With Copilot Cowork, a new way of working with artificial intelligence is emerging within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. While Copilot Chat assists users as they work, Cowork lets them define an objective and delegate the steps required to achieve it. This distinction significantly changes how an organization can integrate AI into its day-to-day processes.
Does that mean organizations should move away from Copilot Chat in favour of Cowork? Not at all. The two tools address different needs. The key is to determine which tasks should be completed with AI assistance and which can truly be delegated to it.
Copilot Chat: Working With AI
With Copilot Chat, the user remains actively involved in completing the task. They enter a request, receive a response, refine their instructions and continue the conversation until they get the desired result. This approach is particularly well suited to one-off needs or situations where an immediate response is required:
- drafting a reply to an email;
- summarizing a Teams meeting;
- identifying decisions and action items;
- understanding a procedure;
- summarizing information contained in documents.
Copilot Cowork works differently. Rather than working with AI step by step, the user defines the result they want to achieve. Cowork can then analyze the assignment, break it down into tasks, consult available information sources and carry out the work. Approval checkpoints allow the user to step in when needed, particularly before an action such as sending an email is completed.
The difference can therefore be summed up as follows: with Copilot Chat, you work with AI; with Copilot Cowork, you delegate work to it.
| Criteria | Copilot Chat | Copilot Cowork |
|---|---|---|
| Expected outcome | Immediate response or assistance | Execution of a defined outcome |
| Work method | User-guided interaction within a session | Multi-step execution under supervision |
| Continuity | You remain in the session | Can continue running in the background |
| Scope of actions | Within the open application or context | Actions across authorized applications or systems |
| Value and cost | Low-friction support for immediate progress | When the value justifies credits, supervision and governance |
From Assistance to Delegation
To better understand this distinction, Copilot Chat can be compared to an intern you are coaching. You assign a task, discuss it with them and remain involved throughout the various stages. Cowork is more like an employee who already understands the work method. You can explain the desired outcome, let them move forward and step in at specific moments to review their work.
Consider a quarterly review of a client portfolio. This task may require consulting several systems and information sources, compiling relevant data and producing a consolidated result. Rather than submitting a series of successive requests to Copilot Chat, the user can define the objective and the sources to consider. Cowork then handles the various stages of the assignment.
This autonomy does not mean that human oversight disappears. The results are still produced by artificial intelligence and must be reviewed, particularly when they are used to perform actions on the user’s behalf.
Skills That Make Processes Reusable
One of Cowork’s key features is based on skills. Skills turn a work method into a reusable process by defining:
- the desired result;
- the steps to complete;
- the information sources to consult;
- the expected format;
- the required approval checkpoints.
This concept is particularly useful for repetitive tasks. Once a method produces the desired result, it can be turned into a skill instead of requiring the same instructions each time. The skill can then be reused, shared and improved over time.
Another consideration is where the data required to complete the work is stored. An organization’s information is not found only in Microsoft 365. It may also be distributed across a CRM, financial system, project management tool or ticketing platform. Plugins can add these information sources and connect them to the skills used by Cowork. For organizations looking to connect their systems and automate broader processes, Microsoft Power Platform can also complement Copilot’s capabilities.
A sales task could therefore draw on information from the CRM, while an operational process could consult a ticketing system. This capability makes it possible to envision processes that go beyond simply searching for information in emails, documents or Teams.
Cowork can also schedule recurring tasks, such as:
- preparing an end-of-week summary every Friday;
- launching a proposal review on Monday;
- producing a status update every morning.
When Is Copilot Cowork Truly Relevant?
Cowork should not be used systematically. Its use relies on credits, and consumption varies based on factors such as the complexity of the request, the number of steps involved and the model used. It is therefore important to assess whether the task is truly worth delegating.
A simple email summary, for example, can already be completed with Copilot Chat. The information comes primarily from one source, and the desired result is relatively straightforward. However, if the objective is to analyze emails that require follow-up and prepare the corresponding draft responses, Cowork becomes more relevant because the assignment includes several steps and deliverables.
The cost should therefore be weighed against the effort required to complete the task manually. A task that normally takes half a day could, for example, be delegated to Cowork and require only a portion of the user’s time to review the work and step in as needed.
This leads to another question, perhaps an even more important one: what will be done with the time saved? Delegating a task to AI only creates real value if the time freed up can be devoted to other activities. The goal is not to automate as many tasks as possible, but to identify those for which delegation is genuinely worthwhile. This analysis helps organizations prioritize processes for automation based on the time they require, their frequency and their level of complexity.
What Mistakes Should You Avoid With Copilot Cowork?
- Using Cowork for a task that is too simple. When a request can be handled quickly with Copilot Chat, implementing a more complex process that consumes credits may not be worthwhile.
- Making a request that is too vague. Unclear instructions may produce a result that does not meet the need. One useful technique is to ask Copilot to pose the necessary questions before beginning the work so it can clarify the objective, sources and expected deliverable.
- Overlooking approval checkpoints. During the first few uses of a skill or process, it is important to review the results before authorizing the proposed actions. If an email or document is sent on a user’s behalf, that user remains responsible for the content. Approval requirements should be adjusted only after several satisfactory runs. This oversight should form part of a broader framework for AI data governance and security.
Copilot Chat or Copilot Cowork: How Do You Choose?
It would therefore be a mistake to view Copilot Cowork as the successor to Copilot Chat. The former does not replace the latter. Instead, they represent two ways of working with artificial intelligence.
- Choose Copilot Chat when you need an immediate response, want to understand information, create content or work interactively with AI.
- Choose Copilot Cowork when the assignment involves several steps, draws on multiple information sources or can be structured so that its execution can be delegated.
For an organization, the process should therefore begin by analyzing the tasks currently taking up employees’ time. Which ones are repetitive, structured and time-consuming enough to make delegating their execution to AI genuinely worthwhile?
That question is the starting point for determining where Copilot Cowork can fit alongside Copilot Chat.
Want to Identify the Right Copilot Use Cases?
Solulan helps small and medium-sized businesses and other organizations with the adoption of Microsoft Copilot, the preparation of their Microsoft 365 environment and the identification of tasks that are truly suited to AI assistance or delegation. Talk to our experts to assess your use cases, data and processes before deploying Copilot Cowork.
