COPILOT FOR MICROSOFT 365

To get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365, your business will need to activate and purchase the add-on plan + have either one of the following licensing prerequisites.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Microsoft 365 E5

Microsoft 365 E3

Office 365 E3

Office 365 E5

Microsoft 365 A5 for faculty

Microsoft 365 A3 for faculty

Office 365 A5 for faculty

Office 365 A3 for faculty

We advise that organisations should consult with their managed service provider or IT manager to undergo a thorough Copilot for Microsoft 365 Readiness Assessment.

A readiness assessment will identify any potential data security risks, shortfalls and highlight any other implications your organisation should consider before adoption.

To request your readiness assessment with ACUTEC, please contact your account manager or complete our Copilot Readiness Assessment form .

As of 16/01/24, Microsoft announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 was available for business users to purchase with no minimum seat requirements with all qualifying licenses.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available to purchase for £24.70 per user, per month, billed in full annually.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 offers numerous advantages to users, seamlessly integrating with popular Microsoft 365 applications in the following ways:

Copilot for Word: Transform your writing process in Word with Copilot’s efficiency-boosting features. From creating, summarising, and refining documents to visualising text and referencing multiple documents, Copilot elevates your document creation experience.

Copilot for PowerPoint: Turn your ideas into captivating presentations effortlessly with Copilot in PowerPoint. From converting written documents into engaging decks to simplifying lengthy presentations and tweaking layouts, Copilot acts as your creative ally.

Copilot for Excel: Collaborate with Copilot in Excel to analyse and understand your data better. Easily highlight, filter, and sort data, or request Copilot to identify trends and provide detailed summaries of its findings.

Copilot for Outlook: Stay on top of your inbox and craft impactful communications with Copilot in Outlook. From summarising long email threads to suggesting actions and drafting emails with customisable length and tone, Copilot streamlines your email management.

Copilot for Teams: Enhance collaboration in Teams with Copilot’s assistance in summarising conversations, organising discussion points, and scheduling follow-ups. Copilot in Teams empowers efficient teamwork and seamless communication.

Copilot for Loop: Copilot in Loop empowers collaborative thinking by enabling co-creation and maintaining synchronisation with your teammates. Engage in efficient collaboration, stay informed, and leverage the collective expertise of your team with Copilot in Loop.

Copilot for Whiteboard: Accelerate idea generation and processing with Copilot in Whiteboard. From generating and categorising ideas to summarising discussions, Copilot enhances brainstorming sessions and facilitates effective collaboration.

Copilot for OneNote: Transform your approach to planning and organising with Copilot in OneNote. Stay proactive and well-prepared by gaining enhanced insights into your notes. Pose detailed questions, generate content summaries, request Copilot to create content, and improve the clarity of your writing with Copilot’s assistance in OneNote.

In 2023, Microsoft conducted its pilot programme of Copilot under its ‘Early Access Programme’. This programme contributed to the research of its ‘Copilot for Microsoft 365 Usage in the Workplace Survey’ which was conducted on 297 customer respondents who had been using Copilot for longer than 3 weeks. Delivered in Microsoft’s ‘Work Trend Index Special Report’ the study identified the following.

Copilot users are more productive – and complete work faster:

70% of Copilot users said they were more productive, and 68% said it improved the quality of their work.

73% said they could complete tasks faster.

64% said Copilot helps them spend less time processing email.

85% said Copilot helps them get to a good first draft faster.

87% said Copilot makes it easier to get started on a first draft.

86% said Copilot makes it easier to catch up on what they missed.

84% said Copilot makes it easier to take action after a meeting.

75% said Copilot saves time by finding whatever they need in their files.

71% said they saved time on mundane tasks.

Copilot improves quality and creativity:

68% said it improved the quality of their work.

57% said it made them more creative.

68% said Copilot helped them jump-start the creative process.

72% said it helped them generate ideas while writing.

