Excel has always been a tool where people develop their own ways of working.
You might have a preferred way to format reports, organise data or present financial figures. Someone else in the business might do exactly the same task completely differently.
Usually, that is manageable. However, when several people work on the same spreadsheets, those differences can quickly create extra work.
That is where Copilot in Excel could become particularly useful.
Excel can learn your preferences
Microsoft is continuing to develop Copilot so that it can do more than simply answer questions about your spreadsheet.
For example, you could have particular preferences around currency formatting, report structures or the way you present certain types of information. Rather than explaining those preferences every time, newer Copilot functionality can help apply those rules more consistently.
That could make a difference for businesses that rely heavily on Excel.
Instead of spending time repeatedly formatting reports or correcting small inconsistencies, employees could focus more of their time on understanding the information itself.
Consistency matters when teams share spreadsheets
For an individual user, inconsistent formatting might seem like a minor annoyance.
Across a business, however, it can become a much bigger issue.
Financial reports, forecasts, management information and operational spreadsheets often pass between different people and departments. Therefore, having a consistent approach makes information easier to understand and reduces unnecessary rework.
This is where Copilot in Excel becomes more interesting.
If Copilot can understand how a particular workbook should be structured and formatted, it could help maintain those conventions as different people work with the same information.
That is not just about making spreadsheets look tidier. It is about making everyday processes more consistent.
This is more than asking AI a question
When people talk about AI in the workplace, they often focus on asking a chatbot a question and receiving an answer.
However, the more interesting development is what happens when AI starts to understand how your business works.
Your spreadsheets contain more than numbers. They often reflect processes, preferences and decisions that your team has developed over time.
If AI can recognise those patterns, it moves from simply generating an answer towards becoming part of the way people actually work.
That could ultimately make tools such as Excel much more useful for businesses.
Human oversight still matters
Of course, that does not mean you should hand your spreadsheets over to AI and assume everything will be correct.
Excel files can contain important financial, operational and business information. Consequently, employees still need to review AI generated outputs and make sure the results make sense.
The goal should not be to remove people from the process.
Instead, it should be to remove some of the repetitive work that gets in their way.
Could your business be getting more from Microsoft 365?
Copilot in Excel is one example of how AI is becoming increasingly embedded into the tools businesses already use every day.
The real opportunity is not simply having access to another AI feature. It is understanding where these tools could genuinely improve productivity, consistency and the way your people work.
If you would like to explore how Microsoft 365 and AI could improve productivity across your business, speak to the Amshire team. We can help you identify practical opportunities that support the way your people actually work.
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