Microsoft Brasil announces the course Fluency for Small and Medium Businesses, a series of educational videos produced by company experts, offering practical and accessible tips to optimize the daily operations of businesses. The course was developed to help small entrepreneurs understand and apply artificial intelligence in their businesses. Divided into ten episodes, the content covers everything from basic AI concepts to creating effective prompts for generating AI tools’ results.
The content is permanently available on the official channel “Microsoft AI Skills” on YouTube, where the company provides AI tips for beginners and professionals at various levels worldwide. Through the channel, Microsoft offers tutorials, expert insights, and accessible tips to help diverse audiences gain confidence and results using artificial intelligence.
In the course Fluency for Small and Medium Businesses, Rande Rodrigues, Technical Specialist, and Liliane Lima, Channel Manager at Microsoft Brasil, demonstrate examples of how generative AI can be useful for SMEs, such as automating repetitive tasks, improving internal processes, and creating a data analysis foundation for decision-making guidance.
One of the techniques explored in the course is OCFE – an acronym for “Objective,” “Context,” “Source,” and “Expectations.” The technique is essential for creating effective prompts when interacting with artificial intelligence:
- Objective refers to what the user wants to achieve as a response from the AI.
- Context can be described as the reason why the information is needed and its importance to the business, as well as who else can benefit from it, such as customers or partners.
- Source indicates where the AI should look for the necessary information.
- Expectations should describe how the user expects the AI to respond to meet their needs.
Check out three practical tips offered in the course FluencIA for small and medium-sized businesses:
1. Automation of repetitive tasks
Imagine you are an entrepreneur spending a lot of time managing emails, scheduling meetings, and organizing information. These repetitive tasks can be automated using AI, freeing up your time for more strategic activities. In the FluencIA course, you will learn to use Microsoft Copilot to automate these tasks. For example, you can ask the tool to create an action table from your emails from the previous week. An effective prompt for this action would be: “From my emails from last week, create an action table including who the action is for, the person who assigned it, and the deadline. I need this to be well-structured to organize my day. Be concise”. This type of prompt helps better organize your time and prioritize important tasks.
Lesson 2 – Learn how to write good prompts (source: Microsoft AI Skills)
2. Data analysis for decision-making
For many SMEs, analyzing large volumes of data can be a challenge, but it is essential for making decisions based on information. In the course, you learn to use AI to analyze financial data, predict consumer trends, and optimize production processes. For example, if you need to add, in a sales spreadsheet, columns about gross profit and net profit, you can describe the context to Copilot within Excel and ask it to generate comparative graphs and describe the observed trends. A detailed prompt for this case would be: “Add a column about gross profit and another one about net profit in my sales spreadsheet. Generate comparative graphs and describe the observed trends.” This allows you to visualize the data better and make more informed decisions.
Lesson 7 – How to create and manage your cash flow (source: Microsoft AI Skills)
3. Creating marketing campaigns
Developing effective marketing campaigns is crucial for the growth of SMEs. AI can assist in content creation, audience segmentation, and campaign performance analysis. In the FluencIA course, you learn how to use Microsoft Copilot for these tasks. For example, when planning a launch campaign for a new product, you can ask Copilot to create a detailed schedule of activities and suggest social media content. A good prompt to achieve this goal is: ‘Create a detailed schedule of activities for the launch campaign of a new product (describe the product and target audience), including suggestions for social media content and success metrics.’ This helps structure the campaign better and reach the target audience more effectively.
Lesson 8 – How to generate a marketing campaign on social media (source: Microsoft AI Skills)
