Solid critique of Copilots value proposition gap. The ROI measurement issue really cuts to the core problem with productivity-focused AI tools, organizations cant prove those saved minutes translate to anything meaningful. I deployed Copilot for a small team last year and the biggest issue wasnt even the tech itself but getting people to stop using it for tasks where ChatGPT or Claude wouldve been faster and more accurate, the Microsoft lockin just keeps people from finding beter alternatives even when theyre obviusly available.
I think your criticisms are fair, but there is one important capability you did not give Copilot credit for. With the premium license, access to Microsoft graph content (an individuals emails, files, shared content on SharePoint, etc) through prompts is a huge benefit. To replicate that with another provider would require massive integration and security costs.
That all said, it isn't too surprising that Microsoft is delivering GenAI in ways that don't really change the game - because today's game is one that Microsoft plays so well.
Your commentary about the challenge of measuring value hits home. We inherently know it is saving people real time, and in many cases, enables people to deliver higher quality work products. But can we measure and prove it? No. I'd like to hear what people are doing to chip away at this problem.
Tom, this is a fantastic summary of the emotion that we see in dozens of companies. IT always wants Copilot and employees are indifferent at best. I love your line "there was the primary purpose of CoPilot, which appears to be to aid people in the use of Microsoft’s Office suite. Is the best that we can do with this breakthrough to create more Word, Excel, and PowerPoint outputs?
https://open.substack.com/pub/nandigamharikrishna/p/using-copilot-to-generate-code-key?r=8op1j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Would you say that Gemini embedded in Google’s office suite is equally as meh?
Solid critique of Copilots value proposition gap. The ROI measurement issue really cuts to the core problem with productivity-focused AI tools, organizations cant prove those saved minutes translate to anything meaningful. I deployed Copilot for a small team last year and the biggest issue wasnt even the tech itself but getting people to stop using it for tasks where ChatGPT or Claude wouldve been faster and more accurate, the Microsoft lockin just keeps people from finding beter alternatives even when theyre obviusly available.
Tom,
I think your criticisms are fair, but there is one important capability you did not give Copilot credit for. With the premium license, access to Microsoft graph content (an individuals emails, files, shared content on SharePoint, etc) through prompts is a huge benefit. To replicate that with another provider would require massive integration and security costs.
That all said, it isn't too surprising that Microsoft is delivering GenAI in ways that don't really change the game - because today's game is one that Microsoft plays so well.
Your commentary about the challenge of measuring value hits home. We inherently know it is saving people real time, and in many cases, enables people to deliver higher quality work products. But can we measure and prove it? No. I'd like to hear what people are doing to chip away at this problem.
Perfect description
Tom, this is a fantastic summary of the emotion that we see in dozens of companies. IT always wants Copilot and employees are indifferent at best. I love your line "there was the primary purpose of CoPilot, which appears to be to aid people in the use of Microsoft’s Office suite. Is the best that we can do with this breakthrough to create more Word, Excel, and PowerPoint outputs?
Well done!