Copilot is shifting how users spend their time:

67% said Copilot saved them time so they could focus on more important work.

On average, users reported daily time savings of 14 minutes, or 1.2 hours a week.

22% of people said they save more than 30 minutes a day.

If users reported saving more than 30 minutes a day, Microsoft asked them what they spent that saved time on. The top answer was focus work (53%), and hardly anyone was spending it on administrative tasks such as data entry (7%). However, the second most common answer was using that time for additional meetings (16%)—which could be counterproductive on top of already high meeting loads. These time savings are extraordinary, but it will be key for everyone to reinvest their refunded time wisely.

The value add of Copilot:

Early users told Microsoft once they’ve worked with Copilot, they don’t want to go back to working without it

77% would not want to give it up.

Most people also said they would rather have access to Copilot than a free lunch at work—on a monthly (88%), bi-weekly (79%), or weekly (77%) basis.

30% even said access to Copilot would influence their choice of future employer.

Overall, users were 29% faster in a series of tasks (searching, writing, and summarising).

Users were able to get caught up on a missed meeting nearly 4x faster.

64% of users said Copilot helps them spend less time processing email.

85% of users said Copilot helps them get to a good first draft faster.

75% of users said Copilot “saves me time by finding whatever I need in my files.”

77% of users said once they used Copilot, they didn’t want to give it up.

Copilot users completed tasks faster – while preserving quality and accuracy:

Users were 29% faster in the three tasks, taking 29 minutes and 42 seconds, compared to 42 minutes and 6 seconds without Copilot.

For the writing task alone, a first draft with Copilot took 8 minutes and 12 seconds versus 13 minutes and 48 seconds.

Across all three tasks, there was no statistically significant difference in accuracy.

A Large Language Model (LLM) panel also scored the blogs written with and without Copilot. There was no statistically significant difference in quality.

85% of users said Copilot reduced effort to complete the tasks.

As part of the Microsoft ‘2023 Word Trend Index Report’, Microsoft surveyed two groups: 6,500 agents who used Copilot and a control group of 5,000 agents who did not use Copilot. The findings identified:

75% agreed that AI would find the information they need

70% of customer service agents cited the benefits of intelligently routing issues to appropriate agents

68% agreed it helped them create a first draft of a document

68% saw the benefits of detecting trend trends across agent-customer interactions

68% felt it would help them to stay in a productive workflow

Agents with Copilot had a 12% reduction in time spent resolving a case.

10% of cases that normally require collaboration with peers were resolved independently when agents had access to Copilot—meaning fewer customers had to be put on hold.

Over time and further research, Microsoft expects Copilot to result in more customer service cases resolved and happier customers for businesses.

Microsoft looked at how Finance can benefit from Copilot use and found:

76% agreed it would help them find the information they need

73% cited that it would simplify financial reporting.

72% said that it would positive impact on validating data quality

72% agreed that it would help identify opportunities to improve financial performance.

70% confirmed agree it would unify disparate sources of data

Utilising Copilot in Word, HR professionals can effortlessly craft job descriptions for specific roles by referencing supporting documentation such as core responsibilities documents for the role or department.

In Microsoft 365 Chat, leverage Copilot to generate summaries of a candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications based on their resume, streamlining the recruitment process.

With Copilot for Loop, HR professionals can prompt Copilot to generate sets of interview questions tailored to a specific position, prepopulating questions based on predefined criteria.

Following an interview, HR professionals can utilise Copilot in Teams to suggest follow-up questions based on the discussion or recommend suitable questions for areas not covered in the initial meeting, enhancing the interview process.

In Word, HR can task Copilot to draft offer letters for individuals, specifying the role and start date, and referencing key criteria from documents like the company handbook.

Using Copilot in PowerPoint, HR professionals can create onboarding materials by generating presentations based on specific job descriptions, providing an overview of the role and responsibilities. Copilot streamlines the creation of comprehensive onboarding materials, facilitating efficient integration of new hires into the company.