Lantern AI Leaders Newsletter
Copilot Chat – The Low-Risk Leap into AI
Organizations now have a cost-effective way to empower every employee with advanced AI tools through Microsoft Copilot Chat. This innovative solution lets companies integrate generative AI capabilities without needing a full Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription for every user—making it a low-risk, budget-friendly option for exploring AI’s potential. Yet, many AI leaders remain cautious as they weigh the strategic benefits and potential challenges of integrating AI into their workflows.
In this newsletter, we’ll:
- Explore the value of Copilot Chat for AI leaders
- Guide you through the new pricing models
- Outline the optimal technical deployment strategies for your organization
Armed with the right insights, your organization can seamlessly implement Copilot Chat to boost employee engagement and productivity, ensuring every team member has access to the tools they need to excel.
Why Copilot Chat Matters for your Workforce
Copilot Chat provides a conversational AI experience as the primary tool to interact with AI. It allows employees to ask questions, generate content, and retrieve information within a secure, enterprise-ready chat environment. As Microsoft continues to expand its AI capabilities, Copilot Chat is becoming the primary way employees will interact with AI in the workplace.
- A Unified AI Interface: Copilot Chat provides a single conversational workspace that transcends individual applications, enabling seamless interactions across diverse workflows.
- AI Agents: Soon, Microsoft will unveil AI agents designed to automate intricate workflows—assisting with tasks such as report analysis, proposal drafting, and IT support. These agents will streamline multi-step processes and drive overall business efficiency.
- Enterprise-Ready Capabilities: Copilot Chat adheres to rigorous security and compliance standards, ensuring that your organization’s data remains secure—unlike many consumer-grade AI tools.
We recommend enabling access within your workforce to help you prepare to leverage future AI advancements and seamlessly integrate these tools into daily workflows.
New Admin & Security Controls
Security and compliance remain paramount for enterprise AI adoption. Copilot Chat is built with robust, enterprise-grade security and administrative controls, allowing organizations to effectively manage access and monitor usage. IT administrators can:
- Control Access: Manage user permissions to ensure only authorized personnel can access Copilot Chat.
- Monitor Usage: Track AI interactions and enforce security policies to meet internal governance standards.
- Manage Data Interactions: Define strict controls over how AI accesses and handles organizational data, safeguarding privacy and content.
At Lantern, we collaborate closely with IT teams to implement these robust controls, ensuring a secure, well-managed AI rollout. Contact the Lantern account team today for a personalized consultation on your organization’s AI governance.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat & Agent Pricing Overview
Microsoft 365 Copilot offers a three-tier pricing model, designed to scale with your AI adoption:
- Free -Copilot Chat: Copilot Chat is included for free for all Microsoft 365 commercial customers, allowing users to engage in conversations powered by GPT-4o, using both web and work-grounded data.
- Pay as you go – Agent Capabilities: With Copilot Studio, you can create and manage AI agents to automate tasks and enhance workflows. Agent usage is based on a consumption-based pricing model, where you pay for metered access to work data (Microsoft Graph, third party connectors) or performing autonomous actions.
- Subscription – Unlimited Access: The $30 per user/month subscription provides unlimited access to Copilot capabilities – ideal for scaling AI adoption with predictable costs.
Deployment Strategies
Schedule your Copilot Leadership Briefing
With multiple Copilot offerings across Microsoft 365, Azure, Security, and beyond, organizations often struggle to understand which Copilot solutions deliver the most value and how to deploy them effectively. Our Copilot Leadership Briefing simplifies this complexity. We offer a high-level explanation of the primary Microsoft Copilots and how they are best used, with a particular focus on the new Microsoft Copilot Chat.
Register for a Copilot Leadership Briefing
💡 What’s Next?
Stay tuned for our next month’s newsletter where we will provide an update on AI agents.