Microsoft’s AI and partnership announcements have been coming in fast, so let’s do a quick roundup of the ones we haven’t covered in detail. Hang on tight, because we have a lot to cover.
First up, Microsoft 365 Copilot. This AI Large Language Model tool is designed to assist with writing, summarizing, and creating within Microsoft Office applications. It’s essentially an embedded ChatGPT with knowledge about each Office app. The good news is that Microsoft 365 Copilot now has a price: $30 per month, per user for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers. However, there’s no confirmed general availability date yet, and consumer users may not have access to Copilot capabilities anytime soon.
Sales-related activities and AI go hand in hand, and Microsoft has made several announcements related to sales automation. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights offers AI-enhanced data analysis and prediction for customer interaction data. Microsoft Sales Copilot provides productivity and support tools for CRM users. The AIM program offers AI-guided support for moving customers from on-premises to cloud-based applications. And chatbots with Copilot capabilities will help sales organizations field AI-driven chatbots tailored specifically for customer service.
Next, let’s talk about improving business operations with AI capabilities. Microsoft’s Power Automate Process Mining is a tool that analyzes and provides insights into business processes for continuous improvement. The big announcement here is that Power Automate Process Mining will be generally available on August 1. It offers AI features to optimize existing processes, improve efficiency, and provide automation suggestions. Microsoft is also providing trial plans and a getting started guide to help users get started faster.
Now, onto Azure migration support. The Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP) has been renamed to Azure Migrate and Modernize. The program offers an expanded set of features, including assessments and partner incentives, as well as support for additional workloads like high-performance computing, Oracle, Linux, SAP, and mainframe migrations. Microsoft has announced plans to increase the scale and availability of Azure Migrate and Modernize.
In terms of investment, Microsoft is dedicating an incremental $100 million to support partner innovation in analytics and AI. The goal is to help partners incorporate AI solutions into applications, generate insights from analytics, and build custom cloud-native applications with AI capabilities. Microsoft will offer guided assistance to partners as they explore and design capabilities for unique business workloads.
The new Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program aims to leverage Microsoft AI and Cloud initiatives with its partners. It will help partners build AI-based applications, modernize existing applications with AI, and facilitate faster migration of services to the cloud. Microsoft’s industrial metaverse will also be available to the AI Cloud Partner Program in early 2024.
Existing Microsoft partners will be automatically moved into the new AI Cloud Partner Program, and all their existing benefits and designations will be maintained. Additionally, the program provides special AI designations for partners to highlight their expertise in offering AI-level services.
These are just some of the AI and partnership announcements from Microsoft. The company continues to invest in AI capabilities and partnerships to drive innovation and support its customers and partners. Exciting times ahead for the AI landscape.
