How companies benefit from Microsoft Copilot for M365

With Copilot for Microsoft 365, Microsoft integrates artificial intelligence directly into the Microsoft 365 environment. But what can Copilot do, and what do companies need to consider? An overview of options and first steps.

With Copilot for Microsoft 365, generative artificial intelligence (AI) in moving into the familiar Microsoft environment for businesses of all sizes. The AI assistant integrates into Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. It is also available in the browser and has access to documents. In this way, Copilot for M365 simplifies numerous routine tasks in companies, promising an increase in efficiency. This includes quickly summarising a text, creating a to-do list from a pre-recorded online meeting in Microsoft Teams, and helping you write e-mails, even in different languages.

In the Work Trend Index, Microsoft asked early users of Copilot for M365 about how it impacted their day-to-day work. Seventy per cent said they had become more productive and up to 30 per cent faster in completing routine tasks. Meaning, it was a clear gain.

In addition to the corporate version, Copilot for M365, there are two other versions, the paid Copilot Pro and the free web version, which are aimed at private individuals. What they all have in common is that they are based on OpenAI’s GPT models.

Examples of how Copilot for M365 is used in companies

Copilot for M365 benefits employees who mainly do screen work and juggle documents, data and e-mails on a daily basis.

Copilot can support employees in their day-to-day work with such tasks:

Savings in time and efficiency

• Formulate e-mails and other texts based on keywords, rewrite them in a different tone and generate replies
• Compile a personal daily overview of appointments, e-mails and documents
• Create a PowerPoint presentation based on a document, such as a Word file
• Summarise e-mail communication with a specific person, including links to mentioned documents
• Summarise texts and presentations, even in another language
• Summarise transcribed (translated into text) online meetings and extract information such as schedules, tasks, etc.

Idea generation

• Create a structure and agenda for a workshop
• Generate ideas and brainstorm
• Coach for generating and refining ideas

However, you should always check the result of such tasks, because AI assistants do occasionally make up (‘hallucinate’) facts, and the result can be flawed.

Copilot and data protection

A key difference between Copilot for Microsoft 365 and the solutions for private individuals is Microsoft’s access to the data. In the private solutions, Microsoft can use the information entered to train its language models. In contrast, with Copilot for M365, Microsoft does not have access to business data, prompts and chat history. This data is likewise not used for training.

Because Copilot for M365 can access business documents in SharePoint, you should regulate the access rights for data security and data protection reasons. By doing so, you can prevent the AI assistant from ‘gossiping’ confidential information, such as the CEO’s salary, from an Excel spreadsheet. Swisscom supports companies in using Copilot correctly.

First steps with Copilot for M365

Once the data protection tasks have been completed, the aim is to identify the specific use cases for Copilot. The following steps have proven to be helpful. They are worked on in the Swisscom workshops:

• Pilot operation in small groups/teams using Office applications and Microsoft Teams.
  Goal: Develop use cases.
• Knowledge exchange and use of Copilot for all employees, including the use cases that have been developed.
  Goal: Gather experience, witness initial efficiency gains.
• Use business document storage with Copilot.
  Goal: Use of Copilot for analyses, new projects, innovative ideas, etc.

A targeted approach will substantially increase the chances that your company will benefit from the advantages of Copilot for M365, as described by the participants in the pilot test mentioned above.