Mastering Copilot Feels Just Like Playing the Piano — Here’s Why

This blog post was authored by Brian Parrino - Director, Microsoft on Protiviti's Technology Insights blog.

Microsoft Copilot is an incredible tool. Yet, in my work with clients (I’ve probably taught Copilot in some form to nearly 50 different companies), I continue to be surprised at how most organisations are overlooking this opportunity to transform their business processes. Seeing companies at the Copilot beginner level, I couldn’t put my finger on why so many were overlooking Copilot’s range of benefits until I started to teach my daughter to play piano. Then I realised that most are simply not being taught Copilot correctly.

Analogy alert — Copilot is like a piano and lessons will make an incredible difference for both users and the business.

Those who’ve had piano lessons know that most start by learning to play with their right hand, which is like writing a basic prompt. Then, the teacher adds in the left hand, perhaps pointing the prompt to a source in this analogy. This is where many of our clients are, playing single notes with their right hand, and occasionally adding some bass notes with their left.

Topics

Digital Transformation Technology Enablement

Thank you, Mrs. Leonard

A piano without lessons doesn’t get played more than a few times. Which is why most organisations need a Mrs. Leonard, my childhood piano teacher, in their Copilot journey. Users need to build prompting skills, like learning scales on the piano. Then, they must learn rhythm and time signatures, including how to utilise goals and context in the prompts. It is important to learn how to read music, like learning how to use Copilot differently across applications. Everyone determines which musical styles (business use cases) they like, much like classical, jazz or pop/rock, so that it’s fun to play.

And finally, it’s imperative to (ideally) practice daily so that creating music becomes natural, just like using Copilot will become an integrated part of what an individual does within their business efforts each day.

A more efficient way to work

When used effectively, Copilot introduces new business efficiencies. For example, one Protiviti client has embraced Copilot to transform its recruit-to-hire process, using Copilot to match resumes against job descriptions, then generating tailored interview questions to the candidate’s resume, transcribing the interview and then completing the post interview assessment via the meeting transcript. The company is also using Copilot/AI to compare candidates and eliminate human bias by feeding multiple transcripts into Copilot chat and writing comparison prompts. This has reduced interview preparation time by nearly 50%, and the client is also asking more targeted questions during the interview, generating more comprehensive post-interview notes.

Composing a new art form

Let’s extend the analogy into the future. As users learn to play the piano, some will then start learning other AI instruments/agents. In doing so, companies will develop new combinations of notes, rhythm and instruments and will create something no one has ever heard before. Over time, we’ll see this music as a new art form, and we won’t be able to imagine the world without certain songs or AI agents. We’re already seeing the promise of agentic AI with Microsoft’s Researcher and Analyst agents, which provide the power of deep research and data science to the masses. Now, anyone can unlock new insights in minutes compared to what used to take hours or days.

Practice makes perfect

In teaching Copilot, I often frame it as “good, better, best.” Good is individuals learning Copilot skills to enhance personal productivity. Better is incorporating AI prompts into standard operating practices, having business units using defined prompts to execute operational practices. Best is creating purpose-built agents that go beyond simple response generation but instead can reason and act with minimal input.

With the right training, Copilot and agentic AI can be the equivalent of a world-renowned orchestra. But don’t expect to be playing first chair within six months of deploying Copilot. This is a journey, one that requires lessons, practice and patience.

To learn more about creating new business melodies with Microsoft Copilot and our other Microsoft consulting services, contact us.