Exploring Copilot: A Focus on Teams

Welcome back, everyone, to my second installment of my Copilot blog series. Thank you all for staying with me through my initial post; hopefully we can make this worthwhile. By creating this blog, I have discovered that providing information, context and lessons learned for Copilot across different user interfaces generates quite a bit of content - particularly words.

Due to my goal of writing a blog and not a book, I decided to focus this blog specifically on Teams rather than all interfaces. Since my draft for the Teams interface section contains 2733 words which may seem too lengthy, I decided to reduce its word count for your convenience - you're welcome!

Overview of what is to come

Over the last month or two, I have been taking an exciting journey with Copilot, discovering that different workloads and outputs correspond with various Copilots or interfaces. It may seem obvious, but for me this was quite surprising: Copilot should work the same no matter where I used it! That assumption proved false.

As I have researched Copilots in Teams, Word, PowerPoint and Excel extensively - I have taken considerable pains (some more than others) in reaching this conclusion. By writing this piece I don't intend to come off as an expert; in fact, some may laugh when reading how simple some aspects might seem - for those that do take notice here's what I have discovered.

Teams: Meetings, notes, and with the Copilot app - more

Starting With Teams: Copilot in Teams is invaluable. I could justify its purchase by not needing to take meeting notes again; not to mention everything else it can do that wouldn't have crossed my mind at first!

As I write this piece, two distinct Teams Copilot functions come to mind for discussion: native Teams functionality and the Copilot App nestled within Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot - 'Copilot Chat' App 

Now I understand that Copilot does have its own application (both fat app and browser-based) that acts as an interface - Microsoft 365 Copilot - that would technically qualify as its own interface, and you would be correct in thinking so.

However, as someone with multiple monitors and limited time who already juggles too many applications and screens at once; having another app to search out, install, and keep in my tray seems unnecessary. When the opportunity presents itself to reduce open applications and screens further it makes me very grateful.

Add that with our use of Teams for Chat, Meetings and Calls - as well as Teams Channels, Groups, Org Structure, Access, Posts, Documentation & Collaboration, and Management across the business. It just feels right! You know?

Now that my venting session is done, let's discuss why The Copilot App in Teams is useful to me. In particular, its power lies in collating data across all Microsoft 365 sources as well as external ones to present it back into one central place.

There have been multiple instances in which Copilot has saved me an immense amount of time. Completing projects without Copilot would have taken much longer or simply not be completed because of time, capacity, bandwidth, mental or other, that would make it too difficult to begin or finish.

Looking back, my initial usage of Copilot Chat has changed immensely; today it serves a completely different purpose for me.

Here is an example of where I have seen it add tremendous value.

Example problem

Let me introduce an imaginary "business problem." Personally, I was and am absolutely overjoyed, yet due to the issue I'll describe, this could create some business concerns. So let me introduce the scenario - Adam was expecting his first child and this "problem" stems from this fact.

As previously discussed, my joy at becoming a father has no limits. From a business standpoint however, taking staff away for extended periods can have serious ramifications. For further context, imagine having a core member of your team also expecting a baby at a similar time. 

Now, suppose both of you on your team will be unavailable simultaneously for an extended period. This might cause someone to consider, "Hmm, does having both myself and this staff member unavailable cause any issues?". 

Unfortunately, I hadn't recognised this problem until my coworker/team member pointed it out, fortunately she suggested we have a meeting to create a "Plan of Action" (thanks, unnamed individual!).

At this point, two busy and time-poor individuals sat together in a room and asked: "So, what do you do every day? Umm...I don't know, what do you do?" <- cycle this a few times and you get the jist of the start of our conversation. 

After 10-12 years in the business for me, plus three or four for the other team member, job descriptions might no longer provide us with accurate reflection of our current role or responsibilities; plus, they may fail to reflect day-to-day activities or tasks that arise unexpectedly.

So what do you do? We turned to Copilot:

With just a few prompts such as "expand", "be detailed", and Copilot's native prompts, I now have all of the information necessary to make an informed decision - including Key Tasks and Responsibilities, Skills, Competencies, Prioritization Matrix, Handover Process as well as delegation suggestions based on what staff are doing within the business.

I'd like to point out that HR isn't my strong suit or area of expertise. However, having all the information available in one place and using a tool that serves it up efficiently enabled me to create this document in just 30 minutes.

Another crucial area where I have found tremendous value in Copilot chat is surfacing internal as well as external information. This has been invaluable for creating documentation like board papers, strategy documents, business plans, market analysis, and competitive analysis.

Having access to the entire Microsoft 365 environment, as well as all of the information on the Internet, provides really valuable internal and external context in one place. It has been an amazing resource to find information that addresses questions like: Who are we? Who are you? What do we do? How do we do it? And what else should be considered?

It’s been very, very valuable and has saved me untold hours, days, months or years even, depending on who you’re asking in our business. It has made pulling information together to support all of these detailed documents much more efficient.

Need a hand with Copilot?

If you’ve made it this far and you’re thinking, “Okay, Copilot sounds great, but how do I actually use it for my team?”—you’re not alone. Honestly, figuring out where Copilot fits into your day-to-day can be a bit of a journey (I’ve been there!).

That’s where we come in. Whether you want to automate meeting notes, pull together docs in record time, or just stop bouncing between a million apps, we’ve got your back.

No endless theory, no generic advice. Just real, practical help, tailored to your business. If you’re ready to see Copilot in action, or just want to chat about what’s possible, just reach out. 

Stay tuned for Part 2!

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