An Introduction to Microsoft Copilot

Copilot is an AI work assistant designed by Microsoft and works with Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and Outlook.

What Can It Do?

Microsoft Copilot was created to make users’ work lives easier, by automating tasks, fostering creativity and simplifying communication.

Microsoft Outlook

Copilot can help you manage your inbox in two main ways.

Firstly, Copilot can summarise long email threads containing multiple messages and recipients into a short and concise paragraph, enabling you to get up to speed without trawling through 10s of emails.

Secondly, Copilot can help you respond to emails in just the click of a button with suggested responses and replies. The more you use Copilot, the more it will understand your tone and natural language.

Microsoft Word

Copilot can help you overcome writer’s block and create documents, proposals and letters from a simple prompt or even another document!

Although Copilot may not provide a fully polished final version, it will deliver a good first draft to edit – saving you time.

Microsoft Teams

During a meeting, Copilot for Teams can easily track discussions and suggest action items in real time – making meetings more efficient and streamlined.

Microsoft Excel

Copilot for Excel helps you find the answers you need from your data. Simply ask Excel what you want the formula to do, and Copilot will find the most suitable solution for you.

The Cost

Copilot licenses are currently sold on an annual commitment of £294.60/user, making the figure quite scary for small businesses.

However, an employee on an £24,000 would only need to save roughly 6 minutes per day to see a positive ROI.

In contract, an employee on £35,000/year would need to save roughly 4 minutes per day.

Is Copilot Worth It? 

Although the initial investment may seem big, we recommend trialling Copilot with just one or two employees, and gradually rolling it out to other members of the team if the feedback is positive.

Copilot is worth the investment if you’re open to using AI tools and improving your workflow. Copilot is already capable of so much, and its features will only grow with time.