Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been heralded as the biggest disruption to the workplace since the launch of the internet in 1983. The revolution has arrived, and, from a business perspective, you need to get on this bandwagon or get left behind.
As an early adopter of Microsoft Copilot, I have been using this technology since its launch in Australia (November 2023) and have found that, overall, this product enhances productivity and efficiency.
However, while benefits of integrating Microsoft Copilot into your workflow are manifold, it is crucial to approach its implementation with a degree of caution. Potential risks to your security and privacy are important considerations that cannot be overlooked.
In this blog post I summarise my personal experiences using Microsoft Copilot, implementation considerations and how Digit IT can help you reap the benefits of Microsoft Copilot for your business.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool that helps you generate code, write documents and craft emails more efficiently. Built on the foundations of OpenAI's ChatGPT technology, Copilot can summarise content and generate content in a remarkably human-like manner in the Microsoft platforms:
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook
Teams
Edge
Windows
Bing
Dynamics 365 Sales
What is my personal experience using Microsoft Copilot?
I purchased a subscription to Microsoft Copilot in November 2023 and now have 2 staff members using this product. Why isn’t my whole team using this product? There is the cost factor ($540 AUD per team member per year) and the fact that my team work predominantly in IT management systems not in the Microsoft suite of products.
From my perspective, Microsoft Copilot is excellent in Teams and less so in other apps like Excel and PowerPoint. However, the technology is improving rapidly, so my opinion is changing rapidly ….
Teams
Pros – Most people agree that Microsoft Copilot in Teams is a rockstar. Hit the transcribe and record button and it will take accurate and succinct meeting notes. There is also an option to ask Copilot questions about the recorded meeting. For example – what products were discussed during the meeting?
Outlook
Pros – Copilot can summarise long emails and long email chains and make a succinct and condensed summary of critical information. You can also use Copilot in Outlook to help write emails.
Cons – I personally find Copilot drafted emails are not in my tone-of-voice. Basically, content drafted is not how I would draft / write an email.
Microsoft 365 Chat
Pros – Is a great tool for researching and summarising information across your organisation. For example, I can ask Microsoft 365 Chat to summarise all my email correspondence with Jack Black over the past 2 months and provide a summary in bullet-format.
Cons – Depending on your privacy settings, this feature enables you to search all documents you have access to in your organisation. Given this you need to ensure you have a good data governance strategy in place before you give everyone in your organisation Microsoft Copilot. If you don’t, then you could have people accessing sensitive content.
Word
Pros – In Word, Microsfot Copilot helps you summarise lengthy documents, draft a report, craft a presentation and compose emails. For example, you can ask Copilot to “write me a bulleted list describing a proposed cybersecurity strategy”, and it will create a list.
Cons – From my experience, the AI prompts provide a good starting point for content, but you need knowledge and experience to ensure content generated is accurate and well-written. For example, the bulleted list describing a proposed cybersecurity strategy may offer a ‘good start’, but will need proofreading to correct inaccuracies and enhance readability.
Excel
Pros – Excel Ideas can automatically detect patterns and trends in your data. It will suggest charts, tables, and summaries that best suit your needs. You can also generate quick, insightful answers to various questions about your data including, average sales by region or highest profit margin.
PowerPoint
Pros – the AI-infused features in PPT can create a slide deck for you based on text prompts. Copilot will also suggest text to use based on your presentation topic and reorganize your slides for a better presentation flow. You can also create a presentation based on an existing file. For example, I can ask Copilot to use a document I have written on ‘Cybersecurity for Business’ and it will use that document to generate a PowerPoint presentation, complete with content, photos and graphics.
Cons – It’s not perfect. Again, it is a good starting point, but you will need knowledge and experience to ensure the content is correct and the images and graphics are accurate. You may also not like the ‘tone of voice’ and spend ages changing the slides to your specific requirements. In short, it might be quicker and easier creating your own slides.
What are the versions of Microsoft Copilot?
There are free and paid versions of Microsoft Copilot and new versions are being released all the time.
Microsoft Copilot - originally launched as Bing Chat, Copilot is a light-weight free version that assists with drafting documents, summarising content or generating images.
Copilot Pro – Launched in January 2024 this paid version has faster response times compared to the free version and contains images from Microsoft Designer’s Image Creator.
