Published: 08 August 2024
Digital workplace applications architects assessing Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 are assessing the added value of extending the product to interact with applications and ingest content outside of Microsoft 365. This research introduces and analyzes available options for consideration.
At present, Microsoft offers two approaches for extending Microsoft 365 Copilot: plug-ins (message extensions and Copilot Studio plug-ins) and Graph connectors.
Plug-ins are runtime components invoked by the Microsoft 365 (M365) Copilot orchestrator after the user enters a prompt.
Graph connectors ingest content into M365’s search index, enabling M365 Copilot to use this information alongside internal content (e.g., documents and email) to craft responses.
Confusion in evaluating these options can be attributed to each option coming from a heritage of different Microsoft products that use different terminology.
Evaluate M365 Copilot’s ability to improve productivity. Extending M365 Copilot with external applications
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