Preparing Copilot for Microsoft 365

Businesses should be aware that while purchasing a license is a simple process, it may have unintended consequences. Copilot for Microsoft 365 has the same permissions the assigned user has to the entire tenant. Is the tenants OneDrive and SharePoint data actually secure, with appropriate access given to appropriate staff, or is it the more common approach of “well they can’t see it, so it’s secure”? That’s just one of the many factors that are still being missed in all the excitement.

With that in mind, how should an organisation prepare for Copilot for Microsoft 365, before buying licences?

• There are licencing prerequisites that need to be met before Copilot for Microsoft 365 can be purchased. We cover this further below.

• Review existing security controls.

• • While Microsoft 365 has data security and privacy policies in place, it is good to review current permissions and controls since Copilot will be using those same permissions. Guides such as these provide some items that should be considered before deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365.

• Ensure there is good data hygiene.

• • Copilot should have the smarts to work around your current data structure in Microsoft 365, it may mean that it won’t be as efficient as possible. To enhance Copilot for Microsoft 365's performance, preparing the data within the environment could be beneficial.

The Copilot for Microsoft 365 sales cycle

How to Get Started with Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Microsoft have provided a setup guide to get you started: Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 setup guide

Prerequisites:

• To purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365, customers must have one of the prerequisite base SKUs:
  • Office 365 E3/E5,
  • Microsoft 365 E3/E5,
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Business Premium.
• There are no minimum license purchase size requirements.
• Users must have Entra ID based accounts (Learn More).
• Important! Prepare your data for Copilot searches
• Several features require users to have a OneDrive account (Deploy OneDrive).
• Copilot in Outlook: Users will need to be using the new Outlook for Windows (which is publicly called “the new Outlook for Windows.” This version is currently in public preview. Users can load the new Outlook by toggling or use Outlook Mobile (Getting Started with the New Outlook for Windows - Microsoft Support).
• Copilot in Teams: Users will need to enable the Teams desktop client (Deploy Teams) as well as transcription (Configure Transcription).
• Copilot in Loop: Tenants must have Loop enabled (Learn How to Enable Loop).
• Cross-app intelligence: The richness of the experience will depend on the data sources indexed by Microsoft 365. Tenants with the richest data in Microsoft 365 (Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams) will get the best results.
  

Keen to learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365? 

Stay tuned for the next installment of the blog series, where we will explain in deeper detail the security recommendations and their impact for deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365.