{"id":17800,"date":"2024-12-12T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=17800"},"modified":"2025-12-08T07:42:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:42:28","slug":"transform-your-it-operations-with-microsoft-365-copilot-insights-from-a-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/transform-your-it-operations-with-microsoft-365-copilot-insights-from-a-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Transform your IT operations with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Insights from a champion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Microsoft<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yen Anderson remembers the first time she saw Microsoft 365 Copilot, the generative AI tool that the company launched in February 2023. She intuitively knew that the way she went about her job would never be the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI realized I\u2019d need to make significant changes in my work habits, and to start thinking with a different mindset in order to embrace AI,\u201d says Anderson, a senior customer success account manager for Azure and AI. \u201cSo, I started to revamp the way I worked.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She also immediately began to share her excitement about this powerful new virtual companion with her peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the second day after receiving Copilot, I was already demoing it to my internal team,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping her peers use the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Anderson
Yen Anderson is a leading Copilot Champ at Microsoft and a senior customer success account manager for Azure and AI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, less than two years later, Anderson is one of the leading internal evangelists for Copilot at Microsoft. She has presented her tips and insights on how to get the most out of Copilot for dozens of internal teams, town halls, conferences and other Microsoft audiences around the world. She estimates she\u2019s trained over 16,000 employees so far.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s passion for Copilot and willingness to share what she knew caught the attention of Cadie Kneip, a readiness business program manager who was trying to come up with creative ways to get more Microsoft employees to use Copilot in their day-to-day work. When Kneip launched the Copilot Champs community in January 2024<\/a>, Anderson was one of the first employees she invited to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYen was one of the earliest Copilot Champs, and she\u2019s probably the most famous,\u201d Kneip says. \u201cShe\u2019s just naturally passionate about Copilot and AI, and she\u2019s been insanely generous with her knowledge companywide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Powered by the enthusiasm of employees like Anderson, Copilot Champs has taken off. In less than a year, more than 6,000 Microsoft employees have joined the program, Kneip says. It\u2019s a great example of Microsoft Digital\u2019s Customer Zero philosophy, which pushes employees to use the company\u2019s latest tools and technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy focus has been on amplifying use of Copilot inside of Microsoft for full adoption for Customer Zero,\u201d Anderson says. “I think if we fully embrace Copilot internally at Microsoft, we’re better equipped to help our customers fully embrace Copilot as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A passion for prompting and saving time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Kneip
Cadie Kneip and Brian Shaw share their thoughts on working with Anderson to help others experience Copilot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s internal advocacy and external promotion of Copilot\u2014she frequently posts about ways to save time and work smarter with AI on LinkedIn and in her personal Substack newsletter\u2014focuses on practical tips and strategies that have broad appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYen always tries to keep the audience engaged,\u201d says Brian Shaw, a principal customer success account manager in RCG and fellow Copilot Champ. \u201cShe does these interactive sessions where she shows you how she\u2019s saving all this time using Copilot, and she has people hooked on every word. Her excitement is contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kneip appreciates how Anderson\u2019s deep knowledge of how to get the most out of Copilot is communicated in live demos rather than through preset examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI love the way she demos Copilot\u2014not by using screenshots or a slide deck, but with live prompting,\u201d Kneip says. \u201cShe has an incredible reputation for being a prompt-engineering wizard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s most recent training efforts have focused on how Copilot itself has evolved over the last year or so, and what she\u2019s learned along the way. \u201cThe prompting has definitely changed from when I first started, to the point that it\u2019s radically different,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yen Anderson\u2019s top five Copilot prompting tips<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Use Copilot every day to build up that skilling muscle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Keep it conversational and have at least 5-10 interactions with Copilot per session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Try out the different Copilots in the Microsoft 365 apps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Find a community of AI learners to share knowledge with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Be a Copilot Champ! Help others learn the art of prompting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How AI can improve job satisfaction and work\/life balance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s excitement about helping others unlock the power of Copilot is directly connected to the impact the tool has had on her own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI’ve seen dramatic increases in my productivity and my well-being,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cCopilot has the ability to help alleviate some of the problems with work today, like too many meetings, being overloaded, and not having time to do focused work. I’m a huge advocate of mental health in the workforce, and when you combine these productivity tools and mental frameworks with AI, that combination is a game changer in terms of improved work\/life balance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One daunting task that Anderson was able to make easier through Copilot was employee self-reviews, known as Connects internally at Microsoft. She created a set of highly guided prompts that allowed employees to use Copilot to help them craft their self-reviews. She partnered with Human Resources to make sure the set of Connect-writing prompts that she created not only complied with company rules and regulations, but that it supported HR\u2019s goals of helping to make the experience easier and more rewarding for employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson also worked with Kneip to distribute train-the-trainer sessions on her Connect-writing prompts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYen and I did several \u2018Copilot for Your Connects\u2019 sessions, and we also ran a Teams channel called Connects Helpline to answer questions about prompts,\u201d Kneip says. \u201cMicrosoft is a competitive place, but Yen is so generous with her time in helping other employees. This is not her regular job, but she does this extra work because she believes it\u2019s valuable and the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of Microsoft 365 Copilot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anderson herself can\u2019t wait to see what happens in the world of work as Copilot and other AI tools get better and better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m really excited about the use of agents, where a string of Copilots are working on our behalf,\u201d she says. \u201cEventually, I want to be able to dictate to Copilot and say, \u2018Send my team a communication about this topic, and distribute it to all the relevant Teams channels, and then create a nice flyer in order to incentivize people.\u2019 And then Copilot will go off and do that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson believes that this is the true power of AI: to free up humans so they have the time and energy to pursue things they are truly passionate about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It\u2019s definitely changed my life. Because of Copilot, I\u2019ve rediscovered my love of writing and being creative again. I\u2019d forgotten about all of that,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cAnd I hope I can empower others to unlock something inside of them that they\u2019ve forgotten about and give them the time and freedom to pursue the things that give them joy. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so exciting to be at Microsoft, at the forefront of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\"Key<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tips from Anderson on how you can get started with Copilot prompting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n