Business Chat in Microsoft 365 offers game-changing potential to collaborate more efficiently. Paired with the latest AI capabilities of Copilot, it provides an easy way to save time, enhance creativity, and uncover data insights using natural language. In this guide, let‘s explore how Copilot takes Business Chat to the next level.
Introducing Copilot + Business Chat
First, what exactly are Copilot and Business Chat?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered assistant feature enabled across Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other apps. Using natural language prompts, Copilot suggests content edits, analysis, document creation and more based on your workflow context.
Here‘s an inside look at how Copilot works its magic:
Copilot is powered by a state-of-the-art natural language AI model called Codex developed by OpenAI. Codex grasps the full context of text, conversations, and workflows to provide thoughtful recommendations in response to natural language prompts.
According to Microsoft, Codex has been trained on billions of webpage paragraphs, programming documentation paragraphs, and millions of public GitHub repositories to learn how to code. It builds on top of GPT-3.5, OpenAI’s most advanced language model.
Another core capability making Copilot so effective is embedded Dragoncaster technology. Dragoncaster allows end-to-end speech recognition, processing, and text-to-speech generation to handle voice interactions.
As Copilot continues learning from millions of Microsoft 365 users, its suggestions will become even smarter over time thanks to technical breakthroughs like Codex and Dragoncaster.
Business Chat is a conversational interface within Microsoft 365 to interact with contacts, schedule meetings, find information and accomplish tasks.
Together, Copilot‘s intelligence combined with Business Chat’s chatbot capabilities provide an easy way to get more done faster while staying within your familiar work tools. No more switching between apps or trying to remember syntax. Instead, simply describe what you want to achieve in everyday language.
Let‘s dive into some of the most valuable ways to boost productivity by using Copilot in Business Chat.
Key Use Cases
Here are some of the most valuable ways to use Copilot in Business Chat for organizations:
Automated Document Creation
Copilot excels at generating documents in Microsoft 365 based on short text prompts. Need a draft presentation, proposal or report? Simply kickstart the process through a Business Chat request.
For example, "Copilot, please create a 5 slide presentation introducing our new customer retention strategy" will yield a PowerPoint deck outline for further refinement.
Early adopters have seen up to a 45% decrease in time spent on document drafting using Copilot in Business Chat. Think of the hours teams can get back by letting Copilot whip up meeting notes, project plans and content templates on demand.
Meeting Scheduling & Calendar Management
Business Chat provides quick access to schedule meetings or manage calendars. Copilot enhances this by suggesting optimal times and locations based on invitees‘ availability.
A request like "Copilot, schedule a 90 minute all-hands staff meeting next week on Tuesday or Wednesday" will automatically propose options for you to confirm.
Copilot goes beyond basic invite creation by continuously monitoring calendars, meeting details and attendees to recommend optimal schedules. This frees up hours previously spent on coordination.
Communications Ideation & Drafting
Stuck trying to communicate key messages to stakeholders? Copilot within Business Chat can rapidly craft customized emails, chat messages or document templates on demand based on your guidance.
For instance, say "Copilot, draft an email for my product team summarizing 5 key points from today‘s customer research findings."
Copilot will create tailored, initial communications for sales pitches, product launches, campaign announcements and more in a fraction of the usual time.
This helps distributed teams collaborate better through automatically shared content creation. It also ensures consistent messaging when doing high-volume outreach.
Data Analysis & Visualization Creation
Copilot can instantly analyze charts, graphs and data from Excel and other Microsoft 365 apps. It will then translate insights into visualizations like Power BI reports through a Business Chat command.
"Copilot, please analyze the last 5 quarters of sales figures and create a data visualization highlighting trends."
This speeds up essential analysis and reporting for roles like finance, marketing and operations. Copilot in Business Chat serves up impactful data visualizations quickly without needing to master intricacies of Power BI or Excel.
Enabling Copilot in Business Chat
Ready to boost productivity with Copilot in Business Chat? Here is how to set it up:
Open Business Chat from your Microsoft 365 hub or app launcher.
Click the Copilot icon in the bottom right corner to activate it.
Sign into your Microsoft account when prompted.
Grant permission for Copilot to access your organizational data and content.
You‘re now ready to start using natural language to ask Copilot to help with tasks ranging from document creation to calendar management and more within Business Chat.
Key Benefits
Enhanced productivity is the top reason to use Copilot with Business Chat. Specifically, benefits include:
- Saves up to 30-45% of time spent on repetitive tasks like document drafting and scheduling
- Boosts creativity through Copilot‘s suggestions to enrich content with relevant examples, data and perspectives
- Extracts key data insights faster by generating visualizations tailored to analysis needs
- Seamlessly moves between applications using conversational interaction
Productivity gains ultimately translate into big savings in hours and costs, freeing you up to focus on higher-value work. Copilot alleviates busywork while enhancing collaboration.
Best Practices For Optimal Results
To maximize productivity gains from Copilot in Business Chat, keep these tips in mind:
- Frame requests conversationally using natural language
- Provide enough context and directional guidance for Copilot
- Start with simpler content generation requests before building up complexity
- Review and edit Copilot‘s suggestions to train accuracy over time
- Explore more advanced analytical and data visualization use cases
Think of Copilot as a collaborator rather than just a tool. Explaining your thought process and intended goals allows it to excel.
Additionally, take an incremental approach – start with small tests of Copilot’s abilities before tackling expensive or lengthy projects. Simple content drafts only require minor edits while large proposals may need heavier customization.
Understand The Limitations
While powerful, be realistic about Copilot’s current abilities. Specifically:
- 100% accuracy is not guaranteed – always review for errors
- Context comprehension is still maturing, so provide directional guidance
- Creative judgment still resides with human team members
- Balance reliance on Copilot suggestions with your own ideas
View Copilot as enhancing your team‘s abilities rather than replacing them. Human oversight ensuring recommendations align to company values and brand voice remains essential.
Improvement comes over time by training Copilot on preferences through positive and negative feedback. Make clear when Copilot’s suggestions miss the mark to continue advancing its comprehension.
The Future Of Work
Copilot in Business Chat signals an exciting future powered by AI. Natural language interactions will remove friction from getting work done. This liberates human focus for the creative, strategic and interpersonal activities machines can‘t match.
Unlocking the productivity potential of tools like Microsoft 365 with Copilot and Business Chat is key to leading modern digital transformation. Organizations that embrace this future will have a decided competitive advantage.
In closing, this guide provided an overview of how Copilot takes Business Chat to the next level along with real-world examples, tips and best practices. The intelligent collaboration of human and AI capabilities promises to redefine work. Using Copilot and Business Chat together can boost your team‘s productivity today while future-proofing processes for tomorrow.
