AI for business: Why Microsoft Copilot is a game-changer for SMEs

For SMEs, artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to help boost productivity, aid creativity, and drive efficiency – and it just got even easier for businesses to take advantage of the emerging technology.

Officially launched in January 2024, Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant that has been specially designed to help with tasks across the full Microsoft 365 suite. From writing customer letters, to turning a report into a Powerpoint presentation, or summarising the main points and action from a Teams call, the possibilities are endless.

It is one of the most advanced AI tools available to businesses today, and according to Lionel Naidoo, MD here at Dragon IS, it could be a game-changer.

Lionel explains “With previous AI tools, such as ChatGPT, it was always the case that the user would end up doing a majority of the work, with the tool helping a bit. But with Copilot, the tables have been turned. This makes it a hugely valuable tool for businesses and we know from speaking to our customers that they are finding it really useful.”

So, what exactly is Microsoft Copilot and how could it benefit your business and its operations?

 

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Copilot is a text-based AI assistant developed by the tech boffins at Microsoft.

It works by users entering a question, or asking for a task to be completed, in the Copilot dialogue box. The results then appearing just seconds later.

Anyone with a Microsoft 365 licence can add Copilot to their subscription, with the tool working across the full suite of applications – including Outlook email accounts, Teams chats, Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The potential uses of Copilot are endless.

Importantly, Copilot also leverages the power of large language models (LLMs) to understand a user’s natural language and preferences, allowing it to provide relevant suggestions and insights, so it can complete tasks in an intuitive way.

 

How do you use it?

Once you’re signed up to Copilot, you can access it simply by typing `/copilot` in any Microsoft 365 app, or by using the Copilot app on your desktop or mobile device.

 

What can Copilot help with?

Here are some common business tasks that Copilot can help with:

• Writing professional and personalised emails in Outlook
• Summarising meeting outcomes and actions from Teams calls
• Analysing and exploring data in Excel
• Creating and formatting documents in Word
• Designing and presenting slides in PowerPoint
• And much more!

 

Our team here at Dragon IS would be delighted to talk you through the potential uses of Copilot and how you might capitalise on it for your everyday operations.

 

Is it safe to use Copilot?

When tools such as ChatGPT burst onto the scene it wasn’t long before security concerns were raised, leading many employers to restrict or limit its use by staff.

Many users did not realise that rather than keeping their input private, the publicly available version of ChatGPT will use it to learn and respond to future requests (meaning any information shared was in effect now available to anyone).

Over the course of a single week in early 2023, employees at an average 100,000-person company entered confidential business data into ChatGPT 199 times, according to research by one data security vendor.

So, how does Copilot fair on the data security front?

Microsoft Copilot is designed to be a safe and secure tool. It is compliant with Microsoft 365’s existing privacy, security, and compliance commitments, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and European Union (EU) Data Boundary.

Microsoft Copilot also has enterprise-grade data protection, which means it inherits your existing Microsoft 365 security, privacy, identity, and compliance policies.

Sensitive company data is safe within Microsoft Copilot. It does not share data on the web or use it for future responses. The tool is designed to help businesses work smarter and more efficiently, not to compromise privacy or security.

Copilot also respects privacy and will only access data with your permission.

 

Should your business use Copilot?

The answer is yes! If you want to reap the following benefits:

 

Save time and money

Copilot can help you automate and streamline many routine and repetitive tasks, such as email management, meeting follow-ups, data analysis, document creation, and more. This can save you precious time and money that you can invest in more strategic and creative work.

Improve quality and accuracy

Copilot can help you avoid errors and mistakes, such as typos, grammar issues, formatting inconsistencies, data discrepancies, and more. Copilot can also provide you with relevant and reliable information, such as facts, figures, statistics, and sources, to support your arguments and decisions (with a link to the sources used always given).

Enhance collaboration and communication

Copilot can help you communicate more effectively and efficiently with your colleagues, clients, and partners. Copilot can help you write clear and concise messages, summarise key points, provide feedback, and suggest next steps. Copilot can also help you collaborate more smoothly and seamlessly across different Microsoft 365 apps and platforms, such as Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more.

Unlock creativity and innovation

Copilot can help you unleash your creativity and innovation by providing you with inspiration, ideas, and suggestions. Copilot can help you generate headlines, slogans, write up company stories, and more. Copilot can also help you explore new possibilities and scenarios, such as what-if analyses and trend predictions.

 

How do I get started with Copilot?

Here at Dragon, we can help your business capitalise on the many benefits of AI and Copilot, supporting you with its implementation and walking you through its use, step by step, to ensure you are getting the most from of it.

Get in touch to find out more today by emailing mike@dragon-is.com or calling us on 0330 363 0055.

 

Take a look at how Copilot can help your business

Complete the below form to view our Director, Lionel Naidoo, discuss the benefits of Copilot.