Is Copilot a game changer for knowledge management?

By now, you might be familiar with CoPilot, Microsoft’s AI chatbot, especially if you use Edge as your internet browser and Bing as your search engine. However, you may not know that at the end of 2023, Microsoft began rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot (Copilot 365) to companies within the 365 ecosystem. This service comes with an additional charge of about $30 per user per month and is proving to be a powerful productivity tool and a significant enhancement for knowledge management.

At a high level, Copilot 365 integrates AI capabilities into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 applications. These integrations allow you to craft emails, documents, or presentations using chat prompts. Additionally, the license includes a stand-alone chatbot available in the Office App or Teams App.

Since Copilot 365 operates within your company’s tenant, it searches your Microsoft 365 tenant to respond to prompts, including files and emails. This makes it a powerful tool for enhancing your knowledge management strategy. Let me share a personal example.

When we licensed a pilot group for Copilot, someone asked me about historical work done within a specific industry/client type. I knew we had done the work but couldn’t remember the details of an engagement from five years ago. So, I turned to my Copilot prompt for help.

My prompt looked something like this:

PROMPT: As an account manager, write a case study on a <my company's name> engagement in the healthcare sector where an enterprise customer communication management solution was implemented. For each engagement, state the client’s name, the state of the client’s environment before the engagement, the approach taken, and the final outcome for the client. Focus on the business value generated for the client. Provide the names of the staff who worked on the engagement.

Copilot searched through emails, project documents, and presentations to generate the following response:

RESPONSE: One engagement was identified.

Client: <client’s name>

Before Engagement: <Client’s name> faced regulatory challenges regarding customer communication, with several audit findings that needed resolution. Each department handled communication differently, leading to inconsistencies. Not resolving these issues posed potential financial and reputational risks.

Approach: We collaborated with the client to determine the need for an enterprise capability. We managed an RFP process to find the best solution, designed integration points, implemented the selected system, and established processes to support a centralized communication approach.

Post Engagement: <Client’s name> was able to remediate audit findings and associated risks, improve their ability to respond to regulatory changes, and achieve consistency in customer communication.

Team Members: <list of people involved>

The response also included links to the documents and emails used to compile it.

This response was spot-on! I didn’t have to change much before sharing it with the person who asked, and it exceeded their expectations due to the comprehensive information provided. I also verified a couple of points by checking the links to the supporting documentation.

Things to consider

Before you get too excited and license Copilot for your entire organization, let me share that my next use case had a directionally correct response but contained some errors. Why? The AI used non-final versions of documents. Refer to my previous post for tips on controlling content in SharePoint to potentially improve responses.

Another consideration is that your results are constrained by your access permissions. Copilot will only search through emails and files you have access to, so your results may vary significantly from your colleagues using the same prompt.

Lastly, rolling out Copilot requires strategy and planning. It doesn’t make sense to provide licensing for individuals who do not have a use case or will use it infrequently. You also need to ensure your unstructured data is well-managed. I recommend finding an advisor to help you develop this strategy. While Copilot can be assistive, it does not replace the work required for a sound knowledge management program.

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