Why Copilot Studio in Power Platform is not always a success (and how it can be)

Chatbots are here to stay. But what if you no longer had to define every question-and-answer scenario in advance? With Copilot Studio in Power Platform that has become a reality. Building a chatbot has never been this simple, but does it always work this seamlessly? And when does this technology truly come into its own? Let us take a closer look at Copilot Studio and its possibilities and pitfalls!  

For those not fully up to speed: thanks to the latest AI developments, Copilot Studio makes use of the so-called GPT engine. This type of artificial intelligence model from OpenAI is used for natural language processing. This way chatbots can independently search through sources added by employees. Documents, public websites, SharePoint sites or even Dataverse content. The result? “Generative answers”, directly based on the available content.  

An enormous added value to quickly provide specific answers to employees’ questions. Forget endlessly browsing through documents to find certain information. With Copilot Studio the chatbot sniffs out data for you and summarises it in plain language. Legal documents or technical manuals suddenly become enormously comprehensible.

Yet in practice things are somewhat more complex, and implementation does not go without a hitch. In this article we explain why that is and how it can be done better.

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#1 Skills: scarcity of data and IT expertise

The idea behind Copilot Studio is to democratise innovative technologies. At the same time, not everyone within the organisation has the necessary skills to make optimal use of the platform. The use of Copilot Studio requires a certain degree of understanding of data management, application development and process automation. Those who ignore this are inevitably confronted with delays and inefficiencies.

How do you counter this?

• Clear roles and responsibilities: there is often uncertainty about who is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the applications developed with Copilot Studio. So define this in advance.

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#2 Data readiness: poor data quality and access  

At The Flow we always hammer on the importance of an organisation’s ‘data readiness’. Copilot Studio only works optimally with 1) a helicopter view of the available data and 2) an optimal quality of that data. Especially large organisations struggle with data silos, which makes it difficult to get a clear picture of all the data. Something that complicates not only the analysis, but also the automation of processes.

Incomplete, inconsistent or outdated data also present a point of attention. For example, multiple versions of the same document can give a user incorrect or unclear answers.

Another factor is the structure of the supplied data. Enumerations, lists or tables generally do not work well with Copilot Studio. The AI model cannot derive context from these. And so it becomes difficult to answer targeted questions.  

How do you counter this?

• Invest in data governance: a well-founded governance strategy is crucial. This includes, among other things, improving data quality and safeguarding data privacy and security. Create clear guidelines and responsibilities for data management.
• Optimise internal communication and collaboration: a smooth implementation of Copilot Studio within Power Platform requires a seamless interaction between different departments. Clear agreements about goals and tasks help to speed up the process.

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#3 Unrealistic expectations

Many organisations see a chatbot as an advanced search engine. And that creates incorrect expectations. They have the idea that the chatbot answers questions by simply linking to the document with the linked information. The power of a Copilot Studio bot lies precisely in giving accurate answers to specific questions:

“How long is the lease term of a company car?” rather than “Where do I find the policy on company cars?”

The art therefore lies in asking targeted questions. Questions that are well formulated, with a view to as accurate an answer as possible.

How do you counter this?

• Training and guidance: an important challenge is making employees aware of the right way to communicate with the bot.  Help in the effective use of the chatbot is therefore indispensable in order to fully exploit the power of the technology.

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Increase your innovation power without obstacles?

The promise of Copilot Studio is enormously powerful, and as an organisation you can in principle launch the solution quickly. Yet success mainly depends on the sources used. Need extra support? Or do you have a concrete idea of a use case for a smart Copilot Studio bot?

Contact us!