This is not just another AI announcement. It is a signal of where Microsoft is taking Copilot: away from the idea of a single assistant powered by a single model, and instead towards a multi-model platform for work. What does that shift mean in practice? Technically, operationally and from a compliance standpoint?

What is actually changing?

Microsoft has confirmed Anthropic model support across multiple parts of its Copilot ecosystem, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Researcher, Copilot Studio, Power Platform, Agent Mode in Excel and dedicated agents for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

The mechanics of how Claude appears vary by experience. In Researcher and Agent Mode for Excel, users can choose Claude directly. In Copilot Studio, builders can select Anthropic models during configuration. In the broader Microsoft 365 Copilot experience, UI indicators will show when Claude is in use, but Microsoft handles the routing in the background.
One experience worth understanding clearly is Cowork. Microsoft worked closely with Anthropic to bring the underlying technology of Claude’s Cowork capability into Microsoft 365 Copilot. Cowork is designed for long-running, multi-step work that goes beyond a single prompt-and-response interaction. Rather than asking a question and receiving an answer, users can delegate sustained tasks such as research, drafting and analysis that unfold over time and across multiple actions.

This matters because it moves the conversation from “which model writes the best answer” to “which model, or combination of models, can help execute meaningful work over time”. Microsoft is increasingly packaging model innovation into business experiences rather than exposing it as a raw model decision. That is more useful for most organisations, but it also means governance teams need to pay close attention to what is running underneath.

Takeaway: Anthropic in Copilot is not just a feature update. It is part of Microsoft’s broader move to make Copilot a multi-model work platform, not a single-model chat tool. The shift from model selection to model abstraction changes how organisations need to think about governance.

What this means for UK and EU customers

For UK and EU organisations, the compliance dimension of this announcement deserves particular attention.

Microsoft has brought Anthropic into its enterprise framework as a Microsoft sub processor. In practical terms, this means Anthropic operates under Microsoft’s oversight, with Microsoft’s contractual protections applying to its use in services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio. The Microsoft Product Terms apply, the Data Protection Addendum applies, Enterprise Data Protection remains in effect, and the Customer Copyright Commitment covers applicable products.

However, Microsoft has also confirmed that Anthropic model processing is currently outside the EU Data Boundary. As a result, Anthropic models are disabled by default for customers in the EU, EFTA, and UK.

To make the data boundary implications concrete: if a UK legal team uses Researcher with Claude enabled to analyse contract drafts, that document content may be processed outside the EU Data Boundary. Whether that is acceptable depends on your internal policies, sector-specific regulatory requirements, and any data residency commitments made to clients.
Enabling Anthropic is therefore not a single on or off decision. Microsoft has structured rollout and controls to vary by workload. Anthropic availability in Copilot Chat, Researcher, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint does not all arrive in the same way or follow the same control path. Organisations that assume a blanket enabled or disabled state risk either blocking useful capability or inadvertently allowing processing they have not reviewed.

Takeaway: For UK and EU customers, this is not just a model story. It is a data residency, compliance, and policy story. Anthropic may unlock genuinely useful capability, but it comes with decisions that security and compliance teams need to own, not just acknowledge.

What should organisations do now?

Two instinctive responses are worth resisting. The first is dismissing this as a niche AI update. Anthropic is now embedded in mainstream Microsoft productivity and agent experiences, which will become more visible to users over time. The second is rushing to enable everything because Claude has strong market momentum. Capable technology does not remove the need for good governance.

A more considered response involves four practical steps:

1. Review tenant settings. Check whether Anthropic is enabled, disabled, or on by default for the workloads that matter to you. Microsoft has admin controls for Anthropic as a sub processor, and separate controls for specific app experiences. Do not assume the settings are consistent across all surfaces.
2. Assess data boundary impact. Identify which Copilot experiences may process data outside the EU Data Boundary and map these against your internal policy, regulatory obligations, and client commitments. The risk is not theoretical: it depends on which teams use which features and what data they handle.
3. Communicate with users. If model choice becomes visible in the interface, users need context. Without it, you risk confusion about why model behaviour differs across experiences, or why some users see Claude options while others do not. A short internal briefing goes a long way.
4. Integrate into AI governance. This should not sit as a standalone toggle buried in admin settings. Model choice, sub processor use, data residency, and acceptable use all need to connect within your wider Copilot and agent governance framework. If that framework does not yet exist, this is a good prompt to build it.

Takeaway: The right response is neither panic nor unconditional adoption. Treat Anthropic in Copilot as part of your broader AI control framework, and use it as an opportunity to stress-test whether that framework is fit for a multi-model world.

Why does this matter?

The arrival of Anthropic models in Microsoft 365 Copilot matters, but not because organisations suddenly need to become model experts. It matters because it illustrates where Microsoft is headed: Copilot as a governed, multi-model intelligence layer that sits at the centre of everyday work.

For some organisations, that will be exciting. For those in the UK and EU, it will also raise immediate questions about data processing, admin controls, and policy alignment. Both reactions are entirely valid and not mutually exclusive.

