Key takeaways

Copilot Studio: Simplifies AI chatbot creation for businesses.
Uses: Customer support, sales, employee services, public health tracking, multilingual engagement.
Licensing: Tenant and User licenses required for chatbot creation and publishing

What is Copilot Studio?

Copilot Studio is a tool by Microsoft that lets you build and customize chatbots, also called conversational interfaces, for your business applications. These chatbots are powered by artificial intelligence (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs).

Here’s a breakdown of what Copilot Studio offers:

  • Low-code development: You don’t need to be a programmer or data scientist to use Copilot Studio. It’s a graphical low-code tool that simplifies the process.
  • Customization: You can design chatbots that fit your specific needs and brand.
  • AI-powered conversations: Chatbots can handle a range of requests, from answering simple questions to having complex conversations.
  • Integration: They can connect to your existing data and systems to provide more helpful responses.
  • Multiple channels: Chatbots can interact with users on various platforms like websites, mobile apps, or Microsoft Teams.

How does a business typically use Copilot Studio?

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a powerful tool that enables businesses to create and maintain AI-powered conversational interfaces called copilots. Here are some ways businesses typically use Copilot Studio:

  1. Customer Support and Sales: Copilots can handle customer inquiries, provide support, and assist with sales-related questions. For instance, they can answer queries about product availability, pricing, and order status.
  2. Store Information: Businesses often use copilots to share essential information with customers. This includes details like store hours, locations, and contact information.
  3. Employee Services: Copilots can assist employees by answering common questions related to company policies, benefits, and vacation requests. For example, an employee might ask about health insurance coverage or how to request time off.
  4. Public Health Tracking: During health crises or emergencies, copilots can provide real-time information about public health guidelines, vaccination availability, and safety precautions.
  5. Multilingual Engagement: Copilots can communicate with customers and employees in multiple languages across various channels, such as websites, mobile apps, and Microsoft Teams.

What about licensing? Here are some key considerations.

If you are creating copilots for everyone, here’s what you need to know:

  • You need a tenant license for Copilot Studio. The tenant license can be activated in your Microsoft 365 tenant by a Global Admin. The tenant license allows users to create copilots, and anyone internal or external to your environment that you allow can access those copilots.
  • To publish generative AI chatbots, users creating copilots need to have the Microsoft Copilot Studio User License assigned to them. The Microsoft Copilot Studio User License is included with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5.
  • Power Virtual Agents (PVA) has been renamed Copilot Studio for Teams. Copilot Studio for Teams allows you to create traditional chatbots in Teams that do not use natural language models with generative AI. Functionality is limited, and chatbots can only be published to Teams. PVA is accessible to users who are licensed for Microsoft Teams.
  • The tenant license costs $200 per month for up to 25,000 messages. Every interaction an end user has with your copilot or your traditional chatbot created using Copilot for Teams (PVA) is considered a message, but consumption of messages is different between the two:
  • Copilot Studio for Teams (PVA) consumes one message per interaction.
  • AI copilots consume two messages per interaction.

If you are creating plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365, here’s what you need to know:

  • Users creating plugins need to have the Microsoft Copilot Studio User License assigned to them. The Microsoft Copilot Studio User License is included with Microsoft 365 E3/E5.
  • Only Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensed users can use plugins.
  • There are no consumption charges associated with creating or using plugins.

Skip the code, build a business bot! Microsoft Copilot Studio empowers businesses with AI-powered chatbots for customer service, sales, employees, and more. Multilingual chatbots keep communication flowing, but licensing applies. Copilot Studio simplifies bot creation, boosting interactions across the board.

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