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Microsoft today announced new updates to its Copilot AI assistant, specifically aimed at helping small businesses streamline operations and innovate. With these latest enhancements, Microsoft is positioning Copilot as a crucial tool for small businesses, helping them manage everything from data analysis to customer engagement more efficiently. Microsoft 365 Copilot’s wave two of innovations offers tools that allow businesses of all sizes to stand out in a competitive market.
In a survey conducted by Microsoft, businesses with up to 300 employees reported a 12% faster time to market for new products and services after adopting Copilot technologies. Companies such as ICG, a construction startup, and PKSHA, a software firm, have been utilizing Copilot to boost productivity and improve customer service by significantly reducing the time spent on routine tasks.
Key Enhancements to Microsoft Copilot for SMBs
Microsoft has made Copilot more accessible to users with a Microsoft Entra ID account, allowing small businesses to integrate AI into their daily operations. Copilot can be accessed via the Microsoft 365 app or Microsoft.com/copilot. Soon, users will be able to pin Copilot into Microsoft Teams and Outlook, making it even easier to use throughout the workday. Small businesses can ask Copilot to summarize industry trends or analyze competitor products, leveraging both internal company data and public information.
Business Chat (BizChat) is also being enhanced with Copilot. BizChat, which requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription, brings together data from across documents, presentations, emails, calendars, and more. By combining Microsoft Graph with web-based insights, BizChat can help users connect the dots between different sources of information, making it a powerful assistant for small businesses. Additionally, BizChat now features Copilot Pages, a collaborative canvas where users can edit, share, and work on AI-generated content in real-time.
Improved Data Analysis with Excel
Microsoft Excel is a widely-used tool for small businesses, and Copilot’s integration with Excel is now generally available. Copilot helps users analyze data in spreadsheets by providing actionable insights and visualizations such as charts and pivot tables. For more advanced tasks, Copilot in Excel with Python enables users to leverage Python’s analytic capabilities with natural language commands, making complex data analysis more approachable without requiring coding knowledge.
These enhancements allow small businesses to make informed decisions based on detailed, AI-generated insights, driving more effective business strategies.
Productivity Boosts in Microsoft Teams and Outlook
With the new features in Copilot for Teams, users can now ask questions that reference both meeting transcripts and chat messages, ensuring a complete understanding of important discussions. Additionally, Copilot in Outlook will soon feature Prioritize My Inbox, which will use AI to organize emails based on the user’s role and previous interactions, helping small business owners manage their time more effectively.
Enhanced PowerPoint Capabilities
Copilot in PowerPoint now features a new Narrative Builder, which allows users to generate professional presentations quickly. With this tool, users can ask Copilot to outline a presentation, adjust the structure, and then generate slides, using either company templates or custom-designed images.
Copilot Agents for Custom Business Workflows
Copilot agents are now generally available in BizChat, allowing small businesses to streamline business operations across various apps without switching between multiple tools. Using Copilot Studio, small businesses can build custom agents to reason over specific SharePoint sites or other third-party systems. These agents can be integrated into everyday workflows, allowing team members to easily access relevant information and automate routine tasks.
Getting Started with Microsoft Copilot
To start using Copilot, small businesses can access it in the Microsoft 365 app or through Microsoft.com/copilot with a Microsoft Entra ID account. For businesses looking to use Copilot across all Microsoft 365 apps, the service is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, or Premium subscriptions.
Image: Microsoft
