The Copilot Briefing

Steve Corey - Microsoft MVP
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The Copilot Briefing is the podcast for business leaders navigating Microsoft Copilot, AI agents, and the future of work. Each episode cuts through the hype to focus on what actually matters: strategy, governance, adoption, risk, ROI, and business outcomes. Hosted by Microsoft MVP and AI consultant Steve Corey, The Copilot Briefing helps executives and decision-makers make smarter AI investments, avoid costly mistakes, and turn Microsoft's AI ecosystem into measurable business value. Smarter AI decisions. Better business outcomes.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Measuring the Business Value of Copilot

    Send us Fan Mail Microsoft 365 Copilot may be easy to demonstrate, but determining whether it is a worthwhile business investment requires more than tracking licenses and usage. Steve Corey explains how to evaluate Copilot through role-specific use cases, before-and-after process measurements, data readiness, security controls, ongoing support, and documented business outcomes. Topics Covered • Why polished AI demonstrations do not prove value  • The difference between access, adoption, activity, and outcomes  • Measuring processes before and after introducing AI  • Converting saved time into additional business capacity  • Overshared content and broad Microsoft 365 permissions  • Assigning licenses according to job roles and tasks  • The importance of task frequency in ROI calculations  • Ongoing user support and champions programs  • Documenting evidence before expanding a rollout  • Search, meeting follow-ups, document drafting, and agents as use cases Key Takeaways • A Copilot rollout should begin with business processes and measurable outcomes.  • Usage percentages should not be treated as proof that work has improved.  • Saved time creates value only when the reclaimed capacity is put to productive use.  • Permissions and sensitive-content controls should be addressed as part of readiness.  • License allocation should reflect a role’s genuine opportunities to benefit.  • Before-and-after evidence supports future licensing and expansion decisions. Chapters 00:00 A Business-Focused Copilot Briefing 00:49 The Investment Question 02:02 What Determines Copilot Value 02:54 Meet Steve Corey 03:53 More Than a Software Purchase 05:16 Transform and Measure Processes 06:39 What Happens to Saved Time? 08:20 Access, Adoption, and Outcomes 10:27 Returning Time to the Business 11:39 The Oversharing Risk 14:27 Matching Licenses to Job Roles 15:53 Cost and Task Frequency 17:02 Ongoing Support and New Features 19:09 A Fiscally Responsible Approach 20:26 Documenting Measurable Outcomes 22:09 Practical Copilot Use Cases 23:32 Proving the Before and After 24:54 Closing and Future Episodes 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Send us Fan Mail

  2. 4d ago

    How AI Agents Support Sellers Inside Microsoft 365

    Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary This episode examines five custom Copilot agents that could reduce administrative work across the sales process. The examples cover CRM maintenance, call coaching, pipeline risk, competitive research, and proposal development. The discussion also explains why governed knowledge, accurate data, human review, and a clear data model are necessary for dependable agent outcomes. [captions | Txt], [Subtitle 1.srt | Txt] Topics Covered • The cost of non-selling work  • Custom agents within Microsoft 365 workflows  • CRM updates from meeting and email context  • Sales coaching based on an organization’s methodology  • Pipeline risk and engagement signals  • The danger of forecasting from poor CRM data  • Approved competitive intelligence and battle cards  • Proposal and RFP drafting from curated content  • Human review and automated approvals  • Data modeling and agent governance Key Takeaways • Agents are most useful when they reduce friction inside tools sellers already use.  • CRM updates can be suggested from customer interactions instead of entered entirely by hand.  • Coaching should be aligned to a defined sales methodology.  • Forecasting output is only as dependable as the underlying data.  • Competitive and proposal agents should use approved, governed content.  • Human review remains important for specialist, legal, and compliance decisions.  • Reliable deployments begin with a fixed data model and clear governance. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to the Copilot Briefing 00:00:32 Five Sales Agent Use Cases 00:01:37 Why Custom Agents Matter 00:02:36 The CRM Guardian Agent 00:04:49 The AI Sales Coach 00:07:09 The Pipeline Forecaster’s Ally 00:08:45 The Data Quality Trap 00:09:42 Competitive Intelligence Agent 00:11:32 Proposal and RFP Agent 00:12:55 What Reliable Agents Require 00:14:24 Final Takeaways 00:14:58 Closing 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Send us Fan Mail

