The biggest takeaway from Microsoft Inspire: AI has finally arrived

Perhaps to the surprise of no one, the talk of the town at Microsoft Inspire 2023 was AI, AI, AI.

But unlike the keynotes of yore that presented AI as a forthcoming event on the horizon, the tone at Microsoft’s event has shifted. AI isn’t on its way; it’s here, kicking down doors and demanding our full, undivided attention.

The biggest takeaway from Microsoft Inspire? The time for AI to disrupt business as we know it has finally arrived. Here’s what that means for you:

AI is causing a massive platform shift

During Microsoft Inspire’s keynote session, CEO Satya Nadella explained how AI is ushering a time of massive platform shifts by fundamentally changing the way we work – but why now, when the foundation for generative AI has been in place for years?

Nadella attributes today’s shift to improvements in how quickly and efficiently users can leverage AI to complete tasks. Not only is generative AI becoming smarter and more adaptable, but its language models and interfaces are becoming more natural and intuitive. It’s easier than ever for users to not only navigate AI, but also use it meaningfully in their day-to-day work.

Generative AI is finally secure

At Inspire, Microsoft announced Bing Chat Enterprise – a secure generative AI purpose-built for safe use by organizations.

To use it, organizations simply log into Bing and use ChatGPT. Bing Chat Enterprise includes the security features you expect, need, and likely use today with your other enterprise-level Microsoft products, delivering commercial-level data protection as part of the Microsoft Enterprise AI Guarantee. This promises:

• Your data is your data.
• Your data is not used to train or enrich other AI models.
• Data and AI models are protected at every step.

With generative AI built from the ground up with security in mind, your organization can exponentially increase productivity and accelerate or automate tedious tasks without worrying about how or where your data is stored.

Bespoke AI models are here for each of your teams

Microsoft also announced the launch of Microsoft Sales Copilot, empowering sales teams with AI-enabled productivity boosts. Sales Copilot can pull data from various sources such as Salesforce and CRM to provide customer insights, create proposals, and identify opportunities.

According to Salesforce, sales teams spend roughly two-thirds of their time distracted by recordkeeping, broken processes, tool management, data entry, and lead management. AI tools like Sales Copilot can help you reclaim time by automating tasks, including building impactful presentations based on sales, CRM, and Outlook data. Sales Copilot is also integrated with Outlook for building quick and impactful emails to your customers.

Sales Copilot is just one example of how generative AI can be tailored to individual teams and use cases. We’ve only experienced the tip of the iceberg when it comes to realizing AI’s full potential – especially as Microsoft launches Azure AI Studio to accelerate developers’ ability to launch their own AI applications.

You can optimize processes like never before

Your organization is likely still grappling with the changes and updates hybrid work has brought to your IT operations and processes. According to Microsoft Inspire, AI can help with that, too.

Announced at Microsoft’s event, Power Automate Process Mining leverages AI to help map out and optimize your processes, identify any inefficiencies, and lay the groundwork for future growth. As part of the Power Platform, Power Automate works in tandem with your existing tools – allowing for integration without disruption.

AI is at its best when used to help us reach our maximum potential. A reality in which AI can help make critical optimizations across an entire organization is no longer a wish – it’s happening today.

Maximize AI’s potential with SHI

2023 is the year AI became mainstream. At Microsoft Inspire, AI was showcased as a set of tools with seemingly unlimited potential, finally ready to evolve your organization. Our takeaways from Microsoft Inspire 2023 are:

1. AI is ushering a massive platform shift
2. Secure generative AI has finally arrived
3. AI models are more bespoke than ever
4. AI now enables powerful process optimization

As a top partner of Microsoft’s for over 30 years, SHI’s expansive team of Microsoft and modern workplace experts are ready to help solve what’s next for your organization – including leveraging AI to maximize productivity and optimize business processes.

Ready to learn how your organization can use AI to its full potential? Contact SHI’s Microsoft experts today.