With Copilot by your side

*Cover image created by Bing ChatGPT

You know that feeling of excitement and anticipation we had when we were kids waiting for a friend to come over for playtime, or waking up early for Christmas, or the first early summer morning when you could run barefoot in the fields, or any other happy-excitement moment you remember? I feel like that these days thinking about the Microsoft Copilot. It is super exciting and mind-blowing, not necessarily just the tool itself, which IS uber cool. What excites me most is the effect it can have on us all; on human kind, on education, of how we work, on how we live and ultimately how we take care of our world. My hope, and passion, is that when we all get more digitally and empathetically educated, skilled and with the help of smart tech, we can make the world a better place, with all of us and for all of us. 💖

There’s so much to tell about Microsoft Copilot, let’s start with a few regular frustrations that I hear about, that people experience in their every day work life and let’s have a look at how Microsoft Copilot can help with this. I asked Bing ChatGPT which frustrations most people faces at work and how Microsoft Copilot could help with these:

😤Repetitive tasks

Copilot can help automate repetitive tasks such as data entry and scheduling meetings.

😤Lack of organization

Copilot can help organize your work by prioritizing tasks and setting reminders.

😤Inefficient communication

Copilot can help improve communication by summarizing long emails and providing real-time language translation1.

😤Lack of personalization

Copilot can help personalize your work experience by providing personalized recommendations for training and development opportunities.

😤Inability to focus

Copilot can help you focus by blocking out distractions and providing reminders to take breaks.

Prepare for Copilot🚀, remove 😤frustrations and get a happier life 🤩!

You’ve heard about Copilot already? Have you gotten quite the experience with ChatGPT? Perhaps your organization 🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏽‍♂️🦸🏽is ready for Copilot and you’re good to go. What if you are not? You’re not going to implement Copilot anyway?

OK, whether you choose to use Microsoft Copilot or not, technology updates are not going to stop. ChatGPT and OpenAI is already here, and those companies who are sooner to utilize the new technology and prepare their organization for the future, will do better.

The wheels of the world is churning and it goes faster, and the technology machine is moving continuously. Instead of burying your head in the sand and waiting for it to pass, or using your energy and effort to fight it, work with it, and do your employees and your company a favour; learn it and use it.

⏱️You still have time to prepare your organization – technology such as Microsoft Copilot will be generally available some time between 6-12 months from now (my guessing). This gives you time to prepare your organization.

❗Still, there is no better time than NOW to start ❗

✨✨✨🚀

💡If you have implemented Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva or considering it, here’s a few things you can do.

What can you do?

👉🏽Do what we have been talking about for years:

• Take ownership of your information and knowledge assets in your organization. Define what your information and knowledge assets are and define ownership, and set a plan to govern this. 💡Tip! Use a RACI model to help you in this process (and feel free to contact me if you want help with this).
  • Read more about Microsoft 365 Governance here:
    • The Microsoft 365 Maturity Model – Governance, Risk, and Compliance Competency | Microsoft Learn
    • A collaboration governance framework for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
    • Governance, risk, and compliance overview – Microsoft Service Assurance | Microsoft Learn
    • ✨And from my excellent colleague Nikki Chapple’s blog: How to use Microsoft 365 Retention Policies and Labels (nikkichapple.com)
    • How do we best govern AI? – Microsoft On the Issues
• Teach your employees to work smarter in digital tools such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva. Read my blogs on how to empower your employees:
  • Your people – hearts to guard
  • Bring Learning to the front with Microsoft Viva Learning
  • Empower your people and your company with Microsoft Learning Pathway and Microsoft Viva
  • ✨and my brilliant colleague Lesley Crook’s blog: Viva origami. Making the complex, simple. – MVP, Lesley Crook is a Viva Visionary
• Invest in a Champion network that can stay up to date on tech and help support and change the way you work in your organization. Check out Microsoft’s super Champion Management Program which shares many great resources and material.

Let me add Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva to the 5 frustration areas and see what they can do, together with Microsoft Copilot, and be combined to resolve everyday troubles:

🤩Repetitive tasks -> Automate tasks

Copilot can help automate repetitive tasks such as data entry and scheduling meetings.

🦋Prepare your employees 🚀:

Use Microsoft To Do, Planner and OneNote (you’re not bringing your paper note book to meetings anymore are you?) as well as collaborate using Microsoft Teams channels and storing content in SharePoint (also associated with Teams) to help Copilot see connections and understand what is going on to suggest what is needed.

I love books and when reading I log out of digital tools and prefer to read from a paper book. However, when it comes to work I only use OneNote for notes. Walking around with a paper book for work notes is a risk as you may forget it or others can get access to your notes, and you can not search for it. Come Copilot and you would like to merge notes with a document and presentation, Copilot cannot find your paper notes…

💡Have a look at how you can organize your own work stuff: MOCA on my own – Microsoft Modern Collaboration Architecture?

