 E3 and E5 customers.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 teaser video. (c) Microsoft

Commercial customers can now purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365 through Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider partners such as Cisilion.

Plus Copilot ‘Pro’ for individuals

Finally, Microsoft has also annouced Microsoft Copilot Pro which is aimed at comsumers/individuals.

Available “soon”, this is a subscription bolt on for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers bringing the power of Copilot to everyone.

Unlike the free Copilot experience (available in Edge and Windows 11), Microsoft’s Pro version will serve as a “single AI experience” that runs across your devices and also works (like the version for Business) from within the Microsoft Office apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Microsoft 365.

Users will also get “priority access” to OpenAI’s latest AI model GPT-4 Turbo even during peak usage times and can also choose between different GPT models in a later update. Users also get enhanced AI image creation with Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator), with 100 boosts per day while bringing more detailed image quality as well as landscape image format.

Copilot Pro for Individuals. Video (c) Microsoft

Copilot Pro will also (soon) allow users to build their own Copilot GPT, a customised Copilot tailored for a specific topic, in the new Copilot GPT Builder with just a simple set of prompts.

People/families will be able to subscribe to Copilot Pro for $20 per month/per user.

You should still prepare though…

Whilst this makes it more attractive to organisations of all sizes and also helps organisations “test it out”, my worry is this will just be treated alike a product and as such organisations risk dabbling and not putting the effort in to making this a success.

My advice is to still follow the adoption and readiness guidelines around data protection, life cycle management and governance and security to ensure that Copilot gives the best results, provides real ROI and drives real outcomes. For now though the huge barrier to a pilot of Copilot is removed which in turn should help adoption, testing and business case development.

Adoption, training and change management is also super important..

The cover lots of this in my previous sets of blogs amd articles here.

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Microsoft 365 Copilot: What is the ROI?

So, who is excited then? Microsoft 365 Copilot will be officially GA from 1st of November 2023 at a cost of $30 per user per month for commercial customers. That is THIS week!!!

How much will Microsoft 365 CoPilot cost?

Microsoft continue to be firm that any organisation that invests in Microsoft 365 Copilot from the 1st of November will pay $30 per user per month. Note that initially, the licensing will not appear on a price list and must be purchased alongside the organisations Microsoft Account team. There is a minimum number of seats of three hundred.

When will Microsoft 365 Copilot be released?

Microsoft 365 Copilot will be generally available from 1st November 2023. There have been several hundred large organisations on a paid (around $100,000) Early Access Preview since the summer who have been helping Microsoft with performance, accuracy and tuning guidance as well as helping Microsoft to capture and prove use-cases and guidance for other future organisations and to help them justify the cost of ownership. I am sure that next year, we will see a Total Economic study from Microsoft and Forrester on this!!

Note: Initially, Microsoft 365 Copilot will not be available to EDU customers or in the government/Gallatin clouds. All apps, except for Copilot in Excel, will be available in the
following languages: English (US, GB, AU, CA, IN), Spanish (Spain, Mexico), Japanese, French (France, Canada), German, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, and Chinese Simplified. Copilot in Excel is currently only available in English. Support for additional languages will be extended through the first few months of calendar year 2024.

Copilot is very new. As such expect it to evolve quickly and get better…

The ROI of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Even after the 1st of November, most organisations, Microsoft partners and many of Microsoft, will still not have access to Microsoft 365 Copilot. There have been those on the paid early access program, some of the global solution partners have also been involved.

Due to the minimum limit of three hundred licenses, I expect that many organisations may wait a little rather than rush in. Wait until they are ready, they can learn from other organisations successes and blips and (I imagine) for the entry point to be lowered and in fact I have heard rumours that this might drop to fifty.
Note: Smaller organisations and anyone who buys licensing via a CSP provider will also have to wait a bit.

There is plenty of information out there to help organisations start strategizing and preparing for what will be one of the most significant uplifts (both in cost of their Microsoft 365 license, and in capability) in the history of IT and IT budgets.

The questions of course that the CFO and CEO will want to understand are

  1. What will the actual cost be?
  2. How will affect our bottom line?
  3. Are the perceived benefits worth the price?
  4. How can we keep our Microsoft licensing costs under control?
  5. What do we need to do to make sure we can really get the best from Microsoft 365 Copilot.

