Exploring AI in the Workplace: A Starter Guide to Microsoft Copilot

As an MSP company dedicated to empowering our customers with the latest technological advancements, the Revolution Group team was excited to explore Microsoft’s new artificial intelligence tool, Microsoft Copilot. Released in late 2023, this innovative tool is not just a buzzword but a valuable asset that can significantly enhance your business operations. Let’s explore what Microsoft Copilot is, how it functions, and why it could be a game-changer for your organization.

Understanding Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant designed to revolutionize the way we interact with various Microsoft applications. By integrating cutting-edge AI technologies, Copilot offers an intuitive and adaptive experience, enabling users to optimize their productivity in unprecedented ways. Whether you’re crafting documents in Word, analyzing data in Excel, or preparing presentations in PowerPoint, Copilot is your go-to assistant, simplifying complex tasks and providing intelligent suggestions.

Keen to harness this technology, Revolution Group selected a dedicated team to assess the Copilot tool. Investing in the necessary licenses, we established a collaborative hub via a Microsoft Teams channel, dedicated to information sharing and mastery of Copilot’s capabilities.

Our consultants, true to their inquisitive nature, delved deeply into the functionality of Copilot, experimenting and discovering effective methods to leverage its features across our daily Microsoft product usage. This hands-on approach has allowed us to craft a guide on how to begin to maximize Copilot’s potential for your business operations.

How Does Microsoft Copilot Work?

At the core of Microsoft Copilot’s functionality is its ability to understand and respond to natural language commands. This means you can communicate with Copilot as you would with a human assistant, asking questions or requesting assistance directly within your Microsoft applications. Copilot then interprets your requests, harnessing the power of AI to provide relevant, context-aware solutions and suggestions. It’s like having an expert by your side, ready to assist whenever you need it.

Maximizing Your Copilot Experience

Here are a few simple and interesting ways to begin to experience the power of Copilot and improve your daily workflow in the Microsoft 365 applications:

Using Copilot in Microsoft Outlook:

• Summarize Emails: Copilot in Outlook can make a summary of the email thread with the main points, actions, and questions.
• Write Emails: You can use Copilot to write emails. For example, you can type a prompt like “Tell the team to use clay shingles and start working to meet the deadline.” Copilot will make a draft email for you.
• Perfect Emails: Copilot can coach you to improve your emails. It can give suggestions to make your emails clearer, shorter, and better.
• Organize Your Inbox: Copilot can help you handle your emails more easily and effectively. It can help you sort your emails, set reminders, and schedule follow-ups.
• Plan Meetings: Copilot can help you plan meetings, send invites, and set reminders.

Using Copilot in Microsoft Teams:

• Weekly Overview of Meetings: Type the prompt: “What do I have coming up this week?”. Copilot will search your calendar to display a list of all your scheduled meetings, along with their date, time, and attendees.
• Organize Your Schedule: Type a prompt like: “Organize my meetings into 5 categories with percentages so I can understand how I am planning to spend my time this week”. Copilot will organize them into categories such as: individual meetings, team meetings, personal time, other, and so on.
• During a Meeting: Use Copilot in Teams meetings to summarize key discussion points—including who said what and where people are aligned or disagree—and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting.
• Catch Up on What You Missed: If you’re joining a recorded or transcribed meeting 5 minutes or more after it has started, you’ll see a notification to get a summary on the right side of your meeting window.
• After a Meeting: Get the meeting recap from your Teams meeting chat in the meeting’s Recap tab.
• File Reference: You can prompt Copilot and even reference people, files, meetings, emails, etc., by using / the prompt. For example, type “List the main bullet points from” and type ‘/’ in the prompt bar. From the menu that opens, you can select the file you want to reference.
• As a powerful search assistant: Search all your corporate files, emails and Teams messages for information inside documents, presentations and conversations.

Using Copilot in Microsoft 365 Office:

• Microsoft Word: Copilot offers writing suggestions with relevant content and improvements. It will give you a rough draft, or a set of bullet points
• Microsoft Excel: Copilot can help create charts and tables. It can analyze the data and provide insights and trends, and answer follow-up questions about the analysis.
• Microsoft PowerPoint: Copilot can convert a Word document that contains notes and ideas into a PowerPoint presentation. Follow-up requests can tell Copilot to adapt the design, including generating relevant images.

The Benefits of Embracing Microsoft Copilot

• Enhanced Productivity: Copilot streamlines your workflows, automating routine tasks and providing shortcuts for complex processes. This means you can focus on strategic thinking and creativity, leaving the repetitive tasks to your AI assistant.
• Improved Accuracy: With Copilot’s assistance, the likelihood of errors is significantly reduced. Whether it’s data analysis in Excel or grammar checks in Word, Copilot ensures your work is not only faster but also more accurate.
• Learning and Adaptation: One of the most exciting aspects of Microsoft Copilot is its ability to learn from your interactions. Over time, it becomes more attuned to your preferences and working style, further personalizing your experience and enhancing efficiency.

Embracing the Future with Confidence

Microsoft’s Copilot artificial intelligence tool is a powerful addition to the suite of Microsoft products. With its ability to summarize email threads, assist in rephrasing and clarifying emails, and creating PowerPoint decks from Word documents or Excel workbooks, Copilot can greatly enhance productivity and creativity for businesses.

As we continue to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, integrating tools like Microsoft Copilot into your business operations can provide a competitive edge. It’s an opportunity to not only enhance productivity and accuracy but also to foster a more innovative and forward-thinking work environment.

Adopting new technologies can be challenging and our team is here to support you every step of the way. Whether you’re just starting your AI journey or want to deepen your existing knowledge, we’re committed to helping you harness the full potential of Microsoft Copilot.

As your trusted MSP partner, we’re excited about the possibilities that Microsoft Copilot and AI, in general, bring to the table. We look forward to exploring this journey together, unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation.