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“Finding the right use case, with the right AI, for the right people is key to unlocking productivity within organisations.”
That was the optimistic observation of our Chief Technology Officer, Mark Rotheram, as he discussed identifying transformative business opportunities during our recent webinar : ‘AI-Powered Productivity – Unleashing Microsoft Copilot and Generative AI.’
Mark was joined by Andy James, BCN’s Team Lead – Productivity Solutions; our Senior Product Manager, Tom Furber; and Johan Venables, BCN’s Modern Workplace Consultant, to demonstrate some of the myriad ways AI can integrate with existing technology and processes to drive a business forward.
Here’s a summary of the key themes we covered.
Mark was keen to demystify the journey to becoming an AI-driven business. On paper this can sound overwhelming, especially to non-tech driven organisations. In reality, however, the path to AI being the engine of your processes can be split into four distinct steps.
First, take the initial step. You don’t even need to buy a licence to experiment with the free version of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Employees can try out the AI, for example testing different ways to prompt the chat function for the best answers, so that they get used to AI functionality.
Second, purchasing a full Copilot licence enables users to consider how AI can improve their own role. At this stage, the AI can access your entire existing Microsoft 365 tenant in a fully secure manager. That means team members can learn how to summarise meetings, disparate Word documents, chats and more; ultimately saving time and effort, so they can focus on higher-value tasks.
Third, progress to using AI to drive your business processes. Copilot has access to all relevant data held at your organisation: in 365, Azure and Copilot Studio. AI can be used to support improvements to your operations – or to overhaul them for a wholly new and more valuable approach.
Fourth, the advanced stage where AI underpins business transformation. Rather than earlier ‘no code’ and ‘low code’ stages, this ‘pro code’ approach fuels the work of your data scientists and full-stack developers. They can now identify the data within your business that can be harnessed to make a big difference, with the AI clarifying how to make that happen.
As mentioned, AI might sound daunting to some of your staff when you begin to adopt the technology. Johan keenly explained why that needn’t be the case.
Ensuring each Copilot user is logged in – with the ‘green shield’ displayed on their screen, guaranteeing a secure environment that won’t compromise your business data – it’s then a case of getting them to take their first steps with AI. Johan provided the simple example of asking Copilot’s chat function to:
“Slowly but surely, users will feel comfortable and see value in the AI,” Johan explained. “Then they can move on to embedding Copilot in their daily processes. It acts like a productivity personal assistant.”
Andy then took the audience through Power Platform. It’s an app that hones in on the business data available in Copilot that is essential for adding value in specific tasks.
Copilot’s AI chatbot integrates with Power Platform so you can prompt it to identify the exact information you require, which it displays almost instantaneously. If you are drafting a tender, for example, you can pinpoint details your client’s procurement teams demand such as project management and resourcing information.
“Knowing where to start is as often as massive a question as the origin of the Universe,” Andy observes. “The AI provides a great starting point to finding the information you need and understanding the best way to interact with it.”
Tom then updated on some exciting developments that will interest BCN’s healthcare customers, but are also applicable to other industries.
His part of the discussion centred on using Copilot for innovation; specifically, improving and simplifying the highly complex areas of business reporting and decision-making through our custom solution, Public View.
Using generative AI, we’re providing a proof of concept chatbot that accesses and streamlines performance KPI data. It will drastically cut the time it takes for managers to create and share reports. “It’s like having the director of performance in your pocket,” Tom said.
The second proof of concept generates reports featuring summaries based on relevant key performance metrics, and challenges tailored to specific teams within healthcare organisations in far less time than the analysis would take without AI.
The discussion rapidly covered four different aspects of integrating AI into your business, with several real-world examples highlighting how to use the power of Copilot to boost productivity.
To get the most value from Copilot and focus from the outset on where it can make the biggest difference to productivity, it’s key to identify:
Those might not be simple questions to answer. “The possibilities with Copilot are huge,” Mark concluded. “If you can pinpoint areas within your organisation that are accessible for disruption and innovation using the technology, the business won’t stand still.”
Find out how BCN can help you identify the best use of AI at your organisation, and apply Copilot to propel productivity to new heights.
