2023-07-19 16:49:00
$30 per month per person. Microsoft has finally announced the amount it intends to charge companies to use Copilot, its generative AI-powered assistant, on Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, etc.). Presented in March but reserved for a small group of testers, the tool would be able to create entire presentations from a single document, to search for information through all the software in the office suite or even to help prepare meetings in seconds. In other words, it might revolutionize entire trades.
Copilot for Microsoft 365, the ultimate test for AI
Microsoft has poured billions into the capital-intensive OpenAI and is now looking to capture early returns. The first step was to integrate OpenAI’s generative AI tools into its cloud, something done since the beginning of the year. Without giving precise figures for the moment, the company claims to receive very strong demand for its new activity, and to support many customers in the deployment of generative AI tools.
The second stage of its plan for AI focuses on the integration of a digital assistant created in collaboration with OpenAI – called Copilot, whatever the software – in all of its products. GitHub, the platform for IT developers, served as the first test for Copilot from 2022. But the success of Copilot on 365 appears to be the ultimate test to validate Microsoft’s strategy on generative AI. The company’s flagship product, it brings together more than 345 million paid accounts, as many potential customers for the AI assistant.
If we stick to the presentations of the group, the use cases for Copilot appear as obvious. Capable of drastically reducing time-consuming tasks, it will allow you to transform a Word document into a presentation in a few seconds, analyze sales data from an Excel document, or even summarize a set of conversations scattered over several emails in Outlook.
30 dollars, the right price?
The price chosen for the moment by Microsoft, at 30 dollars per month per person (the company continues to conduct tests), seems high. Indeed, it already exceeds the first prices of the software suite itself. But the tool has the potential to free up several hours a week for certain trades, by taking on repetitive tasks. In other words, if the technology lives up to its promise, the seemingly high bill of $30 a month will pale in comparison to the productivity gains. Additionally, in Microsoft’s vision, Copilot will allow employees to focus on the most creative, high-value tasks, which should trickle down to other metrics, like employee satisfaction and retention.
For the moment, Microsoft has still not given a deployment date for Copilot. But tests are already underway. In France, for example, the American giant has entrusted its precious assistant to partner consulting firms, which work on use cases with a handful of customers.
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