Microsoft 365 Copilot is a new, complex system available across Microsoft 365 environment.
Verify what are the prerequisites for the setup and deployment of Microsoft Copilot.
Microsoft 365 Copilot functionality will be available in multiple Office 365 apps, like Word, SharePoint, Teams or Outlook. Copilot was delivered in the Early Access for selected Customers, but check what the requirements are for your organization to run Microsoft Copilot.
Costs of the Copilot subscriptions are now low, so it is worth preparing your environment for it.
Learn what are prerequisites for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Microsoft 365.
What are Microsoft 365 Copilot prerequisites?
There are multiple requirements for Microsoft Copilot in the Microsoft 365 environment. You need to configure your tenant to be sure that Microsoft 365 Copilot will work properly.
- Microsoft 365 Subscription – All Microsoft 365 Subscriptions are supported to buy Microsoft Copilot.
- Azure Active Directory accounts – Your users will need to have Entra ID account to use Copilot.
- Microsoft 365 Apps – Your users will need to have Microsoft 365 Apps to fully use Copilot capabilities. Licenses for desktop apps like: Word, Excel PowerPoint, and Outlook are needed.
- New Outlook for Windows – Copilot will require new version of the Outlook Client to provide a full experience.
- OneDrive account – Copilot features will require OneDrive account to store some files and work properly.
- Microsoft Teams – all versions of Microsoft Teams will be supported for Microsoft 365 Copilot: web, old and new client apps.
- Microsoft Loop – Copiot will be available in Microsoft Loop. This app need to be enabled to use Copilot for Loop.
- Copilot licenses – Copilot subscriptions will need to be assigned to your users in Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Take care of these Microsoft 365 Copilot requirements to be prepared for the new rollout.
How to prepare for the desktop experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Copilot will be released to most of the desktop apps being part of the Microsoft 365 Apps / Office Suite. You will need to take care of the release plan for the updated delivered to Office apps.
Copilot users in the early access program must be on the Current Channel to receive Copilot updates when they become available. We expect support in the Monthly Enterprise Channel in the future.
Secure the proper deployment of the new updates of the Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Free course “Prepare for Microsoft Copilot”
I can imagine that preparation for the Microsoft 365 Copilot could be a little overwhelming. Because of that, I’m preparing a free online course that will help you and your organization prepare better for the rollout of the Copilot.
What about on-premise data in the Copilot usage context?
If your organization prepares the strategy to start to use Generative AI in Microsoft 365 you will need to have your data in the cloud.
It means that if you want to leverage the value of Microsoft Copilot your Microsoft 365 and Semantic Index deployed there will need to have access to your business data. If your data is still on-premise it will limit the results and the value behind the deployment of the Copilot.
You need to start to migrate that data to Office 365 apps, like SharePoint, OneDrive, or Teams.
At the same time, you will need to secure the backup and restore scenario for your cloud-based data. Microsoft working to provide an internal backup solution to address this requirement, but I recommend you consider a reliable professional backup tool for Office 365 data that will help you quickly deploy a backup platform for Microsoft 365.
AFI.AI who is a proud partner of this blog provides a very user friendly backup platform for Microsoft 365. I recommend trying it for free.
What’s next?
Good! You learned about Microsoft 365 Copilot prerequisites. Now you should learn more about Microsoft Copilot app. Learn what is Microsoft Copilot, early access for Copilot or cost of the Copilot service.
Do you want more?
I prepared more articles around main Office 365 apps, like Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Power Automate, and SharePoint Online.
Conclusion
Learn what are the prerequisites and requirements to use Microsoft 365 Copilot. Prepare your Microsoft 365 environment to run Copilot.