Windows Copilot - Microsoft’s AI assistant integrated directly into Windows 11. Accessible from the taskbar, it helps with tasks like adjusting settings, finding files, managing notifications, and summarising content.
Microsoft 365 Copilot - tailored specifically for business users. This version is deeply integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite, helping with everything from creating presentations in PowerPoint to analysing complex data in Excel. It can summarise long email threads in Outlook or answer questions about tasks discussed in your last Teams meeting. NOTE – This is the version I have been using since TBC. Microsoft 365 Copilot is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365. A qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription is required to purchase Copilot. Copilot itself will require an additional per-user license costing approximately AU$540 per user for an annual license. At this stage there is no month-to-month purchase option available, only annual. Non-profit pricing is also unavailable at this stage.
Microsoft Copilot for Sales, Service, Finance and Studio – Microsoft is launching new products all the time. For example, Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales connects with your CRM platform (example – salesforce) to bring sales insights and generative AI into the flow of work.
What is the difference between Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT?
Copilot offers a number of features that no other AI tool can match including:
Microsoft Integration - Copilot has been specifically designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft apps such as Outlook and PowerPoint, meaning there is no need for users to switch between multiple platforms.
Access to corporate data - Copilot can provide personalised responses based on your company’s own data, not just the generally available public information that other AI tools are limited to.
Privacy and Security - Microsoft has always been at the forefront of privacy and security, and Copilot is no exception. All data used by Copilot is stored securely within the Microsoft cloud and is subject to strict privacy policies and existing security rules. Copilot will not make your data available to anyone who does not already have access to it.
What are the risks of adopting Microsoft Copilot?
While the benefits are clear, it’s important for businesses to understand and mitigate any potential risks associated with implementing Microsoft Copilot.
Many of these risks are best-practice considerations already but are worth revisiting before considering a Copilot deployment:
Poor user adoption – A well-planned training and change management program will help your team reap the benefits of AI and mitigate potential risks – namely wasting time and accessing and sharing sensitive information.
Data privacy - Copilot will respect any security restrictions that exist around what corporate information the user can and cannot access. Copilot will not surface information that the user would not otherwise have had access to. This does however put the onus back on the business to ensure that all data is properly restricted to only those who should have access.
Review your data security – Copilot will surface any data the user has access to, whether intended or not. Make sure your data is secured with permissions for only those people who need access.
Governance & compliance - With the use of AI in businesses becoming increasingly common, it’s important for organisations to have a good understanding of how Copilot is using their data. A governance and compliance plan should be put in place to ensure that all data used by Copilot is compliant with existing regulations and policies.
How can my businesses successfully adopt Microsoft Copilot?
Digit IT recommends the following four-step approach before you consider adopting Microsoft Copilot:
Step 1 - Data security and licensing – Digit IT will review your current data security protocols and vulnerabilities and provide an assessment of existing Microsoft 365 licensing and technology infrastructure. Our recommendation for most organisations is Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Copilot itself will require an additional per-user license costing approximately AU$540 per user for an annual license. At this stage there is no month-to-month purchase option available, only annual. Please also note that there is no non-profit pricing available at this stage.
Step 2 - Security and privacy planning - The power of Copilot is in its ability to ingest your corporate data and provide intelligent, insightful responses. However, this also means that you must ensure your data is properly secured and only accessible to those who need it. Given this, Digit IT will examine your data mapping and management practices and adjust user permissions to ensure access is appropriately restricted.
Step 3 - Application deployment - Copilot requires the latest Microsoft 365 desktop apps such as Outlook and Word, so if you don’t already have these apps deployed, you will need to address this before deploying Copilot. Equally as important is where your corporate data is stored. Copilot is a cloud service, and your data must be in the cloud for it to be accessible. If you haven’t yet migrated your data into SharePoint, OneDrive, or some other cloud service accessible via Copilot Plugins, you will not be able to receive the full benefit of Copilot.
Step 4 - Implementation – Digit IT will provide a clear adoption roadmap outlining specific steps and responsibilities for successful implementation, and offer guidance, training and support to assist with monitoring and optimisation post-deployment.
Harness the power of Microsoft Copilot
AI technology is developing at an exponential rate and offers a wealth of opportunity for business.
Contact Digit IT today on 07 4637 9033 to discuss how we can help you reap the benefits of Microsoft Copilot for your business.
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