Session: Opening keynote: "The Age of Copilots"
Speaker: Jeff Teper, President - Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms
The Microsoft 365 Community Conference is a premier event that brings together professionals from around the globe to explore the latest innovations in Microsoft 365, including Copilot, Microsoft Viva, Teams, and more. The conference took place April 30 to May 2, 2024, at the Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida, the conference offered over 150 sessions, workshops, and unparalleled networking opportunities. Watch the now on-demand keynote video of this session, plus my insights below.
The conference keynote was headlined by Microsoft’s Jeff Teper, President - Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms. Jeff focused on three foundational elements: AI, collaboration, and content management, integrating Copilot with Teams and SharePoint for a seamless experience. The underlying technology, a Large Language Model (LLM) like GPT-4 but hosted by Microsoft, offers enhanced security, and is integrated with user data through the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps, including web search capabilities.
Security, compliance, privacy, and responsible AI are at the forefront of Copilot’s design. Demonstrations by Miceile Barrett showcased the versatility of Copilot, from personal to work accounts, and the ease of switching between tasks, whether it’s choosing new colors for a product or finding the right document with a OneDrive query. Copilot Studio stands out by allowing the creation of tailored Copilots, leveraging over 1,000 data sources, including the Microsoft Graph, with customizable logic and management capabilities. With Visual Studio, users can further personalize their experience by building customizations, connections, and models, making Copilot a truly adaptable and powerful tool for the modern workplace.
The new Microsoft Teams desktop client is set to deliver a reimagined experience with a focus on performance and simplicity. Boasting over 320 million monthly active users, the updated client promises to be twice as fast and features a more streamlined user interface. A significant update is on the horizon, which will merge personal and work accounts into a single client. Derek Snyder showed key highlights, including the introduction of a Discover feed, akin to social media but designed to be genuinely useful, and the ability to archive channels. Users will appreciate the enhanced search capabilities within chats and the option to forward messages.
Naomi Moneypenny took the stage and told us how SharePoint Online is set to undergo its most significant transformation in 24 years, introducing Copilot in SharePoint to revolutionize content creation and management. These new features will allow users to create natural language prompts as a column to automatically summarize each document’s content, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity. The platform is also introducing SharePoint eSignature to digitize document approval workflows securely. With “The New SharePoint Experience,” users can expect custom fonts, new page designs, and a more personalized approach to content management.
Moreover, Copilot will enable the creation of pages based on content with a specific focus and audience, catering to diverse needs. Viva Amplify assists in distributing content and monitoring the performance of campaigns, further extending SharePoint’s capabilities. In addition, Copilot in Stream is set to redefine the future of video communication by offering features like removing filler words and bad takes, ensuring that users present their best selves in virtual meetings. These innovations represent a leap forward for SharePoint Online, cementing its status as a flexible and dynamic content management platform.
OneDrive is undergoing a significant transformation as well, leveraging SharePoint’s updates for its backend to enhance its capabilities. This change aims to unify the user experience across various Microsoft platforms, ensuring that OneDrive offers the same experience in Teams, Outlook, the web, and soon, the Microsoft 365 web app. A notable addition is Copilot in OneDrive, bringing with it the ability to summarize content, including within PDFs. The General Availability (GA) of Copilot in OneDrive is scheduled for this summer, marking a milestone in the platform’s evolution. This integration is part of a broader initiative that encompasses OneDrive, SharePoint, Viva Amplify, and Stream, indicating a concerted effort to streamline and amplify productivity within the Microsoft ecosystem.
It is evident that the future of workplace collaboration and productivity is being reshaped by the integration of AI and user-centric design. The Microsoft 365 Community Conference not only showcased the latest advancements in Microsoft 365 but also set the stage for a new era of intelligent and seamless work experiences. With the promise of enhanced performance, deeper collaboration, and innovative content management solutions, Microsoft is paving the way for organizations and individuals to achieve more.
Daniel Glenn (Microsoft MVP); Speaker; CollabFront Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant
