Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant, Copilot, is already helping businesses streamline processes and save time. With Wave 2 rolling out, Microsoft is taking productivity, collaboration, and decision-making to a whole new level. So, what does this mean for your business? Let’s dive into how you can make the most of these updates.
What exactly is Copilot?
Imagine having a trusted assistant by your side, ready to tackle your workload, brainstorm ideas, and keep your day running smoothly.
That’s Microsoft Copilot in a nutshell. Integrated into Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and Teams, Copilot automates repetitive tasks, offers smart suggestions, and even helps with complex challenges like data analysis.
But beyond its impressive features, Copilot is designed to deliver results. Whether you’re running a business, managing a team, or simply trying to keep your inbox under control, Copilot helps you focus on what truly matters: growing your business.
Why Business Owners Should Care About Copilot
Running a business means juggling multiple responsibilities, from managing employees and monitoring finances to strategising for growth. Copilot takes some of the weight off your shoulders, including:
Save time on tedious tasks
Ever spent hours crunching numbers in Excel or piecing together a presentation? Copilot can handle the heavy lifting for you, giving you time to focus on higher-priority work.
Improve decision-making
With tools like Python (a high-level programming language) for Excel, you can turn raw data into actionable insights without needing to become a coding expert or hire a data scientist.
Streamline collaboration
Copilot Pages and BizChat keep everyone on the same page, reducing misunderstandings and speeding up projects. It helps to make teamwork effortless.
Boost productivity across the board
Copilot helps you and your team find easier ways to stay productive, from writing emails to organising meetings.
How Copilot Works
Copilot is embedded within your Microsoft 365 ecosystem, ready to assist you naturally through simple prompts. Whether you need a sales performance summary, insights from a spreadsheet, or a well-crafted email, Copilot understands your request and delivers accurate, tailored, and easy-to-refine results.
For example:
- Need a report? Type: “Create a sales performance summary for the last quarter.”
- Confused by a spreadsheet? Ask: “What are the key trends in this data?”
- Writing an email? Say: “Draft a professional response to this customer complaint.”
Before Wave 2 started rolling out, Copilot was already receiving considerable attention for its business-related benefits.
If you’re just stepping into the world of Copilot, it’s worth appreciating its solid foundation. These early features don’t just make life easier; they lay the groundwork for the advanced tools we’re now seeing.
Let’s look at how Copilot has already been helping businesses run more efficiently.
Smarter documents with Word
Imagine you need to create a letter or report. Instead of staring at a blank page, you can simply describe what you need and Copilot in Word will handle the rest.
For example, let’s say you want to ask a supplier for a pricing update. All you do is type, “Draft a letter to a supplier asking for an updated price list.” Copilot will take care of the structure, the wording, and even make sure it sounds polished and professional.
And when it comes to long reports? Copilot can pull out the key points or suggest edits to improve clarity, grammar, and tone.
Excel, but easier
Before Python integration, Copilot was already making Excel far easier to use for business owners who aren’t exactly data wizards.
Need to understand which products are performing best this month? Just ask.
Want a quick trend to forecast for the next quarter? Done.
Copilot doesn’t stop at analysis, though. It can create charts and graphs automatically, making your data easier to understand and visually interesting.
Do you want to track sales to determine which region performed best last quarter?
Copilot can give you the answer in seconds, complete with a handy chart. No complicated formulas, no hours spent fumbling through spreadsheets… just insights, fast.
Powerful presentations with PowerPoint
Creating presentations used to be such a time suck. This is a thing of the past, thanks to Copilot in PowerPoint.
You can tell it what you need (like a presentation about your marketing strategy), and Copilot will create the slides for you. And these aren’t just any slides; they’re well-structured, look good, and even align with your company branding.
Say you want to share your business’s Q2 performance. Copilot can pull data, highlight key wins and challenges, and wrap everything up in a clean, professional PowerPoint presentation.
Taming your inbox with Outlook
Email can be overwhelming, but Copilot turns Outlook into your personal assistant. It sorts through your inbox, prioritises important messages, and summarises long email threads—it does all of that and more.
Picture this: You return from a week off, dreading the mountain of unread emails in your inbox. Copilot organises them by priority, condenses lengthy threads into bite-sized summaries, and drafts quick replies where needed.
Suddenly, catching up doesn’t seem so impossible.
Making meetings matter in Teams
Meetings are necessary for sharing information, but they’re only useful if you can remember what was said and what you’re meant to do next. Copilot in Teams solves that problem with real-time summaries of transcripts and detailed recaps afterwards.
Imagine being in a brainstorming session for a new project. By the end of the meeting, Copilot will have already prepared a summary, highlighted key decisions, and assigned follow-up tasks to the right people.
No more wondering who was supposed to do what – it’s all taken care of.
One AI assistant for everything
One of the most impressive things about Copilot has always been its ability to work across different apps. With Business Chat (BizChat), you can pull information from Word, Excel, Teams, and more, all in one place. Ask a question like, “What’s the latest update on the marketing campaign?” and Copilot will find the answer without you having to hunt for it.
What’s New in Wave 2?
Microsoft has introduced over 150 new features in Copilot, making it even more powerful.
Collaboration with Copilot Pages
Collaboration becomes seamless with Copilot Pages, a digital workspace that centralises documents, data, and discussions. Instead of hunting for files and notes, everything is in one place, enabling your team to focus on problem-solving.
Easy data analysis with Python in Excel
Python integration in Excel simplifies data analysis, allowing users to gain deeper insights without needing coding expertise.
Turn conversations into insights with BizChat
BizChat turns your business conversations into a searchable database, making it easy to retrieve key information, whether it’s a client’s last request or the action items from a meeting.
Smarter tools in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook
Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook have also received major upgrades. Creating documents from scratch is faster, presentations are more visually compelling, and inbox management is even more efficient.
Streamlining meetings in Teams
In Teams, Copilot now includes meeting chat summaries, ensuring that key ideas and unresolved questions are captured and followed up on.
Getting Started with Copilot
If you haven’t started using Copilot yet, now is the time. Available as an add-on for specific Microsoft 365 plans, it’s an investment that can significantly boost efficiency.
Once you have the right plan for your business, enabling Copilot is straightforward:
Step 1: Log in to your Microsoft 365 admin centre.
Step 2: Find the “Copilot” section in the settings menu.
Step 3: Follow the steps to enable Copilot for your business.
To make the most of Copilot, it’s important to train your team to integrate it into their daily workflow. Microsoft offers tutorials and webinars to help users become comfortable with the tool.
Encouraging employees to use Copilot for drafting reports, analysing data, summarising meetings, and managing emails can lead to noticeable improvements in productivity. Tools like Copilot Pages and BizChat enhance collaboration, ensuring that information is easily accessible, and team communication remains seamless.
Tracking Copilot’s impact on your business will help measure its success. Are employees spending less time on repetitive tasks? Are projects moving faster and meeting deadlines? Are teams communicating more effectively? By gathering feedback, you can refine how Copilot is used and maximise its benefits.
Microsoft Copilot isn’t just a futuristic AI assistant; it’s a practical, game-changing tool reshaping how businesses operate. With Wave 2, the possibilities are greater than ever, making now the perfect time to embrace AI-powered efficiency.
