Need to Know podcast–Episode 313

The big news is that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available in SMB. There are also some additional Copilot options available as well. I cover all this plus provide some information around getting Copilot on your desktop apps as well as other news and updates from the Microsoft Cloud. Tune in and catch up.

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-313-copilot-amongst-us/

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https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

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Bringing the full power of Copilot to more people and businesses

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 Copilot video play list

Copilot for Microsoft 365 for small and medium businesses

Introducing Microsoft Copilot App

Introducing Copilot Pro: Supercharge your Creativity and Productivity

Microsoft’s new Copilot Pro brings AI-powered Office features to the rest of us

Adding Copilot button to desktop applications

Set up Microsoft 365 backup

Microsoft Entra’s Top 50 Features of 2023

Protect faster with Microsoft Defender XDR’s latest UX enhancements

New Microsoft Incident Response guides help security teams analyze suspicious activity

Introducing SharePoint Premium for Information Workers

Employee quick setup

Introducing the new PowerShell Module for Microsoft Defender for Identity

Visualize Entra Sign-in Logs using an Interactive Map

Train your users to be more resilient against QR code phishing

Introducing Automatic File and URL (Detonation) Analysis

Adding Copilot button to desktop applications

Microsoft has just made Copilot for Microsoft 365 available for SMB customers:

Bringing the full power of Copilot to more people and businesses

So I went and signed up to get a look. Bottom line at the moment is that, yes you can buy a single license for a tenant with Business Premium but you need to pay for 12 months up front. Here in Australia than means around $600 inc GST upfront for a minimum 12 months. I have no doubt that I will get value but as yet there is no month by month option.

When I open my Microsoft 365 portal now I see a new Copilot icon as shown on the left.

When I select that icon, I am taken to a ChatGPT like screen as shown above that allows me to interact with my data in Microsoft 365 as expected.

If I open Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc on the web I see a Copilot button in the ribbon as shown above.

However, I can’t see the expected Copilot button in any of desktop applications, like Word shown above.

This video from MVP Shane Young:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KROOEdZXvoY

provided all the answers.

To see the Copilot button in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote (but not Outlook or Teams) you need to

go into each application individually (yes all of them one by one at this stage). Select File from the menu.

Then select Account from the option on the left.

On the right, I’d suggest that ensure your application is up to date first by selecting the Update Options button as shown above.

Now select the the Update License button as shown.

You’ll see the above dialog appear. Select Sign in and sign in using the account that has been assigned a Copilot for Microsoft 365 License.

You should see the above message indicating the process is complete. Select Close.

Now, Close and re-open the application.

Now the Copilot button should be visible and because this is Word you will also see the Draft with Copilot dialog as shown above confirming everything is enabled.

Remember, you’ll need to do this individually for each desktop application: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote following the same process.

Things are bit different for Outlook and Teams.

For Outlook you’ll need to switch over to the New Outlook by toggling the option in the top right corner of Outlook on the desktop as shown above.

As for Teams, you’ll just need to Sign Out and then Sign in with the account that has Copilot assigned.

you can also add the Copilot app on the left menu bar.

which will allow you access to the original ChatGPT style interface:

Don’t forget you can pin this ‘app’ to menu bar as well by right clicking on it.

All this an it is only day one with Copilot for Microsoft 365. Much to come. Stay tuned.

CIAOPS Need to Know Microsoft 365 Webinar – December

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:

December Webinar Registrations

(If you are having issues with the above link copy and paste – https://bit.ly/n2k2312

The details are:

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:

http://www.ciaopspatron.com

or purchase them individually at:

http://www.ciaopsacademy.com/

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.

Copilot appearance for SMB will require patience

man waiting patiently and not rushin

Microsoft has announced that Copilot will be available on November the 1st 2023. Unfortunately, Microsoft is only targeting the initial release at enterprises as revealed in a document titled:

Microsoft 365 Copilot General Availability FAQ for partners. In essence it says:

Availability will be worldwide, in the public clouds, and customers will be able to transact via the EA/EAS/MCA-E channels.

the document also addresses the question:

Why are we not making the SKU available in Direct and CSP channels?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an amazing new technology, but we are all learning together. To ensure
a smooth integration process, we’ve decided to start by introducing it to our Enterprise and
SMC-Corporate customers via EA/EAS/MCA-E.

there will also be minimum purchase requirements, also highlighted in the document:

Is there a minimum number of seats customers should buy?

Yes, customers must buy at least 300 seats of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

It is disappointing to see many claim, even some well respected identities in the SMB space, that Microsoft is not delivering Copilot to SMB. The reality is that the SMB space has always had to wait for technologies to trickle down and Copilot will be no different.

As I understand it, Copilot and AI in general, places a lot more load on the back end servers and much of this cannot be cached like normal searching can. Also, Microsoft doesn’t have a true indication of the load users will place on cloud infrastructure when it starts to be used in production. They therefore want to bring this load on in a controlled manner to avoid failure, which would not be good or profitable for a new service like Copilot.

Thus, there are many technical and business reasons for limiting the roll out of Copilot to the customers. There is significant demand in all areas for the technology but it needs to both prove itself and pay its way before it is widely adopted. That means that those in SMB are going to wait a little longer before it becomes available as a direct purchase. It does not mean that Microsoft won’t be delivering to all audiences, it just means people will need to be patient.

I would point you back to the features that have been added to Microsoft Business premium over time. At release of this product it didn’t include technologies like Entra ID P1 or Defender for Business. However, they did come to the product. Perhaps they didn’t arrive as soon as people would have liked but they did arrive and we are reaping the benefits today.

There is no doubt that the demand for Copilot is significant. There is no doubt that will will benefit the SMB market. However, it is incorrect to say Copilot will not be available for the SMB market. It will just require a little patience for it to become available, which to be honest is probably a good thing to let others work the kinks out.