Microsoft hosted its flagship event for IT professionals and developers called "Microsoft Ignite" earlier this month. As an Enterprise Modern Work Solutions Partner, a status less than 1% of Microsoft partners achieve, our team got an early look at the new tech Microsoft is rolling out in 2024. The tech giant unveiled a ton of new advances to improve productivity, innovation, and efficiency, and many of these new products and features are supported by Copilot, Microsoft’s rapidly expanding suite of generative Artificial Intelligence products.
Three announcements stood out as key to improving AI integration, security, and strategy that every CEO should be tracking. The release of Copilot Studio, development of Security Copilot, and expansion of Microsoft Planner.
Copilot Studio
Many CEOs dream of the day employee workflow includes managing an AI chat to increase productivity and output; however, generative AI leverages broad data set and lacks institutional knowledge, making it difficult for organizations to get the most out of it. Enter Microsoft Copilot Studio. Leveraging power automation engineers, organizations will be able to direct AI to learn new, company-specific prompts, review pre-determined data sets, and return more relevant and actionable results than ever before. This will free employees mired in creating annual reports, compiling data, or entering numbers to focus efforts on more strategic and innovative endeavors. A focus on innovation and strategy alignment has become increasingly important as U.S. companies struggle to keep pace with overseas competitors. Only about a third of U.S. companies report having breakthrough technologies or innovations in the coming years. Companies that don’t innovate will evaporate.
Security Copilot
The full potential for generative AI to revolutionize work has not yet been fully realized, and neither have the breadth and impact security risks AI poses. Many CEOs are skeptical of the privacy and security implications posed by AI. Research by KPMG found eighty-one percent of CEOs expressed concern that the lack of regulations for generative AI within their industry will hinder their organization’s success. Earlier this year, major tech CEOs, including Elon Musk, called for a pause in training AI systems citing “profound risks to society and humanity.”
“Security is job number one for Microsoft and generative AI,” says Jeff Kotz, Director of Microsoft Channel Alliance. “Expansions to Microsoft Defender with Security Copilot is a massive step forward in not only detecting patterns and behaviors unrecognizable to humans, but also identifying similar or related breaches and creating actions for security professionals to act immediately on that information.”
The New Planner
We know what you’re thinking: “I’m a CEO. Why do I care about people’s task lists?” Well, tasks lists equate to human effort. You can use that effort toward a common strategic objective or scatter shot attempts at real, meaningful work. The New Planner combines the existing Microsoft organization tools of Microsoft To-Do and Microsoft Projects into one powerful personal productivity system under the Microsoft Planner codebase. This new system will integrate with Microsoft Viva Goals, providing new levels of visibility and understanding of how employee actions affect and further organizational objectives. This tool combined with the various Copilot integrations across Teams and Viva can offer new levels of collaboration and accountability to help organizations reach new heights.
The possibilities of modern technology are limitless; however, many organizations throttle back their investment in digital tools as a cost saving measure. Organizations cannot afford to take a knee in modernizing and streamlining their networks and technological capabilities in the name of costs. Companies that invest in tech experience 2.8 times more productivity and leave behind less capable firms in the marketplace. The time to invest in your organization's future is now.
Want to know how the latest tech can help drive your team's effectiveness? Please contact our team to learn more.
