KoAssist vs. Microsoft Copilot.
If your knowledge sits in Microsoft 365, in SharePoint, Teams and Outlook, and you hold the licences anyway, Microsoft 365 Copilot is the shorter path: it is already there and covers Word, Excel and meetings along the way. KoAssist pays off when the answer hangs on a clause in a standard, on a drawing or on a document in the PDM, and has to be backed by file and page. Many companies end up running both, because they answer different questions.
How do KoAssist and Microsoft Copilot differ?
| Criterion | KoAssist | Microsoft Copilot | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access to company documents | Included | Automatic only with the Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) add-on. On the basic tiers the file has to be uploaded with the prompt | Microsoft Learn |
| Scope | Engineering and technical documentation | The workplace as a whole: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams meetings | Microsoft Learn |
| Licence prerequisite | Standalone, no third-party licence needed | Add-on to an existing, qualifying Microsoft 365 licence | Microsoft Learn |
| Where the answer points | File and page, jumping to the original passage in the document | A reference to the document via Microsoft Graph and the semantic index | Microsoft Learn |
| CAD and PDM connectors | Autodesk Vault and SOLIDWORKS PDM as dedicated connectors | No dedicated CAD or PDM connector; external sources can be indexed through Graph connectors | Microsoft Learn |
| Checking drawings against your own guidelines | A dedicated module, every finding with its rule and its place on the sheet | Not in the advertised feature set | no source found |
| Language processing | EU infrastructure only, no third-country transfers | EU Data Boundary for EU users; calls go to the nearest data centre and, at high utilisation, may also go to other regions | Microsoft Learn |
| Rollout | First sourced answer in under two weeks | Configured in the tenant; Microsoft recommends cleaning up sharing first so Copilot does not surface the wrong things | Microsoft Learn |
As of September 2026
Two assistants, two starting points.
The difference is not a feature list, it is a question of construction. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built on the Microsoft Graph, that is, on what the tenant already knows about your work: files in SharePoint and OneDrive, mail, calendars, meetings, Teams. That is an excellent foundation for asking what was discussed last week or where a project stands. For asking which clause of a standard applies to this assembly it is the wrong starting point, because standards rarely live in Teams.
KoAssist starts at the other end. The starting point is the engineering document base: the standards library, specifications, design guidelines, drawings, old project folders, archives in Autodesk Vault and SOLIDWORKS PDM. From those a dedicated index is built, one in which a page number means something. That is why the answer can point at page 34 and not only at the file.
The rest follows almost by itself. Copilot is broad and flat: it can do something in every Office document but covers no professional domain in depth. KoAssist is narrow and deep: outside engineering and technical documentation it can do nothing, and inside it knows the difference between a tolerance and a material specification. These are not competing product philosophies but two different jobs.
When is Microsoft Copilot the better choice?
If your company runs entirely on Microsoft 365 and the knowledge you are looking for sits in SharePoint, Teams and Outlook, Copilot is the shorter path. The licence is negotiable, the rollout needs no new vendor, and IT does not have to assess an additional processor. That is a real argument, not a consolation prize.
If the benefit should reach beyond engineering, Copilot wins as well. It summarises meetings, drafts mail and builds presentations. KoAssist does none of that and never will, because that is not the goal.
And if you first want to find out whether generative AI lands in your company at all, Copilot is the lower-risk entry: you book licences for a quarter and see who uses them. A specialised tool only pays off once the question it should answer is clear.
When is KoAssist the better choice?
When the answer needs a source. File, page, a jump to the passage in the original. For a query from an assessor, an approval or a deviation report, being told it is somewhere in this document is simply not enough.
When the knowledge sits outside Microsoft 365. In mechanical engineering that is the normal case: thirty years of project folders on a network drive, drawings in Autodesk Vault or SOLIDWORKS PDM, the standards library as PDFs next to them. Copilot reaches those archives only through a connector project of its own; KoAssist connects to them directly.
When the drawing itself should be checked. A comparison against your own design guidelines in which every finding names its rule and its place on the sheet is not part of an office assistant's scope, and here it is a module of its own.
One special machine, one query, two routes
An engineer is designing a special machine for a customer in France. The assessor asks which requirement applies to the emergency stop and where the company decided this before. In the company there are: the standards library as PDFs on a network drive, a design handbook in SharePoint, an email from 2022 with the interpretation at the time, and three drawings in the Vault.
With Copilot she finds the email and the handbook, because both sit in the Graph. The answer names the documents. The standards library on the network drive is not there unless a Graph connector has been set up for it, and neither are the drawings in the Vault. So she has two of four sources and has to find the rest herself.
With KoAssist she gets one answer that brings all four together, and behind it sit file and page: handbook page 34, standard section 5.3.2, the email with its date, the drawing with its sheet number. She clicks the passage, reads the paragraph in the original and attaches it to her reply. The difference is not cleverer sentences, it is that the assessor can trace where the answer came from.
To be fair: if everything sat in SharePoint the advantage would be small. It comes from the network drive and the PDM, that is, from exactly the archives that are typical in mechanical engineering and not foreseen in an office tool.
Common questions
- What is the difference between Microsoft Copilot and KoAssist?
- Copilot answers from what sits in the Microsoft 365 tenant: files, mail, meetings, calendars. KoAssist answers from the engineering document base, that is standards, specifications, design guidelines and drawings, including those on network drives or in the PDM, and backs every answer with file and page.
- Can Microsoft Copilot access CAD drawings and PDM data?
- Not on its own. Copilot is built on Microsoft Graph, that is on Microsoft 365 content. External sources can be indexed through Graph connectors, but that is a project of its own, and Microsoft offers no ready-made connector for Autodesk Vault or SOLIDWORKS PDM.
- Do I need an extra licence for Microsoft Copilot?
- For the tier that reaches company data automatically, yes. Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on to an existing, qualifying Microsoft 365 licence. The basic tiers answer from web data; company documents have to be uploaded with the prompt there.
- Is Microsoft Copilot GDPR compliant?
- Microsoft commits to the EU Data Boundary for users in the EU and protects prompts and responses through Enterprise Data Protection. Microsoft also states that calls go to the nearest data centre and may go to other regions when utilisation is high. Anyone who needs a commitment without that qualification should read both privacy statements side by side.
- Can KoAssist and Microsoft Copilot be used at the same time?
- Yes, and in practice that is the normal case. Copilot covers the workplace, KoAssist covers engineering. KoAssist connects to SharePoint, OneDrive and Outlook as well, but it does not replace Copilot inside Word or Excel.
- Is there a Microsoft Copilot alternative hosted in Germany?
- KoAssist runs in ISO 27001 certified data centres in Germany, with language processing on EU infrastructure only and no third-country transfers. A data processing agreement under Article 28 and the technical and organisational measures come as standard.
See it on your own documents.
In the demo we load a handful of your standards, guidelines and drawings and ask the questions that actually come up in your work. After that you will know whether the difference is one in your company.
Book a demo with your own documents