Microsoft Copilot for Corporates: Data Security Risks and Best Use Cases

Microsoft Copilot, a cutting-edge AI assistant integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite, is set to transform the revolutionized landscape of enterprises and corporates. Leveraging the power of Large Language Models (LLMs), Copilot offers a diverse range of functionalities. By harnessing the capabilities of AI, users can elevate productivity and foster innovation in their businesses, paving the way for a future of streamlined operations and enhanced efficiency.

AI Has Come to Work

In 2024, the integration of AI into workplaces has surged, with 75% of people already using AI in their daily tasks. This demonstrates a significant shift toward AI, although the challenge remains to align AI usage with broader business goals and leadership expectations.

Employee Usage is High, but Leadership is Lagging

Despite high adoption rates among employees, there is a gap in leadership planning. According to the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn, 60% of organizations lack a clear strategy for AI implementation, and 59% of leaders express concern over measuring AI’s productivity impact. Companies need to focus on developing robust AI strategies to stay competitive in a transforming market.

AI is Here, But Is Your Business Ready?
One of the striking findings in Microsoft's report is that 79% of leaders believe AI is critical to staying competitive, yet 60% admit their organization lacks a clear plan for implementation. This raises an important question: how can businesses harness the potential of AI, such as Microsoft Copilot, if they aren’t prepared to fully utilize it? To succeed, leadership must align AI strategies with business objectives and provide the clarity and prioritization needed for meaningful integration.

Microsoft Copilot is a game-changer in automating various tasks, freeing up much time for users to focus on strategic initiatives. Its prime function is to facilitate developers in coding, utilizing the power of Microsoft Azure Cloud Infrastructure. According to Statista, GitHub Copilot is the second most used AI tool for developers, with 22% of regular usage. Copilot significantly reduces the time of task completion by 70% from standard, making it an efficient tool for automating tasks and allowing users to concentrate on other important industry operations. The article explores the ten best promising use cases of Copilot, demonstrating how this AI tool can bring significant benefits across various industries and departments while maintaining data privacy.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

It is a generative AI software for the Microsoft 365 suite, just like ChatGPT and all other GenAI tools; Copilot also utilizes LLM and web data to answer human probes. Launched in February 2023 as Bing Chat, Copilot has been declared as the chief replacement for Cortana. Microsoft Copilot can help users automate their tasks mainly in Microsoft go-to apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Moreover, the AI feature Copilot aims to make users more efficient and productive by automating their tasks.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that;

“Microsoft Copilot is going to be a revolutionary step in the interaction with computing. It will change the entire nature of work. While using Copilot in work people can make technology more accessible, thus unlocks the new waves of growth and productivity”.

Grounding Copilot in Business Data with Connectors

Copilot offers businesses the ability to index and connect all data systems—whether internal, such as custom apps and system-of-record databases, or third-party applications like ERP, CRM, and HCM. This allows for real-time querying and ensures businesses can control access with strict data permission enforcement, driving productivity and secure data usage.

Extensions to Enhance Workflows

With Copilot Extensions, organizations can integrate pre-built tools that link Copilot to various third-party and internal apps. These extensions enable businesses to contextualize workflows and automate tasks, reducing the need for manual processes and improving efficiency across teams.

Customizing with Copilot Studio

Organizations looking for deeper customization can leverage Copilot Studio to build specific extensions tailored to their processes. With over 1,400 out-of-the-box connectors, Copilot Studio empowers IT teams to create bespoke solutions, secure them, and measure their success with analytics.

Which LLMs are used in Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot consists of a trio of Large Language Models (LLMs), which are as follows;

• GPT-4 Model: The GPT-4 model of OpenAI's ChatGPT is engraved in Copilot, which helps optimize the search and speed. Moreover, it also helps to generate creative text according to your imagination.
• DALL-E-3: A text-to-image neural network of OpenAI helps visualize the AI-generated content in Copilot.
• Microsoft Prometheus Model: It is a proprietary model of Microsoft. It works along with the Large Language Model of OpenAI. Prometheus model helps increase the relevance, time, and safety of AI-based responses.

