Enterprises, both large and small, are rapidly adopting Microsoft's generative AI tool, Copilot for Microsoft 365, to explore the many ways artificial intelligence (AI) can help them streamline operations, increase productivity, and improve customer service.
Generative AI is rapidly gaining popularity: According to a recent Microsoft Work Trend Index, 75% of employees are already using some form of generative AI, and of those, roughly 50% started using it within the past six months.
A select group of Microsoft partners are at the forefront of this market shift, using it not only to enhance their own operations but also to accelerate their customers' digital evolution.
Embedding generative AI capabilities securely within the Microsoft 365 suite of apps (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook) and within the context of your work data can help with a wide range of applications, including summarizing meetings, creating presentations, drafting emails, generating marketing copy, summarizing longer documents, and crunching data to generate useful business insights.
“Improved productivity”
Softcat, a FTSE 250 listed provider of IT infrastructure products and services with a 30-year relationship with Microsoft, recently offered all its employees Copilot for Microsoft 365 licences following a successful trial of the new technology.
Richard Wyn Griffith, chief commercial officer at Softcat, said: “We are thrilled with the success of this initial group of Copilot users.
“Improved productivity and more effective customer interactions led to this broader deployment. We're excited to put this technology in the hands of more team members so we can demonstrate its value to more customers.”
Richard says this early adopter expertise helps Softcat better serve its corporate and public sector clients as they embark on their digital transformation journeys.
Enhance your creativity
Meanwhile, Derby-based Node4, a cloud-led IT services company, is investing heavily in Copilot for Microsoft 365. Its managing director, Hanna Birch, said it “demonstrates our commitment to staying at the cutting edge of technology”.
“Integrating Copilot into our operations improves our internal processes and sets a standard for the solutions we provide to our customers.”
A common theme in the experiences of Microsoft partners who have adopted Copilot for Microsoft 365 is that freeing up time increases employees' ability to be more innovative, creative, and productive.
David Kress, chief revenue officer at technology company Advania UK, said: “Our pilot deployment made it clear that using Copilot to automate repetitive tasks could significantly improve employee experience and productivity.
“Even more amazing is that we've empowered our employees to accelerate problem-solving. We've witnessed employees come up with creative ways to solve the small problems that get in the way of doing their best work.
“We needed to roll it out to the whole workforce. The potential was just too great to delay.”
'Notable'
Use cases for Copilot for Microsoft 365 are varied and span all sectors and activities: Local governments, for example, are using it to improve public chatbots, translation services, traffic management systems, and more.
Microsoft partner Bytes Technology Group (BTG) has expanded deployment of the software to more than half of its groups, and says the healthcare sector in particular is benefiting from the increased efficiency that AI can bring.
BTG CEO Sam Mudd gave the example of doctors spending less time on administrative tasks and more time with patients, saying sentiment analysis on emergency service calls helps them assess patient needs more quickly.
“We've run internal pilots across the group and the impact of using Copilot for Microsoft 365 has been incredible,” says Sam.
BTG estimates that its newly acquired Copilot for Microsoft 365 expertise has enabled over 6,000 client employees to improve their digital skills and make the most of this generative AI technology.
Commenting on the impact Copilot for Microsoft 365 is having on organisations across the UK, Nick Hedderman, Senior Director, Modern Work Business Group, Microsoft UK, said: “We’re thrilled to see our partners adopting Copilot for Microsoft 365 to transform their own business operations and better serve our joint customers on their AI transformation journeys.
“The diversity of use cases that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is enabling across all sectors is astounding.
“The era of generative AI is an era of accelerated innovation.”
To learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365, click here.
