Led by CEO Satya Nadella and Corporate VP for AI at Work, Jared Spataro, Microsoft held a live LinkedIn event on September 16th to announce Wave 2 of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Introduced by Satya as the “new UI for AI,” Wave 2 of Copilot brings new updates, features and functions to a tool that already has mind-blowing capabilities.
The number of people using Copilot is growing, with adoption rates now faster than any other app within the Microsoft 365 suite. What Copilot Wave 2 does, is give people yet more ways to save time, unlock productivity, and collaborate seamlessly.
Wave 2 is set to evolve Copilot in 3 main ways:
1. Copilot Pages
Bringing information from the web into a collaborative canvas, Copilot Pages turns responses from Copilot into editable pages. Collate useful information from anywhere on the web, or from your work across Microsoft 365. Share your Pages just like you would in Word, allowing everyone to start contributing immediately.
This looks like a fantastic feature, and a great way to step Copilot up a whole new level. It offers a fantastic new way to collaborate while saving time and bringing information together..
2. Copilot in more Microsoft 365 apps
There were some pretty cool new ways to use Copilot in our favourite Microsoft 365 apps announced, too.
Copilot in Excel is now generally available, acting as your own personal, highly skilled Data Analyst. Copilot can analyse your data in a matter of seconds, and will even show its working out as it goes. Including looking at trends, highlighting customer feedback, and more. Copilot in Excel with Python is also coming soon, to public preview. Copilot will both write and interpret Python for you without you having to have any knowledge of Python methodology or coding. Now that’s impressive!
Narrative Builder was the main feature focused on for within PowerPoint. You will be able to ask Copilot for PowerPoint to not only create a presentation for you, but to now take that one step further. The narrative builder allows you to outline the content, draft copy, and pulls in content from your approved image library, all before it builds the presentation for you. It means your engaging presentations are all organised out for you, on brand, before Copilot then builds it. Watching the on-screen demo of this was mind-blowing. The level of detail and design that goes into Narrative Builder is fascinating.
For Copilot in Outlook, you can expect the ‘Prioritise my Inbox’ which is coming soon. Copilot will analyse all of the emails in your inbox, using both the content and the context of your job role, to highlight what is most important. You will then be given the option to sort your inbox based on the priority that Copilot comes up with. Even better - is when you click on an email Copilot will also tell you why it thinks its top priority. As inboxes get more and more cluttered, this looks like a fantastic way to streamline work and maximise productivity.
That’s not it for Copilot in Microsoft 365. With more exciting capabilities anonunced for Copilot in OneDrive, Word, and Teams.
3. Copilot Agents
Now generally available, you will be able to create your very own agents in Copilot. Start up Copilot Studio and tell Copilot what you want your agent to do, for example maybe its a Field Service Agent for onsite visitis.
You can then expand its knowledge by adding files to it from across Microsoft 365.
This was then expanded on further by the announcement of Copilot agents in SharePoint. Allowing you to create an agent based on SharePoint folders, taking an action based on the folders and files you select.
The agents you create can then be added to your Teams chats, so that they can be used by every one.
Microsoft Copilot Wave 2 – Final thoughts
Microsoft’s latest Copilot announcements introduce even more AI capabilities into the flow of our work. Wave 2 is designed to elevate the Copilot experience we have already become familiar with, enhancing productivity and streamlining workflows across Microsoft 365 applications.
“These announcements are great for us in terms of helping us to streamline processes. But they are excellent for our customers too,” says Nathan Rhodes, our Head of Sales. “I believe the Copilot Wave 2 features will truly improve organisations in terms of time saved.”
With more announcements promised over the coming months, Copilot is sure to empower even more users around the world with its mind-blowing potential.
Want to get more from Microsoft Copilot?
We've been helping people in organisations get more from their Microsoft 365 apps for the last decade. Get in touch to find out how we can boost user adoption and digital confidence.