The Ultimate Team Player: Meet Copilot for Microsoft Teams

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been introducing you to Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered virtual assistant. Companies will soon integrate this new technology into their products. Some examples of these products include Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 Sales, Viva Sales, and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. But how can Copilot for Teams streamline workflow?

Microsoft Teams, the powerful collaboration and communication platform used by millions of companies around the globe, also incorporates Copilot. Velosio is one of those companies using Teams. We believe the new Copilot features will make Teams a valuable team member for us and your organization. So, let’s take a closer look.

Copilot for Teams has Entered the Meeting

Microsoft announced it would add Copilot, an AI text generation feature, to the Microsoft 365 suite, including Teams. This feature uses Azure OpenAI Service and Open AI’s ChatGPT to improve meetings. It helps you understand the conversation, organize important points, and summarize actions for the group to follow.

Copilot is available now for users of Teams Premium.

Exploring Copilot for Microsoft Teams | The Future of Meetings

Why It Matters

The average worker reports spending a third of their workweek in meetings. During that time, productive work is going on, right?

Well, maybe not so much. In a recent Atlassian survey, respondents reported that half their meetings are a waste of time. 39% said napping during a meeting, 73% did other work, and 91% percent daydreamed.

We’re not doing something right if we consider only half of all meetings as time well spent. Could artificial intelligence (AI) change the way we meet? Microsoft is betting it can—by integrating its AI-powered virtual assistant, Copilot, into the world’s leading meeting platform. The use cases for Copilot within Teams are many—we’ve assembled some of our favorites here.

Scheduling Meetings

Microsoft 365 Copilot can help team members schedule meetings quickly and easily. You can use natural language to ask Copilot to schedule a meeting for you, such as by saying, “Schedule a meeting with Phil and Erin next Tuesday at 2 p.m.” (Pro Tip: Tuesdays at 3 p.m. is considered the best meeting time.) Copilot will take it from there, finding a suitable time based on participants’ availability, sending out invitations, and adding the event to your calendar.

Creating Follow-Up Tasks

In addition to the time spent in the meeting, we often spend time afterward creating a follow-up task list. Copilot can save you time by creating tasks and assigning them to specific individuals. You simply ask Copilot to generate a task by providing details such as the task description, due date, and assignee. Copilot then creates the task and assigns it to the appropriate team member.

Resolving User Issues

Copilot can help answer common questions team members might have about using Teams. You can ask, “How do I schedule a meeting in Teams?” Copilot will provide step-by-step instructions to help you.

Getting Prepared

Nothing sucks productivity from a meeting faster than going in unprepared. With Copilot, you can always arrive armed with crucial details. It works by reading data from across the Microsoft 365 suite to provide recommended reading and upcoming deadlines so you can familiarize yourself beforehand.

Similarly, Copilot can provide these suggestions to you in your daily Teams workflow. For example, if you’re discussing a project in a Teams chat, Copilot can suggest and link to relevant files or documents that may augment the conversation.

Providing Meeting Recaps

Copilot is the driver of a new feature within Teams called intelligent recap, which can distill the essential elements from every meeting. For example, the intelligent recap feature automatically generates meeting notes, recommended tasks, and personalized highlights—even if you didn’t attend the meeting. (Can you imagine if we had this in college?) The recap highlights shared content, summarizes notes, and lists any action items for you or others whose names were mentioned.

Zipping Through Recordings

What’s more, Copilot’s intelligent recap feature will save you all that time you spend reviewing (and re-reviewing) meeting recordings looking for an answer. It intelligently divides the meeting into sections or chapters, making it easy to pick and choose the most relevant content without dragging that scroll bar.

Marking the Time

Speaking of meeting recordings—Copilot for Teams creates personalized timeline markers only you can see. These markers highlight when you joined or left a meeting in the meeting recording, so you can quickly click and listen in on what you missed. In addition, personalized timeline markers will expand to include when your name was mentioned and when a screen was shared.

Copilot for Teams Answers Tricky Questions

Like Chat GPT and Microsoft Edge, Copilot in Teams helps us get quick answers to our important questions. You can get right to the salient points by asking Copilot to answer or address questions and tasks such as these:

• Summarize what I missed in the meeting. What points have been made so far? Where do we disagree on this topic?
• Create a table of pros and cons for [the topic]. What else should we consider before making a decision?
• What decisions were made, and what are some suggested next steps?
• What other factors were considered?

Speaking My Language

You may be familiar with the live captioning feature in Teams. However, if meeting participants speak different languages, that live translation won’t be universally helpful. In the new AI-infused Teams, you get AI-powered real-time translations from 40 spoken languages. And only the meeting organizer needs Teams Premium for all meeting attendees to enjoy live translations.

Copilot for Teams Phones

With Copilot for Teams Phones, Teams Phone becomes the industry’s first UCaaS solution to integrate generative AI capabilities into phone calls. This transformative addition enables seamless calls via the Teams app on any device, accompanied by real-time call summarization and valuable insights. Copilot even allows note-taking during calls and effortlessly highlights key details using natural language commands. Picture a marketer explaining a new product to a potential customer using Teams Phone, with Copilot summarizing the conversation and capturing essential inquiries about product features, benefits, and pricing. This enhances pitch focus, saves time, and facilitates efficient follow-up by collecting customer feedback and suggesting next steps. By incorporating Copilot into phone calls, communication skills are refined, and administrative tasks are streamlined. Copilot in Teams Phone supports both VoIP and PSTN calls, ensuring real-time summarization and insights for all call types, available to customers in the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program.

Let Velosio Be Your Copilot

Velosio is here to help you navigate Copilot, explore its capabilities, and maximize its value to your organization. We’re leveraging our elite status with Microsoft and deep AI expertise to stay out in front of the technology and help you better understand its capabilities and how to incorporate them into your business.

We’ll post on the topic frequently to share what we’re learning. In addition, our experienced consultants can answer your questions, provide in-depth demonstrations, and help you discover how this powerful tool can transform your business.

How can Copilot affect your company’s workflow and goals? Contact us to learn the benefits of Copilot and how it can impact your company’s workflow for the better.