Copilot for Microsoft 365: The First 100 Days

Introduction

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a revolutionary productivity tool that uses the power of generative AI and natural language processing to boost user creativity and efficiency. It was launched in January 2024 in the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program, making it available to customers of all sizes and industries. In this article, I'll look back on the first 100 days of Copilot for Microsoft 365, highlighting the opportunity for partners and some examples of use cases for small business alongside my own experiences around the platform.

Opportunity for Partners

As a Microsoft Indirect Provider, we have been working closely with partners to help them accelerate the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365 for both their own organisations and for their customers.

We have over 300 Copilot-certified specialists working locally to support channel partners to build out their Copilot practices and service. Our teams have been providing partners with a dedicated program of enablement, including webinars, training, and live events, to help them unlock the potential of Copilot for Microsoft 365. By leveraging Copilot for Microsoft 365, partners can offer value-added services, such as security, compliance, and productivity, to their customers and drive new revenue streams.

We have seen a lot of partners building out Copilot Adoption services to really support their customers to make the most of the technology. But it is not only the service for Copilot where we have seen a surge in demand but also around security managed services that are now even more essential for customers. Projects that would previously have been lower priority around data classification and migration are suddenly top priority for customers to ensure they can make the most of Generative AI for their businesses. This is providing a huge opportunity for partners to accelerate their existing offerings and to provide new ones for their customers.

The first step to selling Copilot for Microsoft 365 is really to use the technology in your own organisation. We licenced all our Microsoft sales and presales teams on the platform to ensure they had first hand experience of the impact it can make. We surveyed the users weekly and learned a huge amount from our own experience that now helps us to support our partners in their journey.

Use Cases for Small Business

I continue to be impressed by the fact this technology is available to organisations of all sizes. Copilot for Microsoft 365 can help small businesses transform their workflows and achieve more with less time and effort. Copilot can be accessed through natural language prompts across all Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and Loop. Copilot can also access the Microsoft Graph and the internet to provide relevant and up-to-date information and insights. Here are some examples of how Copilot can assist small businesses in different functions:

·??????? Sales: Copilot can help sales teams create better sales presentations, proposals, and emails, based on the customer's needs, preferences, and data. Copilot can also generate questions for discovery sessions, summarize meeting notes, and find the asks in emails.

·??????? Marketing: Copilot can help marketing teams create engaging and effective marketing campaigns, based on market research, trends, and segments. Copilot can also generate promotion plans, pitch decks, promotional emails, and social media posts. You can even use it to help write articles like this one! (Started by Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word using PowerPoint and Word documents!)

·??????? HR: Copilot can help HR teams create job descriptions, interview questions, and offer letters, based on the role requirements and the company policies. Copilot can also discover qualified candidates, conduct interviews, and create onboarding materials.

I was speaking with some of the Microsoft team a few weeks ago and they had an interesting take on Microsoft 365 Copilot that really resonated with me. They said that the key to success with Copilot was really around supporting users to make the most of the tools and technology they already had access to. Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc are all very powerful products but many of us only use a fraction of what they're capable of. Copilot has the ability to change that by surfacing the features users need in a natural and conversational way.

My Experience with Microsoft 365 Copilot

One of the key things I have taken away from conversations with our own teams and with partners around Copilot is how personal the experience with the platform is. Each person I spoke with had their own "aha" moment where they really started to see the benefits the platform can bring to them.

For me this comes through Teams meetings where I spend a lot of my day. Being able to catch up on calls, access summaries, view actions and even understand the sentiment of the conversation has been a game changer. This has really allowed me to be more present in my meetings while also having far better documentation around my calls that wouldn't be possible for me otherwise.

The other area that has really surprised me is the integration into Microsoft Word. For this article I provided Copilot with a brief summary of what I wanted to discuss, a PowerPoint from a recent webinar I ran on Copilot and a Word document of our recent press release and within seconds I had a full article ready for me to adapt.

The other key takeaway I have had over the past 100 days is really around how rapidly the technology is evolving. There are things that I tried when I first got my licence that have now significantly improved in a very short space of time. The innovation and drive behind Microsoft 365 Copilot is incredible to see so my other advice to our teams is to keep trying things you have tried before because the outcome can change rapidly!

Conclusion

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a game-changing productivity tool that can help users achieve more in less time and with less effort. In the first 100 days of its launch, Copilot for Microsoft 365 has seen strong momentum with channel partners and customers, especially in the small business segment. Arrow has been a leading partner in enabling and supporting the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365, offering a range of value-added services and resources. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is the future of work, and we invite you to join us in this journey.