"Microsoft Copilot, a groundbreaking AI solution"

This blog was originally published to the website of CNC, who are now the Brighton branch of FluidOne.

For business leaders aiming to unlock operational performance while maintaining a competitive edge, finding a technology that speeds up decision-making, boosts productivity, and fosters profitability is increasingly challenging. The problem for most business sectors is that it’s not uncommon to find employees spending half their time on labour-intensive, mundane workflows.

With a typical company possessing terabytes of data these days, finding the right information to make accurate business decisions can be difficult unless your data management is in top shape. Where is it held? What do you look for? Is this the best information we have on file?

The ultimate AI solution for enhanced decision-making

Introducing Microsoft Copilot, a groundbreaking AI solution designed to help you solve these problems. In less than a year since its launch, Microsoft’s AI Copilot assistant has been recognised as a potential game-changer in business efficiency.

"75% of users found Copilot efficient in locating needed files"

92% of Copilot users reported increased productivity

Unlike other technologies that offer only incremental improvements, Copilot leverages advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide a comprehensive suite of tools all in one place, helping you reimagine and redesign your business information, thereby making better decisions.

Here’s how: A recent Microsoft Work Trend Report 2024 reveals just how Microsoft’s innovative AI assistant is helping businesses perform faster.

Increased Productivity and Quality:

• 92% of Copilot users reported increased productivity
• 91% stated that Copilot improved the quality of their work

Improved Task Efficiency:

• 90% of users can focus on their most important work
• 83% of users are enjoying their work more

Better Email Processing:

• 25%-45% of users found Copilot helpful in reducing email processing time

Significant Drafting Assistance:

• 75% of people are using AI at work

Super-fast File Retrieval:

• 80% of users found Copilot efficient in locating needed files

Getting the best information out of your data

That analysis has some impressive figures, but what do they mean to you? Imagine you’re tasked with generating a 40-page tender document for a customer, built with information from multiple sources. Typically, this requires a lot of research.

Such a document may require you to look through email threads going back months or even years. Perhaps the information you need is in a folder on someone’s laptop, or you must search within a data lake with billions of pages.

The problem with creating such a document is that you know what you want to say, but you can become overwhelmed with just so much information to find. As the expression goes, “too much analysis leads to paralysis.”

You can extract information from all Microsoft products and blend them together"

It doesn’t know where it is stored, but Copilot will find it

Wherever your information is stored, Copilot will help you find the relevant data, speeding up your response to colleagues, suppliers and clients. Now, the figures highlighted earlier by Microsoft start to make sense and it’s not just in Word documents but across the entire Microsoft product range: Teams, PowerPoint, Excel and Notes. You can extract information from all Microsoft products and blend them together.

Unlocking potential: how to buy, extend, and build with Microsoft Copilot

1. Buy

Purchase and Use Out-of-the-Box Capabilities of Copilot for Microsoft 365

• Integration: Seamlessly integrate Copilot with existing Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel and Teams
• Productivity Boost: Utilise AI-driven features to automate routine tasks, enhance document creation and streamline communication
• Security: Benefit from built-in security features and compliance with industry standards
• Training and Support: Access comprehensive training resources and dedicated support to maximise the use of Copilot

2. Extend

Use Copilot Studio to Extend Existing Applications and Workflows

• Custom Workflows: Create bespoke processes tailored to specific business needs, enhancing efficiency and productivity
• API Integration: Integrate with third-party applications and services using APIs to extend functionality
• Automation: Automate repetitive tasks and processes, reducing manual effort and minimising errors
• Analytics: Leverage advanced analytics to gain insights and make data-driven decisions

3. Build

Use Copilot Studio to Build New Artificial Intelligence Applications

• Custom AI Solutions: Develop bespoke AI applications that address unique business challenges
• Machine Learning Models: Train and deploy machine learning models to enhance decision-making and predictive capabilities
• Natural Language Processing: Implement NLP to improve customer interactions and automate responses
• Innovation: Foster innovation by experimenting with cutting-edge AI technologies and methodologies

Using Copilot

Simply put, if you provide Copilot with a set of instructions, it will do all the heavy lifting—searching, gathering and constructing all the requested information—and then lay it out for you. As a starting point, you might want to look through Outlook. Managing emails can be tricky, but Copilot makes it easy.

