Microsoft Copilot Is Now Available to Everyone: What This Means for Your Business

Microsoft Copilot: AI built into your productivity suite

In November 2023, Microsoft announced the general availability of Microsoft 365 Copilot for business, integrating GPT-4-based AI capabilities directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.

What can Microsoft Copilot do?

• Word: Draft complete documents based on natural-language instructions, summarize texts, or improve existing writing.
• Excel: Analyze data, create complex formulas, and generate visualizations based on natural language queries.
• PowerPoint: Create complete presentations from a Word document or an outline.
• Outlook: summarizes long email threads, suggests replies, and helps you compose messages with the right tone.
• Teams: Take automatic notes during meetings, generate summaries, and create to-do lists.

Requirements for Using Copilot in Your Company

• Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, or Business Premium license.
• Additional Copilot license (available as an add-on).
• Microsoft Entra ID for identity management.

Security and Privacy Considerations

A crucial point: Copilot only accesses data that the user is already authorized to view. It does not create new access permissions or elevate existing ones. However, it can amplify the impact of existing issues related to excessive permissions, so it is advisable to review access permissions before deploying Copilot.

Implications for IT Departments

The arrival of Copilot presents both an opportunity and a challenge: it reduces the time spent on administrative tasks, but it also requires user training and a review of policies regarding access to sensitive data.

How can Keptos help?

We support companies in adopting new Microsoft technologies, from license planning to pre-deployment security reviews. Check out our IT Audit service.