Microsoft hosted Build, and I wanted to get you some updates from the event.
Windows 11 is getting CoPilot – the same assistant, but in the taskbar. Microsoft 365 CoPilot now supports plugins using the same tech as OpenAI’s ChatPT. Edge is getting a Copilot integration, and Bing is ChatGPT’s default search engine.
Microsoft is launching Azure AI Studio, which allows customers to combine a model with their own data and build chat assistants built around that. There’s also Microsoft Fabric, which is a unified platform for analytics that includes tools for all of your data needs, including data engineering, integration, warehousing, science, real-time analytics, and more.
Power BI Copilot aims to help users with narrative summaries and data analysis through conversational language, according to Microsoft. Users can tailor tone, scope, and style within reports. The Power Pages Copilot feature promises generative AI for website building. Copilot can help with digital copy editing, data form building, web page layout creation, and image creation. Users can also add Power Virtual Agents chatbots to websites to answer questions with generative AI.
And as for why all this AI talk… some new data from Sage in a report called Partnering for Success: State of the IT channel ecosystem.
The expectation from many partners (47% globally) is that the interest in AI will only accelerate. The channel was using more AI and automation tools to improve their own businesses, and that was also driving increased interest and a demand for skilled staff, with over half (51%) of respondents recruiting staff with skill sets in AI and machine learning.
A pile of new offerings, all targeting the productivity layer. This should feel like a very tactical update – it is. What I’m honestly impressed by is the speed of the rollout. ChatGPT wasn’t even on the radar in October, and here we have a litany of new offerings. It’s a firehose of new offerings, and focus will be key to selecting the ones to understand and leverage for your customers.