What changed: Copilot stopped just advising, started acting

Just a year ago, Microsoft 365 Copilot was more of a passive companion — it could answer questions, summarize texts, and suggest edits, but you had to do the actual work in documents yourself. That is changing since April 2026. Agentic capabilities are now generally available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, announced Sumit Chauhan, Executive Vice President of the Office Product Group at Microsoft.

In practice, this means Copilot no longer just suggests — it performs multi-step actions itself: formatting documents, creating pivot tables, adding animations to presentations, or restructuring text. You remain in the role of editor, reviewing and approving the changes.

The numbers from the first month speak clearly. Compared to the previous version:

• Word: +52% user engagement, +11% new user retention, +21% satisfaction
• Excel: +67% engagement, +50% retention, +65% satisfaction
• PowerPoint: +11% engagement, +36% retention, +25% satisfaction

Interestingly, the biggest leap was in Excel — an area where many people previously couldn't imagine an AI assistant. Today, Copilot in Excel creates formulas, explains analyses, and directly edits workbooks.

Tecban: 35% productivity increase as proof it works

Brazilian company Tecban, which operates a network of more than 24,000 ATMs and provides financial infrastructure for banks across Brazil, deployed a combination of Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot. The result? Productivity of both developers and administrative teams increased by up to 35%.

Tecban is not a Silicon Valley tech giant. It is a mid-sized company from the financial sector — exactly the type of organization of which there are dozens in the Czech Republic. Their experience shows that Copilot doesn't just help programmers or creatives, but also people who process documentation, reports, or communicate with clients daily.

The key to Tecban's success was combining two tools: GitHub Copilot accelerated code writing and review, while Microsoft 365 Copilot automated routine office tasks — from preparing presentations to summarizing email threads. According to Microsoft, this is one of the first documented cases where a company measurably leveraged both Copilots simultaneously.

Work IQ: Why Copilot understands your work better than the competition

A fundamental difference between Microsoft 365 Copilot and standalone chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude is the Work IQ technology. It connects the AI assistant to your corporate data — emails, meetings, files on SharePoint, Teams chats, and organizational structure.

Thanks to Work IQ, Copilot knows who you collaborate with most often, what projects you're working on, and what context you're operating in. When you ask it to "prepare a summary for the team meeting," it doesn't search the internet for an answer — it looks into your calendar, files, and emails. Work IQ now also includes Copilot Memory — the assistant remembers your style and preferences.

For Czech companies dealing with GDPR and data security, it's important that all this data stays within the Microsoft 365 tenant. Copilot does not send it for model training or share it outside the organization.

How much it costs and how to get started

Microsoft offers several tiers:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat — free for all users with a corporate Microsoft Entra account and an eligible Microsoft 365 license. You get web-based AI chat, Copilot in Outlook, and limited features in selected applications.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Business — from $18 (approx. 410 CZK) per user per month with annual payment. Includes full Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, access to agents (Researcher, Analyst, Facilitator), and advanced analytics. An introductory discount is available until June 30, 2026 (regular price is $21/month).
• Enterprise plans — individual pricing for larger organizations.

For comparison: GitHub Copilot costs $10/month for individuals (or $19/month for businesses), but Microsoft has recently limited unlimited usage and introduced the Copilot Max plan at $100. Czech companies considering combining both tools like Tecban should therefore budget around $30–$120 per developer per month.

How adoption works: Microsoft redesigned the hub

In May 2026, Microsoft launched the redesigned Copilot Adoption Hub, which breaks down the adoption journey by role:

• AI Business User — ready-made prompts, deployment examples in everyday work
• AI Champion — tools for building a community and training colleagues
• AI Leader — strategic planning, success metrics, change management

The purpose of the redesign was to remove the biggest adoption barrier — people often don't know where to start. The Hub now offers specific scenarios and prompts that can be used immediately.

What this means for Czech companies

The Czech Republic is among the markets where Microsoft 365 is deeply entrenched — from small businesses to government administration. Copilot is available in Czech (Czech is on the official list of supported languages) and operates under standard EU licensing terms.

Tecban's experience shows the way for domestic companies as well: the greatest benefit comes not from deploying Copilot in isolation, but from connecting it across tools — office Copilot for administration and GitHub Copilot for development. Companies that invest time in training teams and building internal "AI champions" achieve up to three times higher adoption rates, according to Microsoft.

For smaller Czech companies, the free Copilot Chat is particularly attractive — it offers a substantial portion of the functionality at no additional cost and can serve as a springboard before investing in the full version.