Copilot FAQs

What is Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a powerful AI tool that integrates seamlessly into Microsoft 365 applications — Excel, Outlook, Word, etc. The AI tool offers many productivity-boosting features, such as automated meeting notes, document summarisation, Excel data analysis, email and calendar management in Outlook, and more.

How does Copilot work?

Here’s a simplified description of how Copilot interaction works:

User gives a prompt: The prompt initiates the Copilot process, typically within an integrated Microsoft 365 app like Word, Teams, or Outlook.

Pre-processing: The application checks for harmful or malicious content, ensuring the responsible use of Copilot.

Accessing additional data: Next up, the prompt is sent to Microsoft Graph which accesses files, emails, calendars, contacts, and web information (if enabled).

LLM processing: Your prompt and relevant data are sent to an LLM to generate a response.

Post-processing: Copilot conducts further checks on the response as part of its responsible AI framework.

The user receives a response: Finally, the response is returned to the user within the M365 application.

What are the prerequisites for using Copilot for Microsoft 365?

• A subscription to Microsoft 365 — Copilot is a feature of Microsoft 365, so you’ll need a Microsoft account and subscription to use it.
• Any of these Microsoft Licences:
  • Microsoft 365 E5
  • Microsoft 365 E3
  • Office 365 E3
  • Office 365 E5
  • Microsoft 365 A5 for faculty
  • Microsoft 365 A3 for faculty
  • Office 365 A5 for faculty
  • Office 365 A3 for faculty
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Reliable internet connection — Copilot for M365 uses cloud-based AI technology, so you’ll need a good internet connection for seamless operation.
• Data to search within the M365 tenant.
• An Entra ID for each Copilot user.

Which Microsoft applications can Copilot integrate with?

Copilot for Microsoft 365 integrates with Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, PowerPoint, and Outlook. This integration delivers a consistent user experience and enhances efficiency across the Microsoft 365 platform.

Does Copilot support platforms other than Microsoft, like Google Workspace?

Microsoft’s Copilot is an AI tool exclusively tailored for the Microsoft suite. It is not currently compatible with platforms such as Google Workspace or G Suite. For users on these platforms, the alternative is to use other AI tools such as Synergy and Google Gemini or export data on these platforms to Microsoft.

Is there an ROI for Microsoft Copilot? How can it be measured?

To measure the Return on Investment (ROI) for Microsoft’s Copilot, you have to calculate the time saved for each user per month. Considering the high labour cost of a knowledge worker, saving even an hour per user can justify the investment.

The average time savings typically range between 5 to 11 hours per month for each user.

What are the alternatives to Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is integrated with Microsoft 365 applications, so there aren’t any alternatives to this tool. But that does not mean there are no other AI assistants you can use to improve your productivity and efficiency, for example, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Synergy are available to you as an AI generative tool.

At its core, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is not just a chatbot – it leverages the power of AI and your business data to boost your experience with Microsoft 365 apps.

Is Copilot available for offline use?

Currently, Copilot requires an internet connection to function. While Microsoft is exploring options for offline capabilities, the most up-to-date responses are obtained when Copilot is connected to the online world.

What happens to my data when I use Copilot?

You are in control of your data, which remains your property even though it is stored in Microsoft servers. Microsoft does not share your business data with third parties unless you’ve granted permission to do so.

According to Microsoft, it does not use customer’s data to train Copilot or its AI features, unless you provide consent for them to do so. Copilot strictly adheres to existing data permissions and policies, and its responses to Microsoft users are based only on data that those users can personally access.

To make the Copilot safe for everyone, Microsoft checks user prompts and Copilot’s responses for abusive or harmful uses of the service with transient processing.

How does Copilot use my data?

Copilot is set up to use data that you provide or make available for Copilot to process. User prompts (inputs) and Copilot’s responses (outputs or results):

• Are NOT available to other customers.
• Are NOT used to train or improve any third-party products or services (such as OpenAI models).
• Are NOT used to train or improve Microsoft AI models, unless your tenant admin opts into sharing data with Microsoft.

Where does my data go?

According to Microsoft’s Privacy Policy, the company is committed to security, privacy, and compliance in everything they do, and its approach to AI is no different. Customers’ data, including Copilot inputs and outputs, are stored within the Microsoft Cloud trust boundary.

In some scenarios, such as features powered by Bing and third-party copilot plug-ins, customer data might be transmitted outside the Microsoft Cloud trust boundary but remains safe and encrypted nonetheless.

Will Copilot hallucinate?

There’s been a lot of press about AI hallucinating, but instead of “hallucination,” Microsoft has coined the term “usefully wrong” for this AI behaviour.

The company uses the example of brainstorming with a person – it’s not everything they throw at the problem that would be the thing you need.

“They’re ideas, points of view – puzzle pieces that may fit together or may not. They stimulate your creative juices, helping you get to The Thing.” — Microsoft.

ChatGPT and other AI models have so far shown an inability to reason over controversial or dangerous prompts, which has led to sometimes shocking results from the AI models.

