Um, speechless is not the word, I cannot stop chattering about my use of Copilot recently. It has decreased the amount of time I spend searching, note taking, summarizing, calculating etc.… a recent example, I am terrible at using excel formulas and manipulating data, my patience level for creating functions is short, however, necessary for the work I do.
I needed to take a report that contained a text field of data (size of files), the units were a variety of Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes, etc... So, what would have immediately made my forehead wrinkle was completed in under a minute with a couple of prompts to Copilot. The first Copilot response was a suggestion to convert the data into the same units, ok great good info, then I asked it to provide the formula for the conversion of the data in the "File Size" column, Co-pilot gave me the formula, and an option to insert the formula into a new column, click yes, and done, I had a sortable/calculatable column of file size.
My other favorite Copilot function is to pull meeting notes from a recorded and transcribed Teams meeting. I use the summary notes provided by Copilot in addition to the notes I took to add /check details. So much time saved!
With that said, for those of you thinking of adding Copilot to your Microsoft 365 Subscription, assess the security of your Microsoft 365 environment before enabling. Copilot is powerful and will have access to a large body of your data within Microsoft 365, such as company documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, and contacts. Here is an extensive article to review to understand how Microsoft protects your data.
Focus on your current implementation of Microsoft 365, specifically your security model for Teams and SharePoint. It is important to understand that information that users had to previously navigate to, search for, have a share link, or rely on Microsoft 365 to suggest, Copilot is already aware of and using for its responses. Copilot For Microsoft 365 will respect permissions, however if you have a loosely / ungoverned environment, information that may have gone “undiscovered” in the past will surface if prompted.
Ok, quick summary, Copilot For Microsoft 365 and other AIs are here now; plan to review your environment and use Generative AI to save time, innovate, and stay competitive.