The practical question worth asking now is not “is Claude good?” but “where does Anthropic genuinely improve outcomes for our users, and where do we need stronger guardrails before enabling it?” Organisations that can answer that question clearly will be better placed as the multi-model Copilot continues to evolve.

Find out more at our event on 1 May – Register your place here

The post Anthropic comes to Microsoft 365 Copilot: What it means for UK and EU customers appeared first on Prosperity 247.

If you’re running a business, you’re not starting from scratch. You must contend with legacy systems, existing infrastructure, regulatory obligations, data protection responsibilities, the list goes on. You have staff whose trust and understanding are critical, and leaders who demand clear evidence of return on investment before allocating resources. Any meaningful conversation about AI must begin by recognising these constraints.

Many of us have already grasped the basics of AI, and are seeing benefits from AI assistants such as Microsoft Copilot. However, the true potential, and real challenge, lies in moving beyond these tools to embrace AI agents capable of acting autonomously, automating workflows, and transforming entire business processes. This leap is proving difficult for many organisations, largely because the gap between hype and reality is not a lack of skills, but a lack of practical methods for implementation.

Enter the AI Design Sprint®, a people-led, practical framework designed to help businesses explore where AI agents and automated workflows can make a genuine difference.  The approach, developed by 33A in Copenhagen, is now available to Prosperity 24/7’s clients, and was designed for exactly this situation.  It is grounded in design thinking and the same human-centred approach that is behind the Google Design Sprint.

This framework is not about helping your team get more from Microsoft Copilot but to explore AI agents and automated workflows which could transform your operations, with the rigour, governance and human involvement that this kind of change demands.

Crucially, this approach requires no technical expertise, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes and sectors. The AI Design Sprint® acknowledges the operational realities faced by organisations and offers a structured pathway towards AI adoption that is both strategic and pragmatic.

At its core is a simple principle: the people closest to the work are best placed to identify where AI can help.  They don’t need to become AI specialists. They need a framework that makes possibilities visible, a language that feels accessible, and a process that turns ideas into something actionable. Understanding these distinctions is vital, the journey to effective AI adoption is not about following trends or chasing hype; it’s about making technology work the way that people work.

The gap between AI hype and practical adoption is real but it isn’t a reason to stand still.  Organisations that succeed with AI will be the ones that start by asking the right questions, with the right people in the room, and move forward in a way that reflects their reality.

You don’t need to reinvent yourself to work effectively with AI. You need a method that respects your experience, your responsibilities, and your people. The technology will keep evolving. The pressure to act will continue. But you don’t have to navigate it alone. The bridge is there. You just need to step onto it.

The post Bridging the AI Gap – find where AI fits business with the people who know it best appeared first on Prosperity 247.

Agentic AI may be the first step beyond this phase.

Unlike traditional generative AI, which responds to prompts, agentic systems are designed to act. An agent can interpret goals, plan steps, interact with systems, take action, evaluate outcomes and adjust its behaviour. It does not simply generate content; it executes work across tools and platforms. This shift from assistance to autonomous action is significant.

The scale of growth expected in this space is substantial. The International Data Corporate (IDC) predicts that by 2028 there could be 1.3 billion AI agents in operation worldwide. As organisations begin deploying agents at scale, the conversation moves quickly from capability to control. The real question becomes: how do you manage hundreds or thousands of digital workers operating across your environment?

Without structure, agents can proliferate rapidly. Different teams may build their own. Third-party agents may be introduced. Permissions can become overly broad. Visibility can be lost. The risk is not just technical; it is operational and regulatory. Organisations need a way to track, govern and secure agents without slowing innovation.

This is where Agent 365 is positioned.

Agent 365 acts as a control plane for AI agents. It is designed to provide a consistent framework for deploying, managing and securing agents, whether they are built in-house, provided by Microsoft, or sourced from partners. The aim is straightforward: enable scale without sacrificing governance.

The Five Pillars Of Agent 365

Agent 365 is underpinned by five essential pillars that collectively ensure agents can be deployed, managed and scaled with confidence. These pillars serve as the foundation for a future-ready AI environment, supporting innovation while maintaining control, visibility and compliance across the enterprise.

1. Registry – Every agent is assigned a unique Entra Agent ID, treating it as a managed digital identity rather than a background process. This creates a single, organisation-wide view of all agents in use. By maintaining a central registry, businesses can prevent uncontrolled growth and ensure every agent is known, classified and governed.
2. Access control – Agents are granted permissions based on least privilege and Zero Trust principles. They access only the data and systems required to complete their tasks. Administrators can define guardrails around who is allowed to create, deploy and manage agents, ensuring clear ownership and accountability.
3. Visualisation – As adoption grows, leaders need clarity on how agents are being used and what impact they are having. Agent 365 provides dashboards, telemetry and real-time insights into deployment, usage patterns and system interactions. This visibility reduces blind spots and supports informed decision-making.
4. Interoperability – Agents are most powerful when they can operate across Microsoft 365 and connected business platforms. Agent 365 enables secure communication and coordination between agents and enterprise applications, allowing them to automate real workflows rather than isolated tasks. This includes interacting with tools such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365 and core productivity applications while maintaining policy enforcement.
5. Security – Agents are protected using the same enterprise-grade identity, security and compliance model applied to users and applications. Integration with Microsoft Purview enables data protection policies and auditing of agent activity. Integration with Microsoft Defender allows organisations to detect, investigate and respond to threats targeting agents in real time. This unified approach ensures that as agent usage increases, security posture remains consistent.

