Modern Work: Microsoft 365 Copilot Updates from Build (Non-Developer Focused)

Microsoft announced several new features at Build in addition to being developer-focused, and keeping track of all the updates can be challenging.

Therefore, I have highlighted the major announcements under Modern Work that are not too developer-focused. This article provides to best of my effort an overview of the major announcements.

Team Copilot

Many of us have extensively used Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams. Based on what I actively monitor and adoption projects I run, it is the most widely used and rapidly adopted feature. The new Team Copilot goes beyond being just an assistant; it acts as a "team colleague", participating in meetings, ensuring agendas are followed, and keeping track of time. It takes notes, allows real-time edits, and tracks important issues and action items, ensuring efficient meeting management.

Additionally, Team Copilot now includes a project manager that assigns and creates tasks, notifies colleagues, and tracks deadlines. This feature is currently not available but will enter preview later this year (possibly public preview announced during Ignite?).

Read more from Microsoft's official blog post here.

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Copilot in SharePoint

Jeff Teper mentioned this during his keynote on collaboration in Copilot. You can watch his demo starting at 01:10:14 in the official opening Ignite Keynote here. SharePoint has become more interesting with the introduction of Microsoft Syntex, renamed SharePoint Premium under Ignite 2023. Now, custom Copilots can be created from SharePoint documents, making it easier to find and manage information.

To create a Copilot from selected documents, simply group the documents, click “Create Copilot,” name it, describe it, and save. You can share this Copilot directly in for example Teams. For advanced customization, such as integrating SAP data, one can use the Copilot Studio integration.

Read more about Copilot in SharePoint here.

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Copilot Studio & Extensions

Over the past six months, connectors and extensions in Copilot Studio have been somewhat confusing and limited. At Build 2024, Microsoft announced new capabilities that enable the creation of Copilots acting like agents to run business processes, integrate data, and publish new extensions.

New Capabilities:

• Copilot Agents: Now in Early Access, these agents manage tasks, automate processes.
• Copilot Connectors: In preview, these integrate Microsoft Graph, Power Platform connectors, AI skills in Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft Dataverse, simplifying the connection of Copilots to business data.
• Copilot Extensions: In private preview, these can be published to Microsoft 365 and Teams, allowing developers to customize Copilots with data and actions, providing a personalized experience.
• Conversational Analytics: In preview, offering insights into user engagement with custom Copilots.
• Conversational Design Experience: In preview, simplifying the development and configuration of Copilots through natural interaction.
• Templates: In preview, helping users build Copilots faster with pre-built templates for tasks like IT helpdesk, order tracking, and travel assistance.

I tested these updates and was able to create a new Copilot in Copilot Studio, with capabilities for our IT Help Desk team, in under a minute with zero coding. It was ready for testing and publishing.

If I missed anything, please comment below!

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