Imagine being part of a finance team that operates at breakneck speed, where the days of leisurely monthly closes have faded into the past. The pressure is on to complete tasks quicker than ever in recent days, with expectations to finalize reports by day three, if not sooner. Amidst the whirlwind of demands, simple requests from executives—like finding budget flexibility—can morph into time-consuming projects for financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams. Fortunately, innovations in generative AI, like Microsoft’s Copilot, are set to transform how finance professionals manage their workloads, allowing them to focus on strategic insights rather than mundane tasks.
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Microsoft introduces Copilot
Microsoft unveiled Copilot, an AI-driven assistant designed to enhance productivity in Microsoft 365 applications. This feature integrates seamlessly with familiar tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, streamlining workflows and alleviating the burden of repetitive tasks. By utilizing natural language processing, users can prompt Copilot to perform various functions—summarizing meetings, drafting documents, analyzing data, or composing emails. As Nate Boaz, Microsoft’s Vice President of People Strategy, aptly stated, the goal is to “take away the shallow work so that humans can do the deep work that we really crave.”
Finance teams are well-acquainted with tedious manual tasks, often consuming significant resources and time. A 2022 benchmark report revealed that 73% of finance professionals felt overwhelmed by manual processes in planning and budgeting. With Copilot, these teams can reclaim valuable time, allowing them to transition from number-crunching roles to strategic partners in their organizations.
How Copilot works
At its core, Copilot is powered by large language models (LLMs) that excel at recognizing and generating text. Developed with backing from OpenAI, Copilot taps into the Microsoft Graph, a secure repository of business information, to enhance its responses. For example, when users ask Copilot to summarize quarterly results in Excel, it contextualizes the prompt with relevant business data, generating insights that are both accurate and timely.
This intelligent processing occurs in a matter of seconds, enabling finance professionals to obtain actionable insights with minimal effort.
Four ways to leverage Microsoft Copilot in finance
1. Simplify Data Interpretation
CEOs often rely on finance leaders for immediate updates on company performance. Instead of sifting through extensive data sets, users can ask Copilot for insights, which serves as a quick starting point for analysis.
2. Generate Ad Hoc Reports
With Copilot, creating detailed reports is effortless. Users can prompt Copilot to produce tables and charts for deeper data analysis, facilitating quick responses to last-minute requests. For example, a last-minute inquiry about product line performance can be addressed in minutes.
3. Enhance Data Visualization
Copilot can automatically apply conditional formatting to highlight trends within financial data, making patterns easier to spot. Additionally, it streamlines the formatting process for presentations in PowerPoint, allowing teams to focus more on data insights rather than design.
4. Explore What-If Scenarios
Finance professionals can utilize Copilot to simulate various financial scenarios based on existing data in Excel. Not only does Copilot provide results, but it also generates financial models and visual representations, enabling teams to visualize different outcomes quickly.
The future role of finance teams
Microsoft emphasizes that Copilot is intended to augment, not replace, human capabilities. Although generative AI like Copilot can handle many tasks, it cannot replicate the critical thinking and strategic insight that finance professionals provide. Despite advancements in AI, there remains a necessity for human verification and judgment in financial reporting.
Concerns about job displacement due to AI are common, yet Copilot offers finance teams an opportunity to focus on higher-value work. By automating routine tasks, financial analysts can devote more time to strategic planning and analysis, enhancing their contributions to organizational decision-making.
Agility and accessibility in financial planning
With faster data manipulation comes the potential for agile forecasting and planning. Research shows that only 29% of surveyed businesses forecast monthly, often hampered by manual processes. Copilot addresses these challenges by streamlining forecasting, thus allowing for more responsive and effective financial strategies.
Moreover, many finance teams struggle with data visualization skills, which are crucial for effective communication of insights. Copilot can bridge this gap by enabling the quick generation of visualizations through natural language prompts, enhancing the team’s ability to convey essential financial information.
Conclusion
The advent of Copilot represents a significant shift in how finance teams operate within Microsoft 365. By embracing this powerful tool, finance professionals can not only streamline their processes but also enhance their strategic involvement in organizational planning. As Microsoft rolls out Copilot more broadly, finance teams will be empowered to experience new levels of efficiency, insight, and partnership within their organizations, ultimately transforming their roles into that of strategic leaders.
