As a product manager in internal communications, I look forward to the annual Microsoft Ignite event for weeks. I refresh pages wondering what new features and products will be announced. Last year, the main event was undoubtedly Copilot, Microsoft's AI companion. Copilot has taken center stage across the Microsoft product line-up. I think I'm not exaggerating when I say every big Microsoft announcement mentioned Copilot or was related to AI.

This post will look at what this means for internal communicators. Our favorite tool, SharePoint, is getting a big helping hand from Copilot. That's sure to impact the people who upload 2 billion new files daily, run 2 billion workflows weekly, and launch 2 million sites daily.

Keep on reading to find out how Copilot can improve productivity and engagement for your teams!

Rewrite with Copilot in SharePoint

Let me set the scene: you've just written a detailed guideline on a SharePoint page. All the info is in there, but it feels clunky. The tone is off, and you're trying to figure out what to do to fix it. Enter Copilot in SharePoint. Your AI-powered editing assistant is here to save the day by saving you a lot of time.

It may look like magic, but here's how it works. Copilot goes into your text and makes suggestions on enhancing clarity, improving grammar, and fine-tuning that all-important tone. You can sound formal for leadership updates and more casual for team-wide messaging. You can even adjust messaging for different audiences—for example, your field employees vs. head office staff. Copilot ensures your content never misses a beat!

Why this matters for internal communicators

  • Streamlined editing: rewriting content to make sure it's as perfect as possible is a time-sucking activity. Copilot can speed up the process by doing most of the heavy lifting for you. Taaadaaa, professional, picture-perfect content in minutes instead of hours.
  • Audience-specific messaging: what if you need different versions of the same update for different teams? No problem, Copilot can help you tweak tone with the push of a button. That way, everyone gets messaging that feels tailored for them.
  • Consistency and even more professionalism: one of the most important things for internal communications is ensuring the tone aligns with the organization's brand voice every time. With Copilot, you can make sure your tone is always on point.

In short, the Rewrite with Copilot feature makes creating clear, engaging content tailored to your audience easier and faster. Saving time and hassle in the process. Pretty neat, right?

Page creation in SharePoint with Copilot

Let's move on to page creation, another task that can easily take up hours of your time. Not anymore! Coming soon, with Copilot in SharePoint, you'll have access to a personal page designer at your fingertips. Copilot can turn your wishy-washy ideas into professional pages in a few clicks.

This feature combines AI technology with SharePoint's templates and your own prompts. You tell it what you need. For example, the CEO's quarterly message or a new event page. Copilot then pulls in content (from provided reference documents) and images (from stock libraries or organizational assets) to build a fully structured page. You can then tweak the tone, content length, and design to suit your needs. It's fast, it's smart, and it's easy.

Why this matters for internal communicators

  • Faster turnaround: no more spending hours piecing together layout and hunting for visuals. Now that you have Copilot by your side, you can create a polished page in minutes. That leaves you free to take on more strategic work.
  • Integrate design and functionality: Copilot is a sophisticated piece of tech. It won't just slap together text and images. You'll get cohesive, visually appealing layouts with the perfect balance of design and functionality. It's ideal for those of us who find design elements a bit more tricky!
  • Empower non-technical teams: look away, developers and designers. Even if you've never touched a line of code or don't have an art degree, Copilot will make you look like a pro. Internal comms professionals can now focus on messaging instead of formatting.

No more guesswork with SharePoint page creation. You'll have pages that are impactful for your internal communications strategy in no time at all. Plus, you can use design ideas in SharePoint to further improve the page layouts. For more information, see Simplifying content creation with AI-powered design ideas in SharePoint.

Flexible layout sections in SharePoint

If AI isn't your idea of fun or you don’t have a Copilot license yet, here's one new update that will impact internal communicators without using Copilot. Have you been struggling to squeeze all your messaging into the standard one to three-column layouts provided by SharePoint? Those days are going to be over soon! SharePoint's new flexible layout sections are going to be a game changer.

With the upcoming update, you’ll be able to create layouts with up to 12 (!) columns. No more limits on your creativity. You can design pages that genuinely fit your vision. Sometimes, showcasing data or telling a story needs a more intricate layout.

Why this matters for internal communicators

  • Advanced content organization: sometimes, we have a ton of information to share with our teams. Soon, you’ll be able to present it visually appealingly. Create layouts that strike the right balance of charts, tables, text, and imagery. Wave goodbye to overcrowded pages.
  • Enhanced storytelling: any internal communicator will tell you we're storytellers at heart. For the next time you're recapping an event or sharing strategy, flexible layouts will help you build immersive experiences to keep employees engaged.

Flexible layout sections will allow you to build SharePoint pages that work for your content rather than the other way around.

Conclusion

Are you as excited about these new updates as I am? You probably understand why I crowned Copilot the star of the show now, but flexible layouts will be a real game changer for many content creators in SharePoint.

What's your favorite Ignite announcement?

If you're not SharePoint-ed out yet, you should check out this article on three new SharePoint page features to improve internal communications.

Thanks for reading,
Jarbas