Financial gospel? Microsoft releases Copilot for finance, accelerating reconciliation and data analysis.

Microsoft released a chatbot called Copilot for Finance on Thursday, designed to serve professionals in the financial industry. This chatbot is powered by Open AI, and pricing details will be announced later. Previously, Microsoft introduced Office 365 Copilot, which allows customers to automatically draft emails or summarize documents in Office applications and Outlook emails, as well as Copilot for Sales, which helps salespeople draft emails for sales expansion or summarize customer information. The financial chatbot unveiled on Thursday enables customers to analyze Excel spreadsheets by writing short commands, such as comparing company sales figures with forecasts and expediting the payment process in Outlook. Microsoft Vice President Charles Lamanna stated that companies typically have various teams with employees specializing in different tasks, and they aim to empower every department with Copilot. He also mentioned that Copilot for Finance can leverage information stored in SAP and Microsoft Dynamics 365, with more features to be added later this year. Lamanna revealed that the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu will use Copilot for Finance to manage company finances, providing assistance during the development phase. Cory Hrncirik from Microsoft's CFO office said, "Obtaining data from different systems and comparing them is a common task for every finance team worldwide." He mentioned that a financial planning and analysis team of thousands of people would spend one to two hours reconciling accounts weekly, but with Copilot for Finance, this process only takes 10 to 20 minutes per week. Hrncirik explained that Copilot for Finance aims to help employees reduce time spent on mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on more interesting work, which can contribute more to the company. However, Microsoft does not currently require finance personnel to use Copilot for Finance. At present, Microsoft has only opened a limited preview of Copilot for Finance, and has not yet revealed the pricing for when the product officially launches. However, this financial chatbot will include 365 Copilot, with a monthly fee of $30 compared to 365 Copilot. Financial service companies have become active early adopters of Microsoft's AI tools. Many commercial software providers, including HubSpot and Salesforce, have been working on using generative AI to enhance existing products, aiming to make customers more efficient.