TRENDING
The most important ingredient for the successful integration of Copilot is the data . It has to be clean , structured and in the cloud . Copilot cannot access data that is not in the cloud which means companies will only feel the benefit of the technology if they have already embarked on a cloud-ready strategy .
Companies need to know where their data is sitting , who can access that data , and how this will be managed within the Copilot environment . Managing and cleaning the data needs to be a priority as companies need established data and security protocols to ensure user access to information is contained .
IT needs visibility into which users can access which parts of the system using the Copilot functionality to ensure security and data privacy remain a priority .
Heath Huxtable , Executive Head , Braintree
The next level of Copilot is available within companies that have a corporate account or Office 365 licence and an active directory account . It is indicated by the Pre-Copilot icon on the desktop and comes with several layers of data protection . Finally , there is the subscription model of Copilot that costs $ 30 per user per month and that grants comprehensive access to everything within the Copilot ecosystem from Outlook to Office to everything else in between .
And this is where companies should pause before clicking the Subscribe button . Implementing Microsoft Copilot should follow a steady , incremental approach that allows time for the business to answer crucial questions about infrastructure , strategy and user readiness .
Accessing , using and optimising Copilot also hinges on the data layer being connected to the Microsoft Graph . If this is not set up correctly , Copilot does not know where to go for information and will essentially be just an expensive AI assistant sitting on the desktop .
It can pull data from Word documents and information on the desktop , but it will not be capable of providing in-depth analysis , offering perhaps 10 % of the true extent of the technology .
However , if the i ’ s are dotted and the t ’ s are crossed , Copilot can deliver a return on its initial investment , both in time and money .
The $ 30 per user per month price tag is not cheap , but the hours returned to the business in terms of administration reductions , improved data visibility , enhanced productivity and streamlined collaboration more than add up to a measurable ROI .
Companies need to consider the journey , how will Copilot best be leveraged within the business , how can it be optimised within different silos and departments , what are the areas that would benefit most from the technology and their data , how clean is the data , how accessible is it , how can it be fully leveraged by the Copilot functionality ?
Currently it is available on
75 million Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems and this is only set to grow as more companies adopt the technology .
Copilot is capable of sifting through vast quantities of data to answer core business questions , speed up access to information , find threads and patterns , and identify ways of optimising business processes .
It is worth the time taken to unpick the data layers within the business and embed the right levels of security . A Copilot questionnaire should be developed to take customers on a journey through their business , unpacking their data locations , their licensing modules , the number of employees requiring access to Copilot , and their level of access .
With this project-led approach , companies can fully realise the potential of Copilot , creating an environment agile enough to enhance data access and evolve with this technology . p
20 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com