Microsoft 365 Copilot: what it is, pricing, and features

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a revolutionary solution that can turn words into the world's most powerful productivity tool.

It combines the power of generative AI and business data to improve everyday productivity. Accessible through leading Microsoft 365 apps and a dedicated chat, it ensures data security and offers capabilities to interact, in conversational mode, with your work data and tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.

As of January 15, 2024, Copilot is available to all individuals and businesses. In this article, we will delve into what it is and why it is worth investing in the purchase of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

What is Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the support for one's personal productivity, which stems from Microsoft's partnership with Open AI (the company that created Chat GPT) that enabled it to integrate its "Large Language Models" with Microsoft Graph, the foundation of Microsoft 365.

Accessible from Microsoft Universe applications and Chat (found in Microsoft Teams, Bing, and microsoft365.com), Copilot provides a conversational experience for interacting with one's enterprise data, with a strong focus on compliance. In fact, interactions take place within Microsoft's security perimeter, ensuring the privacy of users' corporate and personal data.

It is a powerful processing engine designed to guide users in the effective use of Microsoft applications by leveraging the conversational language of generative AI models such as OpenAI's GPT-4. Copilot thus enables users to draft their documents in Word in seconds, analyze data in Excel, create pre-illustrated presentations in PowerPoint, manage communication through Outlook, and collaborate better with their colleagues on Teams.

In addition to "in app" experiences, Copilot offers a chat (formerly Business Chat) that combines the capabilities of GPT-4 with enterprise data in Microsoft 365 to address users' needs and support them in their daily activities in one place in the corporate digital workplace.

Microsoft 365 Copilot release date,
and who can use it

Microsoft 365 Copilot was released in Italy on November 23, 2023, after a test phase in which few companies in the world participated, but only since January 15, 2024, has it been accessible to everyone: individuals and SMEs, as well as large organizations (the only ones that have been able to use the features of Microsoft's new AI until this date).

Copilot has also been made available with GPT-4 Turbo at its base, the highest performing model of artificial intelligence that Microsoft can currently offer. But it doesn't end there.

Here are all the new features for accessing Microsoft 365 Copilot:

• Individuals and families can purchase the new Copilot Pro license for €22/user/month, if they have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family license. They will then be able to use Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.
• Companies with a Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Office 365 E3/E5 or Microsoft 365 E3/E5 license can now also purchase just 1 license of Copilot. In fact, Microsoft has eliminated the requirement to purchase at least 300 licenses, which until now has prevented small and medium-sized businesses from accessing the new AI.
• Copilot is now also available to education teaching and administrative staff through Education plans.

Below, we then summarize the Microsoft licenses required to access Copilot:

Licensing of Microsoft 365 Copilot:
what licenses are needed to purchase a Copilot license

Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing for businesses:
is it worth it?

Currently, the Microsoft 365 Copilot license has the cost of 28.10€/user/month for a company.

This sounds like an expensive price, but the time saved daily by each person in the company soon allows for a return on investment.

In fact, it is necessary to save about 74 to 30 minutes per month for each user with Copilot access to repay the investment made by the company: is this a feasible goal?

The answer is yes. Microsoft conducted an analysis on the impact of Copilot in organizations, focusing on productivity, quality of work and time savings.

The results indicate that 70% of users reported an increase in productivity, while 68% reported an improvement in quality of work. Fifty-seven percent of respondents showed an increase in creativity, while 29% found an acceleration in performing tasks such as research, writing, and synthesis.

Regarding time savings:

• 64% of users reported spending less time on email management
• 75% optimized information search tasks
• 86% are able to recover lost documents more quickly

Although it is impossible to quantify exactly how much time is saved by individual users who use Copilot in their work, we can assume realistic savings of about 15 minutes per day. This is due to features that enable better management of processes such as internal communication and training. We see them below.

Copilot for corporate training

Microsoft 365 Copilot is also a useful tool for enhancing the corporate training experience. Indeed, the user can take advantage of the drafting feature to create customized training materials.

