AI provides extensive opportunities for businesses to become more efficient, competitive and innovative. However, fearing the well-publicised risks of the technology, many leaders hesitate to embrace its potential.
Partners such as Kloudify Technologies, specialists in cybersecurity and IT services, can help businesses navigate safely past threats and obstacles to fully benefit from the advantages AI provides.
Kloudify Technologies director Lizon Rahman believes businesses need to take a range of steps to embrace AI. To understand AI potential, they need to educate themselves and their teams about its capabilities and benefits, and identify areas where AI can add value.
They should then ensure the data used in AI projects is accurate, relevant and clean, and implement rigorous data governance to ensure data is handled appropriately within the business.
When it comes to adopting AI tools, businesses need to avoid a scattergun approach and focus instead on the solutions that deliver outcomes aligned with their goals.
These solutions should also be evaluated thoroughly to ensure they meet the business’s needs. Furthermore, keeping a ‘human in the loop’ to intervene and interpret when necessary is essential to the success of an AI implementation.
Finally, businesses should test AI solutions such as Copilot for Microsoft 365 with a small user group before expanding to the broader organisation.
Understanding the gaps to fill
“At Kloudify Technologies, we undertake assessments, spanning technical requirements, controls, data integration, data privacy and security, to understand where businesses have gaps they need to fill before deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365,” explained Rahman.
The combination of Kloudify Technologies’ services and knowledge, and Copilot for Microsoft 365’s features, have already delivered measurable benefits to the cloud solutions provider’s customers.
“We have calculated that one of our customers’ sales teams that uses Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Teams meetings has been able to save 30 minutes on average for post-meeting followups,” explained Rahman. “Beyond the time savings, they can focus on providing value and insight in meetings rather than be distracted by the need to take notes.”
Two security services supporting Copilot for Microsoft 365
Cybersecurity is essential, and Kloudify Technologies provides two services that aid in securing environments using Copilot for Microsoft 365:
- Copilot Essential Security, that provides security controls such as multi-factor authentication, DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) email authentication configuration and email security. The offering includes data management services including retention policies, data loss prevention, encryption and SharePoint control services such as organisation-level sharing settings and access policies.
- Security Premium, that includes everything in Copilot Essential Security plus Australian Signals Directorate Essential Eight cybersecurity mitigation strategy deployment, endpoint management and backup.
These offerings build on Copilot for Microsoft 365’s adherence to the privacy, security and compliance commitments made to Microsoft 365 commercial customers. These include compliance with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation.
In addition, the prompts, responses and data accessed through the Microsoft Graph developer platform are not used to train foundation Large Language Models, including those used by Copilot for Microsoft 365. This ensures AI-driven productivity while protecting data.
Rahman also highlights Microsoft Purview as a platform that ensures data compliance and security within generative AI, seamlessly integrating with Copilot for Microsoft 365. This integration facilitates robust security measures while allowing enterprises to leverage AI advantages.
In addition, he mentions Microsoft’s recent announcement of Microsoft Copilot for Security, set to launch on 1 April 2024. This new tool aims to assist security and IT experts by uncovering overlooked elements, accelerating response times, and enhancing team skills. It achieves this by offering customised insights and recommending subsequent actions based on extensive data analysis and threat intelligence.
A holistic approach key to security success
“More broadly, when working with customers, we do not view cybersecurity in isolation,” said Rahman. “We adopt a holistic approach that integrates security into every aspect of business operations, and this enables us to implement a comprehensive protection against threats.”
Kloudify Technologies also recognises that each business has unique security needs, and creates solutions that meet individual size, industry and risk characteristics. In addition, the cybersecurity and IT services company specialises in threat detection and in helping customers navigate the complexities of compliance requirements. The business also provides expertise in cloud security and embraces AI for threat prediction, anomaly detection and automated incident response.
“An optimal security architecture to support Copilot for Microsoft 365 should include identity and access management, data security, endpoint security, compliance and privacy,” concludes Rahman. “This will allow businesses to focus on adoption and optimisation through an AI council that enables stakeholders to share ideas about how best to use the product internally.”
To discover the future of work with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and register for our exclusive webinar, click here.
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