Did you know that Microsoft includes generative AI chat based on ChatGPT as part of your Microsoft 365 plan? What’s more, it includes Enterprise Data Protection as standard – something you need to pay at least £500 per annum for with ChatGPT. If you are not using this already, read on to find out more.
What is Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat?
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is not actually a brand-new service. It’s been around for a while, having previously been called ‘Copilot with Commercial Data Protection’ and ‘Bing Chat Enterprise’ prior to that. However, the rebranding brings with it some important new features that dramatically increase its capabilities. We will cover those later in this blog.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is accessed as a web or phone app based chatbot, much like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. It is not however the same as the confusingly similarly named Microsoft 365 Copilot which requires an additional subscription of circa £300 per annum, can be accessed directly from within the Microsoft 365 applications and can read and take actions on your work data.
What can you do with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat?
As with other generative AI chatbots, you can use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to research information, generate content, review documents you upload to it, analyse spreadsheets you upload to it and suggest improvements to or summarise many types of document. You can also generate images using Visual Creator..
However it is the new features which make Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat such a powerful tool for businesses:
Sharing Content with Copilot Pages
You can now easily share content you have created with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat with other people in your organisation, along with any additional files or content you wish to add. You can then collaborate on this with your colleagues in real time to quickly build up project information or compile research together.
Automating repetitive tasks using agents
Anyone now has the capability of creating Copilot agents which are designed to automate tasks and processes. These are no longer the preserve of paid for copilot plans and can be run on a pay as you go basis. Agents can be used to answer questions based on content you specify – for example you could create a chatbot that allows your staff to ask questions on your documented processes and procedures saving time versus asking a person whilst ensuring they get an accurate response.
Finally, you also get some basic reporting on the usage of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat by your team members to give you insight into AI adoption in your business. Check out the Microsoft video in the blog for more details on Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
If you would like to know more about how to get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot then checkout our AI and Copilot web pages.
