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Always at the forefront of innovation, Microsoft has equipped itself with its own personal assistant based on artificial intelligence. Its name? Microsoft Copilot. In this article, Mozzaik offers a complete presentation of this AI-boosted assistant that is revolutionizing your Microsoft Digital Workplace. Enjoy reading!
Description & History
Microsoft Copilot was launched by Microsoft in September 2023. This new tool is a bot based on generative artificial intelligence that helps individuals and professionals to be more creative and productive, as well as to communicate and collaborate better.
Microsoft Copilot connects the conversational agent ChatGPT with Microsoft365, leverages data from the Microsoft environment (emails, calendar, documents, etc.), and integrates with Microsoft365 environment applications such as Teams, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
The reason for this integration between ChatGPT and the Microsoft ecosystem? The Redmond giant is investing in OpenAI, the company behind the development of ChatGPT. Consequently, Copilot is based on the Azure OpenAI services and thus on the "LLM" (Large Language Model) ChatGPT4.
The Different Versions of Copilot
The Copilot experience comes in three versions and three subscription plans, tailored to different types of users and needs.
Copilot: The Free Version of Copilot for the General Public
The first version of the AI assistant Copilot is simply named "Copilot."
Description
Copilot is the free version of the personal assistant Copilot. It is the most basic Copilot experience, designed to meet the needs of individuals.
Features
The free version of Copilot offers features designed to facilitate information search and content creation (texts and images).
This "basic" version of Copilot is accessible via a web browser or through the Copilot app available in the Microsoft Store (for Windows) and in the App Store (for Mac).
The free access Copilot experience allows for the improvement of texts, creation of images, and conducting searches in natural language both in writing and orally, as well as from an image.
The free version of Copilot provides access to the latest versions of ChatGPT, GPT-4, and GPT4 Turbo, outside of peak hours.
Use Cases
The use cases of the free version of the personal assistant Copilot are numerous. This tool can, for example, be used to:
- Create an image from a prompt (instruction written in natural language) to illustrate a document, an announcement, or a presentation;
- Summarize a document or a webpage to understand its content without having to read it in its entirety.
Copilot Pro: The Paid Version of Copilot for Individuals
The second version of the Microsoft Copilot personal assistant is called Copilot Pro.
Description
Copilot Pro is a paid version of Copilot for individuals. This subscription, priced at 22 euros per month per user, guarantees a premium experience.
Features
Copilot Pro offers the same functionalities as the free version of Copilot, but with additional benefits, including:
- Priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo Bots during peak hours for conducting research and improving texts quickly and at any time;
- The ability to create images even more quickly and in landscape format on the Microsoft Designer image generation platform based on the DALL-E AI model;
- The possibility to use the Copilot assistant in certain Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote).
Use Cases
The public paid version of the AI assistant Copilot can be used in different circumstances, for example:
- Write, rewrite, or summarize a cooking recipe, an administrative letter, or a blog post in Microsoft Word;
- Easily create a presentation in PowerPoint and modify slides from a simple prompt to illustrate a talk or animate a meeting;
- Get to know an email exchange in a few seconds by summarizing a discussion history in the Outlook messaging service and respond to a message in the blink of an eye thanks to response suggestions and writing assistance.
Copilot for Microsoft 365: The Paid Version of Copilot for Businesses
The third version of the AI assistant Copilot is named Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Description
Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is the paid version of the Copilot assistant intended for small businesses, SMEs, and large corporations. This product is reserved for clients with a Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium subscription.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is the most advanced Copilot experience. Integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite applications and using data from the Microsoft 365 environment, it boosts the individual and collective productivity of collaborators.
Features
The personal assistant Copilot for Microsoft 365 has all the benefits of Copilot Pro, but with even more features, including:
- An integrated Chatbot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams to assist employees in writing texts, creating presentations and charts, and solving problems without leaving their digital corporate environment;
- Secure access to company information and data for exploring organizational charts via the Copilot Bot while ensuring the confidentiality of internal data;
- Access to the Microsoft Copilot Studio code editor. This low-code tool allows for the creation of a custom Copilot AI assistant tailored to the specific needs of the company;
- A professional-grade security and data protection policy that adheres to the strictest security and privacy standards;
- A generative security tool named Microsoft Copilot Security. This generative AI cybersecurity solution helps IT security teams detect anomalies, analyze malware, and produce reports.
Use Cases
The use cases for the AI assistant Copilot for Microsoft 365 are extremely numerous, here are some examples:
- Copilot in PowerPoint allows for the quick preparation of a presentation for a client meeting, simply by describing the desired presentation. Notes and documents related to the case are automatically analyzed to extract relevant information and compile it into a visual that conforms to the company's visual identity. As the icing on the cake, Copilot in PowerPoint generates notes to help the salesperson or consultant find the right words during their presentation.
- Copilot in Excel enables the analysis of complex sales results, financial outcomes, or market trends. The tool generates tables, charts, and reports to help employees better understand important trends and figures. Even better, Copilot creates scenarios and projections from existing data to help teams identify the most suitable solutions. All this through questions formulated in natural language, such as "What would the results have been if paint sales had remained steady?"
- Copilot in Word helps salespeople draft solid sales pitches in just a few clicks. The AI analyzes the notes taken by the employee during their client meeting as well as other useful documents, then automatically generates a structured sales letter that respects the model typically used by the company. The business developer only needs to refine this text based on the suggestions made by Copilot.
- Copilot in Outlook is the ally of highly solicited managers, customer service managers, or communication officers. The AI prioritizes emails related to the most urgent topics (requests for meetings for the coming week, ongoing projects, arrival of a new employee, etc.). Better yet, Copilot can summarize a long conversation history to spare the employee from reading a long chain of emails and save them precious time. Finally, the Chatbot assists the employee in quickly responding to messages by generating text from previous exchanges, as well as selected work documents. To top it all off, the user can automatically adjust the tone of the email, its length, or add context elements.
- Copilot in Teams helps teams fully benefit from their meetings, brainstorming sessions, and appointments with clients or service providers. During the interaction, the AI summarizes the exchanges, highlights the salient points of the discussion, and can even identify issues that still need solutions. In short, with Copilot in Teams, workgroups conduct more productive meetings whose results can be more easily leveraged later on.
- Thanks to the Copilot Studio code editor, a company can create a custom HR Bot to automate its leave management process, relieve HR managers of this task, and improve the employee experience. Such a Chatbot could exploit the company's HRIS data, its calendar, and its internal policy regarding leave requests. Ultimately, it can provide a rapid response to employees, who only need to make their leave requests in natural language, and notify HR managers when relevant.
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