Microsoft has announced the first Australian customers to receive access to Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of the invitation-only global Early Access Program.
Among the first are Microsoft customers AGL, Data#3, Bupa, NAB, Powerlink Queensland, Rest Super and Suncorp.
The Early Access Program includes support from Microsoft to help organisations drive maximum value from the technology.
They will also benefit from the recently announced extensibility model, which allows developers to integrate their apps and services into Copilot.
This includes plugins from Microsoft partners such as Atlassian, Adobe, ServiceNow, Thomson Reuters, Moveworks and Mural.
“Business leaders within the Early Access Program see this as an opportunity to gain a first-mover advantage in their sectors, and enable greater productivity in a market that is navigating sustained economic pressure,” Microsoft ANZ's modern work business group director Lucy Debono said.
“We really want these early adopters to work closely with Microsoft to use this technology, test it within their teams, help us to improve it further and drive great employee experiences."
"This is such an exciting opportunity to see how Australian companies will use this incredible new tool to fundamentally change how we work.”
Financial services customers testing Copilot
NAB is testing Copilot for specific tasks and roles to see what impact generative AI could have in driving productivity and enabling its workforce to focus on higher value tasks.
Suncorp, which has spent years integrating AI into its business, will focus on finding ways to save staff time and deliver better customer service via Copilot.
“As an insurer, we are investigating many use cases, including how we help our customer-facing teams deliver exceptional service, including during the claims process," Suncorp's head of data science, AI and insights Craig Price said.
"We see a great opportunity to improve how our people access relevant content, such as our insurance product disclosure statements, in a more intuitive way so they can support customers quickly when they need us most.”
Rest Super is adopting Copilot as part of its technology-powered and people-centred transformation strategy.
“AI continues to transform the way we work at an incredible pace; it has enormous potential to influence the future direction of Australian workplaces and the superannuation sector," Rest Super's chief technology and data officer Jeremy Hubbard said.
"Our participation in the program allows Rest and its people to be part of this evolution – building our capability in this powerful technology and empowering us to explore its potential to help Rest deliver the best possible retirement outcomes to the nearly 2 million Australians that entrust us with their super.”
Energy companies seek to drive productivity
AGL's use of Copilot will centre around helping drive workforce productivity, initially focusing on staff who are heavy content producers or leaders burdened with back-to-back and conflicting meetings.
“We have embraced flexible work models over the past few years, which has been positive on multiple fronts, however, it has also meant that employees are spending more time managing chats, emails and in meetings in order to stay connected," AGL's head of employee technology Grace Russo said.
“We are excited by Microsoft 365 Copilot and the huge potential it offers in helping our employees to be more efficient, productive and liberate them from the mundane to focus on higher value tasks.”
Powerlink Queensland sees the opportunity for generative AI tools like Copilot to help its workforce keep pace with the rapidly changing energy sector and enable greater productivity.
“The first teams to access this are already reporting saving at least an hour a day on being able to manage meeting documentation, MS Teams chats and emails more efficiently, so we are very excited to see the benefits M365 Copilot could have more broadly in our workforce,” Powerlink Queensland's general manager business IT Mark Pozdena said.
Guided and secure support for Early Access Program participants
Microsoft has underlined that Copilot is built on its comprehensive approach to security, privacy, identity, compliance and responsible AI.
It said that Copilot inherits the organisation’s existing Microsoft 365 security, privacy, identity and compliance policies, while data is isolated and protected within the Microsoft 365 tenant.
“Microsoft 365 Copilot is built on our comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy so the customer is always in control of the data being used while maintaining access controls already in place," Debono said.
"These are the foundations and guardrails needed to warrant people’s trust, so organisations can confidently and securely embrace AI productivity tools across their workforce.”
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