Copilot has quickly become a vital and strategic part of Microsoft's line of products and services. Whether you're a large enterprise, a small business, or just a regular Windows PC user, at the very least, you're probably familiar with Microsoft Copilot and its generative AI capabilities.
Microsoft currently offers three versions of Copilot to its customers:
- He free copilot version is available to everyone using Windows, Microsoft Edge, or the Bing website.
- He Pro copilot version It's also available to anyone using Windows, Microsoft Edge, or the Bing website, but requires an additional $20/month subscription fee.
- He Copilot version 365 is available to Microsoft 365 subscribers who pay an additional subscription fee of $30/month/user.
But which version of Microsoft Copilot is right for you and your business, and what should you know about each version besides the price of access?
Microsoft Copilot Version Comparison
| Characteristic | Microsoft Copilot | Pro Copilot | Copilot 365 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional operation | General questions return general answers. | General questions return general answers. | Specific questions return specific answers |
| Data source | Bing and Internet searches. | Bing and Internet searches. | Internally generated organizational data |
| Cost | Free | $20/user/month | $30/user/month |
| Best use case | General users and small businesses. | SMEs that need reliability and speed | SMEs and companies with large data pools |
How to choose the best version of Microsoft Copilot
Regardless of which version of Microsoft Copilot you decide to use, the basic operation of the software remains the same: ask a question and get an answer. The differences between each version lie in how the AI accesses its critical data sources and where that data comes from.
Free Microsoft Copilot
The free version of Microsoft Copilot extracts the data it uses for its natural language processing models from Bing searches and other aggregate information tracked by Microsoft. Basically, AI generative results are based on internal sources, external sources through Bing Search, and various custom data sources.
This gives the Copilot platform leeway to answer any general questions (Figure A). This often makes it less effective when users require a specific, detailed answer to a specific, detailed question. The free version of Microsoft Copilot is designed for general use and should be used that way. If what you need from generative AI are general answers to general questions, then Copilot may be all you need.
Microsoft Copilot Pro
The latest addition to the company's line of generative AI software is called Microsoft Copilot Pro. This version of Copilot uses the same NLP models based on Bing searches and other added information as the free version, but for an additional $20 /user/month, pro version grants priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during peak hours. for accelerated performance.
In other words, Microsoft Copilot Pro will prioritize access to servers so you can get responses from your AI faster than customers using only the free version. At least, that is the theory.
The reality is that the time difference between getting a response from Copilot with the pro version and getting the same response with the free version is almost negligible at this point. However, assuming AI continues to grow in popularity and use, Microsoft Copilot's response may slow, making priority access much more attractive in the future.
If you plan to rely on Copilot for critical interactions, you may want to pay for a subscription that grants priority access. That said, it may also be financially prudent to wait for that need to arise first. You will have to decide which is best for your situation.
Microsoft Copilot 365
Microsoft Copilot 365 is very different from the free or Pro versions of the platform in terms of where and how it extracts the data it uses for its NLP model. This is because Copilot 365 uses data obtained from data generated by the host organization.
Microsoft Copilot 365 is best used by businesses, organizations, and SMBs that generate large amounts of institutional data. By limiting the data that goes into Copilot's NLP data models, institutional clients can better control what responses the AI will generate. Think of it as easily accessible systematic institutional knowledge. Access to that institutional knowledge will cost $30/user/month, which is on top of the regular Microsoft 365 subscription.
To illustrate the potential, consider this example. Let's say you need to include the new official corporate logo for a sales proposal. Normally, you would send an email to the marketing department requesting a link to the logo file; This transaction may require you to wait until the next day for a response, which could result in a lost sale. However, Copilot 365 should already know what the new official logo is and where to get it. By asking Copilot 365, you can find the official link to the new corporate logo in seconds, eliminating the need to exchange emails.
The caveat is that the institutional data Copilot accesses must be accurate, vetted, verifiable and accessible. For Microsoft Copilot 365 to work effectively and efficiently, the institution involved must abandon traditional concepts of compartmentalized and departmentalized information. For many businesses and SMEs, this adjustment in attitude towards data will be a big hurdle to overcome.
Microsoft Copilot 365 has the potential to be an extremely powerful tool for organizations that want to adopt the platform, technology, and mindset necessary to implement it. Without that buy-in at all levels of the organization, AI also has the potential to be a terrible waste of energy, resources, and time.
If your organization has a forward-thinking collective mindset, Microsoft Copilot 365 may be exactly what you need to establish a competitive advantage in your enterprise market. If implemented correctly, Copilot 365 should provide users with reliable, accurate and specific answers to specific questions. Decision makers in each organization will need to determine whether the potential for robust responses is worth the implementation effort and associated cost.
How do I choose a version of Microsoft Copilot?
Choosing which version of Microsoft Copilot will work best for you or your organization depends entirely on you and what you want from generative AI, even if you don't want anything at all. At this point in the development cycle, the overall effectiveness of all AI platforms varies greatly. Microsoft Copilot has tremendous potential. All companies and SMEs should at least experiment with the platform.
Just as cloud computing and the Internet of Things were once technologies on the horizon, generative AI is a technology that is still in its nascent development period. But like those innovations, AI will play a vital role in the work environments of the future. Therefore, it will be advantageous for organizations, businesses, and users (operating at all levels) to become familiar with the capabilities and limitations of Microsoft Copilot and other AI platforms.
