So much has been written about Microsoft Copilot already, but how are people actually using it in real life?
We asked experts within our business how they use Copilot for their daily jobs, as well as how customers are using it. And what security considerations do you have to keep in mind before implementing it?
Here’s what they have to say!
Summarising meetings in Microsoft Teams
Simon Du Plessis, Commercial Director of Twisted Fish IT, a CloudClevr company, works closely with our customers on Copilot implementation. According to Simon, one of the most important use cases that everyone finds useful and that customers are keen to explore is Copilot in Microsoft Teams.
“Copilot is an absolute time saver by automatically recording meeting minutes, discussion points, and action items, and creating summaries. You can be present in the conversation while Copilot takes care of this admin task for you. Regardless of the role, we see this as a huge driver for Copilot adoption among our customers.”
For sales teams, especially those interacting with 10-15 different businesses daily and having multiple meetings, it’s hard to keep track of conversations and remember every detail.
“Personally, that’s true for me as well. I prepare for monthly meetings with my clients by reviewing what was discussed previously using Copilot and ensuring that all action items have been completed”.
“Being able to send meeting notes just 10 minutes after the meeting without wasting time or trying to decipher my own handwriting is a huge benefit”, says Simon.
Writing documents
Another way our experts use it is for content creation. For example, our marketing team uses this to draft a rough outline based on discussions with subject matter experts. Or ask Copilot to create a first draft, which can then be tweaked to adjust the language, tone and flow. This is especially helpful when you’re unsure what to create, ask Copilot to put a skeleton together based on your idea and then expand on it.
Summarisation in general is something Copilot is really good at. Whether it’s meetings or large contract documents. If you need to shorten a 3-4 page document down to 2 pages, Copilot is very useful.
While long-form content creation is not yet Copilot’s strong suit, it does pretty well in creating short copy like one-pagers, and headlines.
Data analysis
Before AI, we relied heavily on Excel sheets to crunch numbers. But you still needed to know what formulas to use. With Copilot in Excel, you can just ask to perform tasks in natural language, even if you are not an Excel expert. And if you are an expert, it just saves you a lot of time.
Karan Sharma, RevOps Manager at CloudClevr, shares his experience “AI has been a real help with basic data crunching tasks. I use it to calculate averages, summarise data, and create simple visualisations without writing formulas and it’s much faster”
“I also use it to streamline my project by merging different types of files, like Word documents, PDFs, and Excel sheets into one cohesive report. The time saved is extremely valuable as it allows me to spend time extracting meaningful insights from the data rather than creating the report”. Karan explains.
Using Copilot in the context of your work
How Copilot differs from other AI services is how you can use it within the context of your work, across the apps you use daily. Copilot will have access to all your OneDrive and SharePoint documents and can answer your questions by pulling data together from these sources.
For example, use Copilot in Teams to summarise a meeting you’ve had with a subject matter expert on a technical topic. Then take that summary and ask Copilot in Word to create an outline for a blog post.
Ask Copilot in Word to refer to a previously created Statement of Work saved in your SharePoint and use relevant content from there in the blog. If you then want to turn this content into a ppt, ask Copilot in PowerPoint to do so. This is how you can fully leverage Copilot by using it across different Microsoft services.
This is true only if you purchase a license, without that, you’re essentially using it just like a public AI service like ChatGPT (but with added security benefits). That’s why a Copilot license is necessary to fully unlock what the product can offer.
Does it mean it’s perfect?
Absolutely not. By no means Copilot is perfect and you still need human oversight to verify the content, prompt and get the right input. It’s called ‘co-pilot for a reason. It’s an AI assistant and not meant to fully do your job.
You may not get the perfect results on your first try, so user training and adoption are crucial. There are numerous Copilot tutorials available from Microsoft which are useful in learning how to use the product effectively.
Identify champions within your business who are proficient with Copilot and can advocate for its use across the business.
Not to forget data security considerations
How do you ensure people don’t prompt and access confidential and sensitive data using Copilot? Many tend to overlook this aspect but is absolutely crucial to ensure you have the right guardrails in place before implementing it.
Copilot has access to everything you keep in your Microsoft 365 tenant. If your tenant security is not set up correctly, the default setting might allow documents to be shared with everyone within your business.
For instance, finance and HR teams work with sensitive data such as salary information, which shouldn’t be accessible to unauthorised individuals.
As part of implementing Copilot, do a review of all the security measures and permissions across an organisation, particularly on SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams sites and channels and look at sensitive information, like finance and HR files. Understand who has access to what and apply restrictions using sensitivity labels and access policies. This isn’t just a best practice for Copilot; it’s a fundamental aspect of good security management.
Simon explains the process we follow for customers. “For our customers, this is what we do. We ensure data security is in place first and implement Microsoft Intune across all of their devices so that the company data is only accessible from devices that are owned and or controlled by the organisation.
This means that Copilot is only accessible from a device that complies with their security standards. So, if I work from a personal device, for example, it will check if my device is up to date, has antivirus and is password-protected.
Also, I can’t save any data company data locally to that device. I can only save it back to SharePoint and OneDrive.”
It’s also important to prevent the misuse of Copilot such as using it to prompt terms related to racial abuse, threats, or violence. You can implement measures to restrict such terms or generate alerts if sensitive terms are used. This governance layer is essential when implementing and using Copilot responsibly.
If you are thinking of implementing Copilot for your business, we can help you ensure you have the right security policies in place. Get in touch with us today to learn more about the use cases, implement the right guardrails and seamlessly integrate Copilot into your workflow!
