Welcome to the second episode of Late Night Brew: Copilot! This time, Robert Buktenica and Neil Wells-West discuss where and how users can interact with Copilot.
In this episode, you’ll also learn about the difference between Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Windows.
Tune in now!
TIMESTAMP
00:07 – Introduction
00:44 – The Brew
01:46 – Where and how can users interact with Copilot?
04:24 – What’s the difference between Copilot for 365 and Copilot for Windows?
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Robert Buktenica: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Late Night Brew, where we talk the brews first, then we get around to what we’re supposed to afterwards.
Joining me for the next episode in the Copilot series is, once again, Neil. Welcome back, buddy.
Neil Wells-West: Hey, Buck. Nice to be back with you.
The Brew
Robert: Absolutely. Now, before we dive into where and how everyone can interact with Copilot, what brew are you having with me?
Neil: So today, once again, because this is still kind of part of my working day, I am drinking this. I don’t know whether you can see that. This is Green Cola. I’m trying to get it in. There we go. Green Cola.
It’s got lots of Russian writing on it, but actually it’s got no sugar, no caffeine. So you might as well say, well, what’s the point of drinking it? Well, at least it’s healthy anyway. So, there we go. That’s what I’m drinking today.
Robert: I was going to say, it’s the fizzy. Sometimes you just want the fizzy.
Neil: It is the fizz.
Robert: And opposite of that, my brain just completely forgot the word for it. I have a lime and salt lager, which is, as it’s heating up, it’s very nice, very light. And it’s a hint of lime and salt, right? So you’re not getting plowed over by it.
It’s really good. And it’s one of those that as it gets hotter, it gets easier to drink. So it’s super dangerous.
Neil: Nice one. Cheers.
Where and how can users interact with Copilot?
Robert: Cheers, mate. Now, jumping into it. We touched on it a little bit in the last episode, and let’s get into a little deeper of a detail. Where and how really can users in the environment be interacting with Copilot?
Neil: Yeah, great question. And I think it’s probably one of the first things that users are sort of concerned about. I mean, without getting into licensing and all the rest of it, but Microsoft 365 Copilot is essentially surfaced through all of the apps that users are mainly familiar with.
The starting point for most users is going to be things like Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Teams. The Copilot capabilities there allow users to sort of interact – summarising meeting calls, summarising emails, getting a little bit deeper insight into some of those interactions that take place in those applications.
And then sort of beyond that, you know – again, without getting into the whole sort of ecosystem of Copilot – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, those familiar applications that users use on a daily basis are typically going to be the points of interaction with Copilot.
Robert: Yeah, I’ve actually finally cracked into using Copilot in Excel, and it’s so brilliant because I used to scavenge, right? Hey, how do I get this one particular data out of the… I just pulled Copilot. I need this data from these cells. Like, this is all I care about. Do it.
And it built the formula and I could just copy and paste. It saved me probably 15 minutes of trying to suss out what the F this formula is trying to do.
Neil: Totally. And I think that’s really where the power of Copilot comes in. So, you know, filling in the gaps in user’s knowledge, filling in the gaps. You know, most of us are moderately familiar with those applications like Word, Excel, like you said, but just getting a little bit more insight, getting a bit of a hand up or a handhold with Copilot just allows us to do a little bit more with the time that we’ve got. So, yeah, very, very powerful.
Robert: It is. We could probably spend far too long just diving into all the different ways that we’ve already been taking advantage of it. Maybe that’ll be a special episode.
Now, Microsoft in all of their wisdom, we all know Microsoft loves how they name things. So there’s Copilot for 365, there’s Copilot for Bing, there’s Copilot for Windows. And I’m sure I’m missing a Copilot somewhere.
What’s the difference between Copilot for 365 and Copilot for Windows?
Robert: For most organisations, though, I know it’s going to come up. What’s the real difference between, you know, like you just said, the Copilot for the apps, the 365, that integration, and now Copilot for Windows? Where’s the break? What’s the difference?
Neil: Yeah. So I think that for me, that’s a fairly straightforward question to answer. And like you said, Buk, I think at the last count, there is something like 25 different Copilots or different Copilot capabilities, and they’re only going to grow.
But the main difference between Windows Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot is really the data. So, within the context of Microsoft 365 Copilot, the data that it has access to is essentially the data that you have access to in the context of your Microsoft 365 environment.
Robert: Your identity access, yeah.
Neil: Yeah, I mean, so the fundamental difference is that, you know, that the data that Copilot can act on and that can respond to is trimmed to the position, to the permissions that you have within your Microsoft 365 environment.
Windows Copilot, on the other hand, is slightly more generic. It has access to the data that is stored on your local machine. So any data that’s on your laptop, plus it also has access to the World Wide Web. So prompts that you provide through Windows Copilot are not necessarily permission trimmed in the same way.
It can go out to the web and use the wealth of information that is available across the World Wide Web to respond to those, to the queries and the prompts that you might put into Windows Copilot.
So there’s a real fundamental difference in terms of data sets.
Robert: Yeah, I would say it’s identically, you know, it’s still limited by what you have permissions to, but it’s permissions in the world of the internet and permissions of the world of your 365 organisation. And it’s that scope.
Neil: Yeah.
Robert: Awesome. Well, that is a great note to end on because I was curious about that too.
Neil: Hopefully I’ve split it up.
Robert: It does. It does. That is actually quite neat. And I will probably play with Windows Copilot a little bit more now.
Neil: Definitely. Give it a try.
Robert: If you are looking for any more information or want to reach out, get your organisation ready for Copilot or just have questions, all our contact information is below. Until the next episode, Neil. Cheers, mate. I appreciate it.
Neil: Cheers, bud. Good to see you again. Take care.
There you have it! We hope this episode cleared up the differences between Copilot’s many integrations and applications for you. If you’d like to learn more about Copilot’s multitude of capabilities, our eBook Unleashing the Power of Microsoft Copilot: The Definitive Guide from Readiness to Deployment eBook is available to download.
Curious to see what other tools and technologies we’ve covered in the Late Night Brew? Check out our past Late Night Brew episodes! You may also contact us for assistance in getting your organisation ready for Copilot.
Until next time, cheers!