Agentic AI introduces a new operational layer inside the enterprise. It creates opportunity, but it also expands the attack surface and governance burden. Managing agent sprawl, controlling permissions, protecting sensitive data and defending against AI-specific threats are no longer optional considerations; they are foundational requirements.

Agent 365 is designed to meet that need. It provides the oversight and control required to scale AI agents confidently, ensuring they operate as trusted, governed digital workers rather than unmanaged automation.

As organisations move from experimentation to deployment, the ability to manage agents at scale will define success. Agent 365 forms part of the Frontier Programme and represents Microsoft’s approach to enabling secure, enterprise-ready agentic AI.

Find out more and register your place at our next Great Minds event on Thursday 12th March

The post Agent 365: Governing the Next Era of AI appeared first on Prosperity 247.

New models and tools appear constantly, each impressive in its own way, each claiming to be faster, smarter, or more capable than the last. For most organisations, however, the challenge is no longer whether AI is useful but how to apply it in a way that delivers real, repeatable value.

This is where Microsoft Copilot continues to differentiate and where its evolution really matters.

Copilot is no longer just an AI assistant responding to prompts. It is evolving into something far more powerful. Its capability embedded directly into the flow of everyday work. Rather than sitting alongside your tools, Copilot is built into them.  You will find it in all your faithful Microsoft tools such as Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, helping users work through tasks, not just generate answers.

At the heart of this is Microsoft’s Work IQ. Copilot understands the context of your organisation’s work by securely accessing data through Microsoft Graph. All your emails, meetings, chats, documents, calendars, tasks and files are governed by existing permissions and security controls. This grounding allows Copilot to move beyond generic outputs and deliver assistance that is relevant, contextual, and actionable.

This shift is critical

Instead of prompting an AI, copying the response, and manually shaping it into something useful, Copilot works alongside you as you create, all within the same tools you already use everyday. It helps you iterate on documents rather than starting from scratch. It can build and refine presentations based on existing content and meeting discussions. It supports users as they work through complex Excel models, analyse data, and uncover insights.

This is AI in the workflow, not AI added to it

Copilot is designed to reduce friction across the small but time-consuming tasks that define modern work: drafting, reviewing, summarising, analysing, planning, and following up. It doesn’t replace human judgement or creativity; it enhances them by removing busywork and accelerating momentum. The result is not just faster output, but better focus on higher-value work.

Many AI tools look impressive in isolation but struggle to move beyond experimentation. They rely on disconnected data, manual prompts, and new ways of working that users must consciously adopt. Copilot benefits from being deeply integrated into Microsoft 365, where identity, compliance, security, and data governance are already in place. This makes it not only powerful, but practical and enterprise-ready.

There is a lot of noise in the AI market — benchmarks, statistics, and headline claims that can distract from what really matters. AI is ultimately a tool, and its value is measured by how effectively it supports people in their day-to-day work.

For organisations whose data already lives in the Microsoft ecosystem, Copilot represents the most natural path forward. Not because it is the most hyped solution, but because it is evolving into something far more important: the future of productivity, embedded directly where work happens.

Find out more about our Copilot Advancement Programme

This article first appeared in the Jersey Evening Post on 14 January 2026.

Why Copilot is different: A look at AI in the flow of work

The post Why Copilot Is Different: AI in the Flow of Work appeared first on Prosperity 247.

For technology to work the way that people work and for it to be embraced by the business, it has to be as a collaboration between people, processes and technology; by putting people at the heart of the change. Many organisations can treat end-user adoption as an afterthought, as it is a common belief that new technology will simply be used if it is available. We know this to be untrue and have seen how user adoption is the foundation for the success and measured return on investment.

Technology must not be viewed as a standalone solution but needs to complement robust processes and the ingenuity of people. It is an enabler rather than a replacement and as new technologies emerge, such as Copilot and Agentic AI, we can ensure they augment human effort, acting as catalysts for creativity and efficiency. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved from simple chatbots to fully autonomous AI agents—intelligent systems that can perform tasks, make decisions, and learn without constant human intervention.
Since Microsoft released its Generative AI assistant, Copilot, at the end of 2023, it has been integrated across many of its applications, including Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365. The addition of Copilot Studio in Microsoft Power Platform has expanded capability even further through Agentic AI.

Prosperity 24/7 has been at the forefront of understanding Copilot’s capabilities and how that applies to businesses in the most practical sense.

Understanding Copilot and Agentic AI

Copilot, as its name suggests, is designed to work alongside individuals, enhancing productivity by providing suggestions and automating repetitive tasks, such as preparing meeting notes, managing schedules, summarising emails or creating content for documents and reports.

Agents differ in complexity and capability based on their intended use. These include retrieval agents that retrieve documents on specific topics, task-based agents that complete tasks in a workflow, and autonomous agents that can reason over a situation and then take action.

