Unified Communications in the Era of AI Copilots

A strategic component of the Microsoft UCCaaS suite is of course their AI agenda.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered tool designed to revolutionize the way we work.

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 apps, combining the power of large language models (LLMs) with individual users’ data in the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps, accessed through natural language, to turn words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

AI in the form of Copilot companions for apps like MS Teams will be one of the first and most common ways in which enterprise users leverage AI to enhance their work.

For example imagine you missed an important meeting. You can use the Teams copilot to ‘follow’ the meeting, and be sent a summarized recap of what you missed. Consider the billions of other interactions like this one that office workers participate in, and how much of an overall productivity boost can be achieved with all of them enhanced this way.

Opportunities for Application Developers

A critical dimension is that Microsoft is opening up this platform to third-party developers, via their Copilot Ecosystem.

At Microsoft Build 2023 they announced a joint commitment from Microsoft and OpenAI to support and grow the AI plugins ecosystem, embracing an open standard for plugins that integrates across OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s copilot offerings, including Bing Chat, Dynamics 365 Copilot, Windows Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

There is such a vast array of knowledge work scenarios that these innovations can be applied to, that Microsoft alone could not address. It needs an equally large network of partners with the multitude of domain expertise required, and in turn presents each with a uniquely powerful market opportunity as AI becomes the largest catalyst for new technology adoption we’ve ever witnessed.