February's meeting with inTEC Business
At our February meeting, we were joined by Mark Armstrong from inTEC Business, who enlightened our chamber members with a presentation on Microsoft Copilot.
Formally known as Astec, inTEC Business Solutions are a group of ICT specialists with a drive to enable customers to access the best range of technology solutions, allowing them to perform efficiently and effectively.
Mark Armstrong, Director of Modern Workplace, travelled from Manchester to visit our members at the Hastings Centre, to present to them Microsoft Copilot – a new way to work. Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot which was developed by Microsoft and launched back in February 2023. It is a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is used across all platforms, including Outlook, Work, PowerPoint, Excel.
For many people, AI can sound daunting. It’s the fear of the unknown that can create a sense of anxiety which leads people to thinking worst-case scenarios – one that is particular for many businesses is being replaced by robots. The best way to put it described by Mark: many years ago, when Excel spreadsheets were first introduced, bookkeeping as a career went down; however, there was a spike with 5x more people working in accounting! Rather than being replaced, it created new roles thanks to the development of technology.
Copilot was built to unlock productivity and unleash creativity. In a live demo, members saw first hand how a simple sentence could be expanded into a whole document. Mark’s small business idea of a “cat dating site” soon flourished into a full-on business plan, written out in seconds. From this Word document, he was then able to create a PowerPoint, accompanied by images to broaden this new business venture – name suggestions included.
We also learnt about how it can be used in emails to respond back in your tone of voice after being used for an extended period of time as well as be used efficiently in Excel Spreadsheets. If you would like to find out more about Copilot for your business, you can watch Mark’s Monthly Microsoft Masterclass video on YouTube or email him mark.armstrong@intecbusiness.co.uk.