The term “Agentic AI” is frequently mentioned in news articles and on social media platforms. Agentic AI takes a more autonomous role to tasks, acting as an intelligent agent, capable of making decisions and executing tasks independently while remaining aligned with the broader goals of the humans in control. It learns and adapts as it works, optimising processes and has the ability to anticipate challenges, suggest process improvements, and even innovate solutions, making it an invaluable asset in modern workplaces.

First things first, is your business ready for AI?

Although Copilot is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, it is important to make sure that your business is prepared and empowered to use it effectively to unleash creativity and unlock productivity for everyone.

A readiness assessment is an essential step in preparing your business for the change. It evaluates your current position, taking into account your data governance, security and checks the technical pre-requisites are in place but it also incorporates the essential elements of people and processes.

Leadership need to ensure they are using AI for the best possible outcome for their business as well as bringing teams along for the journey, helping them to understand it can improve the tasks they undertake every day. The successful implementation of tools like Copilot and Agentic AI requires a shift in mindset.

People naturally resist change, so they need to know what’s in it for them. Including scenario-based training sessions is essential for teams to understand the technology and derive immediate value from it. Driving adoption comes from the understanding of business challenges and addressing these with technology.

Employees must be trained to see technology not as a competitor but as a collaborator. Regular workshops, clear communication, and accessible resources can help cultivate a culture of acceptance and enthusiasm, where individuals feel empowered to use these tools to amplify their own abilities. Prioritising training and education as part of the implementation of technology ensure technology amplifies human potential and remains aligned to strategic goals.

Helping your business to embrace the advancements of artificial intelligence is just one of the ways that Prosperity 24/7 can enable business growth and enhance productivity for your business.

As an independent supplier for the Better Business Grant and an accredited Microsoft Solutions Partner, we can support your business across the range of services that we offer. Whether you are looking to centralise your operations through enterprise resource planning, ensuring your business is cyber secure, migrating to the cloud or disposing of old legacy systems, then we can help with our people first approach.

The post Enhancing productivity with people, processes and technology collaboration appeared first on Prosperity 247.

Fast-forward 18 months, and the story is much clearer, Copilot has cemented itself as our productivity assistant. A digital colleague helping us cut through repetitive tasks, draft emails, surface data, summarise meetings, and write Excel formulas without needing an ‘Excel for Dummies’ crash course.

Copilot usage across Microsoft 265 is now in the millions, with Microsoft reporting that organisations using Copilot have seen a productivity boost of us to 29% in day-to-day tasks and a 70% improvement in time saved on email composition. Adoption has moved beyond pilot programmes as many companies now consider Copilot to be critical infrastructure for knowledge workers.

More importantly, we’ve moved past the early mysticism of AI. It hasn’t (yet) taken our jobs. Instead, it’s making our jobs better and helping us get things done faster, with higher quality and less friction. And for most users, that’s exactly what they needed to help alleviate the admin burden.

But this is only the beginning.

The next wave – Agentic AI

The next wave of AI in the workplace is already here in the form of agentic AI. Microsoft has been quietly laying the foundations for this evolution, and it’s now coming to the forefront.

If Copilot is the assistant sitting beside you, Agentic AI is the team working in the background. Agents are not here to help you write a better paragraph or summarise a call. It’s less about helping you finish a task and more about taking ownership of business processes, automating and streamlining them from start to finish.

Until now, AI has largely supported individual productivity. But Agentic AI is designed to support business operations at scale, demonstrating a powerful shift in thinking, helping drive real business value through professional reinvention and reengineering.

Copilot vs agents – what’s the difference?

Think of Copilot as your personal assistant. Now imagine dozens of agents operating across your business, handling invoices, HR onboarding, customer support tickets, compliance checks, and more. These agents will live inside the Microsoft 265 ecosystem and operate via the same Copilot interface.

1. Copilot = personal productivity

• Every employee gets a Copilot.
• One-to-one relationship.
• Supports in-context work: drafting, summarising, replying, reformatting and more.
• Enhances how you work.

2. Agents = process intelligence

• Every organisation has multiple agents.
• One-to-many relationship.
• Works across apps and systems to automate entire workflows.
• Operates on behalf of teams or departments.

Why it matters

Organisations run on processes. Some are well-defined, others are sprawling and inconsistent. All of them take time, require coordination, and depend on people moving data between systems. Until now, digital transformation has meant integrating systems and automating bits and pieces. Agentic AI offers the chance to rethink the whole thing. It isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about unlocking new value.

Imagine an agent that:

• Onboards a new starter by automatically generating accounts, scheduling training, and assigning permissions.
• Monitors a project timeline and nudges stakeholders when risks are detected.
• Reviews customer emails, identifies intent, and triggers fulfilment or escalations.
• Validates documents against policy rules and flags anomalies.

You can immediately see the value in addressing these types of processes with agents.

Organisations are already testing these capabilities with partners through tools like Microsoft Copilot Studio, where businesses can build custom agents that connect to their Microsoft 265 data and even pull in information from external systems using prebuilt connectors.

Agents can be governed, monitored and deployed just like any enterprise solution because they’re integrated with Microsoft’s Copilot Control System. This is a critical step to enable AI to scale in business with appropriate checks and balances in place.

