Take off with Microsoft Copilot - strategies and tips for more efficient work in the AI workshop

Microsoft 365 Copilot - A powerful AI tool that makes it easier to manage everyday tasks in the Microsoft Office environment. Copilot optimizes processes in applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook through intelligent automation and personalized support.

In the following article, we look at the requirements for use in different company sizes, highlight specific use cases and present the license models. In addition, we use practical examples to show how Copilot can simplify workflows and provide tips on how you can use this innovative tool most effectively.

Find out more about the integration of artificial intelligence into your day-to-day work and how you can increase your productivity and reduce your administrative workload at the same time with Copilot.

When licensing, the applications can be divided into two license groups. The first license group consists of applications that do not require an additional license and the application license is sufficient. These applications include the following applications:

• Copilot for Windows
• Copilot for Web (basic version)
• Designer
• Dynamics Copilot
• Power BI (depending on the basic license)
• Power platform

The second license group consists of applications that require an additional monthly license in order to use Copilot. These applications include the following:

• Copilot for M365
• Copilot for Web (Pro version)
• GitHub Copilot

To use Copilot for Microsoft 365, customers need a license for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 E5 or Office 365 E3 or Office 365 E5 or a version of these suites that does not include Microsoft Teams.

A Teams license is required for the features integrated in Teams.

Copilot in Microsoft Word is able to generate an initial draft for a document. It takes into account existing files such as OneNote notes or other Word documents. It also enables Copilot to execute commands, such as adapting the layout of one document to another or integrating images from different files.

Copilot in Excel is a powerful tool that allows you to visualize, analyze and transform data in your spreadsheets in many different ways. Here is an excerpt of what you can do:

Copilot looks at your tables and brings important information into focus. Discover interesting insights from your data, such as trends, outliers or correlations between different parts. You can then dive deeper into the analysis by asking Copilot specific questions.

AI helps you create charts and graphs to visualize your data in a clear and understandable way.

Copilot supports you in writing formulas for your calculations and makes the creation of complex formulas easier and more accessible.

Copilot can quickly clean up cluttered data for you. It can remove extra spaces, merge values from different columns, highlight duplicates, sort, filter and much more. You also get intelligent recommendations for formulas, functions and actions based on your context.

To summarize, Copilot in Excel can be a very practical helper. It takes on tricky tasks and helps you to save a lot of time.

Copilot does a good job of creating PowerPoint presentations by inserting relevant images and text and providing an appealing design. However, the images often appear generic and the slide design occasionally shows inconsistencies in formatting. Despite its role as a creative assistant for appealing and convincing presentations, Copilot highlights areas where improvements can still be made. Nevertheless, Copilot is a valuable support and creative aid.

Copilot in Outlook offers practical functions to help you manage your inbox. Although emails are not automatically prioritized by highlighting, you can use Copilot to retrieve information from your emails and search for specific content. Copilot also allows you to formulate email responses that meet your requirements. The tool takes file references into account and adapts the length and style of the message to your specifications.

Within Microsoft Teams, Copilot helps to summarize the content of meetings. It records the points discussed, the speakers, open questions and decisions made. If you are unable to attend a meeting, Copilot offers a comprehensive summary of the meeting. This includes a list of topics covered, content shared and potential notes or tasks that may have arisen from the meeting.

If you are invited to a meeting that clashes with another meeting that has already been arranged, Copilot offers a practical solution.

The organizer starts either the recording of the meeting or the meeting transcript. During and after the meeting, the user can ask Copilot specific questions about the meeting and receive summaries and relevant recommendations for action.

This feature can prove very useful for keeping up to date with developments, catching up on missed meetings and using relevant recommended actions from Copilot to seamlessly integrate next steps into the workflow.

The ability to delegate the composing and sending of emails in Outlook to Copilot has been a much-discussed feature since it was first announced in March. Nevertheless, there were doubts about how human and personal an AI can make emails, which often require different levels of sensitivity, importance and humor.

One Copilot feature that took center stage last week was the "Blade Like Me" feature in Outlook, which ensures that a personal touch is maintained by analyzing the style of a user's previous emails to customize the AI's design.

"Copilot can personalize each email to fit your unique style and tone," said Colette Staullbaumer, General Manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work. "It even pays attention to subtle details, like the way you end your emails."

In our AI workshop "Copilot" you will receive an introduction with important basic information on artificial intelligence and how the technology behind it works.

More information about the AI workshop

We have summarized the questions that will be worked out in detail in the workshop here:

• What can the product do - a practical outlook?
• What about licensing - which model is right for you?
• What does the comprehensive product landscape look like and what types of copilots are available?

There are now many applications in which Copilot is integrated. The applications that already include Copilot are listed below:

• Copilot for M365
• Copilot for Windows
• Copilot for Web (formerly Bing Chat)
• Designer
• Security Copilot
• Dynamics Copilot
• Power BI
• Power platform
• GitHub Copilot
• In concrete terms - what are the benefits for your company?
• What is the most effective way to use the product?

As already mentioned, Microsoft M365 Copilot can help employees in many different areas on a daily basis and save valuable time, which can then be used for other profitable tasks. However, this is only possible if you also know how to use AI products in general and M365 Copilot in particular effectively.

We work with Copilot on a daily basis and support many customers in the field. We can therefore pass on proven best practices and share them with you!

• How do I avoid common mistakes and stumbling blocks?

Microsoft provides guidelines for dealing with AI that are intended to prevent user errors and provide users with important best practices. Copilot serves as a "support worker", not as a replacement for your own workforce, and therefore a few things need to be taken into account in order to use Copilot with maximum efficiency.

• Looking to the future - what are the next steps?

Identifying the specific use cases in your company is an important step in transforming the way you work. Where can you use AI profitably yourself?

• How can I drive change and adoption in this area?

innobit ag can support you as a competent and experienced partner on your path to an AI-driven future. Change and adoption is one of the cornerstones of any successful IT project. In the end, it is your employees who benefit from the implementation and success.