AI is one of the most exiting areas of Microsoft’s product development and Rapid Circle is one of the leading IT consultancies for successfully implementing these new, innovative products with our customers. To keep up to date with the latest insights and developments, we sent some of our experts to The Microsoft AI Tour in Sydney, and asked them to share their take aways from the event: 

“To get approximately 3000 people to an event for AI really demonstrated that the interest in the market is there – customer demand is there today. We’re still early on the Generative AI journey and a lot of organisations are trying to work out how to make a business case for it. In a partner breakfast, Collete Stallbaumer, who heads up the Future of Work at Microsoft – gave an anecdote that really resonated with me: 

Find the most critical problem in an organisation, what is the data point that drives a lot of pain – for an airline customer deploying Copilot it was delayed flights – they could track this data point and the pain back to things like customer satisfaction, increased costs for rerouting customers, freight, baggage, etc. So, if they could reduce or help with this using AI, the business case is easier to identify. 

Another takeaway was that we should think of AI or Copilot as “cost replacement” not job replacement, to help with attitudes towards AI taking away jobs. Humans are irreplaceable in organisations, however there are low value, time consuming tasks that Copilot can take off their plate that allow them to focus on activities that drive more value for the business.” 

Stuart Moore, Microsoft Success Manager, Rapid Circle 

“Being part of the Copilot event was exciting! Firstly, face to face events and meeting people in person is back in full steam. You could feel the buzz in the room! 

Secondly the launch of Copilot studio, and building your own Copilots, this is a gamechanger. Creating your own copilot, with your own data and your own non-Microsoft systems, you can start to see the future that Microsoft is making possible for businesses. For instance, Copilot Studio can work with ServiceNow to help users who report problems. Copilot Studio can use past similar problems to assist the user, saving time for both the user and the helpdesk, and solving the issue quickly.”

Phuong Nguyen, Client Relationship Manager, Rapid Circle

“It was a rich and engaging event with insights and AI applications relevant across many sectors, particularly education. The Educhat collab by Microsoft and NSW Department of Education, has come up with a ChatGPT for students and teachers in NSW, and this will be launched this week.  

The students will have access to the latest GPT models and technology at no cost to them, and their version has an added eight layers of guardrails which will ensure a safe a secure environment for the kids, also they hope to get insights as to how the students are using this technology.” 

Mohammed Patel, Consultant, Rapid Circle 

“A key message was around bringing your data together, having it presented your way, and making it available to users in a variety of ways. While there is Copilot for M365, you’ll soon be able to build your own “Copilots” both in Copilot Studio as well as creating custom AI solutions using the spectrum of services available in Azure. It really gives organisations the ability to make things work their way.” 

Loryan, Solution Specialist, Rapid Circle 

“Learning about the achievements of early Copilot and OpenAI adopters, along with insights into quick wins and best practices for developing tailored Copilot solutions, provides valuable knowledge to enhance our ability to assist customers in maximising the benefits of these solutions.  It was very clear from all of the presentations from the early adopters that AI is not here to replace people’s jobs, but to improve their productivity through the use of technology.  As an organization, you definitely need to ensure this change is properly communicated to ensure you have buy in from your staff and they come along on the journey.” 

Gavin, Head of Azure Capability, Rapid Circle 

“I was easily one of the coolest events (in-person) I have attended post lockdowns. The biggest takeaway for me is to learn so much about Copilot and hear about the use cases. Copilot Studio also has got my attention, it’s quite amazing that we can now build our own Copilots and be able to tap into various data sources.

I can already imagine a number of use cases for our customers with the custom Copilots, such as: Copilot being an Onboarding Buddy for a new starter. Smaller organisations who have self-learning-onboarding stratagies due to resource and time constraints will now also be able to provide their new employees with more of a structured learning enviroment, if that is their prefered learning style. This will really assist small organisations in turning their new recruits into a productive asset in record time.”

The event also turned out to be a great way to re-connect with friends / ex-colleagues. Thank you Microsoft! I am ready for the AI journey!” 

Chander, Principal Consultant, Rapid Circle