A quiet revolution

Whilst it’s still early days, the signs are clear that Agentic AI is going to be the next major shift in workplace productivity. Just as we’ve grown comfortable with AI writing our emails and summarising meetings, we’re moving quickly towards AI running parts of the business.

But where do we begin?

1. Embed Copilot in your organisation

• Deploy Copilot with a clear, structured adoption plan.
• Upskill and empower your people to understand and leverage it’s potentioal.
• Align usage with organisational goals and focus on removing productivity blockers.

2. Identify manual, repetitive and rules-based processes

• Think onboarding, approvals, scheduling, finance ops and other day-to-day workflows.
• If it’s a repeatable, step-by-step process, there’s a strong case for an agent.

3. Start small

• Look for quick wins to build familiarity and early success.
• Focus on where agents can make a tangible difference in your organisation demonstrating ROI.
• Build low-risk agents to experiment, learn and redefine.

4. Involve IT and Compliance early

• Agents require the same governance as any core system.
• Establish clear policies, controls and monitoring from the outset.

5. Don’t chase perfection

• AI adoption is iterative and evolves over time.
• Start small, learn quickly and build confidence as you grow.

The Copilot journey has shown us that AI doesn’t have to be scary. When it’s embedded in familiar tools focused on helping, not replacing, people, adoption follows naturally.

Agentic AI will follow the same path, but with even greater potential to transform how organisations function. We’ll soon see businesses with dozens of agents supporting everything from employee engagement to supply chain efficiency.

So, if Copilot is helping you get through your inbox faster, then get ready to redesign what work looks like for your business.

We’re already helping organisations understand, design and deploy AI agents that drive real impact. Get in touch to see how we can help you take the next step.

This article first appeared in the June 2025 issue of Connect

The post The rise of agentic AI: Redefining productivity beyond Copilot appeared first on Prosperity 247.

Understanding how your employees work and identifying which processes need improvement are crucial steps in implementing new technology effectively. Our people-first approach ensures that technology is not only adopted, but successfully embedded into your business. If you’re unsure of how to proceed, or are interested in how AI can support your growth, our team of experts are here to help.

Our Microsoft Copilot readiness service offering provide a strategic assessment of how Copilot can be integrated into your business to enhance productivity. This includes evaluating technical readiness, strategy and change management. According to the Jersey Business productivity survey, adopting new technology and AI is the top priority among respondents for improving productivity over the next 12 months. Embracing automation and technology is frequently cited as the ‘top tip’ for boosting productivity.

Check if you are eligible for a BBG here: Jersey Business Grant

• Businesses and charities must be registered in Jersey.
• Businesses must have been trading for a minimum of 6 months.
• Businesses must employ 1 person.
• Businesses must be up to date with tax contributions or on a repayment plan.

If you’re ready to boost your productivity and accelerate your business growth, Prosperity 24/7 is here to help you. With our support, you could make the most of your grant. Talk to us when you’re ready to apply and we’ll guide you on how to best invest your grant for your business.

The post Transform your business efficiency: Prosperity 24/7 joins Jersey Better Business Grant appeared first on Prosperity 247.

One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape, living in dust, with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.

Ex Machina, Alex Garland

…The seminal line from Ex Machina was top of mind when attending Microsoft Ignite in Chicago last week. An event designed to educate, empower and inspire the Microsoft partner ecosystem to in turn, help our clients across the planet to deliver positive, impactful, purposeful outcomes for society (health/sustainability), for colleagues (work/life balance) and for business (greater profitability through productivity).

Some difficult bed fellows to all please in concert, for ease going forward, I will simply define these dimensions as “Leadership’s sustainability trilemma”.

If you want your business to be relevant and indeed, to exist, in ten years’ time, you have to be acutely aware of everything that is coming downstream, to ensure you are effectively planning to maximise the opportunity AI presents, whilst reminding ourselves that we employ humans and must be empathetic when adopting innovation at such phenomenal pace as the evolution (revolution) when considering how far we have come in just twelve months since Copilot was generally available.

Before I move on to the impactful technology that was demonstrated as ‘being available, today’, I admit I am also re-reading “Humans, A brief history of how we F*cked it all up” – charting humanities spiral into self-created oblivion, a phenomenal book by Tim Phillips which helps to contextualise the World’s challenges and how we humans are often our own worst enemy, acting as the catalyst for negative, rather than positive impact. Obviously, that shizzle won’t happen with AI…

As you can imagine, I walked into Microsoft’s event with my ever-positive outlook and growth mindset. Clinging to the hope that humanity will prevail and in many ways my hopes were achieved, with most fears alleviated (if with a pervasive niggle of the potential socio-economic impact innovation could create an even more polarised society of “have’s and have not’s”).

When it comes to those who can afford a personalised AI Agent to undertake their tasks (think of the human’s in Wall-E – my immediate thought) versus those who still have to manually craft their Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and even have the previously ‘exclusive knowledge’ to build their own v-lookups and power BI analytics – you know who you are, you crazy, ‘old school’ kids – those days are over my friends, knowledge as well as process augmentation have been democratised and automated, access to innovation, for all is available now – just ask Copilot!

