Microsoft Copilot & AI - AI - Copilot - Microsoft Graph
This post introduces the topic of Copilot and the basics, different deployment scenarios and possibilities that currently exist in the Microsoft cosmos. What everyday problems Copliot, Power Platform can help with and what possibilities Azure AI Services provide.
For this purpose, I have summarized some Copilots and their functions:
| Product / Feature | Description | Key Features / Functions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Microsoft 365 Copilot | A cross-cutting AI assistant for Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, SharePoint, etc.). | - Integrates into Office apps (text creation, summaries, brainstorming) |
| - Email/chat automation in Outlook and Teams | ||
| - Generates presentations and charts (PowerPoint, Excel) | ||
| - Produces AI-generated text segments, overviews (Word, OneNote) | ||
| - Accesses company data from SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams chats, and more | ||
| 2. Copilot for Microsoft Forms | AI support in Microsoft Forms that simplifies and speeds up the creation and analysis of forms. | - Automatically suggests questions and form structures |
| - Offers AI-assisted rephrasing of questions | ||
| - Delivers intelligent evaluations and response summaries | ||
| - Integrated with Microsoft 365 (Teams, SharePoint) | ||
| 3. GitHub Copilot | An AI-based coding assistant for developers (from GitHub/OpenAI), usable in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, and more. | - Suggests code and entire functions based on comments or context |
| - Supports numerous programming languages (e.g., JavaScript, Python, C#, Go) | ||
| - Speeds up boilerplate code creation | ||
| - Learns and adapts to each developer’s coding style | ||
| 4. Dynamics 365 Copilot | An umbrella term for AI support across Microsoft’s business applications (CRM, ERP, Marketing, Customer Service, Finance, Supply Chain, etc.). | - Automatically drafts and summarizes emails, chat messages, and more (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service) |
| - Generates campaign ideas and marketing text | ||
| - Provides forecasts and analytics for Sales, Finance, Supply Chain | ||
| - Automates replies and recommendations in customer service | ||
| 4.1 Copilot for Sales (formerly Viva Sales) | AI features for sales processes, tightly integrated with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365. | - Assists in creating customer emails and content |
| - Automatically updates leads and contacts in CRM | ||
| - Offers AI-powered suggestions for quotes and talking points | ||
| - Integrates seamlessly with Outlook, Teams, and CRM data | ||
| 4.2 Copilot for Customer Service | Part of Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Helps customer service agents manage inquiries. | - Generates automated reply suggestions |
| - Recommends knowledge base articles and possible solutions | ||
| - Summarizes customer interactions and chat histories | ||
| - Issues real-time alerts for escalations and next steps | ||
| 4.3 Copilot for Marketing | Part of Dynamics 365 Marketing, focusing on campaign management and customer engagement. | - Drafts marketing copy and campaign ideas |
| - Provides AI-based audience segmentation | ||
| - Suggests email templates and content variations | ||
| - Evaluates campaign results | ||
| 4.4 Copilot for Finance | Part of Dynamics 365 Finance (ERP/financial management). | - Assists with finance reports (generated from accounting data) |
| - Offers suggested budget and cost analyses | ||
| - Automates invoice reviews and postings | ||
| - Runs forecasts and simulations (e.g., cash flow, profit/loss) | ||
| 4.5 Copilot for Supply Chain | Part of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain. | - Automates purchasing and warehouse management |
| - Uses predictive analytics for supply chains (detecting stock shortages, demand spikes) | ||
| - Issues automatic purchase proposals and warnings | ||
| 5. Copilot in Power Apps | Part of the Microsoft Power Platform (low-code/no-code development), enabling app creation via natural language. | - Automatically generates app layouts, form fields, and data connections |
| - Speeds up prototyping | ||
| - Ideal for newcomers with limited programming experience | ||
| 6. Copilot in Power Automate | AI-driven suggestions for workflows and automations within the Power Platform. | - Provides automatic flow suggestions from natural language |
| - Easily connects Microsoft and third-party services | ||
| - Facilitates the creation of complex automations | ||
| 7. Copilot in Power Virtual Agents | AI-based chatbot creation and dialog design (within the Power Platform). | - Builds chatbots from concise descriptions |
| - Suggests responses and flow steps automatically | ||
| - Integrates with Teams, websites, Dynamics 365, etc. | ||