🤩Lack of organization -> Get organized

Copilot can help organize your work by prioritizing tasks and setting reminders.

🦋Prepare your employees 🚀:

Use Microsoft To Do, Planner and SharePoint lists (💡and check this out: Microsoft Lists: Easier, Better, Faster, Stronger – Microsoft Community Hub), as well as Microsoft Project for the web for projects, to organize and define prioritizations.

Bring learning into Teams by using Microsoft Viva Learning and Microsoft Viva Topics

🤩Inefficient communication – > Efficient communication

Copilot can help improve communication by summarizing long emails and providing real-time language translation. Copilot can help prepare articles and presentations based on a combination of documents and images and other data.

🦋Prepare your employees 🚀:

Structure Microsoft Teams groups, Microsoft Viva Engage (previously Yammer) and Microsoft Viva Connections to set up good communication channels.

🤩Lack of personalization -> Personalization

Copilot can help personalize your work experience by providing personalized recommendations for training and development opportunities.

🦋Prepare your employees 🚀:

Collate internal learning material such as presentations and recorded webinars and videos, as well as connect LMS and 3rd party learning sources, into Microsoft Viva Learning to make it available for everyone, via Microsoft Teams, in the organization, and for Copilot to find it. Connecting learning elements and make them available via Teams will bring learning to everyone in the organization, regardless if they are using laptops or mobile phone as their main work tech.

Implementing Microsoft Viva Topics will showcase SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) for respective topics, hence this could help Copilot to bring forth and connect content based on own expertise and interests areas, as well as people with similar skills and expertise. Read my blog about how to get started with Microsoft Viva Topics.

🤩Inability to focus -> Laser sharp focus

Copilot can help you focus by blocking out distractions and providing reminders to take breaks.

🦋Prepare your employees 🚀:

Teaching your employees how to control their tech workplace by using Microsoft Viva Insights and Microsoft Teams settings can make a huge difference in their lives in general. Check out Ståle Hansen’s series for Digital Wellbeing. If you you are a leader: do this!!

I hope this blog gave you some new ideas and thoughts on how to empower your employees. Tomorrow is already here, let’s build each other good and use the tech smartly! If you would like to talk more about any of the above I, and my colleagues at CloudWay, are here to help you remove the blockers and frustrations you experience and help you to the next level.🤗

Ask me a question!

If you would like to ask me a question or provide feedback about my blogs, please feel free to do so completing this form or scan the QR-code added on this page.

💡☝🏽Get engaged in the community:

We are a bunch of enthusiasts talking tech in our spare time, it would be lovely if you would join us. Complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/9KMNpaDph0 and we’ll add you to our community Teams.

• Norwegian Microsoft 365 Community | Groups | LinkedIn
• Welcome to the Microsoft Viva Community – Microsoft Community Hub
• Home (vivaexplorers.com)
• Join us in the Microsoft Teams Community – 2021 – Microsoft Community Hub

💡📚Some more resources to explore:

• Frequently asked questions about AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot – Microsoft Support
• All links in this blog:
• The Copilot System: Explained by Microsoft – YouTube
• Introducing ChatGPT (openai.com)
• OpenAI
• Microsoft 365 – Subscription for Office Apps | Microsoft 365
• Employee Experience and Engagement | Microsoft Viva
• Responsibility assignment matrix – Wikiped
• The Microsoft 365 Maturity Model – Governance, Risk, and Compliance Competency | Microsoft A collaboration governance framework for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Le
• Governance, risk, and compliance overview – Microsoft Service Assurance | Microsoft Learn
• How to use Microsoft 365 Retention Policies and Labels (nikkichapple.com)
• How do we best govern AI? – Microsoft On the Issues
• Your people – hearts to guard
• Bring Learning to the front with Microsoft Viva Learning
• Empower your people and your company with Microsoft Learning Pathway and Microsoft Viva
• Viva origami. Making the complex, simple. – MVP, Lesley Crook is a Viva Visionary
• Champion Management Program (microsoft.com)
• To Do List and Task Management App | Microsoft To Do
• Task Management Kanban Solution for Teams | Microsoft Planner
• Microsoft OneNote Digital Note Taking App | Microsoft 365
• MOCA on my own – Microsoft Modern Collaboration Architecture?
• Introduction to lists – Microsoft Support
• Microsoft Lists: Easier, Better, Faster, Stronger – Microsoft Community Hub
• Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint – YouTube
• Gold-minding with Microsoft Viva Learning
• Manage content sources for Microsoft Viva Learning in the Microsoft 365 admin center | Microsoft Learn

Update 2023.09.21:

• Microsoft – Watch the September 21 event Microsoft announcing a new era of AI with Copilot from Microsoft
• Announcing Microsoft 365 Copilot general availability and Microsoft 365 Chat | Microsoft 365 Blog