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Copilot for Microsoft 365 – Release Wave 2
In today’s article Conall O’Kane, Modern Workplace Practice Manager at Storm, explores some of the innovative features coming to Copilot in release wave 2.
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Copilot for Microsoft 365 has been transforming productivity across the world of work since its release early last year. By the end of 2023, Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Special Report found that Copilot’s earliest users had already reported increased productivity (70%), the ability to complete tasks quicker (73%) and enhanced creativity (57%). Since then, Copilot has gone from strength to strength, with Microsoft revealing the AI-assistant's responses are now more than twice as fast on average, and response satisfaction has improved by nearly three times. Microsoft's commitment to AI-innovation and excellence means that organisations benefit from an extensive roadmap that promises to further the productivity gains currently experienced by business users. Below we discuss some of the exciting features coming to Copilot for Microsoft 365 in release wave 2.
Copilot Business Chat and Copilot Pages
Copilot Business Chat, or BizChat, is the new user interface for AI interactions. Acting as a cental hub for your web, work and business data, BizChat is where users will be able to unlock insight and information through a chat-like, collaborative experience with Copilot. Building on this feature, users will be able to take content from BizChat and transfer it to Copilot Pages, where it can be shared with coworkers so everyone can edit and add to the content. Copilot Pages essentially acts as a canvas that facilitates collaboration between team members and AI in a kind of ‘multiplayer’ setting. Teams will be able to interact with Copilot from within Pages, prompting it to add to, improve and analyse content based on user data, files and even the internet. These features will transform how teams interact with AI to collaborate on project work, streamline communication and reduce busywork.
Copilot Agents
Copilot agents are AI-powered assistants built to automate and carry out business processes. The dynamic nature of agents enables them to carry out simple repetitive tasks based on human prompts or autonomously execute more advanced tasks. Regardless of task complexity, agents are all managed and orchestrated through Copilot, meaning everything happens within the secure confines of your organisation’s Microsoft 365 tenant. Further, Microsoft will be releasing agent builder, a simpler way to create agents powered by Copilot Studio, so your business can streamline and accelerate the process of building and integrating agents. Users will be able to create an agent directly from BizChat or SharePoint to provide access to the organisation’s knowledge repository stored in SharePoint, connecting the agent to the resources it needs to provide the more effective responses. Users will also have the ability to ‘@’, or mention, the agent in Teams and Outlook to ask questions in real time, enhancing collaboration between teams and AI to create impactful content.
Copilot in Outlook
With the new prioritise my inbox feature, Copilot in Outlook will be able to analyse your inbox in the context of your role, who you report to and email threads you’ve been most responsive in to determine which emails you should prioritise. Copilot will automatically create a comprehensive summary of each email with a note detailing why it was prioritised so you can get to your most important emails quickly and easily. You will also be able to teach Copilot the specific team members and key topics that matter most to you to ensure those messages are marked as high priority.
Copilot in Excel
Combining the power of AI and one of the world’s most popular programming languages, Microsoft will be integrating Copilot and Python with Excel. This will enable users to use natural language to prompt Copilot to conduct advanced analysis such as risk analysis, forecasting and complex data visualisation.
Copilot in OneDrive
Copilot will be able to scan your files stored in OneDrive to uncover the information you need without even having to open a single file. This will streamline the search for information and help users gain insights, summarise and compare up to five different files effortlessly, so you can get to work on the content you need as quickly as possible.
Copilot in PowerPoint
The Narrative Builder feature in PowerPoint will enable users to collaborate with Copilot to build their content, even outlining key topics and points which users can edit, reorder and refine as they see fit. Then Copilot can generate a first draft of the PowerPoint presentation with slide titles, text and images from the organisations library. Meanwhile, the Brand Manager feature allows Copilot to pull your company's branded template into the content so presentations are always consistent and on-brand. These features will help users create great first draft content and dramatically reduce the time it takes to create engaging presentations with impactful content.
Copilot in Word
Copilot in Microsoft Word will soon be able to assist you in quickly referencing information from Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, Outlook, encrypted documents and even the internet. By integrating the data you need right into your flow of work, Copilot in Word will help you draft more effective content effortlessly. There will also be an on-canvas start experience to help users kickstart content creation by suggesting prompts, and the ability to have Copilot collaborate with users as they work on specific sections of their document.
If you want to find out more about how Copilot and Copilot Studio can enhance productivity in your organisation, contact one of our solution specialists today.
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