Happy Christmas to all listeners. A final episode before the holidays, again with some AI generated content but this time from technical articles not product announcements. I pointed NotebookLM at some Exchange Online best practices documents to see what it came up with and love your feedback on whether this a better or worse than the previous two episodes that also had AI generated content. Happy holidays everyone and thanks again for listening.
Something new for this episode, AI generated content! This is part one of a two part test with the incorporation of AI generated content. In this episode I used Google NotebookLM to generated the Ai conversation you’ll hear, after my normal intro. I am really interested in your feedback on what you think, good or bad. Watch out for part two, coming soon.
If you are using the Copilot for Microsoft 365 chat interface as shown above
and you ask it to reference something on the web, such as asking for a summary of a piece of legislation, you’ll probably find that it doesn’t deliver on the results expected as shown above.
This is because, if you want Copilot for Microsoft 365 to use content from the web you’ll need to enable a Plugin. You find these in the lower right of the screen, on the input line as shown above.
When you select the Plugin icon you’ll see the above dialog box appear where you can enable web content.
If you now run the same prompt, you’ll get a much better result as shown above.
Unfortunately, at this stage you have to enable the web content plugin each time you use Copilot for Microsoft 365. I’m still search for a way to have this enabled by default. If you do know how to do that, please let me.
The biggest challenge for SMB with the AI offerings from Microsoft is to determine exactly which Copilot is being talked about. This is because there is a Copilot for just about everything now. From Copilot for Github, to Copilot for Security, Copilot for the Power Platform and so on. Job number one therefore is focusing on which Copilot will provide the most benefit for the organisation.
Before you rush in purchase any Copilot ensure you understand the financial commitment required as well. For example, currently, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an annual up front commitment of around AU$45 per month paid in advance. So even though AU$45 per month may sound enticing, the billing is actually around AU$540 up front before you even get started! The cost of various Copilot licenses vary, so it is important to determine what you need and what the cost and cashflow of this investment will be ahead of time. With Copilot for Microsoft 365 remember that once you purchase it you’ll have it for at least 12 months. You should ask yourself the question as to whether it will be used for the full period that you have paid for? If implemented inside a business correctly I feel there is little doubt that the benefits will be forthcoming but importantly, just buying and assigning the licenses to users is no guarantee of success with any Copilot.
No matter which Copilot you do focus on, that Copilot will not be an ‘everyone’ license. What that means is that not all employees of the business will gain the benefits from the license. Thus, you need to target the Copilot you want at those who will get the most from it.
In this case I’ll focus on Copilot for Microsoft 365 which is targeted at improving the productivity of knowledge workers. The best candidates for this license are those users who ‘create’ things. Think of people who create reports, create marketing material and so on. Little benefit will be had providing Copilot for Microsoft 365 to those that merely ‘process’ information. That is those say entering accounts or stock information.
It important to appreciate that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is neither The Terminator or C3PO. This is because the actual work still needs to be done by a person. Copilot for Microsoft 365 will assist in this process and make it easier and faster but it will not do the complete job end to end just yet. This means it is important to see Copilot for Microsoft 365 as an intelligent assistant that works beside the individual who has access to it, rather than a replacement for that individual.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 surfaces itself in a variety of locations in the Microsoft 365 environment. One of those is chat like so:
Here is probably the most general place you can use Copilot for Microsoft 365. Ask it any question and it will reason over your data as well as potentially from the web
Provided you enable the plugin as shown above first.
If prompt it with something generic like ‘Test me on some japanese phrases‘ you see the response it returns with above. If I expand the References you can see that Copilot for Microsoft 365 has returned material from the web (12-rules-to-learn-languages-in-record-time as well as referring a document that is in SharePoint. It is important to note that benefit this provides over other stand alone AI chat programs like ChatGPT that only return information from the web. Thus, the biggest different with Copilot for Microsoft 365 is that is works across the web and data in Microsoft 365.
The simplest way then to think about Copilot for Microsoft 365 is that it is a search engine on steroids. It is important to remember that what you see is largely based on search, that is, what it finds. This means that if you haven’t properly secured your Microsoft 365 environment Copilot for Microsoft 365 is going to find stuff you may not realise it can. That isn’t because Copilot for Microsoft 365 is doing something wrong, it is in fact that you have left the door open on your data and you need to tighten your permissions. The reality is that same information could have been found with standard Microsoft 365 search. Copilot for Microsoft 365 simply does a better job of finding and displaying it.
The takeaway here then is that your business needs to ensure you have appropriate permissions prior to implementing Copilot for Microsoft 365 or you maybe surprised at what pops out.
If I now ask chat to create an image for me based on a prompt you’ll see from the above that it can’t. It instead gives me a handy tip as to how to achieve this. Not only do you need the right Copilot for the job you also need to use Copilot in the right location to get the result you want. As I said, currently, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is not C3PO that can solve any task you give it from anywhere.
If I ask Copilot for Microsoft 365 to summarize a document by only giving it the name of the document it does an amazing job as you can see above.
But if I ask it to convert this PDF to a Word document it again is not something that can be done here.