  3. 6d ago

    A Business Leader’s Guide to the Latest Copilot Changes

    Send us Fan Mail 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Episode Summary Microsoft’s new Copilot experience brings Chat and Co-Work together under Home while adding Code and Autopilot as distinct modes. This episode explains how each mode is intended to be used, how the managed runtime could simplify application governance, and why organizations need to prepare for consumption-based costs. It also covers Microsoft IQ, plugins, model access, advanced SharePoint capabilities, OneDrive, and Copilot Search. Topics Covered • Copilot Home, Code, and Autopilot  • Chat versus Co-Work  • Office editing inside Copilot  • The Today screen  • Mentioning Copilot in Teams  • Personal Autopilot agents  • End-user coding  • Copilot managed runtime  • Microsoft IQ and Dataverse data  • Plugin and MCP governance  • FinOps for AI and Copilot credits  • Model-family access controls  • Hybrid billing for SharePoint  • Copilot Search in SharePoint and OneDrive Key Takeaways • Communicate the redesigned Copilot interface before users encounter it.  • Match quick work to Chat and complex multi-step work to Co-Work.  • Use Autopilot for autonomous personal work without abandoning enterprise-agent investments.  • Establish spending policies and approval paths before expanding usage.  • Decide which business processes are suitable for Code, Autopilot, Co-Work, or enterprise agents.  • Treat advanced SharePoint capabilities as a distinct cost and governance category. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to the Copilot Briefing 00:00:32 Microsoft’s Copilot announcements 00:00:58 The new Copilot app 00:02:31 Office inside Copilot 00:04:13 The Today screen 00:04:59 Mentioning Copilot in Teams 00:05:55 Introducing Autopilot 00:06:46 Co-Work versus Autopilot 00:08:03 Autopilot triggers and actions 00:09:47 Home, Autopilot, and Code 00:10:06 End-user application development 00:11:38 Copilot managed runtime 00:13:18 Microsoft IQ and business data 00:14:46 The plugin registry 00:15:47 FinOps for AI 00:19:06 Agent costs and spending policies 00:21:01 Controlling model access 00:22:06 Cost visibility and usage limits 00:24:38 Copilot in SharePoint 00:28:06 OneDrive and Copilot Search 00:29:00 Business priorities and takeaways Links Copilot in SharePoint updates - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/sharepoint-ai-innovations-hit-ga-powering-new-copilot-app-and-agents/4555724?WT.mc_id=MVP_320501 The new Copilot app - https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/09/25/introducing-the-new-copilot-with-home-code-and-autopilot/ 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Send us Fan Mail

  4. Oct 14

    Copilot Cowork Pricing: The Factors That Change Your Cost

    Send us Fan Mail 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Episode Summary Microsoft Copilot Cowork tasks can produce very different costs even when they initially appear similar. This episode explains the major factors behind that variation, including model choice, context retrieval, tool usage, reasoning depth, runtime, and generated outputs. It also presents a practical framework for distinguishing light, medium, and heavy tasks and describes how the /cost command can be used to review the credits consumed by a completed task. The central recommendation is to compare Cowork’s cost with the time and labor required to perform the same process manually. ✅ Connect With Steve  ☑️ Socials - https://stevecorey.social  🌍 Web - https://stevecorey.com   Topics Covered • Copilot credits and usage-based billing  • Model selection and AI workload complexity  • Context retrieval from files, email, chats, and transcripts  • Connectors, MCP servers, agents, and plugins  • Runtime and long-running Cowork processes  • Light, medium, and heavy task categories  • Additional files and presentation outputs  • Reviewing task usage with /cost  • Comparing AI costs with manual labor  • Choosing between Copilot, agents, Researcher, and Cowork  Key Takeaways • Cowork costs reflect the full workload, including context, tools, reasoning, runtime, and outputs.  • Broad organizational searches generally require more resources than single-document tasks.  • The /cost command provides a concrete way to inspect the cost of a completed run.  • Not every task requires Cowork; some may be better suited to regular Copilot or an agent.  • Business value should be evaluated by comparing AI usage with the cost of the existing manual process.   Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:32 Why Cowork task costs differ 00:00:52 Usage-based billing and Copilot credits 00:02:07 Different AI workloads require different resources 00:02:44 Document summaries versus deep analysis 00:03:15 Models, context retrieval, and tool calls 00:05:10 How runtime affects cost 00:06:08 Cowork as a long-running agent harness 00:07:16 How additional outputs increase cost 00:07:37 Light, medium, and heavy tasks 00:07:45 Characteristics of a light task 00:08:43 Characteristics of a medium task 00:09:12 Characteristics of a heavy task 00:10:20 Checking task cost with /cost 00:11:20 Comparing Cowork with manual labor 00:12:00 Choosing between Cowork, agents, and Researcher 00:13:07 The podcast takeaway 00:13:56 Measuring process time and business cost 00:14:16 Business outcomes and closing  🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Send us Fan Mail

