Copilot AI Transformed Spreadsheet Management for Viking Spas

How Copilot AI Transformed Spreadsheet Management for Viking Spas

Maintaining spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel was becoming a burden for Viking Spas, a Wyoming-based manufacturer of hot tubs.

Damian Goncalves and Daniel Yonkers, controller and customer service manager, respectively, for the company, spent hours implementing formulas to make data tracking easier.

The pair used ChatGPT in the past, noting they were quite satisfied with the paid version to help with everyday tasks. However, they could never share proprietary information with it, as security is always an issue when utilizing third-party generative AI models.

Enter Copilot, an AI companion that Microsoft has marketed as your personal assistant to help you get your work done more efficiently and solve problems with a few prompts while keeping your data secure.

Yonkers first heard about Copilot through his sister, whose company utilizes the tool. After casually discussing Copilot’s capabilities, Yonkers brought the idea to Goncalves, and the pair decided to try it out for themselves.

Almost a year after purchasing two Copilot licenses, they said they couldn’t be happier with their investment and have since dropped their ChatGPT subscriptions, noting Copilot’s integration with other Microsoft products as a huge advantage.

“I bet as a company, the cost of my Copilot subscription has definitely been covered in how many hours I’ve spent not in Excel because it does Excel work for me,” Yonkers said.

Copilot Saves Viking Spas Time and Money

Goncalves and Yonkers wanted to create a break schedule for their employees based on how many hot tubs were manufactured in a day.

The number of hot tubs produced each day changed how much time their employees had to spend on each task before taking their guaranteed breaks throughout the 7 a.m.-5 p.m. business day.

The pair also wanted the breaks to be dispersed throughout the day to keep their employees well-rested.

Before adding Copilot, Viking Spas, which has been a client of Hungerford’s managed services since 2018, had a manual method for tracking these breaks, but it only worked if a certain number of spas were produced. It also took the team two full days to come up with the spreadsheet formula, wasting valuable time that could have been spent on other tasks.

In a matter of minutes, Copilot created a formula that could tell them when breaks need to be taken based on the number of hot tubs produced. Now, regardless of how many spas are made, the breaks can be coordinated efficiently while ensuring the hot tubs are manufactured on time.

“And ultimately, you don’t have to dedicate hours to maintaining the data,” Yonkers said. “You just create a system like I did for that guy where he copies and pastes one thing every day. It takes him 2 minutes, tops, and it creates all this information for us.”

“Almost a year after purchasing two Copilot licenses, they said they couldn’t be happier with their investment and have since dropped their ChatGPT subscriptions, noting Copilot’s integration with other Microsoft products as a huge advantage.”

Yonkers also has used Copilot in other Microsoft products, such as Outlook. While away on his honeymoon for three weeks, he had a flood of emails to sift through upon his return.

However, rather than starting from the bottom and going through every single email, he asked Copilot to sort the unread emails based on priority, and it showed him the top 10 emails that it believed to be the most urgent.

“I just love that (Copilot is) integrated too,” Yonkers said. “It’s right there on the side of the page; you’re looking right at the data set. It’s right there, you’re not flipping tabs and whatnot.”

Copilot Has Limitations

Goncalves and Yonkers admitted there are some shortcomings when it comes to Copilot. In the above break schedule example, Copilot did not manipulate the spreadsheet automatically, but it did tell them the formula they would need to use and where to implement it within the spreadsheet.

While they would, in the future, like to see Copilot make automatic adjustments after a prompt, they also said it’s nice to be told what to do in case what Copilot suggests isn’t what they were looking to accomplish.

Additionally, Viking Spas began utilizing Microsoft Teams more for quick messages between team members that would otherwise clog everyone’s email inboxes. However, Goncalves and Yonkers both said they’ve had issues with Copilot finding past Team messages despite Teams being integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Because Copilot has such a steep learning curve, Goncalves said he would like to see Microsoft create how-to videos showcasing specific examples of how to use Copilot. He admitted as a new user, finding YouTube tutorials helped him learn how to use it effectively.

“I would just say if Microsoft could have some basic training that people don’t have to pay for, I think that will go a long way at getting people to bring it on,” Goncalves said.

‘Just Scratching the Surface’ of Copilot

Copilot often is seen as overwhelming or even unnecessary for many small or medium-sized businesses. At $30 per user, per month, it’s a sizeable investment, especially considering you need a Microsoft Business Standard or Premium license — which can range from $12.50 to $22 per user, per month — to even add Copilot.

But Goncalves encouraged other companies to start small and find one employee who is willing to experiment with it to find ways to improve organizational efficiency.

“If you can get someone that’s excited about it that then can promote it to everyone else, that’s what really will drive it among a company,” he said.

Yonkers added that it will take new users some trial and error in how to effectively utilize Copilot. You have to know not only what you want to do but how to ask Copilot to do it for you.

“As long as you have the aptitude to ask it questions, it’ll take care of you,” he said. “It’ll teach you.”

While they’ve been incredibly satisfied with the efficiency and problem-solving of Copilot, Goncalves admitted he wants to experiment more with the other Microsoft products and always is looking for new ways to increase productivity at Viking Spas.

“I’m sure there’s so much more that we’re probably just scratching the surface of it,” he said.