Microsoft 365 Copilot Unifies Sales, Service & Finance Tools in October
▼ Summary
– Microsoft is bundling its Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance into Microsoft 365 Copilot at no extra cost starting in October.
– This change reduces the cost for businesses from $50 to $30 per user per month for access to these AI tools.
– Microsoft aims to simplify its Copilot subscriptions and is developing more AI agents, including Agent 365 for security and compliance.
– Microsoft 365 Copilot will partly use Anthropic’s AI models, which reportedly outperformed OpenAI in Excel and PowerPoint.
– Microsoft’s use of Anthropic models, accessed through AWS, suggests disappointment with OpenAI’s GPT-5 compared to Claude Sonnet 4.
A major shift in Microsoft’s AI strategy is set to simplify enterprise subscriptions and deliver greater value to users. Starting this October, Microsoft 365 Copilot will bundle its specialized Sales, Service, and Finance Copilots at no additional cost, effectively unifying key business tools under a single, more accessible pricing model.
Previously, businesses paid $30 per user each month for Microsoft 365 Copilot access, with the option to add Sales, Service, or Finance Copilots for an extra $20 each. Under the new structure, all three specialized Copilots will be included automatically for every Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriber. This consolidation reduces the total cost for companies that previously used multiple Copilots from $50 to just $30 per user monthly.
Internally, Microsoft frames this change as a simplification effort aimed at making AI tools more straightforward for organizations to adopt and scale. The move aligns with the company’s broader push to integrate more AI agents across its productivity suite. One upcoming development, referred to as Agent 365, is expected to debut at Microsoft Ignite. This new platform will focus on managing AI agents while addressing critical business needs like security and regulatory compliance.
In another surprising development, Microsoft is reportedly incorporating AI models from Anthropic into certain Microsoft 365 Copilot features. According to sources, Anthropic’s technology demonstrated superior performance in applications like Excel and PowerPoint when compared to OpenAI’s offerings. This decision marks a notable departure, especially since Microsoft will access Anthropic’s models through AWS, a competitor to its own Azure cloud services.
The shift also hints at Microsoft’s evolving partnership dynamics. Relying on Anthropic suggests that OpenAI’s GPT-5 may have fallen short of expectations in specific enterprise scenarios, particularly when measured against capabilities offered by models like Claude Sonnet 4. This strategic diversification underscores Microsoft’s commitment to deploying the most effective AI tools available, even if it means collaborating outside its established ecosystem.
(Source: The Verge)