  5. Oct 14

    Microsoft’s Plan to Make Copilot AI More Affordable

    Send us Fan Mail Episode Description  🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Running AI at scale is expensive, and consumption-based services can make budgets harder to predict. Steve Corey explains Microsoft’s MAI family of in-house models, the role of multi-model orchestration, and why routine work should not automatically be sent to the most expensive model. The episode reviews MAI models for reasoning, coding, image generation, voice, and transcription, then considers how efficient routing could affect Copilot credits, pay-as-you-go usage, custom agents, and AI return on investment. ✅ Connect With Steve  ☑️ Socials - https://stevecorey.social  🌍 Web - https://stevecorey.com 📝 Show Notes and Resources 📝  Topics Covered • The cost of operating AI at scale • Copilot licensing and consumption-based pricing • Copilot credits and variable AI costs • Microsoft’s MAI model family • Multi-model orchestration and automatic routing • Reasoning, coding, image, voice, and transcription models • Pay-as-you-go cost management • Cost-conscious custom agent design • Matching model capability to task complexity • AI solution feasibility and return on investment Key Takeaways • Not every request requires a frontier model. • Efficient routing can reserve expensive models for genuinely complex work. • Model choice directly affects the consumption profile of AI solutions. • Custom agents can use different models for routine and critical steps. • Organizations should continually reassess which models their workloads use. • Lower-cost models may make usage more manageable, but consumption remains variable. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to the Copilot Briefing 00:00:32 Why AI Costs Matter 00:01:37 The Copilot Pricing Challenge 00:03:14 Introducing Microsoft MAI 00:03:49 Why Microsoft Built Its Own Models 00:05:19 Multi-Model Orchestration 00:06:12 How Model Routing Works 00:06:56 MAI Model Lineup 00:07:01 Reasoning Model 00:07:53 Coding Model 00:08:23 Image Model 00:09:25 Voice Model 00:10:11 Transcription Model 00:10:49 Implications for Copilot Costs 00:12:18 Pay-As-You-Go Economics 00:13:20 Custom AI Cost Control 00:13:52 The Bottom Line 00:15:20 Podcast Takeaways 🔗 Links MAI Models - (Microsoft Techcommunity) 🔴 Need help with Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, governance, and employee training? Let's build your strategy ➡️ https://go.stevecorey.com/chatcoworkautopilot Send us Fan Mail

  • 5 Episodes

About

The Copilot Briefing is the podcast for business leaders navigating Microsoft Copilot, AI agents, and the future of work. Each episode cuts through the hype to focus on what actually matters: strategy, governance, adoption, risk, ROI, and business outcomes. Hosted by Microsoft MVP and AI consultant Steve Corey, The Copilot Briefing helps executives and decision-makers make smarter AI investments, avoid costly mistakes, and turn Microsoft's AI ecosystem into measurable business value. Smarter AI decisions. Better business outcomes.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve Corey - Microsoft MVP
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Copilot Briefing
  • Show Website
    The Copilot Briefing