By Anna Donnelly / 3 Mar 2024 / Topics: Modern workplace Generative AI
To Insight’s credit, we saw this coming and responded to the market with our own take. (If you need proof, this article compares Copilot for Microsoft 365 to an astute nine-year-old.) I’ll admit that I was on the hype train for quite a while. Someone recently reminded me that I told them that the Copilot for Excel video was going to “blow their minds.” But then reality hit when we entered the Partner Early Access Program back in August 2023 and I got my hands on a license. Months ago, after my first interactions with Copilot for Microsoft 365, I would’ve said it’s not worth it. But time, experience with the product, and feedback from co-workers and clients have changed my mind.
First, we’ve seen exponential improvements in Copilot for Microsoft 365’s functionality over the last six months. I experienced issues with note taking in the early days of Copilot in Teams meetings. There were inaccuracies and fabricated assumptions. But within the last month, it’s been very accurate. It can even tell you the mood of the meeting with [creepy] precision.
Similar improvements have come to Copilot for Microsoft 365 Chat and Copilot in Outlook and Word (and to a certain extent PowerPoint), although its choices for design and graphics have room for improvement. Despite any shortcomings with Excel, given the weekly improvements that have been made to Copilot’s functionality, it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be writing another blog correcting my opinion of that too.
I’ve seen the impact that Copilot for Microsoft 365 has had on our clients and people within Insight — much to the surprise of technical audiences. Many in IT (me included) are naturally tough technology critics, frequently focusing on everything a product doesn’t do rather than its possibilities because this is our job. We evaluate, sell, support, and deploy and are impacted by technology in ways that highlight its shortcomings.
Now let’s consider that in most organisations, it’s IT that is evaluating, making decisions and purchasing technology that impacts end users on every level. The opinions about Copilot for Microsoft 365 are as lukewarm as they are in the WSJ article — technologists read it, formed a collective opinion and gravitated toward its shortcomings.
To drive this point home further, I’ve had at least one client a day talk to me about the WSJ article. Not one of them mentioned Lenovo’s good experiences or Dow’s investment in more licenses. Since Microsoft announced the removal of licensing purchase minimums, we’ve seen many IT organisations purchase only a handful of licenses for testing.
If you are in IT and are buying just a few licenses for evaluation, I’d like to say this loud and clear: You are not the primary audience for Copilot for Microsoft 365.
I’m not saying that IT shouldn’t evaluate it, but think about what it can do for roles throughout your organisation. If you are only going to test 10 licenses, give eight of them to the business. Give it to the project manager who is on calls all the time, or the person in marketing who can use it to write first drafts of copy, or the user who can apply a solution built in Copilot Studio to make answering customer inquiries easier.
If you bring Copilot for Microsoft 365 to your business, you might be as surprised as I have been by the feedback from end users, its use cases and more. Here at Insight, we’ve received feedback from end users like:
If your end users can find just $1 a day worth of time that they can be more productive because of Copilot for Microsoft 365, it is worth the investment.
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ROI and good end-user feedback do not exist in a vacuum. When we first received licenses at Insight, we didn’t undertake adoption activity beyond communications. It was only after we put a plan in place that we began to see adoption and receive positive feedback. Making Copilot “worth it” will take thoughtful planning with two main considerations:
Offerings and eligibility are continuously evolving and may have changed since the publish date of this content. Please reach out to our team with any questions.
Services Product Manager, Insight
Specializing in communications and collaboration technology with more than 10 years of experience in the Microsoft space, Anna strives to help organizations understand how modern workplace technology can positively impact their businesses and employees.
