Blog Copilot Studio Is Your Easy Button for Gen AI Chatbots

All the changes, updates and new products that have been coming from Microsoft may have “buried the lead” on a few highly useful Copilot solutions that drive ROI. One of those solutions is Copilot Studio.

By Anna Donnelly / 28 Mar 2024 / Topics: Copilot for Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Generative AI

Many clients I speak to seem to be understandably less focused on Copilot Studio while they figure out what to do with Copilot for Microsoft 365. But I would challenge everyone to start thinking about Copilot Studio now, because it will help you drive additional returns on your Copilot for Microsoft 365 investment and more.

What is Copilot Studio?

Copilot Studio helps you do two things:

Create chatbots (called “copilots”) that use natural language processing that anyone internal or external to your organization can access. Here’s a sample use case:
- A chatbot that answers questions about benefits enrollment: The chatbot answers questions based on content found on an internal SharePoint site. Users can interact with the chatbot using natural language and ask questions such as: What changes are there to next year’s dental plan? OR What can you tell me about our wellness programs?
Create plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365 users that extend the capabilities of Copilot for Microsoft 365. This functionality is currently in preview in Microsoft 365. Here’s a sample use case for plugins:
- An end user wants to find out more information about the security review process for new applications in your organization. The user goes to Copilot for Microsoft 365 Chat in Teams and asks for information about the process. Copilot for Microsoft 365 recognizes the security review process as something that requires a help desk ticket and prompts the user in the reference section to submit a ticket. The user can then click the prompt to submit a ticket without exiting Teams.

Copilot Studio benefits

Chatbots created with Copilot Studio and plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365 can make measurable processes more efficient and help realize ROI. For instance, HR can speed up onboarding by asking a chatbot built with Copilot Studio to start an onboarding process for a new employee using connections into Workday. Legal teams can ask specific questions about information in their contracts database. And IT can get information on open tickets in ServiceNow. (These are just a few examples — for more, see: How early adopters are transforming their organizations with copilots | Microsoft Copilot Studio)

What about licensing? Here are some key considerations.

If you are creating copilots for everyone (described above), here’s what you need to know:

You need a tenant license for Copilot Studio. The tenant license can be activated in your Microsoft 365 tenant by a Global Admin. The tenant license allows users to create copilots, and anyone internal or external to your environment that you allow is able to access those copilots.
To publish generative AI chatbots, users creating copilots need to have the Microsoft Copilot Studio User License assigned to them. The Microsoft Copilot Studio User License is included with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5.
Power Virtual Agents (PVA) has been renamed Copilot Studio for Teams. Copilot Studio for Teams allows you to create traditional chatbots in Teams that do not use natural language models with generative AI. Functionality is limited, and chatbots can only be published to Teams. PVA is accessible to users who are licensed for Microsoft Teams.
The tenant license costs $200 per month for up to 25,000 messages. Every interaction an end user has with your copilot or your traditional chatbot created using Copilot for Teams (PVA) is considered a message, but consumption of messages is different between the two:
- Copilot Studio for Teams (PVA) consumes one message per interaction.
- AI copilots consume two messages per interaction.

If you are creating plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365, here’s what you need to know:

Users creating plugins need to have the Microsoft Copilot Studio User License assigned to them. The Microsoft Copilot Studio User License is included with Microsoft 365 E3/E5.
Only Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensed users can use plugins.
There are no consumption charges associated with creating or using plugins.

The importance of personas & use cases for Copilot Studio

Now that you know what Copilot Studio does and how it’s licensed, you need to understand applicable user personas and use cases across your organization to use it effectively. Our persona and use case analysis exercises for Copilot for Microsoft 365 with clients frequently uncover pain points and challenges that can be addressed by Copilot Studio. If you aren’t talking to your business about use cases in terms of what’s going on in their day-to-day roles, you are missing out on guiding your business to solve real problems and realize ROI with Copilot solutions.

Keep a pulse on Copilot.

Copilot Studio is just one of the many announcements that Microsoft has made about AI solutions. Here are more you might have missed:

Extend Copilot for Microsoft 365 with Copilot for Finance, AI-powered, role-based workflow automation that integrates with Dynamics 365, SAP and more. Learn more here.
The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for Business are integrating AI features and functionality in devices, making compute more efficient and even including a cool Copilot button for easy access to features. Learn more here.

References:
Assign user licenses and manage access — Microsoft Copilot Studio | Microsoft Learn
Power Platform Licensing Guide

Conquer your most complex change initiatives. With deep expertise across the entire technology ecosystem, you can trust Insight to help you navigate change strategically.

Anna Donnelly

Services Product Manager, Insight

Specializing in communications and collaboration technology with more than 10 years of experience in the Microsoft space, Anna strives to help organizations understand how modern workplace technology can positively impact their businesses and employees.

Key takeaways

Copilot Studio is a chatbot creation tool that uses natural language processing to improve efficiency and ROI for organizations.
Licensing for Copilot Studio includes a tenant license and a user license for generative AI chatbots, with additional charges for message consumption.
Understanding user personas and use cases is crucial for effectively using Copilot Studio.

All keyword categories: Blog Copilot for Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Generative AI Solution Perspectives newsletter

Blog Copilot Studio Is Your Easy Button for Gen AI Chatbots

All the changes, updates and new products that have been coming from Microsoft may have “buried the lead” on a few highly useful Copilot solutions that drive ROI. One of those solutions is Copilot Studio.

What is Copilot Studio?

Copilot Studio benefits

What about licensing? Here are some key considerations.

The importance of personas & use cases for Copilot Studio

Keep a pulse on Copilot.

Conquer your most complex change initiatives. With deep expertise across the entire technology ecosystem, you can trust Insight to help you navigate change strategically.

Anna Donnelly

Key takeaways

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