Alex Pearce
Chief Strategist - Microsoft & Education
Alex Pearce Linked In
On Thursday 14 December Softcat hosted a webinar on Microsoft Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365, hosted by and featuring Softcat and Microsoft experts. Thousands of attendees had the opportunity to learn how Microsoft's latest products can help organisations leverage AI to improve productivty, collaboration, and innovation.
You can catch up on the recording here.
Introducing Microsoft Copilot Studio
With Microsoft providing end user solutions such as Microsoft Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365, it was only a matter of time before it gave organisations the ability to extend their Copilot - Microsoft Copilot Studio is this platform. Microsoft Copilot Studio is a comprehensive platform that allows organisations to build, manage, and deploy AI solutions across their enterprise. It provides tools and frameworks for data ingestion, preparation, modelling, testing, deployment, and monitoring of AI applications. It also supports the extensibility of Copilot, meaning that organisations can customise and enhance Copilot with their own data and models, and use it for specific domains and scenarios.
Why data strategy is key to a successful AI implementation
One of the main takeaways from the webinar was that data strategy is essential for any organisation that wants to leverage AI effectively. Data is the fuel for AI, and without a clear and consistent data strategy, organisations will face challenges such as data quality, governance, security, and integration. A good data strategy can help organisations do the following:
- Define the vision, goals, and principles for how an organisation collects, stores, manages, and uses data.
- Outline the roles and responsibilities of the data stakeholders, the architecture and infrastructure, the policies and standards, and the governance and compliance mechanisms.
- Align the data activities with the business objectives and ensures that data is treated as a valuable asset.
- Identify the data sources and types that are needed for AI, the quality and validation processes, the access and sharing protocols, and the ethics and privacy guidelines.
- Measure the impact and value of AI, and to continuously improve and optimise their data and AI capabilities.
AI applications require large and diverse datasets that are accurate, relevant, and timely. Trash data into your AI, is trash data out!
How Softcat can help you with your data and AI journey
At Softcat, we have the expertise and experience to help you with your data and AI journey. We can help you to:
- Design and implement a modern data architecture that supports your AI needs, using the best-in-class technologies from a wide range of partners.
- Establish an AI Centre of Excellence that can guide and govern your AI initiatives, and to adopt the best practices and methodoligies for development and deployment.
- Support the implementation of Microsoft Copilot, Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot Studio into your organisation, and to customise and extend them to suit your specific use cases and scenarios.
- We can help you to integrate Copilot and Copilot Studio with your existing data and AI platforms, and to leverage the power and flexibility of the cloud to scale and manage your AI solutions.
- We can also help you to train and empower your users and developers to use Copilot and Copilot Studio effectively and responsibly, and to maximise the benefits of AI for your organisation.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you with your data and AI journey, please contact your Softcat Account Manager today, or through our contact form here. We would love to hear from you and discuss your data and AI challenges and opportunities.