For those who can access AI and in particular, Microsoft Copilot, the options for productivity gains are beyond comprehension, just read on for some of the highlights. With Microsoft regularly citing themselves as “Customer zero” and “drinking their own champagne” with a workforce of 60,000, sharing stats on gains in performance / outcomes, with a considerable reduction in workforce / headcount saving $500m in their services arm alone.

The Review:

The Microsoft Ignite 2024 event, November 18-22, 2024, in Chicago, showcased significant advancements in AI, accessibility, productivity tools, security, collaboration and advances in both remote working as well as cloud computing.

The event demonstrated accessible innovation, encouraging early technology adoption to have a chance to keep up with the phenomenal pace of change in the industry.

If you want to positively impact Leadership’s sustainability trilemma the key opportunities and business impacts you might want to consider are:

1. Building an ‘Agentic World’ – AI ‘Agents’ for Autonomous Task Management

Microsoft unveiled Agentic AI; AI “agents” designed to perform tasks autonomously across various business functions. These agents can handle processes such as customer returns and invoice management, aiming to enhance operational efficiency and reduce manual workloads. Whilst this sounds innocent and ‘low key’ the pervasive and impactful nature of Agents was a continuous theme across the Microsoft presentation – ‘Personalised Agents for every worker’ was a recurring theme to prepare us all for what is to come… Automation.

Sources: Associated Press  or Microsoft Ignite 2024 Book of News

2. The Universal Interface – Accessibility for all

During the Keynote Satya Nadella discussed AI’s capability as a Universal interface: Allowing AI to accept and process various types of input, including speech, images, and videos. Enabling more natural and intuitive interactions between humans and AI systems. Courtesy of the speed of processing (which was also touched upon in Scaling Laws) he showed first-hand how you could query data live, leveraging AI, stepping through reasoning and planning, as well as memory and context, to summarize key trends from the source information being discussed and presented. The input combined visual and audio inputs thus generating human accessible outputs – visualisations with trend data. This was, indeed, impressive!

3. Copilot Actions to Automate Repetitive Tasks – Driving productivity

The introduction of Copilot Actions enables Microsoft 365 Copilot users to automate routine tasks, including summarising meeting actions and generating reports from simple prompt engineering (and is indeed a phenomenal productivity boost by minimising manual intervention in repetitive processes).

I am sure, if you use Copilot today, you will have loved the summing up from meetings or documents for example. This takes simple features to the next level, helping you to aggregate data and operational insights from team members effectively (for you). It also lays the foundations for the agentic experience mentioned above e.g. where my agent asks your agent for an update, so we both stay ‘on task’ but can share insights on productivity regarding goals / projects etc. automatically.

4. Data Governance leveraging Purview – Reduce ‘over sharing’ accelerate trust

On the pre-day I chose the most relevant session for our company, Prosperity 24/7, given our focus on Financial Services, Legal and Public Sector Industries.  Enhanced AI data governance to enable the journey from pilot to rapid deployment at scale to operate, leveraging Microsoft Purview to mitigate ‘over sharing / data leakage (to AI apps) and non-compliant usage’ whilst subsequently facilitating continuous improvement of data security practices. So incredibly useful if you, like us, are ISO 27001 compliant!

I would recommend checking out AI Hub and the Purview Audit tools (in preview) to discover and secure all AI activity in Copilot and other generative AI apps in your enterprise.

5. Copilot Pages – Collaborate at speed

Copilot Pages are a dynamic persistent canvas (think ‘workspace / whiteboard’ designed for multiparty / colleague and AI collaboration.

Pages takes AI-generated content and makes it durable/persistent, so you can edit it, add to it, and share it with others. If this sounds ‘light weight’ that is me doing it a disservice. If you have 90 seconds to spare, I recommend you watch this to understand how transformative it is – think ‘pitch documents’ if it helps to contextualise in a business scenario: Copilot Pages demo.

6. Windows 365 Link – A Cloud-Based Mini-PC and ‘Azure local’ the next generation of Datacentre hardware

Whilst it has been a long time since I was excited by a small form factor terminal, Satya Nadella introduced the Windows 365 Link, a compact, cloud-based mini-PC tailored for business use.

If you have to return to work, you may as well do it in style and at phenomenal performance levels!

This small device facilitates seamless yet secure access to Windows 365 services, supporting dual 4K monitors and offering enhanced security features. It is designed to support flexible work environments, enabling employees to connect to their workspaces from various locations.

This ‘linked’ very much to announcements regarding the development of the proprietary Data Centre Infrastructure Chip set.

To enhance AI processing capabilities and data security, Microsoft launched two proprietary data centre infrastructure chips. These chips aim to optimise data processing speeds and reduce reliance on third-party processors, potentially leading to cost savings and improved performance in AI applications.

If you were at the expo (I was) there was detailed information regarding the impact to power saving and new cooling technologies.

New ‘Azure Local’ form factors for clients to deploy to their own datacentres were also shared which came in three ‘flavours’: Small & rugged, Connected and Disconnected (honestly) – you can read more here.