Versions of Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft offers three Copilot versions;

• Copilot Free
• Copilot Pro
• Copilot 365

Here's their brief overview

• Microsoft Copilot Free: The free version is available to all Microsoft Edge, Bing, and Windows users. Users belonging to small businesses who do not require high-end responses can utilize the Free Copilot version to automate simple daily tasks.
• Copilot Pro: Unlike free version, Copilot offers access to GPT4 and GPT-4 Turbo to all the premium users. It has a quicker response time than the free version. The Pro Copilot version also includes Bing Image Creator. The cost of this version is $20 per month.
• Copilot 365: The Copilot 365 version supports all business and enterprise models. It is available as an office app add-on in Microsoft 365. While designed on organizational and internal source data, the 365 version is able to provide detailed answers. It costs $30 per month.

How to Access Copilot Feature across Different Microsoft Apps?

• Window 11: For Window 11, users can access the Copilot feature/icon in the lower-left corner of the toolbar, where the Cortana button previously resided at the bottom of the screen. While clicking on the icon, users can access multiple features like voice commands, file navigation, and much more.
• Microsoft 365 and Bing: For Bing, users can access the Copilot feature right below the search box, i.e., "Ask Copilot." For 365 Microsoft apps, it’s present in the toolbar as a Copilot button for all the 365 group apps.
• Outlook: Outlook users who are looking for the Copilot feature can get access by navigating to the help section or the Add-ins menu.
• Microsoft Teams: Users can access the Copilot icon in Teams through the main menu.

Benefits of Using Copilot Feature

The benefits of using Microsoft Copilot are as follows;

• Increased Output: Copilot help users to automate their tasks. So it can improve the efficiency and productivity of the work.
• Improved Decision Making: Copilot is not just about productivity, it's about empowering users to make informed decisions. By providing data analytics, market research, and project planning and financial analysis, Copilot can help users reduce their workload by suggesting the next step based on the context. This can lead to more confident and effective decision-making, enhancing the overall efficiency of the work.
• Enhanced Creativity: Through Copilot, users can enhance their creativity. Copilot usage has helped 68% of users in initiating their creative process. It can help to brainstorm several ideas, generate new content and explore new possibilities, thus fostering innovation and creativity at a larger scale.
• Improved Customer Experience: Copilot can learn and adapt to the users writing style and prefrences. By doing so, it can provide personalized suggestions, thus tailoring the content to large audiences and enhancing the overall customer experience.
• Cost Saving: Through task automation and improved efficiency, Copilot use can help you reduce the cost and improve the ROI.

Data Privacy in Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft ensures that data security and trust remain at the forefront of its AI solutions. With strict controls, businesses maintain full ownership of their data, which is not used to train foundation models. Microsoft also upholds stringent data protection, committing to the safety of customer information at every step.

How is Organizational Data protected in a Copilot?

In Microsoft 365 tenants, there are certain permission models. These models help ensure the right use of data by checking its unintentional leakage between users, tenants, or groups. So, the Copilot presents only such data for individuals to access with the same underlying controls for data access used in other Microsoft 365 services. Additionally, the user's data is secured through Microsoft Purview Protection. Through the Purview protection, Microsoft 365 prides the usage rights approved to the users.

Regarding encryption, then it is applied through sensitivity labels or by limited permissions in Microsoft 365 apps by utilizing Information Right Management (IRM). Furthermore, customer data control is strengthened by the strict commitment of Microsoft with heavy privacy laws like GDPR and some privacy standards such as ISO/IEC 27018 –known as the world's first cloud privacy practice code. Additionally, Microsoft Copilot meets all privacy laws and ensures that data is:

• Not communal with third-party apps
• Not shared with the OpenAI platform
• Strictly not used for trade purposes
• Even not used to train Azure OpenAI base models

Does Microsoft Copilot Respect Data Privacy Law?

Maintaining compliance with AI regulations is vital. Microsoft’s governance tools help businesses detect non-compliant usage, enforce data protection laws, and guide companies through evolving regulations. Ensuring privacy and protecting data location control helps businesses stay compliant in an AI-first world.

As Copilot is powered by Azure OpenAI service. It acts with the already present security, privacy, and regulatory commitments with customers. So, Microsoft integrates Copilot across its amenities like Dynamic 365 and Power Platform. They inherit all the privacy and compliance policies and help to safeguard the smooth data transfer, thus ensuring the safety of customer data.

