With the advent of Microsoft Copilot Studio, the idea of developing a personalized virtual assistant without writing a single line of code becomes reality. In this article, we'll explore the possibilities offered by Copilot Studio, how it integrates with the Microsoft ecosystem and how it makes the creation of chatbots accessible to everyone, even those who don't have technical skills.
Copilot is the generative AI system designed to guide users in the use of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Viva, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Azure. Within the Power Platform, Copilot integrates with Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI to make the creation of workflows, custom applications and dynamic reports accessible to all users, even without technical knowledge.
Now, Copilot is replacing Power Virtual Agents to also support the development of customized chatbots. The conversational mode typical of tools such as ChatGPT is therefore added to Power Virtual Agents' ability to build chatbots without code, leading to the birth of a new development environment: Microsoft Copilot Studio. Let's see the details in this article.
Microsoft Copilot Studio is the new platform that encompasses the Power Virtual Agents capabilities of the Microsoft Power Platform, for simplify the creation of personalized chatbots thanks to generative AI developed in collaboration with OpenAI.
Users can access the Copilot chat and suggestions to create their own virtual assistant, without the use of code. Enough in fact Write the right prompt, or choose one of the suggested ones, to guide AI in the development of a chatbot complete with a name, profile icon and above all a tree of topics to give relevant answers to user questions. If you have questions about how to interact with Microsoft Copilot to generate the content you want, we have prepared a short video that will help you write more effective prompts. The video guide is based on Microsoft 365 Copilot, but the recommendations are valid for any Microsoft Copilot application in your work tools.
In collaboration with the group company intranet.ai, Dev4Side Software offers a comprehensive adoption program to maximize investment in Microsoft 365 Copilot with the continuous support of our experts.
We are responsible for configuring the digital workplace and training users on the use of the new AI in Microsoft 365 applications. You can customize the plan according to your needs, choosing from the following services:
By guiding the AI in the right way, it is then possible to create co-pilots in a matter of minutes and without technical knowledge. But that's not the only benefit. In fact, Copilot Studio allows you to:
Copilot Studio is available both as a standalone web application and as a personal Microsoft Teams app. There is no difference between the features offered, but the scope of use of the chatbot leads to a preference for one platform over the other. To access Microsoft Copilot Studio, there are therefore two types of licenses available depending on the platform chosen. In the case of Copilot Studio as a standalone application, you need to buy:
Copilot Studio in Microsoft Teams clearly requires the purchase of a Microsoft 365 license that includes access to Teams and the specific license for Microsoft Copilot Studio.
Finally, it should be noted that Microsoft offers a free trial period to test the functionality of Copilot Studio. Just sign up for the currently available evaluation plan, but be careful: registration is only possible for those who already have a Microsoft 365 account.
In Copilot Studio, you can develop a personalized virtual assistant without writing code and with the help of Microsoft's generative AI.
The development of a chatbot becomes like this accessible to all users, who can build their own copilot starting from writing a prompt, from Copilot's suggestions and from the use of pre-existing content such as topics, trigger phrases and past conversations.
The steps to follow to create a chatbot in Copilot Studio are few and simple:
Although step 4 is optional, it could be extremely useful for users who intend to train the new chatbot on the contents of an online site or folder. In fact, Copilot Studio is able to access the contents of web resources such as a SharePoint site, a OneDrive folder or any website, to independently generate topics and immediately create a working chatbot.
If you don't have a useful resource available, you can still count on AI support to quickly create the topic tree and train the new virtual assistant without wasting time. Once the chatbot has been created, it is then possible Create topics in collaboration with AI. From the prompt, Copilot is able to:
Hours of work are transformed into a handful of minutes, spent writing a prompt and reviewing the generated outputs (never forget the review phase). However, using Copilot Studio brings an even bigger advantage. It sometimes happens that a user asks a question related to a topic that the chatbot does not know. By default, the Power Virtual Agents chatbots were asking to rephrase the request. If after two attempts the co-pilot couldn't understand, he would pass the conversation to the support team.
This issue has been resolved, as Copilot Studio chatbots can take advantage of Azure OpenAI's language processing capabilities for Create a relevant response on the fly. Specifically, here's what the assistants behind Microsoft Copilot do:
Finally, through Copilot Studio, we can generate plugins for the Copilot chat in Microsoft 365, so as to personalize the experience of interacting with Copilot for company users and allowing them to access company data through the conversation.
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