Helping Businesses Unlock Microsoft Copilot: Our Latest Lunch & Learn with Griffin Chartered Accountants

Optimising IT and Griffin Chartered Accountants joined forces in Exeter at Courtyard by Marriott for a Lunch & Learn event, discussing and introducing businesses to Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. Providing Microsoft Copilot managed services is just one area of our expertise, and organising events like this with our valued business partners helps people unlock key solutions to work smarter. 

Bringing Local Businesses Together to Explore AI

Led by our Operations Director Ben, with support from our Regional Sales Manager Bradlei, this Lunch & Learn was organised to help a variety of invited organisations to learn about emerging technologies and the benefits AI systems can offer. 

There has been a growing interest in AI across the business community, with many questioning if the technology can really help improve productivity, and whether it can be securely implemented with existing systems like Microsoft 365. By hosting collaborative events like this, we can speak directly with different clients and provide real-life examples of what AI like Microsoft Copilot is capable of and how it can be used every day for a variety of tasks, as well as support people on how to use it with the right governance to ensure businesses stay secure. 

What We Covered

The Lunch & Learn held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Exeter covered a range of topics and capabilities of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. Ben took the lead and spoke to attendees about what Copilot is and where it lives within existing Microsoft 365 applications, including:

• Outlook
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Teams

Along with talking about how Copilot for Microsoft 365 works, Ben also provided live demos in these licensed Microsoft 365 apps, explaining the different capabilities available and showing practical examples people can use on a daily basis. It was also the chance for people to understand AI prompting best practices and how it still requires a human touch to ensure the technology produces the desired end results the user requires. Any and all questions along the way were welcome, and Ben did an expert job at delivering a lot of information clearly, backed by real-life examples. 

Practical AI for Everyday Work 

Griffin Chartered Accountants invited several of their clients and local businesses to the Lunch & Learn, so it was important that we focused on the real business applications they use, rather than just generalise examples or focus on AI theory. 

Ben ran through several real-time examples using Copilot within Microsoft 365 applications, highlighting how it can streamline repetitive and long-winded tasks, as well as analyse complex data. Some practical examples Ben went through included:

• How users could use Copilot to draft and refine documents in Word
• Using the AI in Excel to analyse trends and organise data
• Managing inboxes in Outlook, drafting replies and summarising long email threads
• Getting fast summaries and actions in Teams
• Gaining suggested layouts and presentations on PowerPoint based on brief prompts and Word documents
• Organising files, site libraries and folders in SharePoint

These were all practical examples the attendees could apply in their own organisations, and helped highlight how they could get more value from Microsoft 365. 

Interested in Microsoft Copilot?

Everyone in attendance at our Lunch & Learn walked away feeling far more knowledgeable and confident in the capabilities of Copilot, and we’re pleased to say they’ve told us the benefits they’ve seen already since adopting the AI technology. We definitely plan on hosting more of these Lunch & Learns and helping even more businesses start using Copilot more effectively.

If you can’t wait until our next get-together, you can book a Copilot training session with us directly, which will cover practical use cases, prompting techniques and expert guidance on how to adopt it securely. For any support or to get started with Microsoft Copilot, get in touch with our team.