As a busy professional, you may often feel like you’re drowning in repetitive administrative tasks like managing your emails and calendar, performing online research, and organising meetings. You’re not alone in feeling this way.

In fact, according to a study by Asana, the average time people spend on recurring tasks per week globally is 4 hours and 38 minutes, which is equal to about 10% of their time at work. While that may not seem like a lot of time at first glance, this translates to 219 hours lost per year.

But what if we told you that a new tool by Microsoft can help you get things done faster? This is where Copilot for Microsoft 365 comes in. In this blog post, we will explore Copilot's various features and how it can revolutionize the way you work within Microsoft 365.

What is Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Imagine having a tireless assistant that can recap that meeting you just missed or summarize an overwhelming email thread for you — that’s exactly what Copilot for Microsoft 365 is.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a virtual assistant and productivity chatbot that integrates large language models (LLMs), content from application programming interface developer platform Microsoft Graph, and common Microsoft 365 apps.

This platform uses a multitude of LLMs, a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that leverages vast data and deep learning methods to understand, predict and produce content.

Copilot can be used in the following Microsoft 365 programs:

- Word: Copilot can help users write, edit, and summarize content.

- PowerPoint: Using natural language commands, Copilot can quickly turn ideas into a well-designed presentation.

- Excel: By using Copilot, users can identify trends, discover insights, or create professional-looking data visualizations.

- Outlook: Copilot can help manage user’s inboxes to give them more time effectively communicating with others.

- Teams: Users can have more productive meetings, thanks to Copilot providing real-time summaries and action items based on the context of the conversation.

- Power Platform: Copilot can help developers boost and streamline development with low-code tools through new capabilities within Power Apps and Power Virtual Agents.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 also packs a “Business Chat” feature that gathers data from across messages, documents, notes, calendars, contacts, and presentations to write emails, summarize chats, or identify important dates. This can be accessed through a web browser like Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

How can Copilot for Microsoft 365 Boost Your Productivity?

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a powerful platform that help you become more productive and efficient at work. In fact, a study by Microsoft found that 77% of early users said that they didn’t want to give up Copilot for Microsoft 365 once they started using it. In the same study, 70% of Copilot users said they were more productive, and 68% claimed that it improved the quality of their outputs.

Let’s take a look at some ways you can leverage Copilot for Microsoft 365 for your own business:

1. Streamline content creation

Don’t know what to say next in that email you’re writing? Copilot on Outlook can help you by suggesting relevant content, phrases, or even complete sentences. This ensures that your message is clear, professional, and impactful.

Or if you want to write a lengthy blog but don’t know where to start, you can tell Copilot to “Write a proper outline for a blog based on this title,” and even add files as an added reference. Copilot will then provide you with the outline that you requested, helping you eliminate writer’s block and organize your thoughts effectively.

Moreover, Copilot can help you become a better writer. In Word, for example, Copilot can suggest improvements to your writing tone, grammar, and style, so your documents can appear more polished and engaging. And in PowerPoint, the tool can help you create visually appealing slides by suggesting layouts, images, and data visualizations depending on your content.

2. Automate repetitive tasks

One of the best features of Copilot for Microsoft 365 is its ability to automate recurring tasks, reducing the risk of errors and saving you valuable time.

Let’s say you have a large Excel datasheet that requires consistent formatting. Instead of manually adjusting each cell, you can ask Copilot to apply a specific format to your data. For instance, you can ask Copilot to apply conditional formatting to highlight cells that meet your criteria or format all dates in a column to a date format. Such an automation can be a game-changer, especially to those who frequently handle large volumes of data.

Or if you’re someone who attends a lot of meetings every day, it can be laborious to go through your notes and manually create a summary list of action items. But by instructing Copilot to “Summarize the key points from the team meeting I just attended” or “List the action items from the project update meeting,” it can generate a concise summary of your meetings, including key points discussed, decisions made, and action items assigned. This way, everyone is on the same page and aware of their responsibilities without manually taking notes and following up.

3. Unlock data-driven insights

It can be quite overwhelming to look for specific information from complex spreadsheets and reports. But with Copilot, you can easily extract valuable insights from your data in apps like Power BI and Excel.

For example, you can generate a summary of a report page in Power BI by simply telling Copilot to “summarize this page using only bullet points,” or “tell me all about this report in simple terms.” You can even ask Copilot specific questions about visualized information on a report page and receive a personalized response.

Copilot can also create engaging visualizations of your data in Excel. For instance, you can ask Copilot to “Create a line graph that shows our monthly sales over the past financial year,” or “Generate a pie chart that shows where the company spent the most money.” This helps you better identify patterns and trends in your data so you can make better decisions.

What Does the Future Hold for Copilot for Microsoft 365?

While Copilot for Microsoft 365 is already a powerful platform for many businesses, Microsoft is still introducing more features this July. Some of these include:

- Microsoft Designer: This is a graphic design and image editing app that uses AI to help users create professional-quality designs. Users will soon be able to access Microsoft Designer inside Word and PowerPoint apps, making it easy to generate images without leaving these apps.

- Copilot in SharePoint Text v1: For those using enterprise content management platform SharePoint, Copilot will soon make it easier for users to rewrite existing text on SharePoint news posts and sites. This ensures that their audience can engage with quality content.

- Writing assistant in Copilot in Teams: When writing in a Teams channel or chat, users can now click the Copilot button and type a prompt like “turn my message into a bullet point list,” “make my message sound more engaging,” or “include a call to action.”

Thanks to these new capabilities, Copilot for Microsoft 365 will become an even more indispensable tool for businesses to streamline their workflows, enhance communication, and foster creativity.

Ready to Harness the Power of Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Nexacu offers its Copilot for Microsoft 365 course that aims to teach students how to generate content and gain insights in apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook. You will learn to make the most of Copilot in Microsoft 365 platforms and create effective prompts that can help drive your business forward.

Once you complete this course, we will provide you with a certificate that acknowledges your newfound AI skills and knowledge. Book today!