This is One Smart 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 that the company is weaving throughout its suite of products, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 Sales and Viva Sales, and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Copilot is also woven throughout Microsoft Teams, the powerful collaboration and communication platform used by millions of companies around the globe. Velosio is one of those companies using Teams. After reviewing the new Copilot capabilities, we think it will turn Teams into an invaluable team member—for us and your organization as well. So, let’s take a closer look.

Copilot for Teams has Entered the Meeting

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it would incorporate Copilot, an AI-powered text generation feature, into the Microsoft 365 suite, including Teams. The feature leverages the power of Azure OpenAI Service and Open AI’s ChatGPT to help you run more effective meetings, get up to speed on the conversation, organize key discussion points, and summarize key actions so that the entire group knows what to do next.

Copilot is available now for users of Teams Premium.

Why It Matters

The average worker reports spending a third of their workweek in meetings. With all that time spent meeting, productive work is going on, right? Well, maybe not so much. In a recent Atlassian survey, respondents report that half their meetings are a waste of time. 39% said napping during a meeting, 73% did other work, and 91% percent daydreamed.

If only half of all meetings are considered time well spent, we’re not doing something right. 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 pm.” (Pro Tip: Tuesdays at 3 pm 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. For example, you could ask, “How do I schedule a meeting in Teams?” and Copilot will provide step-by-step instructions on how to do so.

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.

Answering Tricky Questions

Just as many of us are beginning to rely on Chat GPT or Microsoft Edge to answer our pressing questions quickly, Copilot serves that role within Teams. 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.

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.

Don’t miss this opportunity to take your organization to the next level. Contact Velosio today to learn more about Microsoft Copilot and our other services.

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