For the last couple of years, most of the talk about Microsoft Copilot has been about drafting emails, summarising meetings and helping with documents.
Over the past few months, though, Microsoft has quietly added a new set of features that go well beyond personal productivity. Copilot is turning into a platform that can research, analyse, remember context and even take on specialist business jobs.
Here’s what’s new, and where I think it can really make a difference.
1. Cowork: working with Copilot, not just chatting to it
Most people use Copilot like a chatbot. Ask a question, get an answer. Cowork changes that. It gives you a shared workspace where Copilot helps you develop ideas, refine content and work through a task over time, rather than answering one prompt at a time.
That matters because real work rarely happens in one conversation. Projects evolve, documents change and new information turns up. Cowork is a much more natural way to bring AI along for the whole piece of work.
It’s great for strategic planning, proposals, business cases, marketing campaigns, workshop prep and complex projects. Instead of “Write me a proposal”, try:
“Help me develop a proposal for a Copilot adoption programme. Ask me questions as we go and help me improve the document.”
The big shift is in your head. You’re not asking Copilot to do something for you, you’re working on it together.
2. Coworker: getting to know the people around you
Copilot can now give you better context about your colleagues, drawing on the meetings, documents, projects and activity you already have access to. Rather than hunting through emails and Teams chats, you can ask who someone is, what they’re working on and where their expertise lies.
In most businesses, knowledge sits with people rather than systems. When someone leaves, changes role or just gets busy, it gets hard to find. Coworker helps surface it. Try:
“Summarise what James has been working on over the last few months and point out anything related to cyber security.”
“I’m meeting Sarah for the first time tomorrow. Give me some background on her projects and the documents she’s worked on.”
Handy for client meeting prep, onboarding, working out who owns a project or finding an expert in the building.
3. Analyst: insights without being an Excel guru
Lots of businesses have valuable data sitting in spreadsheets that only one or two people know how to analyse. Analyst lets anyone ask questions in plain English and get back trends, explanations and insights, no advanced Excel needed.
Think sales reports, budgets, operational reviews, forecasting and KPI tracking. This one could quietly become a game-changer for managers who live in numbers. (Try exporting all your opportunities from your CRM, then ask Analyst to build a dashboard of priorities, rank your sales team and flag the deals that need more work.)
4. Researcher: from answers to analysis
The original Copilot answered questions and generated content. Researcher goes much further. It takes on bigger research jobs, pulling information from multiple sources, analysing it and helping you build a complete piece of work rather than a quick reply.
Use it for market research, board papers, business cases, competitor analysis or supplier evaluations. It’s a bit like having a junior analyst on call. (We’ve used it to build a virtual board agent, complete with personas, a standard agenda and memory of previous meetings!)
5. The Agent Store and ready-made agents
Microsoft is putting a LOT into agents: AI specialists built for particular jobs. Instead of building every workflow yourself, you can deploy pre-built agents for things like HR questions, IT support requests, policy guidance, sales knowledge and customer onboarding.
This is where Copilot starts to move from a productivity tool to a business process platform. To find it, open Microsoft 365 Copilot, expand Agents in the left-hand menu and choose All agents. You’ll see Microsoft’s agents, partner agents and any built inside your organisation.
6. Copilot Memory
Early AI tools started from scratch every time. Copilot can now remember useful context and preferences, so you repeat yourself less and the help gets more personal. It’s great for consistent documents, your own writing style, faster reports and keeping projects on track. The more you use it, the better it gets. (In our virtual board, it remembers past discussions and the action register.)
7. Copilot Notebooks
Notebooks are one of the most underrated additions. They pull notes, documents, research, meeting content and Copilot output into one place. Ideal for project management, workshop planning, business cases, client discovery and bigger initiatives. Think of it as giving Copilot a tidy place to think alongside your team.
Keen to learn more?
Copilot is moving incredibly fast, and most businesses are only scratching the surface. If you’re wondering where it could make the biggest difference for you, we can help you find the practical use cases, get your team using it and turn Microsoft 365 into a real productivity engine.
Paying for Copilot but not sure you’re getting the value? Book a free health check, or call us on 0800 688 768.