| 8. Copilot in Power BI | AI features for data analysis, visualization, and reporting in Power BI. | - Answers natural language queries (e.g., “Show me revenue by region”) |
| - Suggests charts and key performance indicators | ||
| - Aids in data modeling and dashboard creation | ||
| 9. Windows Copilot | An AI assistant at the operating system level (Windows 11), accessible via a sidebar. | - Changes system settings via text or voice (“Enable dark mode”) |
| - Helps with file search and quick access | ||
| - Integrates with Microsoft 365 and Bing Chat | ||
| - Potential for additional plugins | ||
| 10. Microsoft Security Copilot | AI assistant specifically designed for security/IT teams (threat intelligence, incident response, security operations). | - Integrates with Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, and other security tools |
| - Provides real-time dashboards, forensics, and threat analyses | ||
| - Answers natural language queries (“Which accounts are compromised?”) | ||
| - Delivers automated recommendations and step-by-step guidance in attack scenarios | ||
| 11. Microsoft Viva Copilot | AI enhancements for Microsoft Viva (employee experience platform), covering training content, internal communication, and knowledge management. | - Suggests training and onboarding resources |
| - Summarizes corporate news, community content (e.g., Viva Engage) | ||
| - Assists in developing and maintaining knowledge bases and employee feedback processes | ||
| 12. Microsoft Fabric Copilot | Part of the Microsoft Fabric analytics platform; AI functionality for data integration, engineering, data science, and BI. | - Automatically builds data pipelines, dataflows, and machine learning models |
| - Helps with data modeling, ETL/ELT processes | ||
| - Integrates with Power BI, Synapse, and Data Factory (all within Microsoft Fabric) | ||
| - Allows natural language commands for data preparation and reporting | ||
| 13. Copilot for Microsoft Planner | (Not yet officially available in all tenants) AI support for task and project planning, part of Microsoft 365. | - Potentially generates tasks, priorities automatically |
| - Assists with time and resource planning | ||
| - Integrates with Teams, Outlook, To Do, and Project | ||
| - May appear in preview or upcoming updates | ||
| 14. Bing Chat | AI-enabled search and chat in Bing. Microsoft often calls Bing Chat “your copilot for the web.” | - Helps with web searches, research, and Q&A |
| - Generates text, summaries, and translations | ||
| - Uses GPT-4 combined with Bing’s search index | ||
| - Sometimes informally referred to as “Bing Copilot” or “Copilot for the Web,” though not always in official materials | ||
| 15. Copilot in Microsoft Edge | AI sidebar in Edge, tightly integrated with Bing Chat. Often informally called “Edge Copilot.” | - Offers context-related suggestions for open webpages (e.g., summarizing content) |
| - Provides advanced writing and translation features | ||
| - Integrates with Bing Chat for product research or comparison tables | ||
| - Can open new tabs and interact directly with webpage content |
Microsoft AI
But let's take a few steps back and take a look at the ecosystem around Microsoft and AI. It is divided into several areas that provide a suitable AI for every user level, depending on their needs.
Copilots
The group of Microsoft co-pilots is designed to make everyday work and tasks easier for users. Through context-related AI support for information workers, software developers or engineers.
Power Platform
Power Platform relies on the automation of business processes and enables the integration of low-code AI to control existing and new processes even faster and more efficiently.
Azure AI Services
Microsoft has made a variety of AI models available in Azure. These serve as building blocks for developers to use their own AI-based solutions and integrate them into their own processes and services. For example, Azure AI Vision (reading text, analyzing images and recognizing faces with OCR (optical character recognition) and machine learning).
Azure Machine Learning
In Azure, Microsoft has provided another platform for professionals and specialists by giving them the opportunity to create and manage their own machine learning models.
Exchange hybrid user migration
During an Exchange online migration, some preparations must take plce in advance so users can be migrated easily to the cloud.\nA typical error in the mailbox migration process occurs because of the mail domain (property: smtp/proxyaddresses) with the message "Target mailbox doesn't have an smtp proxy".
Start/Stop AKS and ADX Clusters with GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) and Azure Data Explorer (ADX) clusters are SaaS offerings based on virtual machines. It is probably the oldest way to safe money in the cloud - just turn them off when you do not need them - here are two ways to do this.