In September 2024, Microsoft announced Copilot Wave 2. Microsoft 365 Copilot continues to be integrated in each of the Microsoft applications, which will transform how you work with and interact with these applications.  Microsoft is referring to Copilot as the new UI for AI, and the catalyst to increase your daily productivity. The introduction of the second wave of groundbreaking features is designed to enhance productivity and collaboration in your trusted apps and in new innovative ways.  

Let’s take a closer look at the new Copilot features within Microsoft Applications.   

Excel: Good news! Copilot for Excel is no longer in its Beta version; it was generally released in September 2024. I have noticed great improvements in the new release.  Copilot in Excel is now better at analyzing data, creating formulas, and general uses. Yesterday, I asked it to create a complicated Lookup table for me and it gave me the correct answer within seconds. What a time saving! In the Wave 2 announcement, Microsoft announced they are continuing to enhance advance data analysis directly within Excel with the integration of Python. This feature opens new possibilities for data scientists and analysts, making complex calculations and visualizations more powerful and accessible.  

PowerPoint: The new Narrative Builder and Brand Manager features streamline the creation of professional presentations, ensuring consistency and saving valuable time. When you have the brand center setup in your environment, Copilot in PowerPoint will use those digital assets to create the presentation.

Outlook: The Prioritize my Inbox feature will help you manage email overload, allowing users to focus on the most important messages. It will prioritize your email because it uses AI to identify what emails are the most important to you. It will also show you its analysis and provide suggested responses. With these new features you will not miss another important email message. This feature is due to be released in public preview in December 2024. So, stay tuned for more about this feature when it is released.  

Microsoft is also toting additional enhancements in Teams, Word, OneDrive and Outlook.  

New Features

Now let’s talk about two new features.

The first new feature is called Copilot Pages. These Pages have been rolled out to Copilot subscribers in September. Copilot Pages offers a canvas for multi-person AI collaboration.   Copilot pages allow you to now use Copilot to perform your research, find answers and then paste them to a “page”.  What is great about this “page” is that you can them invite others to collaborate in real time with others.   This page also has built in Copilot functionality to aid your collaboration.   Copilot Pages was released on October 1.  

The second new feature to highlight is Copilot Agents. Copilot Agents will allow you to easily create digital AI assistants to help you automate and carry out business processes. They can assist in retrieving information, summarizing data, answering questions, and performing tasks like sending emails or updating records. These agents can be personalized to suit your organization’s needs and integrated into platforms like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and other business systems. 

If you would like to read more about all of the changes here is Microsoft official press release.

Looking Ahead 

As we embrace these new tools, it’s clear that Microsoft 365 Copilot is not just keeping pace with the demands of modern work but setting new standards for what is possible. The second wave of Copilot features is a testament to Microsoft’s commitment to innovation and user-centric design. 

Stay tuned for more updates and get ready to experience a new era of productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot. 

Remember we love technology, so if you want to discuss how Copilot can help you specifically, don’t hesitate to reach out to Savvy Technical Solutions. We’re always here to discuss all things Copilot and Microsoft technology.