Microsoft Copilot is now live for businesses of all sizes

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered productivity tool that can be integrated with everyday Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. It uses large language models (LLMs) and content in Microsoft Graph to provide real-time intelligent assistance, enhancing the creativity, productivity, and skill of users.

Copilot revolutionises collaboration by seamlessly connecting all your Microsoft applications. It facilitates real-time co-authoring, ensuring team members stay in sync even when out of the office. The tool also streamlines document management by providing feedback on shared documents and suggesting relevant content.

Microsoft has recently expanded access to Copilot for Microsoft 365, making it available to all businesses, regardless of size. Customers with Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Business Standard plans can now add Copilot for £296 per person per annum and benefit from all its features.

In addition, the previous 300-seat minimum requirement for adding Copilot to a Microsoft 365 business subscription has also been removed to include even a single-person business.

Benefits of AI Adoption for SMBs

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) must be ready to leverage this new technology to help them grow faster, be more efficient and compete more effectively.

Microsoft 365 Copilot can help streamline the workload for SMBs by providing valuable suggestions, relevant insights, and design tips for an overall improvement in their work, meaning they have more time to focus on building their business.

By using Copilot, SMBs can benefit from the following:

• Seamless integration with all Microsoft applications, facilitating real-time co-authoring and ensuring team members stay in sync even when out of the office.
• Streamlined document management by providing feedback on shared documents and suggesting relevant content.
• Enhanced productivity and creativity by providing valuable suggestions, relevant insights, and design tips for an overall improvement in their work.
• Reduced workload and time spent on time-consuming, day-to-day work, allowing SMBs to focus more energy on their business.

Best Practice Tips

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a powerful tool that can help your organisation become more successful. Here are some things you need to know when getting started with Microsoft Copilot:

• Office Applications: Once enabled within your organisation, Microsoft Copilot will be available in all 365 Office applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc. You don’t have to spend time accessing Copilot externally when working as it will be on the right-hand side of your applications.
• Suggestions: Microsoft Copilot will make suggestions to help improve your workflow. You can customise these suggestions in your settings to tailor them to your needs.
• Fact-Checking: Over-reliance on Microsoft Copilot could cause errors or inaccuracies, so it’s important to check your work to ensure its correct before continuing. This is good practice, as with any research.
• Automation: Using tools such as the Power Platform and Microsoft Autopilot can help speed up everyday tasks and make your workplace even more productive and efficient.

Microsoft Copilot is there to assist you with everyday tasks, meaning that you simply need to tell it what you want, and it should be able to help. However, these best practice tips will allow you to use Copilot more efficiently and effectively.

Getting started with Microsoft Copilot?

To help you get started with Microsoft Copilot choose the Business Premium licence. This offers advanced features, including higher data storage limits, more robust security measures, and access to premium AI tools, which can significantly enhance AI capabilities, making it a worthwhile investment for businesses.

Before installing AI tools like Copilot, it is essential to have a secure data strategy in place. This strategy should ensure the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of your data. A secure data strategy is important because AI tools learn from data – and if this is compromised, so will the AI’s performance and reliability. The Business Premium licence can assist with this, offering advanced data management and security features to help protect your data and ensure it is used effectively.

The final step is to secure identities and access, particularly when handling sensitive data. Therefore, when integrating AI into your business operations, it is crucial to ensure only authorised workers have access. Implementing strong identity and access management practices is an excellent opportunity to shore up your business’s security. This includes using strong, unique passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, and regularly reviewing access permissions.

What you can do today

If you are a small or medium-sized business, you can start using Copilot for Microsoft 365 today. You need to learn how Copilot works, understand licensing and technical requirements, and get familiar with new capabilities.

Getting to grips with Copilot will be vital for any organisation looking to be at the forefront of this new technological age.

If you are looking to get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365 today or want to implement AI solutions into your organisation, get in touch with Extech today. We’ll be able to advise you and ensure you’re making the best decisions for your business.

Contact the Extech Cloud team today to find out more about how Microsoft CoPilot can help your business.