• Summarise Specific Information: You can request Copilot to recap all your emails, even long email threads
• Search for Pertinent Information: Search within your emails to support your data
• Use Voice Commands: You can even do this by voice command

You might also want to look at the information conveyed in Teams:

1. Request Specific Information: Use voice commands or text input to ask Copilot for details, like summarising key points from the last meeting about project deadlines
2. Highlight Action Items: Ask Copilot to identify and list action items or decisions made during the meeting
3. Search Transcripts: Instruct Copilot to search for specific keywords or phrases within the transcript, e.g., “Search for mentions of ‘budget’ in the transcript.”
4. Generate Reports: Copilot can help you create reports or summaries based on the transcript data

When crafting the first draft in Word, Copilot will help streamline the writing process:

• Summarise and Answer Queries: Copilot can summarise and answer queries about existing documents
• Generate Content: Create content according to your desired persona and tone
• Professional Grammar: Ensure grammar is up to a professional, business-like standard

As the document unfolds, you may want to generate a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation to accompany it, focusing on key points within the tender and concluding with a Q&A slide.

• Create Presentations: Use the original Word document as an outline to create the presentation with a simple prompt
• Generate Custom Images: Create custom images for your slides
• Seamless Integration: Add slides to existing presentations seamlessly

As you near completion, you can ask Copilot to review the document for grammar, tone, and structure.

Return on investment

Copilot is not just about improving organisational efficiency; it’s about enhancing individual work capacity, amplifying abilities and skills, and improving the quality of feedback.

Users can complete projects much faster, saving time and improving accuracy, productivity and overall cost savings. Saving just one hour a day per team member using Copilot for information retrieval alone can result in substantial returns on investment over the year.

Better prompts lead to better outputs

The name "Copilot" is fitting, derived from the aviation term "co-pilot," who assists the primary pilot. Similarly, Microsoft's Copilot assists you, enhancing your productivity and helping you make sense of the data.

It all starts with how you interact with Copilot, and how you prompt it. Every instruction is a prompt, and the skill is in crafting effective prompts. Copilot doesn’t know your goals, so your prompts should focus its efforts on you. Better prompts lead to better results.

Prompts should be clear, and specific and provide enough context for Copilot to understand your requirements. By clearly defining your prompts, you set parameters for Copilot’s information gathering and processing, ensuring you receive the most relevant and valuable results and aligning your readers' expectations.

May the best prompts win"

Tips for effective prompts

To get the best out of the technology, start with a broad description and then focus on specific requirements.

1. Source of Information: Identify where Copilot should look. Provide examples, input, and expected outputs
2. Context: Determine the context for the information. Is it for a strategy document, a marketing presentation, or something else? Who is your target audience?
3. Purpose: Clarify the purpose of the information. Summarise emails or meeting notes. Generate a document or create bullet points? Break down complex tasks into manageable parts
4. Avoid Ambiguity: Be precise with your language to avoid multiple interpretations. Give enough detail to guide the search
5. End Result: Define how you want the information delivered. A major document or just a few brief sentences summarising it all?

Conclusion

In the future, all companies will be switched on to embedding digital activities into the business, which will allow employees to focus on genuine value-added activities for their customers.

It may seem that the competitive advantage offered by Copilot will be offered to everyone. However, it will be up to each company to interpret how they use the technology. Some companies will install it on the outskirts of their business model. Others, however, will put it at the centre of their business, where the data enhances their competitive advantage, in cadence with their strategic ambitions.

May the best prompts win.

If you would like to find out how to use Copilot within your business contact the team at 01273 384 100.

By Gary Jowett

Gary has always focused on making sure the most appropriate solution is provided to help customers, not just what's new and shiny.
With over 30 years in the IT industry Gary has the experience to tell the difference between something that's game-changing or is just a passing fad!