Conclusions for your business:

From a technology standpoint these developments underscore Microsoft’s commitment to integrating advanced AI capabilities into its product offerings, aiming to drive operational efficiency, enhance security, and support flexible work environments. Therefore, meeting most of my previously mentioned Leadership’s sustainability trilemma.

I have only touched on some of the new feature highlights, and if you have a lot more time, I would strongly encourage you to set an hour (or more) aside to review the Ignite 2024 Book of News.

From a leadership perspective and indeed, Satya’s and therefore Microsoft’s challenge, I am mindful of the trilemma and the explicit dimension of society. To truly have ‘democratised access for all’ then cost, or at least a ‘freemium’ model has to be a consideration.

Pricing from Microsoft is ultimately regional, so hopefully developing nations can benefit across all dimensions mentioned, we just have to be acutely mindful that an unintended consequence is easily foreseeable, namely the potential for mass unemployment across all tiers of society for knowledge workers, no matter their spans of capability or indeed, seniority. Likewise, geography is no barrier either – through the rapid development of agents, simply automating us into a reality, predicted by Alex Garland in Ex Machina “One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape, living in dust, with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.”

This sounds dramatic I know, and my concerns are by no means new or unique, it is just that my risk level for society is ‘somewhat elevated’ due to the advancement in Copilot in just twelve months.

We have to remind ourselves that ‘scaffolding and frameworks’ exist to protect humanity, not least the basic AI principle – Proportionality and Do No Harm – as laid down in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence | UNESCO

I personally take comfort by reminding myself that Microsoft are a purposeful company, striving to do good and that, they can be trusted.

Considering the innovation demonstrated at Microsoft Ignite, Copilot continues to get my absolute support, and that of our colleagues in Prosperity 24/7.

We will do all that we can to ensure that our colleagues, clients, and communities are sustainable, economically, socially and purposefully.

If you are not using AI today, I would urge you to explore Copilot as soon as you can, as I really fear that your company may be at risk of not keeping pace with those who are.

The acceleration and adoption curve of those who are using AI, learning continuously how best to benefit, driving productivity up, must naturally be leaving others in their wake…

I hate to say it, but if you don’t want to be a dinosaur e.g. extinct, we all need to take personal responsibility to understand the implications, consider the human impact, yet embrace the automation to improve not only our businesses but also the positive contribution in GVA we can deliver for our respective nation states. You would hope that through eliminating waste and driving up productivity, this will lead to improved profitability and thus the natural tax revenues which will follow, will help to feed, educate and nurture our respective societies accordingly.

Personally, I believe I am a ‘conscious capitalist’ and not the ‘unthinking capitalist’ that you need to be to exploit AI to its core. I am certain there will be company owners, with less of a moral compass, who will, by leveraging AI Agents to autonomise their entire workforce, drive up profitability for the minority and not worry about the consequences for society.

Ultimately, I am a human, a social being, and whilst I will encourage the pragmatic use of innovation and indeed AI, I will fight for humanity and society, as otherwise, we are all, seriously up a creek and as yet, I have not seen a paddle, automated (on second thought, I have, it’s called an engine, so I’ll take that back – and that is how you ought to think of Copilot, an engine that will power your organisations productivity in turbulent waters).

Finally, and on a lighter note, Ignite has inspired me to watch ‘The Terminator’.  A film I have not seen since 1984, set in Los Angeles, all the way out in the distant future – 2029 – highlighting a post-nuclear dystopian future where the machines have taken over.

Thankfully, as we all know, that will never happen…

The post Microsoft Ignite 2024 – the rise of the machine… appeared first on Prosperity 247.

Like previous technologies, AI has enormous potential.  The question is will it deliver on its promise and improve labour productivity?  Is it going to follow in the footsteps of the motor car and the personal computer, or will it be another shiny distraction?

According to McKinsey research, companies that see real increases in productivity from AI aren’t just “grafting technology onto existing operations”.  The right question isn’t “how could AI help me improve my current process?”, but “how can we redesign our processes to fully leverage AI for maximum impact?”.  This question shifts the focus from merely improving existing processes to fundamentally rethinking and redesigning them to harness AI’s full potential.

Companies that ask, “how can I do something new that hasn’t been done before?”, rather than “how can we get a machine to do the same thing as this person?” will be the most successful of all, as they create opportunities.

Here are a few examples of how AI tools can improve productivity:

• Content Production: AI helps to create content like product summaries from existing documentation or content for social media posts. It can personalize content for different customer needs and repurpose content for various platforms.
• Customer Service: AI powers chatbots, enabling customers to get first-level support independently without human interaction.
• Sales Support: AI listens to sales calls and extracts relevant information, which is then entered into a CRM.
• Inventory Management: AI predicts inventory needs based on sales data and trends, reducing gaps and overstocks.
• Business Information: AI automates insights and simplifies the analytical process, reducing the workload for analysts.
• Document Processing: AI examines documents and extracts relevant information to drive downstream workflows and processes.
• IT Support: AI monitors systems for issues, provides troubleshooting steps, and even automates routine maintenance tasks.
• Strategy Development: AI detects trends, supports customer research, designs strategies, and writes presentations.