It is also important to remember that Copilot for Microsoft 365 responses are not immediate. They take a few moments to generate. That can be frustrating for people who are used to “immediate’ responses and are time challenged. Again, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is great research tool that you spend time with, it not a tool that you fire rapid questions at expecting an immediate response, just yet.
If I ask Copilot for Microsoft 365 to convert a PowerPoint document you’ll see I get a response that gives me a little more more information about what I should do.
However, when I do the same thing in Word I get the result that I really wanted. The take away is that a large amount of Copilot for Microsoft 365 how and where you use it. Yes, it can convert stuff into Word but you need to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 inside Word to achieve that. I’m sure that will change over time, but for now, keep that in mind when using Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Where Copilot for Microsoft 365 really shines is in creating new content from scratch. If I start with a blank document in Word and prompt it with the above, the result is:
Which saves me hours and hours when I need to generate new content. Keep in mind however, generating new content constantly is not always the job of everyone inside a business.
Another area where Copilot for Microsoft 365 really shines is summarizing information as seen above. Here, I’ve had it work on a 72 page document, which was a transcript of a webinar session, and produce the summary.
As you can see, that summary includes references and I can continue asking questions about that.
Summarization also works well in the chat interface, even with external websites like what is shown above. The same is also evident inside Teams.
If you plan to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 with Teams you’ll typically have to enable both recording and transcriptions on the meetings to get the benefits. There is the option to automatically a recording with every Teams meeting but my question is, are the really all worth recording?
Thus, a reason you may want to consider it for more people inside your organization is if they are required to wade through a lot of information as part of their role.
The same summarization capability is surfaced in Outlook as shown above.
As well as generating new content for emails. The current limitation here is that to get the most benefit from Copilot for Microsoft 365 you’ll need to be using the New Outlook, which I feel is still missing many important features that the classic desktop version has (e.g. drag and drop of attachments to Windows Explorer). I’m sure these will come to classic Outlook over time and it is easy enough to switch back and forth but, for now, New Outlook is where Copilot for Microsoft 365 really works best.
Without doubt Copilot for Microsoft 365 has big benefits with email, however it again comes down to how people use Outlook. In my experience, most people do not need to write or read long complex emails. They simply send and reply using brief responses. For these people Copilot for Microsoft 365 isn’t going to provide huge benefits but if your role does involve working with long and complex subject matter in emails (think lawyers for example) the Copilot for Microsoft 365 would be a huge productivity benefit for them.
The summary would be that you firstly need to define exactly what processes in you business you want to make more productive (email processing, document creation, etc). You then need to select the appropriate Copilot for that (typically Copilot for Microsoft 365 to work with emails, documents, etc). Then, you need to identify those users in the business who will gain the most from using Copilot, and this typically will not be every user initially. With all that identified you should then ensure you have permissioned your data appropriately and then purchase the appropriate licenses and assign them to those selected users. The last task will be to train those selected users on how to use the Copilot you have selected because you cannot and should not assume they will natively know how to get the most out of it. You need to train them to help them understand the most effective method for them to use in their day to day work and when it is appropriate use and when it is not.
The Copilot for Microsoft 365 you see today is only the beginning of how AI will become infused throughout Microsoft 365. Today, it is like you manually needing to run spell checker, soon spell checker will happen on the fly. That is what we can expect sooner rather than later when it comes to Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Join me for the free monthly CIAOPS Need to Know webinar. Along with all the Microsoft Cloud news we’ll be taking a look at Copilot for Microsoft 365 now that it is available generally..
Shortly after registering you should receive an automated email from Microsoft Teams confirming your registration, including all the event details as well as a calendar invite.
You can register for the regular monthly webinar here:
CIAOPS Need to Know Webinar – Febraury 2024 Tuesday 20th of February 2024 11.00am – 12.00am Sydney Time
All sessions are recorded and posted to the CIAOPS Academy.
The CIAOPS Need to Know Webinars are free to attend but if you want to receive the recording of the session you need to sign up as a CIAOPS patron which you can do here:
Also feel free at any stage to email me directly via director@ciaops.com with your webinar topic suggestions.
I’d also appreciate you sharing information about this webinar with anyone you feel may benefit from the session and I look forward to seeing you there.
Join me for the free monthly CIAOPS Need to Know webinar. Along with all the Microsoft Cloud news we’ll be taking a look at Microsoft Copilot in all it’s various forms to help separate fact from fiction.
Shortly after registering you should receive an automated email from Microsoft Teams confirming your registration, including all the event details as well as a calendar invite.
You can register for the regular monthly webinar here:
CIAOPS Need to Know Webinar – December 2023 Thursday 29th of December 2023 11.00am – 12.00am Sydney Time
All sessions are recorded and posted to the CIAOPS Academy.
The CIAOPS Need to Know Webinars are free to attend but if you want to receive the recording of the session you need to sign up as a CIAOPS patron which you can do here:
Also feel free at any stage to email me directly via director@ciaops.com with your webinar topic suggestions.
I’d also appreciate you sharing information about this webinar with anyone you feel may benefit from the session and I look forward to seeing you there.