Moreover, the data privacy practices of Microsoft Copilot comply with GDPR. It stands for General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR is recognized as one of the toughest data regulatory laws. The basic purpose of GDPR is to ensure the entire control of users upon their data and to stop sharing information between third party apps or websites. The law also ensures that the website or software must inform the user of any data breach, allowing users to protect data from potential threats.

So, by respecting data privacy laws, Copilot takes the customer's data privacy seriously. In Compliance with GDPR, Copilot helps users by providing powerful AI outputs without leaking the data, thus making it a valuable tool for workplaces.

How and Where the Organizational Data is Stored/Managed in the Copilot?

Microsoft emphasizes that customers' data is their own. It is not used to enrich AI models, and the company remains committed to customer data protection. This trust is the foundation on which all Copilot tools and extensions are built, ensuring businesses can confidently adopt AI solutions.

In Microsoft Copilot, the organizational data is managed through various unified platforms that integrate the conversational AI models of Microsoft. The integration involves;

• Azure AI Studio
• Azure Bot Framework
• Azure Cognitive Services
• AI Power Platform and much more.

To monitor the right usage of the models, Copilot Studio offers governance features to check which authority is building and customizing them. These features also allow the creation of customized Copilots for various organizations with the capability of generative AI and LLMs. Across the web, Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses proprietary data by connecting LLMs to Microsoft Graph. By doing so, the organizational data get linked with Microsoft 365 apps, thus creating a new wave of working. It allows users to easily find new business trends by analyzing data and creating insightful reports with simple natural language guidelines.

Does Microsoft Copilot Use Organizational Data to Answer User Queries?

Along with web data, Microsoft Copilot also uses organizational data to answer human problems. Microsoft 365 can access the content and context through Microsoft Graph by connecting Large Language Models to organizational data. It helps generate responses attached to the organizational data like, user's emails, documents, meetings, chats, and contacts. By combining content with users' working context, the Copilot helps generate relevant contextual responses.

Remember, to keep privacy in mind, Copilot always surfaces such organizational data to which users grant permission. So always use permission models such as SharePoint, which is available in Microsoft 365. It will help only the right users access relevant content within the organization. Also, Copilot only utilizes Azure OpenAI services, not publically accessible OpenAI services, which means that Azure OpenAI does not share the cache content and user prompts for Copilot.

Is There a Risk of Data Leakage to Other Private Clouds with Copilot Use?

The Copilot follows strict security policies and permission models to prevent users' sensitive data from leaking. However, at the same time, Copilot can be connected to various data sources, including third-party services. If not properly motioned and governed, then the use of a Copilot can result in data breaches.

So, to overcome this risk, it's mandatory to use Sensitivity Labels and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to monitor the sensitive data in Microsoft 365. Additionally, the managers can use these policies in the Power Platform admin center to monitor the Copilot to protect organizational data.

Do Third-Party Apps Have Access to Copilot Private Data?

Microsoft Copilot does not share private data with third-party apps unless the user grants permission. So, it takes users' information very seriously and keeps it private. Customers can use Copilot across third-party applications like Zoom and Slack with the same privacy and security. While using Copilot AI in different applications, users should go to the settings option and ensure that the permissions are granted to Copilot. After that, you can select to which information it should have access. The choice is upon users whether they want to grant access to parts of your info such as photos, contact lists, or files.

So, keeping the privacy features in mind, Microsoft Copilot strictly adheres to the regulatory guidelines for data sharing, thus making it a secure place for businesses and individuals.

How to Block Sensitive or Harmful info in Microsoft Copilot?

When blocking harmful content, Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service has a content filtering system. This system works along with the core models. The filtering model is trained in multiple languages for various categories;

• Hate and Fairness: It includes harmful content related to any discriminatory language based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, body size, and personal appearance of a person. Fairness refers to ensuring that the AI models or systems treat people equally without any inequality.
• Violence: It refers to language that contains actions that hurt or kill someone, like weapons and related objects.
• Sexual Content: It involves the discussion about abuse, human reproductive organs, prostitution, pornography, and content about forced physical sexual acts.
• Self-Harm: It involves the content or the use of self-harm language that aims to kill or injure someone.
  So, the filtering system runs both prompt and response through classification models. These models are designed to identify the harmful content in the output and then block it.

Can Microsoft Copilot Deployed on Premises?