To get the most out of AI and boost productivity, it’s essential to follow a well-thought-out playbook. This involves understanding the AI tools available and their uses, taking a holistic view of how AI fits into your broader system, engaging and equipping employees, optimizing processes before automating them, ensuring data quality and security, being prepared to iterate, and establishing checks and balances. Let’s dive into each of these steps to see how they can help your organisation maximise the productivity potential of AI.

1. Understand what’s in the AI toolbox

AI is not a single tool but a toolbox. Each tool can be combined with others, and they are continually evolving. Organizations need to understand the capabilities of each tool.

One way of looking at AI is by the type of data they work with – this approach splits AI capabilities into five key groups:

• Machine Learning: Used for predicting outcomes from various types of data.
• Natural Language Processing: Helps computers understand, interpret, and generate human language, including text and speech.
• Audio and Voice: Enables text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) conversions, as well as voice recognition and synthesis.
• Computer Vision: Allows computers to interpret and process visual information from images and videos.
• Generative AI: Can create new content, including text, images, music, and more.

Keeping pace with technological advancements and selecting the right combination of tools is challenging. Therefore, partnering with experts who can provide guidance and investing in continuous learning and development should be a priority.

2.  Take a holistic view

AI should be viewed as part of a broader system that includes other technologies and people. Companies should adopt systems thinking to evaluate the entire organization and make informed decisions about where and how to implement AI for maximum impact. While isolated use cases are useful pilots, Gartner notes that taking a fragmented approach to AI implementation will lead to difficulties in scaling, managing risks, and realizing business value.   Research suggests that companies need to identify a slice of their business and rethink it completely. Changing the technology, operational processes and ways of working of an entire core process, journey or function will deliver a major improvement in performance that wouldn’t be achievable just by changing lots of isolated tasks.

3. Engage and equip your employees

Integrating AI into everyday workflows is a cultural transformation that touches every layer of your business, and its success depends on how well your employees adapt, engage, and work alongside the technology. Change management isn’t a nice-to-do – it’s a must-do. Organizations should consider a range of complementary activities, including regular updates and town hall meetings about AI initiatives to ensure clear communication and reduce resistance; small-scale pilot projects for testing and feedback before full-scale implementation; identifying change champions within the organization to advocate for AI adoption and provide support; customized training programs and e-learning modules to keep skills up to date; and the introduction of feedback mechanisms and incentive programs to encourage employee participation and innovation.

4. Optimise processes before applying AI tools

AI shouldn’t be a bolt-on to existing processes.  Organisations should be reimagining end-to-end workflows to maximize the role of AI and other digital tools, not just in completing actions but also in reporting, decision-making, and strategy development. Lean tools like Value Stream Mapping can help identify and streamline inefficient processes. Significant productivity improvements can often be achieved even before technology is introduced.

5. Ensure your data is secure and high quality

AI systems rely heavily on high-quality data. Organizations must invest time in sorting and cleaning their data, as poor data quality—including inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and incomplete data—can lead to unreliable AI outputs and reduced productivity. It is also critical to have controls in place to govern how sensitive data is handled and secured.

6. Be prepared to iterate

Big bang technology implementations are becoming a thing of the past. Agile methodologies should be used to support the rollout of AI technologies because this approach allows teams to refine the solution incrementally and respond to changes and new findings quickly. The speed of development of AI tools will mean that processes are likely to have a short lifespan before they need to be reviewed again. Continuous monitoring of the performance of AI tools over their lifecycle will highlight opportunities for improvement and trigger reviews of processes.

7. Establish checks and balances

As AI systems perform tasks previously involving human judgment, establishing guidelines for ethical usage, transparency, and accountability is essential. Organizations need to agree on questions such as: Which decisions or processes are too risky for full automation? How will bias be mitigated? How will AI usage rights, personal data privacy, security protocols, and other policies be applied? Are we ok with employees BYOAI (Bring Your Own AI)?, Who will be accountable for AI monitoring, retraining, and model updates post-deployment?

8. Measure the impact

Microsoft reports that 79% of leaders agree their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive, but 59% worry about quantifying the productivity gains of A.  The best place to start is by establishing some metrics like completion rates and time saved, and gather employee feedback on efficiency and job satisfaction.  Organisations using Copilot will have access to Copilot-usage metrics which can provide insights into how the workforce is using Copilot, including meeting’s summarised and email drafts generated.

The transformative potential of AI technologies is huge, but realizing this potential requires more than just deploying the latest tools. It demands a holistic approach that integrates AI into the broader business strategy, redesigns processes, and continuously adapts to new insights and capabilities. By embracing systems thinking, lean methodologies, agile practices, and robust change management, organizations can navigate the complexities of AI implementation and unlock significant productivity gains.

As you consider integrating AI into your business, take a step back and evaluate your current processes. The journey to AI-driven productivity is not just about technology—it’s about transforming the way you work. Start today by conducting a business diagnostic and mapping out your opportunities. Improving productivity is within your reach, and it begins with thoughtful, strategic action.

If you would like to learn more about AI, our Microsoft Copilot Readiness Service or speak to one of our Agile Project Managers about an AI project please contact us

The post AI and Productivity: Turning Potential into Performance appeared first on Prosperity 247.