United Overseas Bank (OTC:UOVEY) (UOB) has become the first Singapore bank to trial Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) 365 Copilot, a Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI)-powered productivity tool. The bank will start using the tool as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program (EAP) on Tuesday, with 300 employees from various business functions set to progressively gain access to the new AI innovation from Microsoft.
The Generative AI tool, unveiled by Microsoft in March 2023, combines large language models with business data from users’ calendars, emails, chats documents, meetings, and more, along with Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams. This integration transforms words into a Generative-AI-powered productivity tool.
“Generative AI has been at the forefront of emerging technologies and we see tremendous potential in integrating it into UOB’s daily operations,” said Lawrence Goh, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Group Infrastructure Platform Services, Group Technology and Operations at UOB. He added that the bank hopes this tool can spark creativity and inspire innovation among employees, ultimately enhancing customers’ banking experiences.
Microsoft’s Singapore Managing Director, Lee Hui Li, expressed pleasure at collaborating with UOB to equip its workforce with Generative AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot. She believes these tools will yield an unparalleled agility needed to address changing customer expectations, competitive pressures, and regulatory shifts.
Participating UOB employees can access Microsoft 365 Copilot for one year once the EAP begins. They will receive support from a global Center of Excellence and Microsoft Customer Success team during this period. Workshops are also available to ensure a smooth adoption and onboarding process.
The benefits of Microsoft 365 Copilot for UOB employees are manifold. It can help raise productivity and effectiveness by transforming their work processes such as summarizing lengthy documents and email threads on Outlook, transforming raw data into visualizations in Excel, or delivering concise meeting summaries on Teams. The tool also improves accessibility to pertinent information within the bank and enhances content quality and impactful messaging.
The Microsoft 365 Copilot EAP will enable UOB to guide employees through a new way of working with AI, as they create active employee feedback loops that contribute to a broader GenAI strategy for the whole bank. This is part of UOB’s longer-term plans to explore and adopt GenAI technology for meaningful and sustainable business outcomes that can benefit employees and customers while maintaining responsible use of AI.