It is always interesting to see technology go through a familiar boom and bust hype cycle. The older you get, I suppose, the more you see of these. Unfortunately, I have learnt from history that when a transformational technology does appear it goes through this familiar initial hype cycle until it settles down into the background and becomes so helpful and common that we never think about it anymore.
I remember what a revelation getting hold of my first spreadsheet program and then adding a WYSIWYG editor (Lotus 1-2-3 back then). Since then, spreadsheets have become a standard tool for many things from planning to databases, to automation and even charting. They are pretty much indispensable not only for me but also to just anyone who uses any form of computer these days. Spreadsheets have truly become an integral part of most businesses today.
The challenge currently is to decipher the impact AI will have and separate reality and potential from hype. This is the confusing part for most people, even those who are in IT. Today’s landscape is dominated by fast headlines largely designed to grab attention but provide little substance or meaningful analysis. Gone are the days when something new like a spreadsheet would cause no more than a ripple in the media.
I have said previously that I don’t particularly like the way the term AI is being applied to just about everything under the sun these days. Unfortunately, that is the generic term it has been branded with and we will no doubt be stuck with. So, for now, let’s stick that. I would suggest that largely lost in all the hype today is the fact that AI is merely the latest in a long line of tools that technology has provided us. It isn’t some magical cure all product, it is simply something that needs to be wielded to reach its potential and benefit.
I think another misnomer currently doing the rounds is that AI is for everyone and that if you don’t use it regularly, you are somehow not ‘modern’. I would suggest that, yes, AI will, and actually probably already is, used by most people, but they are not even aware of that fact. It is becoming more and more baked into the services they use everyday. I think is different and more akin to people using cars without necessarily fully understanding how they operate. For most, a car is simply a transportation tool that allows them to conveniently get from one location to another.
The current AI services that we seeing reaching market today are, I believe, largely benefit those that ‘create’ something. That is not to say those who ‘process’ information may also benefit but I believe that greater beneficiaries are those who ‘create’.
Without doubt, technology has already enabled a far greater army of ‘creators’ already. Just look to YouTube as enabler of careers that people have created just using the mechanism of video. Perhaps this is why AI is appealing to a greater audience that ever before. If you however look inside a business, AI is probably more going to benefit people who create financial report than those who do the account entry as an example.
I say all this in mind of Microsoft 365 Copilot and the recent price announcement from Microsoft of US$30 (probably AU$45) for the service. Many were surprised with that price point but I think they believed that this type of AI would be for ‘everyone’ in a business as conventional wisdom is suggesting. Instead, I would suggest, that, at least initially, Microsoft 365 Copilot is aimed at a much small population inside businesses.
This means that you should only think about Microsoft 365 Copilot as a tool for those who can benefit most from it, that is those who are largely creating information as I suggested. From my own experience as a creator, I can tell you that ChatGPT (I don’t have Microsoft 365 Copilot yet) make me far more productive. It allows me to create code. It allows me to generate content from course outlines to descriptions and marketing material. There is so many tasks that I have put it to that have saved me hours and hours. That is where the real benefit I believe lies in the here an now.
When Microsoft 365 Copilot becomes available, I will be investing in a license for myself in my business but I won’t be, at least initially, investing in it for others. Thanks to ChatGPT, I can already see the huge productivity benefits it provides as well as the ability to leverage resources that make my business more competitive and allows me to do more with less. However, AI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, etc is no a panacea by any means. Can a screwdriver be used as a hammer? Sure, but it really isn’t the best tool for the job? To benefit from a car not only do you have to invest in one, you need to invest in learning how to drive it. It is the same any tool, technology based or not. Maximum benefit is only derived in learning how to use it.
I have found that, unsurprisingly, most people and businesses have heard about AI but are yet to experiment with it. They don’t know where to start. Even when Microsoft 365 Copilot becomes available, that won’t change as many won’t investment initially being sceptical and seeing price as a barrier. My suggestion is that if you look at your business and can easily identify those that ‘create’ then they should be priority candidates for AI. If enhancing their productivity by saving them at least one hour a day in their work, then they are again a good candidate for AI. These people can get started today by using ChatGPT and then look a Microsoft 365 Copilot when it becomes available broadly.
As with any technology, there will be a learning curve. Likewise, there will be a first mover advantage for those that adopt early, which is the payoff for their early investment. The secret is looking beyond the hype and recognising that AI is simply another tool, like many that have come before and like than that will come in the future. In there here and now its benefits largely get over hyped by those who probably only have cursory experience with the technology. The good news here is that taking you can start using this latest tech tool for your business today. It won’t be for everyone in your business just yet, but I’d be pretty certain that it would benefit at least one person in your business right now. If AI can indeed save even a few hours every week for that person and make them more productive, then it is worth the investment.
In short, judge the benefits of AI as any other business tool. It is something for your business, just not everyone in your business right now.
All the news and announcements from Microsoft Inspire plus Azure AD getting renamed to Entra as well as some recent security news you should be across. Lots in this episode so listen along and let me know what you think.
CIAOPS 