1. Understanding the cost of Microsoft 365

Microsoft Copilot is an add-on license – meaning it is purchased (at $30 per user per month) and applied to a base-level license. Also, not every Microsoft 365 license will be eligible for a Copilot “bolt-on”. Currently Microsoft 365 Copilot can only be attached to:

  • Microsoft 365 E5,
  • Microsoft 365 E3,
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium,
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard.

Whilst the above is good news for smaller businesses (in that they dont need to upgrader to an E3 or E5 base license), the cost is (currently) the same regardless of what base-level license you are attaching it to. This means the cost uplift (as a percentage) is much higher for organisations on Microsoft 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 Business. Nothing is of course set-in-stone as we are still in early preview, and we might see pricing changes or tiering as we get nearer to release. I’d also expect customers on large Enterprise Agreement to pay less (and be able to haggle!).

Frontline workers (or anyone with a Microsoft 365 “F” license) are not currently able to use Copilot without being upgraded to an enterprise E3, which means a cost difference (for M365 E3 plus Copilot) of a staggering 8.25x.

If we look at the cost of the current licenses and the effect of adding Copilot to every user, then the costs can look scary (this is based on Online RRP pricing).

Base LicenseBase CostM365 Copilot*License + Copilot% Increase
Microsoft 365 E5£52.40£25£77.4048%
Microsoft 365 E3£33.10£25£58.1076%
Microsoft 365 Business Premium£18.10£25£42.10133%
Microsoft 365 Business Standard£10.30£25£35.30242%
Costs before and after Microsoft 365 Copilot (pupm RRP).

Things to note:

  1. Microsoft 365 Copilot is optional – it’s your choice as to whether you invest in it or not, but it is not and will not be included in any of the base licences – for some AI features in Bing Chat or the use of ChatGPT may be enough.
  2. You don’t (and won’t) need to buy it for every employee – persona mapping and use case studies will be vital to determine who is likely to benefits most.
  3. The pricing for Copilot for Business SKUs may change (as will the rest of the pricing)
  4. Organisations may be able to “fund” their Copilot investment through savings in smart licensing procurement and consolidation of third-party products (especially for M365 E5 organisations). We are seeing a lot of this and makes sense if you have most of your “eggs” in the Microsoft Cloud Basket.

2. How will Copilot affect our bottom line?

One of the recurring questions I get asked when talking to organisations about Microsoft 365 Copilot is “how can we ensure we get a measurable ROI when planning for or investing in Microsoft Copilot?”

Even so, adding $30 (around £25 pupm) to your existing productivity toolset does seems a lot, especially if you are paying for M365 E5 + Teams Premium + Calling Plan already, plus of course things like Microsoft Viva Suite, etc.

At Microsoft’s recent Envision event in London, Microsoft talked a lot about usecases from customers on the Early Access programme, talking about various diffferent use cases that improve work experience, remove creative blocks and speed up decision-making across a number of different sectors including retail and finance.

So – from an ROI perspectives some of the maths you may look at are:

  • Assume a sales exec, data analyst or admin position that earns £50,000 annual salary.
  • With Microsoft 365 Copilot at $30 a month, thats ~$1 a day or ~80p in UK money. If we also assume the normal 250 working days a year then that equates to ~£200/day or ~£25/hr.
  • If these “roles” can each save just two hours a month using Copilot to sumamrise meetings, take notes, automate and send a customer propsosal out, then that is already a productivity saving (in time) of 2:1 or £50 per person per month.

I have already heard other organisations share ROI stories for the use of ChatGPT Premium since its commercial introduction with organisations reporting ROI’s of over 25:1 on a $20 pupm subscription. Given the extensive enterprise data integration and interaction into the Microsoft 365 apps and services that Copilot will bring out of the box, I would not be suprised to see ROIs (once studies are done) of more than 30:1

There is then a moral and emotional play here too. Everyone loves a productivity gain [I think there will be loads], but there may also be instances where entire roles (or aspects of roles) may no longer needed because AI will do that part of the job for us. The same goes to be honest for automation technologies like Power Automate. Then is there the case, where you as an organisation (whether you are involved in B2B or B2C) may win more business because you have “the power of AI” either helping make decisions, responding to a client/customer faster or helping you make sales faster by directly interfacing with the customer or following up on things.

