In today's fast-paced world, productivity is key to success. With the rise of remote work and the increasing demands of our daily lives, finding ways to maximise productivity has become more critical than ever. That's where Microsoft Copilot comes in.
Microsoft Copilot is a powerful tool that can help you streamline your work and boost your productivity. My name is Michael Hamer, Virtual IT Director for Netitude (Microsoft Gold Partner), and in this article, we'll explore some tips and tricks for using Microsoft Copilot to its full potential.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Before we dive into the tips and tricks, let's first understand what Copilot is. Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered productivity tool that helps you work smarter and faster. It uses machine learning to understand your work patterns and provide suggestions and shortcuts to help you complete tasks more efficiently.
How does it work?
This revolutionary piece of tech puts all other productivity tools to shame with its enhanced features and seamless integration. The AI-powered productivity tool works alongside you as you work on the tools you'd typically spend most of your working day using: Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Teams.
Copilot tracks each and every action and interaction you make while working within the Microsoft 365 suite. This information is then analysed, processed, and leveraged so the technology can provide suggestions and shortcuts that'll empower you to become your most productive self at work.
Microsoft Copilot: Productivity Tricks and Tricks
Like any other piece of tech, you'll only be able to get the best out of Copilot if you apply yourself and strive to understand the ins, outs and various features of Microsoft's latest offering.
Customise Your Copilot Experience
The great thing about Microsoft Copilot is that it can be tailored to fit the user's needs; however, the caveat is that this comes at an extra cost of $200 (£156.60). You can do this by setting up custom presets and triggers so that predefined scenarios can be planned for and addressed automatically.
Netitude Scenario: Say, for instance, there's an urgent software bug fix that a client has logged onto our system. An auto-generated response and potential workflows (if necessary) could be triggered subsequently.
Enhanced Collaboration
Collaboration is a fundamental cog in any successful and productive business. It's pivotal that employees are given the tools necessary to interact, engage and collaborate effectively, and that's precisely what Microsoft Copilot does.
Since its launch in March 2017, Microsoft Teams has gradually grown in popularity and weaved its way into the workplaces of millions of workplaces and spaces across the globe. The upside to having Teams is vast; it's completely transformed the remote way of working as meetings, messages, and other forms of business communication can be carried out virtually anywhere.
So, how will Copilot change things, I hear you ask?
If you are a frequent user of Microsoft Teams, you'll have most probably participated in a meeting of high importance, where numerous topics and action points were discussed and assigned. You may have missed an essential point or wanted to revisit part of the conversation related to your work.
Microsoft Copilot can be a real game-changer in this regard. The technology can organise meetings, set agendas and generate action points off the back of key meetings. Furthermore, summaries can be created for those who couldn't be in attendance, meaning precious time and energy don't have to be wasted in catching people up.
You can see there's a whole host of benefits that are ready to be utilised, and that's just how it will affect ONE of the many 365 tools we use on a daily basis.
Email Management
A large percentage of workdays can be derailed by the time-consuming, distractive, and often laborious task of email management. Fortunately, the aid that is Microsoft Copilot can ease the burden and reallocate this 'wasted' time towards higher priority tasks.
Long email chains can be summarised at the drop of a hat, competent responses can be drafted in seconds, and entire inboxes can be organised to fit the needs of both the user and the action points that need addressing.
If you're someone who struggles to manage your email address and dreads logging onto Outlook in the morning, Microsoft Copilot is here to save the day!
Keeping Your Eye on the Prize
Microsoft Copilot started to be rolled out and drip-fed for commercial and enterprise use in late September. That means the capabilities it has currently are still in the initial phases.
On the horizon lie a plethora of additional features that are exciting propositions for all businesses that are currently considering integrating the AI-powered program into day-to-day organisational operations.
Listed below are some of the key features to keep on the lookout for:
Deep Search: This feature is set to be pivotal in research. Deep Search is set to harness Chat GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) -4, enabling users to research relevant, complex topics with ease.
GPT-4 Turbo: The level of responses Copilot will be able to generate is predicted to skyrocket with the latest instalment from Open AI: generated responses. Microsoft has stated that introducing this Copilot capability will "enable users to tackle more complex and longer tasks" and is touted to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Code Interpreter: Although Copilot is destined to bring many features to the table in the realm of productivity, it cannot currently perform complex tasks such as coding, conducting data analysis and accurate calculations.
The Final Say
Upon reflection, it's certainly an exciting time to be a Microsoft 365 Copilot user. The features that have already been released have a ton of potential benefits that businesses and their employees can harness to enhance productivity across the board. Microsoft has stated that their work so far in bringing the Copilot creation to life has meant that they can "empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more."
What's more, we are potentially only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of what this product is capable of from a productivity perspective. With more features and the ability to tackle and address more hiccups and hindrances, it's safe to say that the world of work is set to change indefinitely.
For any more tips, information, or advice regarding any Microsoft 365 products or any other tech-related queries – contact our friendly team of experts today!
