What’s New in Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2?

First announced back in March 2023, the original Copilot for Microsoft 365 (M365 Copilot for short) was a groundbreaking tool that integrated artificial intelligence into Microsoft 365 apps to enhance productivity and streamline workflows.  

M365 Copilot provided users with intelligent assistance for everyday activities such as drafting documents, analysing data, and managing emails and, today, is used by thousands of organisations across various industries (including notable companies like Visa, BP, Honda, and Pfizer) 

Since then, however, Copilot for M365 has evolved significantly. After receiving feedback from nearly one thousand organisations to understand how organisations use Copilot and identify where improvements were needed, resulting now in the release of Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2.

Feedback for the creation of M365 Copilot Wave 2 included:

• Direct customer feedback: Microsoft engaged directly with organisations to understand how they were using Copilot, identifying areas where it had the most impact and where things could be better.
• Product updates: based on this feedback, Microsoft made over 700 product updates and introduced more than 150 new features.
• Performance improvements: feedback also helped Microsoft enhance Copilot’s performance, improving overall user satisfaction.

M365 Copilot Wave 2 includes many new features and enhancements, such as Copilot Pages, Python integration in Excel, and customisable AI agents – and it’s great to hear Microsoft reporting that Copilot responses are now more than two times faster on average and that response satisfaction has improved by nearly three times. To quote Microsoft: “When you add it all up, we’ve built the world’s best AI feedback loop with Copilot.”

Let’s take a closer look…

About M365 Copilot Wave 2

While the original M365 Copilot was a significant leap forward when it came to integrating AI into everyday productivity tools, wave 2 takes this innovation to the next level (and, I would say, meets the needs of its users more precisely and more effectively).

For example, whereas the initial Copilot offered basic AI assistance like drafting emails, summarising Teams calls, and managing schedules, wave 2 introduces much more sophisticated, real-time capabilities. This includes advanced natural language processing, predictive text suggestions, and contextual task recommendations – all of which are designed to adapt seamlessly to individual users’ needs and workflows.

The enhancements in wave 2 promise not just to helps users work smarter, but to transform work into a more intuitive and efficient experience, therefore empowering organisations’ users to do more and to focus on more strategic or creative tasks.

Key updates inside Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 include:

Copilot Pages 

A feature within Microsoft 365 Copilot that acts as a dynamic, persistent canvas for collaboration, Copilot Pages acts as a bridge between the browser version of Copilot search and a kind of ‘online canvas’; in other words, it allows users to create and collaborate on dynamic content in real-time.

Unlike traditional documents, Copilot Pages are designed to be continuously updated and expanded, making them ideal for ongoing projects and ultra-collaborative efforts. Pages also integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, allowing users to pull in data, charts, and content directly into the collaborative space and work together on these. Pages also combines insights from the web with your work documents, providing a richer context and more comprehensive information for your projects.

Copilot in Excel

One of the standout features in M365 Copilot Wave 2 is the Python Integration in Excel – a high-level, general-purpose programming language known for its readability and simplicity.

With Python integrated into Excel, the app’s data analysis capabilities are vastly enhanced, and users can write and execute Python scripts within their Excel workbooks. This feature is particularly beneficial for data scientists, analysts, and basically anyone who needs to perform sophisticated data analysis tasks. It works so well because it combines the familiar interface of Excel with the robust analytical power of Python, providing a seamless experience for users.

The integration also supports the use of popular Python libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, and Matplotlib, allowing users to create detailed data visualisations and perform statistical analyses without leaving Excel. This makes it easier to generate insights and make data-driven decisions.

Overall, the Python integration in Excel as part of Copilot Wave 2 represents a significant step forward in enhancing the analytical capabilities of Excel, making it a more powerful tool for users who need to work with complex data.

Copilot Agents

Copilot Agents are highly customisable AI agents that can be tailored to specific roles, enabling users to create virtual assistants with expertise in all sorts of areas, such as project management, customer support, data analysis, content creation, etc. Agents range from simple, prompt-and-response bots to more advanced, fully autonomous agents that can draw from valuable data sources to help Copilot become significantly smarter about your business and its processes.

Wave 2 introduced new Copilot Agents capabilities and allows users to build agents using Copilot Studio. These agents can be grounded in organisational data like SharePoint or Dynamics 365, taught skills such as creating support tickets or responding to emails, and then deployed across Microsoft 365, including within Microsoft Teams (so users can message and interact with them like any other team-mate).

Enhanced AI in SharePoint and OneDrive

M365 Copilot Wave 2 also introduces AI innovations to both SharePoint and OneDrive, enhancing the user experience with new content management and data access control capabilities. These include: improved document management (automatic tagging, categorisation, and metadata extraction, making it easier to find and manage content), intelligent search capabilities (AI-powered search functionality is significantly improved, allowing users to find relevant documents and information quickly), and security and compliance enhancements (automated data classification, sensitive information detection, and compliance reporting to ensure that organisational data is protected and regulatory requirements are met).

Expanded availability

In addition to the above powerful new features, Copilot Wave 2 has also expanded the availability of Copilot to a wider audience. Previously, Copilot’s advanced capabilities were limited to only specific licensing tiers, but now, users with Office 365 E3 and E5 plans can also benefit from the tool.

This broader accessibility ensures that more organisations can leverage Copilot’s AI-driven solutions, which means more workflows can be enhanced and more companies can benefit from increased productivity.

Final word

With the introduction of M365 Copilot Wave 2, users benefit from multiple new features and improvements, making Copilot more versatile and powerful than ever and allowing users to manage content, automate workflows, and access data more effectively.

To find out more about undertaking a Copilot for Microsoft 365 readiness assessment with Littlefish’s Microsoft experts, or to discuss the ways any of the Microsoft Technology stack could benefit your organisation’s long-term success, please get in touch using the button on this page.