Advice is to ensure you work with Microsoft and your partner(s) to identify which departments or individuals are likely to benefit the most from the features within Microsoft Copilot’s features and make sure they are part of a pilot.

This usually starts with a well thought out and managed pilot programme during which you’ll be looking at identifying, testing, and proving the potential timesaving and productivity gains it can bring to roles like sales, finance, and your data teams.

3. Are the perceived benefits worth the price?

I think so – but again this will all loop back to the point above. Whilst it wont just be about price, these GenAI tools are likely to improve the way most people work. These pilot phases, will require organisations to explore and experiment with Copilot’s features and capabilities to discover new ways to enhance their work experience.

Using these tools also requires that users are on-board, educated and informed. As such, once you have identifyied the most suitable users and scenarios for the “pilot”, you’ll need to ensure you provide adequate training and support and closely monitor and measure the outcomes and champion quick wins whilst soliciting feedback and suggestions from employees.

A report on the early findings on the promise of Generative Al put together by Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group found that Generative Al in the workplace lead to a:

  • 12.2% increase in task completion rates
  • 25.1 % decrease in time spent to complete tasks
  • 12.5% increase in the number of subtasks completed
  • 40% increase in the quality of responses to subtasks

4. How do we keep our costs under control?

A good question…let’s look at cost reduction to free budget (either for cakes, salary rises, bottom line or, yes, Copilot).

Organisations may be able to “fund” their Copilot investment through savings in smart licensing procurement and consolidation of third-party products (especially for M365 E5 organisations). We are seeing a lot of this and makes sense if you have most of your “eggs” in the Microsoft Cloud Basket.

Mch of the above is general good practice but I’m seeing lots of organisations looking at this to “free” budget to drive Copilot “pilots”.

5. What do we need to do to make to get the best from Copilot?

I have covered this before in previous blogs and videos, but in short the key focus organisations need to do outside of runing a pilot, training users and streamlining how you fund it, is data data data.

The key advantage that Microsoft Copilot will have over its rivals is that it seemlessly integrates with Microsoft 365 applications and uses enterprise data to provide personalised and contextual assistance. As such, ensuring your data is accessible (in the cloud or cloud connected at least), managed correctly, classified, labelled and protected. I have covered this a few times here.

Successful adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot is much more than the technology and licensing. Organisations need to see this as a significant technology project and not just a product you buy. As such they key activies critival to success are:

  • Having a defined vision and identification of how Microsoft 365 Copilot will be used
  • Obtain proactive support from key roles in the organisation to accelerate the use of Copilot. including senior leadership, legal, IT and key Business Development Managers.
  • Enable Champions and provide business relevant, snackable and on-demand training for end users this includes leveraging the “power of the prompt”.
  • Raised awareness through launch event & omni-channel communications planning.

Copilot Q&A

Will CoPilot be included in Microsoft E5?

No, Microsoft 365 Copilot is not included in the Microsoft 365 E5 license. Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on license at an additional cost [$30] irrespective of the Microsoft 365 licenses you have within your organisation. This means that even if you are on Microsoft 365 E5, you will need to pay for it separately if you decide to implement and use it.

Whats the minimum number of licenses we can buy?

Currently the minimum liceses you will be able to buy from 1st November is three hundred at a cost of $30 pupm.

Will there be free trails?

No – at the moment Microsoft have confirmed that trials will not be available.

Will I be able to get Microsoft 365 Copilot for free?

If you do – let me know!!

No… as of the information available, Microsoft 365 Copilot will not be available for free. At the time of writing, there are six hundred organisations globally that are currently on an Early Access Programme, and they all paid $100,000 for the preview. Microsoft Copilot is positioned as a premium add-on with huge substantial benefits. The initially announced price is $30 per user per month, but it’s this price is not yet finalised, and we don’t know if different sectors or license volumes will affect the price.

