Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is the answer to a question most business owners did not know they were asking: what if AI was already built into Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Teams, instead of being a separate tool you had to switch to?

Microsoft has spent billions integrating AI across its entire product suite. If your business runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot is the most seamless way to bring AI into your daily work.

What Copilot does in each app

Word: Copilot can draft documents from a brief, rewrite sections in a different tone, summarise long documents, and suggest edits. You describe what you want and it writes, right inside Word.

Excel: Ask questions about your spreadsheet data in plain English. "What were my three best-selling products last quarter?" or "Highlight cells where spend exceeded budget." Copilot translates your question into formulas and analysis without you needing to know Excel functions.

Outlook: Draft email replies, summarise long email threads, and pull action items from a chain of messages. For anyone who spends significant time in their inbox, this is one of the most immediately useful features.

PowerPoint: Generate a presentation from a brief. Describe the topic and key points, and Copilot creates a structured slide deck you can refine. Not always perfect, but a strong starting point.

Teams: Summarise what was discussed in a meeting, pull out action items, and answer questions about what was said, even if you joined late.

The free version

There is a free version of Copilot at copilot.microsoft.com. It functions as a capable general-purpose AI chat tool, with access to the web via Bing for current information. It is genuinely useful and a good place to start if you want to try Microsoft's AI without committing to a subscription.

The free version does not include the deep integrations inside Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams. For those, you need the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.

The honest trade-off

Copilot is most valuable when you are already inside the Microsoft ecosystem. If your business runs Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams every day, adding Copilot to that workflow is natural. The AI lives in the tools you are already using, which reduces friction significantly.

If you use Google Workspace, or if your work is not heavily document-based, you may find standalone tools like ChatGPT or Claude more flexible and better value.

Microsoft 365 Copilot also costs £25 per user per month on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription, which is a meaningful additional cost for small businesses. The free tier is a sensible starting point before committing to that.

Who should use it

The ideal Copilot user is someone already paying for Microsoft 365 who wants to save time on document creation, email management, and spreadsheet analysis. If that is you, Copilot can be transformative. For businesses outside the Microsoft ecosystem, it is less compelling than alternatives.

Pricing

Free: The Copilot web app at copilot.microsoft.com. General AI chat with web access. No deep Microsoft 365 integration. Microsoft 365 Copilot: £25 per user per month (requires existing Microsoft 365 Business subscription). Full integration across Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams.