DeepSeek is here… Why it’s still Copilot for Businesses

Security! Security! Security! 

Your business data, intellectual property, confidential documents – all things that must remain secure regardless of the tool used. With Microsoft Copilot for M365, you get built-in commercial data protection (provided by the Microsoft security wrapped around your login), ensuring that your data will not be used to train the model and that it will be stored securely inside your environment. DeepSeek has been proved to use outdated and insecure methods of transferring data, which has led to the personal data of over 1 million people being exposed already. This includes very sensitive personally identifiable information and confidential business information. With no Microsoft login or other built-in security in the tool, this is a major concern. 

Security experts around the globe are raising huge concerns around the lack of data security and privacy too. The European Union is also investigating if it complies with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) that was implemented in 2018. It has also been discovered that on iOS devices, DeepSeek globally disables the device’s App Transport Security which is an iOS specific security measure that is designed to prevent sensitive data being sent on unencrypted channels. However, since DeepSeek disables this layer of protection, the DeepSeek app on iOS will (and has) sent your unencrypted personal information over the internet. This exposes people to data breaches and makes it easier for malicious actors to force their way into your personal life and IT environment.  The consensus is that DeepSeek is not safe to use, and you should avoid it at all costs or potentially suffer catastrophic damage to your business. 

Integration 

You know those useful tools that we’ve all used at some point, in your Microsoft Office Suite: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint? Well guess what – Copilot for M365 integrates seamlessly into those apps, making your life easier in a way that DeepSeek cannot. The benefits provided from Copilot in these apps – report writing, spreadsheet analysis, document translation, slide show creation – only come with Copilot in M365. Copilot will also summarise and write responses to your emails, as well as answer your questions like a Google search on steroids within the Edge browser.  

Another amazing feature that Copilot provides is the functionality within Microsoft Teams – Copilot will record your meetings, providing both a full transcript and a summarised recap. This provides a virtual Executive Assistant in every meeting you have, providing minutes and notes, along with insights and details. These are incredibly useful – Copilot can tell you exactly where you were mentioned in a meeting, and any actions for you – if you weren’t able to even attend a call, you can still find out what’s required to move forward. 

It can also integrate with a variety of apps such as Slack, Zoom, Trello, Jira, and Shopify – work with a certified Microsoft Partner to do this properly and successfully. Copilot is powerful and can integrate into many apps and systems making your life easier and more streamlined as it helps you with your day-to-day work. 

Scalability 

As you start to gain more efficiency using Copilot, eventually your business will start to grow, you will need more employees, and more tasks will need to be completed. Scalability is easy when it comes to Copilot; all you need to do is buy the license and add it to the required user in the tenant and you are good to go. This makes it easy to grow and ensure everyone has access to the same powerful tool. While other AI systems can also integrate and scale with you, only Copilot ensures your data remains secure, safe and available while scaling. It also provides simplicity by ensuring your licensing is consolidated. And finally, Microsoft has invested over $20B in the last couple of years in development and they don’t look to be slowing down! 

Copilot is a no brainer for businesses these days, with focus on security, ease of scalability and wide array of integrations, it will produce many benefits for your organisation. However, and this is the case for any AI system, it is not a silver bullet. As easy as the license is to acquire, it is like any tool from paintbrush to hacksaw, it requires skill to wield successfully and yield the desired results. You will need training, help finding use cases specific to your business, AI fair use policies and other documentation. There are many different people out there who can help, but we at Stratus Blue have an AI-Me package, ready made for you to achieve success with Copilot: including 3 Copilot for M365 licenses for a dedicated pilot group in your business, all the training and guidance you need, along with use cases and AI strategy sessions too – AI-Me is made for you. To find out where your business is on its AI journey contact us or fill out our readiness questionnaire here.