Welcome to October's Bits & Bytes

This month, we're recapping our recent webinar on Copilot: How to get better results in less time. This webinar was designed to help you determine whether Copilot is a worthwhile investment for your business. Check out the recap to see what we covered, and reach out if you want to know more!

We've also got a new Byte-size Bulletin video on writing and editing emails with Copilot. A lot of the time we worry that our tone will be misinterpreted, or sometimes we really just can't think of what to write - try delegating it to Copilot to drum up some inspiration.

And finally, the team spent a couple days out at CompTIA EMEA last week, attending some educational and inspiring talks on all things AI, cyber security and more. Most of all, it was lovely to catch up with everyone.

We hope you enjoy this month's Bits & Bytes!

Last week's Byte-size Briefing, wrapped up

Microsoft's Work Trend Index 2024 survey and report says that people who invest time in getting to know Copilot save themselves 30 minutes a day. That adds up to a saving of approximately ten hours a month, the equivalent of getting back a working day each month. Who wouldn't want a benefit like that?

People cite three ways in which Copilot saves them time:

1. Complete mundane tasks quicker.
2. Conduct time-consuming research faster and more effectively.
3. Leverage AI to boost you more quickly into creative thinking.

These create a virtuous circle. With some time freed up, you focus more on the tasks where you add the most significant value, work becomes more enjoyable, you feel more motivated and creative, and thus, you invest more in new ways of working.

The survey questioned people on what they do differently to get the most out of Copilot and to fulfil their potential. They gave three behaviours that serve them well:

1. Pause before undertaking a task and consider how AI might help.
2. Persist with AI even when the initial results are not too promising.
3. Research and experiment with prompts.

This Byte-size Briefing suggests ways to experiment with Copilot to save time, do your best work and enjoy work more.

View the Byte-size Briefing.

Stress-free email writing with Copilot

About 350 billion emails are sent every single day. A lot of emails are quick and easy to write; an off-the-cuff response to a friendly colleague or a quick thank you to a distributor rarely require much thought.

But then there are the tricky emails – the ones where you’re unsure if your tone will be misinterpreted, or those that need to cover a lot of info – these require a little more thought and patience.

Microsoft Copilot makes it easy to compose emails, edit them, and even get coaching on how to improve your email writing. In this tip, we’ll show you how to compose and adjust emails with Copilot.

Watch the video.

CompTIA Member and Partner Conference

Thank you to CompTIA for a great conference last week, that a number of us attended in London.

CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) trains, certifies and advocates for the technology professionals who design, implement, manage and safeguard our technology.

Over the two days there were a number of educational and inspiring talks on the themes of AI, cyber security, learning and development and business leadership. Too many to mention them all but particular thanks to Todd Thibodeaux, Deborah Meaden, Gaven Smith and Andrew Gould. 

Even two days wasn't enough time to catch up properly, but it was great to spend some time with Craig Fulton, Laura Wilkinson, Isobelle Coventry, Richard Tubb, Austen Clark. 

Thank you for reading and sharing

Artificial Intelligence is everywhere.

It feels too impactful to ignore and yet it's expanding so fast it sometimes feels too big to take on.

Hopefully, our Byte-size Briefing on Copilot gave some practical options on how to assess it. Certainly, initial feedback indicates that people feel it is now more within their grasp!

We hope you all have a happy Halloween.