Blog posts

The hype and buzz created by the release of ChatGPT 3.5, followed by announcements of Microsoft's investments in OpenAI and Microsoft 365 Copilot (M365 Copilot), was unprecedented and was obviously incredibly interesting to follow and be part of.

What has followed has been equally interesting. After the initial jaw drops and eyes-wide-open reactions we've been speaking to a number of organisations, and we've learned that a general consensus is taking shape.

While the use of AI within organisations is inevitable, there are real concerns and questions around trust, risk and security – and a realisation that you need to get organised first. In other words, before leveraging M365 Copilot in earnest, it is clear to all that we must first have content managed and under control. We also need to understand how to prepare our colleagues to work – or not work – with this technology.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (M365 Copilot or Copilot) is a new feature that helps you work smarter and faster with the power of artificial intelligence (AI).

In today's fast-paced business landscape, efficiency and productivity are paramount. Organizations are constantly seeking ways to streamline their workflows and optimize time. Enter Microsoft Copilot, a ground-breaking AI-powered tool designed to revolutionize the way we all work.

In this comprehensive blog (updated 18 July 2023 with pricing), we will delve into the key features, availability, pricing, benefits and much more, helping you make an informed decision about integrating this game-changing solution into your business. Once you have read this, you might want to read about how to Get your People and Content Ready for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft Viva explained: in this comprehensive blog, we'll unravel Microsoft's latest employee experience platform called Microsoft Viva.  Microsoft Viva is a suite of applications that integrates with Microsoft 365 to support, inspire, and empower individuals and teams. From advanced learning opportunities and insightful analytics to OKR goal setting and engaging teams with communities.

Rubbish in. Rubbish out.

Anyone involved in building or delivering search solutions, or enterprise content management more widely, will subscribe to this mantra. Which, if said in more diplomatic terms, means that if you don't have good content, how can you expect to have good outcomes? Such as high quality search results.

When considering Artificial Intelligence (AI), I think we can all agree that it fosters a wide range of discussions - from the deeply philosophical, through science-fiction to highly technical. It is a somewhat divisive topic, with a huge fanbase and an equally large number of concerned parties. Most do though meet in the middle and agree on a pragmatic stance that - if we are to have AI, we probably cannot avoid it even if we wanted to - then we need to wrap some governance or protective measures and controls around it. 

Aside from all that however, one aspect that has generally been overlooked is the rise of that I would call "Shadow AI" in organisations.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (Copilot) is developed by Microsoft and integrated into your Microsoft 365 tenant (subject to licensing and so forth), and was announced to the wider world on March 16, 2023.

When you use Copilot, you will experience it in two predominant ways.

• First, Copilot is embedded within Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and more.
• Second, it is surfaced through a new app called "Business Chat".

A common question that comes up when discussing ChatGPT in the context of knowledge, document and information management, is something along the lines of: "When or how will ChatGPT be able to discover our enterprise content, such as SharePoint Pages or Documents stored in Teams and SharePoint?"

What are best practices when it comes to SharePoint document libraries? And why is it so important to get it right? 

The amazing thing about Microsoft Viva Topics is how well the AI engine is able to discover and group together lots of content from across your SharePoint Online estate. It is really quite phenomenal to see Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing in action like this and we're getting the same positive and excited reaction from our clients who are using Viva Topics.

Microsoft Loop is the new application punted to change how people collaborate with their colleagues and perform daily tasks.