We don’t have Microsoft 365 – can we still use Copilot?

No, Microsoft 365 Copilot will only be available for organisations that use Microsoft 365 Business, Business premium, Enterprise E3 or Enterprise E5. I is not availbale for organisation of Office only plans, or Front-line worker SKUs (Microsoft 365 F SKUS).

We also do not yet know the intentions Microsoft have for Copilot with Education and Not for Profit organisations.

Will I be able to negotiate the price for Microsoft 365 Copilot?

It depends. The size of your organisation, the level of your base licensing and demand will all likley affect what you pay for Microsoft 365. I suspect the largest organisations – those with huge Enterprise Agreements will get a better deal than smaller organisations, but I’d expect tie ins to the higher licnese SKUs like Microsoft 365 E5.

My advice is to speak to a product and licensing specialist to work with your Microsoft Account team and who can help you assess your deployment roadmap from various angles.

Summary and Key Points

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot will be available to Enterprise customers at a price of $30 per user per month on top a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license.
  • Initially there will be a minimum license purchase of three hundred licenses, Though I have heard that this might get reduced to fifty.
  • Initially it’s only available to Enterprise sized organisations though will be coming to CSP customers and small, medium, and commercial organisations by end of the year.
  • ROI should be significant if Copilot is properly implemented, but organisations need to prepare to pay for this and it’s not “cheap”. Expect Copilot to impact everyone person in the organisation.
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Microsoft announces Microsoft 365 Copilot availabilty

Today (Thursday 21st September) at a live event in New York, Microsoft announced their “revised” vision, release date and confirmation of pricing for Copilot – a “digital companion for your whole life”. Microsoft have said this this Copilot will create a single Copilot user experience across Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365, and Windows (plus more services that will come later). There’s also a new logo!

The Copilot experience promises to be consistent across all platforms and products – Microsoft 365, Bing, and Windows 11.

You can read the full blog from Microsoft here, but in summary here’s all the goodness that was announced.

Image (c) Microsoft

Microsoft Copilot in Windows

This has been in preview with Windows Insiders for a while and is essentially the new and revamped “cortana” [ok its far more than that].  Microsoft describe this as “a digital companion for your whole life” and will be nested into Windows 11 from September 26, 2023. 

  • Windows Copilot will be embedded into Windows 11 and will bring generative AI, search, and the ability to control apps and services within your desktop environment.
  • Currently in preview – will start rolling out starting from September 26 as part of 23H2.
  • Windows Copilot will also support third part app support like Spotify and Adobe.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Described by Microsoft as “your AI assistant at work”, this was initially announced back in March as been in closed invite only Early Access Preview since June.

Microsoft 365 builds includes enterprise-grade security, privacy, compliance, and responsible AI to ensure all data processing happens inside your Microsoft 365 tenant—using which will be natively built into the Microsoft 365 apps and services everyone already uses like Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

  • This will be available for enterprise customers for $30 per user per month
  • It requires a base license of Microsoft 365 E3, E5 or Business Standard or Premium
  • It will be available from November 1st to purchase
  • Includes the new Microsoft 365 Chat (formally Business Chat).
  • Rollout will be staggered – with release first to EA customers who were on the Early Access Programme and then will be available in phases there-after. Customers are advised to speak to their Microsoft Team for more information.

Note: Whilst this is great – IMO it is a little too soon (about 4 months sooner than most expected). Organisations do need to ensure their data lifecycle, governance, compliance, and security is in top shape to get the most from Copilot in Microsoft and there are strong recommendations about getting Copilot Ready – I have covered this here previously. This is an area I’m working a lot with organisation with at the moment – helping with use cases, data preparation, training, awareness, security, and governance.

Bing Chat Enterprise

This has been in public preview for a couple of months for Commercial and Education customers and is the same as Bing Chat for consumer (which is also free) but brings commercial data protection for AI

  • This is available free for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers or at a cost of $5 as a standalone
  • Bing Chat Enterprise adds commercial data protection to Bing Chat, ensuring that sensitive business data is never seen by anyone, never stored, and never used to train the foundation models.
  • Support multimodal visual search and Image Creator and will also be available on Microsoft Edge and Bing mobile app
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