Partner Blog | The new Copilot is here: The opportunity for Microsoft partners

AI at Work is evolving as businesses seek more than just individual productivity boosts; they now want AI that can handle intricate tasks, create solutions, and streamline business operations. The latest phase of Frontier Transformation is about aligning the appropriate type of intelligence with the job at hand.

Today, Microsoft is pushing this vision forward with the new Copilot. This updated version of the Copilot app connects the essential tools we use every day with next-gen features that empower users to develop, personalise, and enhance AI across their work.

The refreshed Copilot app introduces three exciting features: Home, where Chat and Copilot Cowork converge, harnessing the full capabilities of Office; Code, which is powered by the same tech as GitHub Copilot and expands solution-building to more professionals; and Autopilot, a proactive, consistent, and personal assistant that continues to work even when you’re away. Collectively, these features broaden what users can achieve with Copilot and what platform partners can develop.

We’re also unveiling some platform advancements, including Microsoft IQ, Microsoft Copilot Managed Runtime, and a developing commercial framework incorporating usage-based billing alongside FinOps for AI.

For Microsoft partners, the possibilities extend far beyond just the product features. Today’s announcements enhance Copilot in three interconnected aspects: how individuals engage with AI, how customers adopt it in a commercial setting, and how partners can create, extend, secure, govern, and administer it. This fosters opportunities in areas such as AI consultancy, governance and security, agent development and implementation, FinOps for AI, change management, software development, and ongoing managed services.

Discover more about today’s product announcement from Jared Spataro, Chief Marketing Officer, AI at Work. (live 9/25)

Unified Copilot Experience: Bringing AI-Powered Work Together

The latest Copilot provides users with the right tools to achieve their goals:

• Home serves as the new entry point, merging Chat—for inquiries, research, and draft writing—with Cowork, where tasks are delegated and completed. In the Home tab, Office in Copilot leverages Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to create and update genuine, editable documents that remain active for the entire team.
• Code enables users to transform natural language concepts into applications, dashboards, automations, and workflows, with Copilot Managed Runtime supplying the regulated hosting environment to execute and share these within Microsoft 365.
• Autopilot, formerly known as Scout, acts as a cloud-based digital co-worker with its own identity, memory, and workspace, managing tasks and keeping them progressing within the limits and guidelines set by the organisation.

These innovative capabilities allow users to select the optimal tool for each task while maintaining their workflow.

For partners, this opens doors to transition customers from mere productivity assistance to genuine business process transformation, rooted in the organization’s own data and regulated by the existing IT permissions and controls.

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