There’s a lot of talk about AI, and an awful lot of scaremongering. But what could it actually do for your business? Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an accessible tool that can save time, boost productivity, enhance efficiency and increase staff morale.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Here’s how Copilot for Microsoft 365 can help small and medium-sized businesses like yours.

A recent Microsoft study revealed that the most time-consuming tasks for small and medium-sized businesses are:

• Customer communication (66%)

• Budget management (50%)

• Admin tasks (48%)

Does that strike a chord? Well, the good news is that Copilot for Microsoft 365 can reduce these daily tasks significantly. You can recoup valuable time to use elsewhere – like growing your business or improving your work-life balance.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 vs Copilot for web

Firstly, let’s clarify the different versions of Copilot.

Copilot for web is available to all Microsoft users on an Edge browser without needing an additional licence. It retrieves information from the web to generate AI content. We recommend starting your AI journey with Copilot for web. It’s a user-friendly way to get going and learn about the many ways AI can enhance your business.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 integrates into your Microsoft 365 apps. It’s available to users with specific Microsoft 365 licences (including E3, E5, F1, A1 and A3). This version is more tightly integrated with your company’s resources, so you can use it to search through your internal documents rather than the broader web.

5 key benefits of Copilot for Microsoft 365 small and medium-sized businesses

Save time: There are so many ways that Copilot for Microsoft 365 can save people time, especially when it’s deployed across multiple apps (like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint). From summarising information and scanning data to writing content tailored to your brand, there are many daily tasks that can be reduced or minimised with the tool.

Boost productivity: Routine, repetitive tasks like data entry can be handled by Copilot for Microsoft 365 and processes can be streamlined. It can also help you to focus your attention in the most important areas.

Enhance meeting efficiency: Meetings can be transformed by Copilot for Microsoft 365. Let it take the minutes, provide tailored summaries and action points. If you’re double booked, you can attend the more important meeting and ask for the other to be recorded then use Copilot to get you up-to-speed.

Better communication: Copilot for Microsoft 365 can generate consistent emails, in a professional tone that fits with your company, for internal and external use. Its summaries of business details, meetings and news can keep your employees better informed.

Improve employee morale: Reducing tedious, repetitive tasks enables employees to spend time on more interesting work and their own development. Helping people to gain valuable skills in working with AI is attractive to existing employees and potential new talent.

Microsoft Outlook: a time-saving example

Do you dread opening your inbox after a holiday or even a long weekend away? That feeling of overwhelm can negate any benefits of a relaxing break. Copilot for Microsoft 365 comes into its own here. It can scan your Outlook inbox to summarise your emails and help you to prioritise. This helps you to focus on the items that need your attention first.

Another handy use is when you’re added onto a long email chain and asked for your input. It can be hard to grasp what’s been going on. Copilot can bring you up to speed and share the key themes and points from the previous emails.

Microsoft Teams: an efficiency example

Sometimes a meeting creeps up on you and you realise five minutes beforehand that you’re not fully prepared. Here’s where Copilot for Microsoft 365 can alleviate that fear. Allow Copilot to retrieve the key points to be discussed and summarise previous conversations. During the meeting, Copilot can take notes so that you don’t have to scribble away whilst still listening to contributors. And if you miss the meeting, you can still be informed as Copilot can provide summary notes and action points.

Microsoft PowerPoint: a quality example

Pulling together slick, impressive PowerPoint presentations can be tricky. Copilot for Microsoft can help you to create better, more creative PowerPoint presentations in less time. You can direct it to pull information from documents or the web. The designer tools mean that you can ensure the look and feel is right for your brand. Copilot can even generate bespoke images or videos to enhance your presentation.

Key take aways for businesses starting to use Copilot for Microsoft 365

Data security: Whilst having Copilot search through endless internal documents on SharePoint to retrieve key information is undeniably efficient and time-saving, not all data should be available to everyone. Documents can be classified to restrict access. For example, you may want to keep sensitive salary details exclusively for the HR team or budget information for the preserve of the senior leadership team.

AI literacy: To reap the most benefits from generative AI, you need to take the time to experiment with it and learn. AI literacy is an increasingly important skill for your teams. Continual learning about digital tools is vital. Just as people needed to learn about Microsoft Office, social media and the internet as those platforms emerged, it’s AI’s turn now.

Staff development: Learning together will enhance staff development in AI. Together, you can find what works best for your business. People can share effective prompts that they’ve written and results that they’ve produced. Tweaking the ways you work with Copilot and sharing those discoveries will bring real benefits to your business.

Let us help you to get started with AI

We’re approachable and knowledgeable Microsoft 365 experts, and we can advise you on the best solutions for your business. Contact us today to find out more.

Learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365 by watching our free on-demand webinar.