Microsoft 365 Copilot is generally available this month, allowing users to take full advantage of its generative AI capabilities, and while the prospect of an AI-powered workspace is captivating organizations worldwide, one question remains: how can we prepare?
We spoke to Symity’s Digital Innovation Managing Consultant, Ross Parkman, to discuss the upcoming challenges of adopting Copilot at scale and how their Copilot Readiness Assessments can help organizations prepare.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Copilot utilizes Microsoft’s substantial investment in OpenAI, offering users a ChatGPT-driven personal assistant accessible through natural language interaction. Seamlessly integrating with familiar applications such as Teams, Word, and Excel, M365 Copilot is set to transform M365. The integration of Copilot for Teams, for instance, opens new horizons by introducing generative AI into phone calls, summarizing chat threads, and enhancing collaboration.
“Copilot and generative AI hold the potential for widescale business transformation; therefore, the preparation should be comprehensive, addressing not only the technical aspects but also ethical, legal, and cultural considerations to ensure responsible and successful adoption.”
5 Ways to Prepare for Microsoft M365 Copilot
With organizations now able to access Copilot, it is imperative for organizations to prepare proactively for its introduction. Symity’s Copilot Readiness Assessments provide a comprehensive framework for companies to ensure the successful adoption of this groundbreaking technology:
- Data Hygiene: Ensuring the data available to Copilot is well-curated.
As Copilot’s responses heavily rely on underlying data quality, the Symity Readiness Assessments review organizational data, existing data policies, and configurations and recommend best practices for managing your data lifecycle.
- Security and Compliance: Organizations must secure their Copilot data with embedded protocols.
Since Copilot operates within existing data access boundaries, organizations should review, update, and enforce robust security policies and permissions like Data Loss Protection (DLP) and Data Classification, using Microsoft Purview to prevent inadvertent data leaks surfaced by Copilot.
- Workflow Assessment: Identify processes ripe for AI automation.
Organizations can use Symity’s consultancy to evaluate current processes to identify areas where automation and AI assistance can enhance productivity. For instance, companies may wish to target repetitive, time-consuming, or error-prone tasks for automation to streamline operations.
- Employee Awareness: Changes in technology affect company culture.
Using new technology at work can be daunting for employees. When deploying AI to workplaces at scale, Symity strongly recommends the inclusion of an adoption and change program to familiarize employees with Copilot’s features and capabilities.
Ross Parkman from Symity says, “Effective messaging should reassure and encourage employees to embrace the technology by addressing any concerns and highlighting the benefits it brings to their daily work. That way, organizations can foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptability within the organization”.
- Monitoring and Optimization: Maximising your investment
Aftercare is often overlooked when companies introduce new technology. As part of the Copilot Readiness Assessment, Symity works with their customers to establish measures for the impact of Copilot, including reviewing user feedback, impacts on productivity, and regularly reassessing workflows to identify further optimization opportunities.
Symity’s Copilot Readiness Assessments
Positioning businesses to harness the full potential of AI, including Copilot, is essential in today’s dynamic landscape. Symity, with its profound understanding of the Microsoft ecosystem, offers consultancy and guidance for Copilot implementation. Their services include organizational readiness assessments, user profiling, security and compliance planning, data lifecycle assessments, training, and post-implementation monitoring and optimization.
M365 Copilot Readiness Assessments by Symity are available now.
