Practical Ways to Use Microsoft Copilot in Your Daily Work

In the modern workplace, Ai is everywhere. From snippets in your search results to grammar-checking applications to functionality in VoIP telephony systems, AI productivity tools are here to stay in a big way. Microsoft Copilot is one tool that's changing the way we work. 

As a key integration across everything from Outlook emails to Excel spreadsheets, the 365 version of Copilot is designed to make your work life easier. Focus on the bigger picture, and Copilot will handle the little details, streamlining workflows and letting you put your effort into the areas where it matters most.

In this guide, we cover practical, real-world uses for Microsoft 365 Copilot, helping you get more out of the Ai tools that are already at your disposal. Read on to learn some of the best Microsoft Copilot use cases to achieve more in less time.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an umbrella name for a group of different Ai tools and integrations, each of which serves a specific function. The two types of Copilot you are likely to encounter in your day-to-day use include the following:

Microsoft Copilot

This web-based application is your typical personal Ai tool. Like ChatGPT or Claude, you can open up a webpage to chat to Copilot and ask it to do a range of tasks, from drafting emails to getting answers to questions. Copilot is built into Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Bing and is also accessible by a Microsoft app. 

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the enterprise-level solution for Ai functionality. You can find this form of AI in Word, Excel, Outlook and a range of other different Microsoft projects. An advanced version of Copilot is also included with Copilot Chat, offering a secure solution for AI searching and queries that can be managed via IT controls for admins.

Practical Ways to Use Microsoft Copilot

Now that we've covered the basics, here are some practical ways to put Copilot to work: 

Using Copilot in Outlook

• Summarising lengthy email chains: Copilot can focus on the elements that are most important to you, pulling out relevant information on upcoming meetings, launch dates or client feedback without you having to dig for it 
• Drafting email content: Provide Copilot with all the necessary information in bullet points and it will craft a cohesive and organised email that is easy to digest, ensuring all the key details are communicated
• Adapting tone: If you are sending an email to both junior employees and senior stakeholders, Copilot can take the same email content and transform it to work for each audience, with no need to double up on writing

Using Copilot in Word

• Reshaping existing content: Copilot is at its best when it’s adapting your existing words to create something new. If you have existing content that’s messy, needs to be more readable or needs to be transformed into a different format while retaining core information, AI can help
• Creating content from other files: Consolidate information from multiple documents into one, central location, ideal for quickly transferring important details for use in client meetings, handouts, roundups and more
• Shortening lengthy documents: Condensing the details of longer documents is one of Copilot’s strengths, enabling you to quickly and easily complete a task to your specifications that would otherwise take hours out of your day

Using Copilot in Excel

• Clean-up duty: A big part of building reports in Excel is ensuring your spreadsheets look neat and presentable. Instead of spending ages tracking down blank sections or converting specific lines to a local currency, Copilot can handle it all for you with the right prompts
• Creating pivot tables: Pivot tables were previously a pain to create, but with Copilot it’s possible to create exactly what you want in seconds - simply specify the data range and ask the tool to create an analysis in the right format
• Applying conditional formatting: Conditional formatting is an ideal way to confirm data at a glance, from the classic traffic light to assigning individual colours or emoji for specific data sets – Copilot can quickly apply conditional formatting at your request, and even suggest the types if you don’t know where to start

Using Copilot in Teams

• Playing catch-up: Joining a meeting late is sometimes inevitable, which is where Copilot can help get you up to speed – ask it to summarise the Teams phone or video call meeting so far and get a clear description of everything that happened before you logged in
• Create meeting agendas: Instead of wasting precious time creating agendas yourself, let Copilot create a plan based on the description of your upcoming meeting and the outcomes you want to keep you on track
• Identify the go-to person: No more confusion over who is meant to do what – Copilot can tell you exactly who is assigned each responsibility in a quick summary when you ask the question, ensuring you always go to the right person to discuss individual elements of projects

Using Copilot in PowerPoint

• Building presentations from scratch: One of the most impressive Copilot examples on our list is the ability for this AI to take content in a report or document and transform it into the first draft of a PowerPoint, saving you significant time and effort in transferring and laying out data in a palatable format
• Summarising long presentations: Copilot is an ideal tool for cutting down content in long presentations, singling out the most important information you need to know without the need to go through every single slide in detail
• Organising slides: Copilot can help you make your presentation cohesive and easy to follow, organising your slides in the most logical way to achieve your specific objectives based on the audience you specify, from team members to external clients

What are the Benefits of Using Copilot Daily?

Improving productivity with Ai is one of the key benefits of integrating Copilot use into your day-to-day tasks. Copilot for business is more than just a passing fad. With this tool deeply integrating into all of 365’s apps, powered with Microsoft’s Work IQ intelligence layer, you can save time, enhance productivity and streamline your communication processes.

How to Get the Most Out of Copilot

One thing can help you get the most out of Copilot: great prompts. The quality of the prompts you provide to Copilot can make a big difference to the outcome. While Ai is becoming increasingly sophisticated, in the early days of your use you’ll need to be more specific about the outcome you want. 

For example, asking for a ‘summary of presentation’ vs a ‘summary of the presentation, including all the key points with bullet points and ensuring any statistics are listed alongside the relevant item’ will produce very different results. 

The more you use Ai, the more it learns to do exactly what you want, but the quality of your prompts is still important to get the absolute most out of Copilot.

Limitations to Be Aware Of

While there are plenty of benefits to introducing Copilot into your workflows, it’s worth looking at a few of the limitations of Ai to be realistic about what can and can’t be achieved:

• Inaccuracy: There are reports of Copilot providing inaccurate numbers, particularly in Excel, which means you should pay close attention to the results and verify them
• Prompting: As we mentioned above, a good prompt can make all the difference to the results you get out of Copilot – however, this may be a learning curve if you’re used to other Ai models that don’t require you to get so specific
• Mistakes: Generative Ai in all forms makes mistakes and doesn’t always retain accuracy when moving data and information from one place to another – the best way to avoid mistakes is to double-check what Copilot outputs, which will take some time
• Learning curve: The idea of learning new technology can be difficult for some employees. That’s where training, like our Introduction to Copilot Webinar, can help you get familiar with the topic and understand how Ai can help you.

Conclusion

If you are ready to embrace Copilot, Flotek can help. As Managed IT Support and Microsoft 365 specialists, we ensure we’re up-to-date on the latest information on Microsoft’s Ai integrations. From online webinars to in-office training, we can help your team get up to speed to enhance efficiency and save time on day-to-day tasks with Ai.

Call us on 02921 508000 or fill out our contact form to chat to our Purple Army about your requirements. We’re the ideal partner to get your business up-to-date with the latest 365 Copilot innovations.