Unfortunately, it's not possible to deploy Copilot on Premises. Copilot is a cloud-based generative AI assistant. It works on Large Language Models (LLMs) offers advanced solutions only across Microsoft Cloud. So we cannot install Copilot on-premises.

Listing 10 Best Microsoft Copilot Use Cases of 2024

Here are the ten best use cases of the Copilot feature across different platforms;

1. Copilot in Software Development

Coding has always been a tough net to crack for developers. A single mistake can be a reason for a lot of frustration and, of course, time-consuming. Here Copilot can serve the best in the coding procedure. It can wonderfully support software utilized in their coding activities. Users can utilize Microsoft Copilot to generate a complete line of code and debugging. It can even help with writing entire functions. Due to this AI assistant, developers can easily do quick daily coding tasks along with searching for bugs with it and can focus on solving complex problem-solving innovations.

Additionally, the Copilot can also help in generating documentation for the codes. The documentation includes an explanation, API references, and comments. While documentation, the Copilot also ensures its adherence to the consistent style and format, thus making it easier to maintain and understand.
An example of a software development use case would be GitHub Copilot. It can be an efficient tool for all developers and programmers to streamline their coding tasks.

2. Copilot in Content Creation and Documentation

When it comes to content creation, then, from marketing to journalism, writer's block must exist. People face a lot of difficulties in finding the right words for a topic that requires an extensive amount of research. So, Copilot applications greatly help in overcoming these situations. Applications like Copy-ai and Jarvis powered by Copilot can help people draft their articles, marketing copy headlines, and much more. Due to this, the content creation process can be easy and time saving.

Furthermore, Microsoft Copilot can also support generating preliminary drafts of configured documents like marketing content and some standard operating procedures (SOPs). It can help in creating a starting point for additional customization if needed. So, the main advantage of a Copilot is to speed up the content creation process along with maintaining high quality. By doing so, writers can focus on research and the final strategy for execution.

3. Copilot in Finance

Copilot can help financial analysts and firms in many ways. By incorporating Copilot applications, experts can do detailed analyses of complex data and predictive modeling as well. In areas like banking, insurance and investments where up-to-date decision-making is central, Copilot can better support there. So, professionals and data analysts can be at ease in identifying trends and thus make informed decisions through automated data analysis.

Moreover, in finance, Copilot 365 can do wonders by the following;

• Managing Risks: Copilot 3analyzinglp in predicting possible issues while analyzing large datasets.
• Automated Reporting and Compliance: Copilot 365 helps in automating financial reporting. It ensures the accuracy and agreement with several governing necessities.
• Detecting Fraud: The in-built AI Algorithms in Copilot 365 can help in detecting frauds and possible unusual patters to ensure the security and privacy of financial transactions.
• Use Case of GithHub Copilot in ANZ Bank:
  Generative AI has evolved the banking sector as well. With the significant use of GithHub Copilot in ANZ bank, the engineers significantly enhance their businesses' code quality and productivity. The ANZ bank experimented by incorporating Copilot into their software development process. The results were amazing, resulting in an increase in productivity up to 42.36%. Not just productivity, the Copilot also helps the engine improve code quality and reduce. The engineers, thus, reported a positive gesture towards using Copilot by appreciating its ability to assist with documentation and debugging.

4. Copilot Assistance in Legal Documentation

For all those people who want assistance in legal documentation, Copilot can do this for them. All the legal professionals who are working in either corporate or contract law can leverage Copilot applications to automate certain tasks, such as drafting legal documents.

Legal documentation is a very time-intensive duty. But AI can speed up the process thus lowering the chance of human error. Tools like LawGeex and Contract Companion are being used in law firms and legal departments which enhances the efficiency of workflow. Copilot can also help in simplifying the process of documentation in quick time.

5. Copilot Use in Education for Personalised Learning

Through Cpersonalizeucators and e-learning platforms can personalize the content that is tailored to students' needs and preferences. It enables faster content creation and personalized the style of the learner in a more personalized manner. Right now, content is accessible to a large audience, but not everyone has the same pace or level of learning. Through Copilot’s adaptive AI, a more tailored learning approach can be created for distance learning so that students can get content easily through accessible means. Moreover, with Microsoft Copilot 365, educators can also automate several administrative tasks such as tracking attendance, generating reports, and grading reports. By doing so, educators can save a lot of time for other activities they need to focus on.

