In today's fast-paced business environment, integrating AI-driven tools into everyday workflows is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. This blog is a continuation of my first blog, "Unlocking the Full Potential of Microsoft Modern Work Copilot: A Guide to Extending its Functionality," and includes updated capabilities and use cases based on new releases announced at Microsoft Build.
Author: Amber Bahl
CEO @ Cyclotron
Microsoft Copilot, powered by advanced AI capabilities, has been transforming the way professionals work by providing intelligent assistance across various applications. Now, Microsoft is unifying all Microsoft Copilot extensibility concepts, including plugins and connectors, into a single construct called Copilot extensions.
Copilot extensions will enhance Microsoft Copilot by enabling new actions and customized knowledge for grounding within Copilot, providing users with a Copilot experience that is tailored with the data, systems and workflows they use every day. Additionally, developers will be able to create Copilot extensions with Microsoft Copilot Studio or by using Microsoft Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code.
With the breadth of capabilities in Copilot Extensions, both licensed and non-licensed users can now leverage Copilot's features to enhance their productivity and streamline their tasks. Here’s how your teams can make the most out of Copilot regardless of their licensing status, navigate the complexities of low code and pro code integration, and explore the interface options available.
For Licensed Users
Licensed users have full access to all of Copilot’s features, making it easier to integrate and utilize its capabilities across Microsoft applications. Here are some examples of how your licensed users can maximize its potential with these apps:
Deep Integration with Microsoft 365 Applications:
Word and Excel: Use Copilot to generate content, automate repetitive tasks, and provide real-time insights. For instance, Copilot can help draft documents, create reports, or analyze data trends in seconds.
PowerPoint: Enhance your presentations by allowing Copilot to suggest layouts, create slides from bullet points, and even generate visual elements based on your content.
Customization and Automation:
Power Automate: Create custom workflows that integrate Copilot’s intelligence into your daily tasks. Automate approvals, notifications, and data collection processes, making your workflow more efficient.
Power Apps: Build custom apps that leverage Copilot’s AI capabilities to provide users with smart suggestions and automated responses, enhancing the functionality of your applications.
Enhanced Collaboration:
Teams: Utilize Copilot in Microsoft Teams to automate meeting notes, schedule follow-ups, and provide instant summaries of conversations, ensuring that everyone stays on the same page.
For Non-Licensed Users
Non-licensed users can still benefit from Copilot’s extensibility through limited integrations and collaborative features:
Web-based Access:
Even without a full license, you can access Copilot’s basic functionalities through Office for the Web. This includes creating and editing documents with AI-driven suggestions and automation to increase creativity and improve productivity.
Collaborating on Shared Documents:
Copilot’s features can assist in providing intelligent suggestions and edits, even if you don’t have a full license yourself. The ability for unlicensed users to collaborate on documents shared by licensed users ensures that everyone can contribute effectively to projects without missing out on AI-driven enhancements.
Third-party Integrations:
Utilizing third-party applications and tools that support Copilot’s APIs allows you to integrate AI functionalities into non-Microsoft applications, providing a seamless experience across different platforms for licensed and unlicensed users alike.
Navigating the Complexity of Low Code and Pro Code Integration
One of the significant advantages of Copilot is its ability to cater to both low code and pro code environments, enabling users of varying technical expertise to integrate AI into their workflows effectively.
Low Code Solutions:
Accessibility: Low code platforms like Power Apps allow users with minimal coding experience to create robust applications. Copilot enhances these platforms by providing AI-driven insights and automations, making it easier for users to build and maintain applications.
Customization: With low code, users can quickly adapt to changing business needs by modifying workflows and applications on the fly. Copilot's AI capabilities further simplify this process by suggesting improvements and automating routine tasks.
Pro Code Solutions:
Advanced Customization: For developers and IT professionals, Copilot offers extensive APIs and integration points that can be leveraged to build highly customized solutions. This includes developing complex workflows, integrating with other systems, and creating bespoke applications to meet specific business requirements.
Enhanced Efficiency: Pro code users can benefit from Copilot’s ability to automate repetitive coding tasks, provide code suggestions, and even generate code snippets. This not only speeds up the development process but also helps in maintaining high coding standards.
