Copilot for M365 or Copilot Studio – Which is Best for your Business?
In today’s article we explore some of the key differences between Copilot for M365 and Copilot Studio, as well as how to evaluate which solution is the best fit for your business.
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Both innovative AI-powered solutions, Copilot for M365 and Copilot Studio, are helping businesses drive productivity, enhance efficiency and reduce the manual workload of employees. However, the two solutions operate in quite different ways in terms of capability, autonomy and integration with the Microsoft 365 environment. Therefore, it’s important to thoroughly understand the key differences to evaluate which option is better suited to your organisation’s specific needs.
So, what is the difference between Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot Studio?
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-assistant embedded into Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and SharePoint that helps users streamline daily tasks like writing emails, summarising content, and analysing data. Copilot Studio, on the other hand, is an element of Power Platform and harnesses the power of AI and low-code to allow businesses to create their own copilot agents tailored to meet their unique needs. Copilot agents can autonomously carry out more complex, repetitive tasks like data entry, generating documents, or even responding to customer service queries.
How to know which solution is best for you
Whether you should integrate Copilot for M365 or Copilot Studio will depend on a few factors, but mainly the type of process you want to enhance, as well as the level of customisation you require. Below we discuss some of the main factors to consider when evaluating which is the right-fit solution for your business.
Business Objective
Consider where in the business you would like to leverage AI. If you are looking at enhancing more general daily tasks such as managing emails, searching for information, generating content or helping analyse spreadsheets, Copilot for M365 may be the right fit. In contrast, Copilot Studio could be a good option if there is a more complex process or processes you want to automate. By creating autonomous copilot agents with Copilot Studio, your business can automate processes such as:
HR tasks like employee onboarding, processing annual leave requests, and answering questions about HR policies and topics.
Carrying out sales actions like generating and updating leads on CRM, creating sales reports and following up with customers.
Responding to customer service queries using the customer’s historical data and initiating support tickets for issues that require human attention.
Customisation
Copilot for M365 offers limited customisation ability, assisting with more general work tasks, whereas Copilot Studio is highly customisable and can be tailored to meet your exact requirements. With Copilot Studio, you can tailor your agent to carry out a specific, more complex business process, if needed. Therefore, if you require a higher degree of customisation, Copilot Studio may be a better option for you.
Integration
Copilot for M365 is seamlessly integrated with Microsoft 365 apps only, with other Microsoft business solutions embedded with their own Copilot assistants. On the other hand, agents built with Copilot Studio can be integrated with various business systems like a customer service solution or customer relationship management (CRM) system to carry out processes within those systems. So, if your business plans on streamlining more complex processes within systems outside the Microsoft 365 environment, it may be worth investing in Copilot Studio.
| Copilot for M365 | Copilot Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Assists with general daily tasks like emails, content, data analysis and information search. | Builds agents that autonomously carry out more complex, repetitive business processes. |
| Customisation | Limited customisation ability. | Limited customisation ability. |
| Integration | Integrates directly with M365 applications such as Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel . | Agents integrable with various business systems like CRM & customer service system. (Note: Agents will also be integrable with D365 Business Central by end of 2025.) |
If you would like to learn more about Copilot for M365 or Copilot Studio, get in touch with one of our solution specialists today.
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