6. Copilot in Healthcare Analysis and Treatment

In the healthcare sector, we know that medical professionals have to do a lot of research for the diagnosis of certain conditions. They do come up with a potential solution, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

With a Copilot, one can get personalized treatment plans for patients with diagnosing conditions so that a Copilot combined with a database of medical can quickly access the relevant information and can give effective treatment strategies. By doing so, patient care can be increased, which leads to more positive outcomes. Additionally, the AI algorithm of Copilot can help in scheduling patients' appointments and patient reminders and improving healthcare providers' schedules as well.

7. Copilot in Logistics Improvement and Supply Chain

When it comes to improving logistics and managing the supply chain, then, it takes a lot of work to manage inventories and plan optimal routes. It requires a considerable amount of time and workforce as well. Thanks to AI and its capabilities. With Microsoft Copilot, workers can help by planning routes to predict logistic demands. The AI support across the platform ensures effective operations, lower costs, and an increased rate of positive market change. So, Copilot is best for all those professionals who want to remain competitive in logistics and distribution.

8. Copilot Use in Customer Support Service

In terms of customer support services, then from retail to tech support, Microsoft Copilot can help businesses maintain a high level of service through AI-based support. With Copilot AI, the representatives of customer support can deliver the best responses by analyzing consumer's queries, thus improving the customer experience and satisfaction. Apart from that, with AI, now you don't need to dive deeply into the feedback. Rather, Copilot AI can skim all the relevant important info and give a detailed summary. By doing so, the Copilot can help maintain customer relationships and thus aid in Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

9. Copilot in Optimizing Digital Marketing Campaign

Another use case of Microsoft Copilot is in optimizing Advertising campaigns and deliberate scheduling. Copilot works in this domain by analyzing data from prior marketing campaigns. The analysis suggests certain improvements in the current campaign, targeting the demographics, thus leading towards high engagement rates and increased ROI. So, by using Copilot AI in logistics and supply chain, marketers can set a transformative approach to polish exertions for higher impact.

10. Copilot Use Case in Architecture and Design

In designing and project conception, Microsoft Copilot can greatly assist. Copilot applications greatly help architects and designers by providing personalized suggestions. The applications also help in the automation of design elements. So, Copilot in the architecture field enables professionals to find creative and refined solutions for presentations and client project development.

Microsoft Copilot usage can really shape industries through its targeted and personalized solutions, which in turn increases the professional capabilities of the workers all across the platforms.

How Copilot Enforces Responsible AI?

Microsoft has been on this venture for a long time regarding ethical boundaries and principles to ensure the responsible use of AI. Microsoft has designed responsible AI standards to put user security first. To check such standards, a team of professionals, engineers, researchers, and policy experts are there to review the AI Principles and mitigate the harmful content.

Furthermore, various Microsoft technologies like Fairlearn and InterpretML are used to help detect any bias in the data. So, Microsoft aims to help users use the AI products responsibly to build a trust based partnership and deployment choices. For safer use, Microsoft helps organizations and independent software vendors (SVs) build transparency by sharing templates and resources with the developers.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Microsoft Copilot for 365 offers a comprehensive platform to revolutionize how businesses operate by streamlining workflows, enhancing productivity, and ensuring security. Through connectors, extensions, and a focus on trust, Microsoft enables organizations to integrate AI effectively into their core processes.

To successfully implement AI, leadership must take a proactive role. Building an AI Council, aligning AI projects with business goals, and developing user enablement programs are crucial. Additionally, companies must ensure technical readiness and manage human change with training and skill development, laying a strong foundation for AI adoption.

While AI brings exciting prospects for productivity, businesses need to manage human transformation carefully. Adopting AI is as much about people as it is about technology. According to the Copilot guidelines, successful AI adoption hinges on robust user enablement programs, executive sponsorship, and comprehensive training. Without skilling employees and fostering a culture open to AI-driven change, businesses risk creating resistance or misuse of these powerful tools.

So, above, we have seen that Microsoft Copilot offers various functionalities that can benefit various enterprises across multiple industries. By automating tasks, driving innovations in many fields, and improving efficiency, Copilot can help businesses to remain competitive and one step ahead to achieve their goals; moreover, with the continuous evolvement in the AI of Copilot, we can expect more innovative use cases in the coming years to stay ahead the curve.