Exploring Interface Options
Copilot provides various interface options to ensure seamless integration and ease of use across different platforms and user needs:
Microsoft 365 Apps:
In-App Integration: Copilot is embedded directly within Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. This allows users to access AI-driven features without leaving their familiar work environment, enhancing productivity and user experience.
API Access:
Custom Applications: Developers can integrate Copilot’s functionalities into their custom applications using the available APIs. This flexibility allows businesses to tailor the AI capabilities to specific use cases, ensuring a more targeted and effective implementation.
Web Interface:
Office for the Web: Copilot’s web interface provides access to its features through Office for the Web, ensuring that users can benefit from AI-driven assistance even if they do not have the desktop applications installed. This is particularly useful for non-licensed users or those working remotely.
Mobile Applications:
On-the-Go Productivity: Copilot’s integration with Microsoft’s mobile apps ensures that users can access AI capabilities on their smartphones and tablets. This enablesusers to manage their tasks and collaborate effectively from anywhere.
Advanced Integration Options
SharePoint Integration:
SharePoint Online Integration - Create a new custom Copilot from SharePoint sites and document library, where the knowledge originates.SharePoint Embedded Integration – Build a new custom app for enterprise or SaaS solution and include your own Copilot in this custom application, with built-in support.
Azure OpenAI:
By leveraging Azure OpenAI, businesses can enhance Copilot’s capabilities with powerful multimodel, multimodal and multiagent. This allows for more advanced natural language processing and understanding, enabling more sophisticated interactions and automation.
Custom Engine Copilot:
Custom engine copilots leverage LLM technology at their core that allows them to easily understand and respond to user queries, creating dynamic and immersive interactions. Custom engine copilots also offer advanced functionalities such as UI manipulation, task execution, and content creation, making them indispensable tools for streamlining workflows and boosting productivity.
Declarative Copilots:
Building a declarative copilot allows you to craft your own copilot by declaring instructions, actions and knowledge to customize Copilot for Microsoft 365. Declarative copilots run on the same orchestrator, foundation models and trusted AI services that power Microsoft Copilot. By tailoring Microsoft Copilot for your business purposes, declarative copilots facilitate smoother collaboration, increased productivity, and streamlined workflows. With declarative copilots, you can establish consistent, personalized experiences and automate intricate processes, ranging from team onboarding to resolving customer issues efficiently.
Semantic Kernel & AI Agents:
Semantic Kernel is an open-source SDK that lets you easily build agents that can call your existing code. As a highly extensible SDK, you can use Semantic Kernel with models from OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Hugging Face, and more! By combining your existing C#, Python, and Java code with these models, you can build agents that answer questions and automate processes.
M365 Native Stack - Messaging Extension:
Integrate Copilot with Microsoft Teams through messaging extensions, allowing users to invoke AI functionalities directly within their chat and collaboration environment. This facilitates quick access to Copilot’s capabilities without disrupting the workflow.
Graph Connector:
Utilizing Microsoft Graph connectors to integrate Copilot with various data sources and services enables Copilot to access and utilize data from across the organization, providing more comprehensive insights and automations.
Ensuring Success
For licensed and non-licensed users, integrating Copilot into daily workflows is the most essential component of a successful Copilot strategy. Here are some steps to help users get started:
Share useful resources/documentation: Support your users by sharing Microsoft’s official documentation on Copilot’s features and capabilities.
Encourage teams to join the community: Recommend participating in Microsoft’s user communities to gain insights ands hare experiences with other users.
Promote experimentation and customization: Foster an environment where your licensed and non-licensed users can try out different integrations and customizations to see what works best for their specific needs.
By embracing Copilot’s extensibility, both licensed and non-licensed users can significantly enhance their productivity, streamline their workflows, and collaborate more effectively. Navigating the complexities of low code and pro code integration with Copilot ensures that you can leverage AI to its fullest potential, regardless of your technical expertise. As AI continues to evolve, integrating tools like Copilot into your daily tasks will become increasingly essential, ensuring that you stay ahead in the ever-changing landscape of modern work.
With the surge in demand for Copilot extensibility, Cyclotron has launched specific Go to Market offers around Copilot Extensions. We work with enterprise clients to ensure they are equipped to handle all scenarios, including when to use what, enterprise-level governance, and security configurations. For more information check https://cyclotron.com
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