This is to be expected, but Microsoft is already at work making safe and responsible AI.

To be on the safe side, ALWAYS expect an AI to hallucinate. Trust but verify — ask Copilot how it arrived at certain answers and cite sources.

How can Copilot for Microsoft 365 benefit a company’s sales team?

Sales teams can save time, boost sales, increase productivity, and deliver better customer experiences by leveraging Copilot for Microsoft 365. Here are some of the ways Copilot can benefit sales teams within a company:

Sales Proposal Support: Copilot makes creating a proposal easy with its customisable templates and contextual suggestions. The AI tool improves sales document quality and proposal consistency and helps save time.

Automated Meeting Notes: Copilot can help sales teams automatically create and share meeting notes, saving time and increasing collaborative output within the team.

Follow-up Reminders Automation: Copilot tracks important touch points with prospects and introduces intelligent reminders for sales teams to ensure timely follow-ups with potential customers.

Generate Document Summaries: Sales teams can quickly summarise Teams meetings and lengthy documents like contracts, proposals, or reports without losing track of the key points and to-dos.

Personalised Content Suggestions: Copilot suggests relevant content and actions depending on the context of your work and preferences.

How much is Copilot for Microsoft 365, and how can a company implement it?

Microsoft offers a number of subscription plans for Copilot, depending on your needs:

Copilot: This plan is suitable for everyone who wants to find robust information, create unique content, and get things done faster. With a free Microsoft account, you can:

• Use Copilot on the web and in Windows, macOS, and iPadOS.
• Access GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during non-peak times.
• Utilise text, voice, and images in conversational search.
• Create and edit AI images with 15 boosts per day using Designer.
• Use plug-ins and GPTs.

Copilot Pro: For individuals seeking faster performance, enhanced creativity capabilities, and a supercharged Copilot experience, the monthly subscription includes everything in Copilot, plus you can:

• Get priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo even during peak times for faster performance.
• Build your own Copilot GPTs tailored to your individual needs and interests.
• Use Copilot in productivity apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook (requires a Microsoft email address).
• Generate unique images and enhance your creations using 100 daily boosts with Designer.

Copilot for Microsoft 365: The Copilot aimed at businesses, with features that improve productivity in 365 apps, such as:

• Integration across apps with contextual assistance.
• Email and calendar management.
• Data analysis and visualisation.
• Meeting facilitation in Microsoft Teams.
• Customisable workflows.

For businesses looking to start using Copilot for Microsoft 365, you first need one of the specified licences:

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• Office 365 E3 or E5
• Microsoft 365 E3 or E5

These licences are the minimum requirement for unlocking the extensive capabilities of Copilot within your company. AAG’s advertised price for Copilot for Microsoft 365 is £296.40 + VAT annually per user.

How can Copilot for Microsoft 365 be used with PDF documents?

Copilot works exceptionally well with PDFs that have readable characters, speeding up tasks like summarisations and report generation. Some of the versatile ways Copilot for Microsoft 365 can be used with PDF documents are:

Summarising PDFs: Input a prompt telling Copilot to summarise PDF documents and it will give you a concise summary of the PDF.

Comparing PDFs: Copilot can compare two PDFs and generate reports.

Editing PDFs: Copilot can help users edit digitally-generated (i.e. not scanned) PDF documents by providing suggestions for formatting, phrasing, and visuals.

How can I improve my prompts for better outcomes with Copilot?

Here are some tips to enhance your interactions:

Be Specific: Clearly state your request or question. The more precise you are, the better Copilot can understand and provide relevant information.

Provide Context: Include relevant context if your prompt refers to a specific topic. For example, instead of asking, “What’s the weather like?” you could say, “What’s the weather like in Tokyo this weekend?”

Use Complete Sentences: Formulate your prompts as complete sentences. This helps Copilot understand your intent better.

Avoid Ambiguity: Avoid vague or ambiguous prompts. For instance, instead of saying, “Tell me about it,” specify what you want information about.

Use Keywords: Include relevant keywords related to your query. For example, if you’re looking for recipes, mention the type of cuisine or ingredients you’re interested in.

Break Down Complex Requests: If your prompt involves multiple steps, break it down into simpler parts. Copilot can more effectively handle step-by-step instructions.

Experiment and Iterate: Feel free to experiment with different phrasings. If you’re not satisfied with the initial response, try rephrasing your prompt.

Remember that Copilot learns from user interactions, so the more you engage, the better it becomes at understanding your preferences and providing accurate results.

Get Copilot-Ready

Copilot’s powerful feature set makes it a great addition to any workforce. But setting up Copilot securely can feel daunting.

AAG’s comprehensive support helps you get the most out of Copilot. An initial consultation and readiness assessment ensures that the new services can be accessed securely, while customised training helps your team understand Copilot features and its applications in their workflows. We’ll even run regular updates based on your usage to keep your Copilot services optimised.