An additional application of Copilot for training involves integration with our Microlearning platform.

Within Microlearning, Microsoft's AI provides support for users to easily assimilate training course content that the company has created from its documents. Copilot can then reprocess the information from the generated content to clarify doubts, provide explanations, and point to useful documents or microlessons to further the topics of interest.

The time saved is incalculable, as Copilot in Microlearning creates a guided training experience customized to the needs of the individual user.

Copilot for internal communication

Microsoft 365 Copilot opens up important new possibilities for collaboration and communication among colleagues, helping them manage information exchange, coordination of activities, and content creation.

Meeting Recaps in Microsoft Teams

Copilot enables users to get a quick summary of meetings in Teams by reprocessing the information that was said during meetings and captured of the transcript.

In this way, users can retrieve in seconds:

• The key points of the meeting
• The decisions made by colleagues
• The activities agreed upon, who should carry them out, and by what date

Both in meetings that have already concluded and in real time.

Time saved that we can estimate? Approximately 15 minutes per user per day (and we kept it low!).

Summary of mail in Outlook

It is possible to ask Copilot to summarize the information contained in mails exchanged with specific users or even disconnected from each other, but talking about the same topic.

Copilot also highlights requests made by senders, suggesting how to respond and what tasks to add to your personal To-Do list to fulfill them.

The time saved depends on the number of emails a user receives per day. For a colleague in Sales, who handles communication with customers, we might estimate a daily savings of 15 to 30 minutes.

Content Drafting

With a single prompt, Copilot can reprocess data stored in the company's Microsoft 365 environment to create the draft of:

• Documents in Word
• Presentations in PowerPoint
• Mail to be sent via Outlook
• Posts to be published in Viva Engage
• News and communications for the SharePoint intranet

Each of this content is then accompanied by attachments, tables, charts, and illustrations that Copilot believes are relevant based on the target audience, communication medium, and goal the user wants to achieve.

Time saved as a result of this feature? At least 30 minutes per user per day.

What is Microsoft 365 Copilot and how does it work?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a business productivity solution that combines OpenAI's Large Language Models with Microsoft Graph. This integration provides a conversational experience for interacting with business data using natural language, while ensuring the security and privacy of data on Microsoft 365.

When was Microsoft 365 Copilot released and who can use it?

Microsoft 365 Copilot was released on November 23, 2023, and made available to individuals, SMEs, and large organizations from January 15, 2024. The required licenses vary depending on the type of user, with options for individuals, businesses, and educational institutions.

What licenses are required to use Microsoft 365 Copilot?

The Microsoft licenses required to access Copilot vary depending on the type of user. For individuals, Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family licenses are required. For businesses, eligible licenses include Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Office 365 E3, and Office 365 E5. Educational institutions can access it through Microsoft 365 A3, Microsoft 365 A5, Office 365 A3, and Office 365 A5 licenses.

What is the cost of Microsoft 365 Copilot for businesses?

Currently, the cost of Microsoft 365 Copilot for businesses is €28.10/user/month. Although it may seem like a high price, the investment quickly pays off due to the proven increase in user productivity. Just saving between 74 to 30 minutes per user/month is enough to offset the investment and turn it into a gain for businesses.

Where can I purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses for my company?

Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses can be purchased directly from Microsoft or from partners like intranet.ai. In addition to licenses, we offer a customizable and guided adoption plan to maximize the investment in Copilot.

What features does Microsoft 365 Copilot offer?

Microsoft 365 Copilot offers a wide range of features, including meeting summaries in Microsoft Teams, email summaries in Outlook, content creation in SharePoint, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Viva, as well as support for corporate training also through our Microlearning platform. These features enable optimizing internal communication and improving overall efficiency of a company.

How can I get support for adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot in my company?

You can get support for Copilot adoption by contacting intranet.ai. We offer personalized services for data migration to the Microsoft cloud, security and permissions assessment, user training, and development of extensions to enrich the functionalities of Microsoft 365 Copilot.