Helping you innovate with Microsoft Modern Workplace & Copilot AI

Author: Mark Price, Business Development Director at Pugh Computers Ltd

In this blog, we recap four key takeaways from our recent hybrid session at WCVA’s 2024 gofod3 event, with clear practical actions you can take today to start innovating with Microsoft Modern Workplace and Copilot AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Embrace the future of work with Microsoft 365!

Firstly, if you are still using on-premises Microsoft Office, whether it’s Office 2021, 2019 or even 2016 (which is now almost a decade old!), we highly recommend moving to the cloud, so that’s either Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

Moving to the cloud brings immediate benefits, including easily accessible cloud file storage and the ability to use Office on different devices, such as desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones – users can log in from anywhere! Even if you haven’t installed the Office 365 apps on a particular device, you can still log in and access the apps via a web browser on most devices, and with cloud storage, your files are securely accessible from anywhere.

Then, on top of the Office 365 apps and cloud storage, as our Technical Director Eifion Evans explained in our session, Microsoft 365 gives you the addition of Windows and all the extra security tools which are invaluable.

👉 Watch the Modern Workplace section of our recorded session to discover more

At Pugh, as well as supplying Microsoft 365 and Office 365 licensing and Azure plans at special low-cost pricing (and even for free in qualifying circumstances!), we perform technology and licensing reviews with our customers, giving you trusted advice and expert guidance to support you through the process of moving to the cloud. We can even do the whole migration process for you if you haven’t got the time or dedicated resources, taking the stress away from you and letting you carry on with your day-to-day work with minimal impact.

👉 Contact us on 📞 01974 200 201 / 📧 sales@pugh.co.uk to start planning your move to the cloud today!

Microsoft Copilot – Your everyday AI companion!

We’ve all been there where we have an urgent proposal to complete by the morning and we don’t know where to start, or you need to present your latest business plan, but you’re stuck staring at blank slides. And in today’s world, we’ve all joined a remote meeting late and felt lost not knowing what was discussed.

Using Copilot for Microsoft 365, within just seconds, you can draft detailed Word documents, create engaging PowerPoint presentations, summarise Teams meetings and email threads, and much more, bringing in work files and data, all within the secure confines of your Microsoft 365 environment.

Copilot is designed to be your everyday AI companion, meaning you can also simply chat with it to develop ideas and ask questions, and revisit those chats at any time to delve a bit deeper or to ask why. And when using work data rather than just what’s on the web, Copilot becomes a powerful business tool for developing and proof-reading bespoke marketing strategies, grant proposals, job descriptions and so much more.

You can use the free Web version of Microsoft Copilot right away, and we recommend this as a good way to get a feel for it and what it can do. But to make the most of the integrations with Office apps and work files like we see in Eifion’s live demo, this functionality is not available with on-premises versions like Office 2021; it requires the cloud-based Office 365.

👉 Check out our Copilot demo to see it in action!

The most effective way we have seen organisations start using Copilot for Microsoft 365 is to buy a couple of licenses for key staff to try out, which we can process for you. Then, further down the line, roll Copilot out for a department of 5-10 people so they can test it out together as a team. This encourages collaboration and it’s when users start appreciating the productivity, creativity and time-saving benefits that Copilot offers, and often eventually leads to full organisation-wide adoption.

We run face-to-face, online or hybrid workshops to present you with the art of the possible, showcasing and demonstrating the exciting transformational power that Modern Workplace and Copilot AI solutions can bring to your organisation, as well as helping you develop an adoption and change management strategy to ensure the best possible return on investment.

👉 Contact us on 📞 01974 200 201 / 📧 sales@pugh.co.uk to kickstart your Copilot journey today!

24/7 protection against advanced cybersecurity threats

Security is a crucial part of the Modern Workplace. In addition to more traditional security measures such as anti-virus software and enforcing strong and regularly updated passwords, it’s important to have multi-factor authentication tools in place to ensure hackers cannot log in from untrusted devices or unusual locations, even when they may know the user’s login credentials.

Cybersecurity also plays a key role when using Copilot. Ensuring that up-to-date document classifications and robust access permissions are in place becomes critical to ensure that Copilot cannot inadvertently (or even deliberately if that’s the user’s intention) access and use resources that the particular staff member should not have access to, such as confidential HR or managerial data.

👉 Jump directly to the Security section to discover more

Cybersecurity is often seen as a complex topic, so if you’re not sure about what security tools you have access to, or planning how to implement them all correctly is giving you a headache, we are here to help. We sit down with our customers to review what they currently have and advise on recommended security moving forward, not only from a licensing point of view, but also guiding you through industry best practices.

Many organisations simply don’t have their own IT and security teams, and even those that do often see their available resources stretched. What happens when your team are asleep or on their Christmas holidays? Attackers are relentless and will ramp up their efforts at these times knowing these are when organisations are at their most vulnerable. To combat this, we can even get you set up with a 24/7 managed security solution including robust penetration testing, giving you peace of mind against even the most advanced out-of-hours cybersecurity threats.

👉 Contact us on 📞 01974 200 201 / 📧 sales@pugh.co.uk to review and plan your security options today!

Connect and engage with hybrid meetings and events!

Given the flexibility that comes with the Modern Workplace, with some team members working from home on a desktop PC, some at a coffee shop with a laptop and a headset, and some preferring to head to the office, Pugh’s Microsoft Teams hybrid meeting space solutions bring your team back together as one.

A hybrid meeting space can take many different forms, from simply being a user with a Microsoft Surface and a headset, all the way through to fully kitted-out meeting rooms, collaboration areas, classrooms, community halls, and anything in between. Similar to our setup at gofod3, these room solutions typically include a large interactive board for sharing presentations and videos, and high-quality cameras, speakers and microphones for engaging one-to-one or group meetings and hybrid events.

Being able to connect and engage with people from across the world in an instant provides major sustainability and inclusivity benefits, with the digital whiteboard empowering your team to share screens, collaborate and brainstorm ideas from anywhere. Users can also pick up where they left off on other devices such as personal laptops and tablets at any time!

👉 Catch up on our interactive board live demo and case studies!

We can chat about your requirements, plan potential solutions and work with you to design a bespoke solution to meet your needs and budget. With sustainability at the core of our solutions, as well as designing a bespoke solution from scratch, we can also work with you to re-purpose your existing devices, ensuring they integrate seamlessly with your new modern setup to reduce waste and costs. We also provide installation, adoption and change management services, bilingual English and Welsh user training and ongoing support to ensure you get the best value from your investments.

👉 Contact our AV (Audiovisual) expert Elfed Jenkins on 📞 01974 200 216 / 📧 elfed@pugh.co.uk to get set up with your own hybrid meeting space solutions today!

Get in touch!

For more information on any of these topics, please check out the relevant parts of our sessions at the links above, or get in touch with our friendly team of experts today:

👉 Pugh Sales Team – 01974 200 201 / sales@pugh.co.uk

👉 IT Manager & Head of AV Elfed Jenkins – 01974 200 216 / elfed@pugh.co.uk

👉 Technical Director Eifion Evans – 01974 200 203 / eifion@pugh.co.uk

Based near Aberystwyth, West Wales, Pugh Computers are a WCVA Trusted Supplier and Microsoft Modern Work Solutions Partner with over 43 years’ experience supplying the voluntary, education and commercial sectors. Offering bilingual services in English and Welsh, we specialise in software licensing and compliance, Modern Workplace and security, and sustainable and inclusive hybrid meeting spaces.