How To Get A Personal Office Assistant Who Doesn’T Require Coffee Breaks
Microsoft’s “Calendar.Help” With Cortana
If you are like me, my to-do lists get longer by the minute and there doesn’t seem to be enough time in a day to ever complete it. One of the biggest time sucks can be coordinating meetings. This can be especially true when you’re scheduling with attendees outside of your own company. It would be nice if we all had personal assistants who could schedule the meetings for us but, the reality of that is slim. What if you could have a digital assistant that understood real language and could take over the lengthy process of navigating the schedules of the attendees? What if this assistant could handle the back and forth emailing and could propose new times that would avoid conflicts and once decided upon, could send the invite to all attendees? Amazingly, this futuristic technology already exists through Microsoft’s Cortana with calendar.help and has been around for close to a year!
How does this service that combines artificial intelligence, conversational computing and calendar work and how do you get it working for you?
Calendar.help does require approval but, once you have been approved and are enrolled in Calendar.help from Microsoft, it is as easy as copying Cortana in an email to your meeting invitee. In this email, using normal language, you can give your invitee and Cortana the specifics of the meeting. Below is an example from a specific occurrence with Pendello President, Mike Jackson.
October 16th 12:15
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your email message. I’ve copied Cortana, Microsoft’s AI assistant on this email message. She can help us schedule our meeting.
I look forward to connecting with you!
October 16th 12:20
Hi Mike,
I'm helping Regina Tolbert schedule a 45 minute meeting for you both.
Below are some proposed times when Regina is available.
- Tuesday, Oct 17, 7:00 AM CST
- Wednesday, Oct 18, 7:30 AM CST
- Thursday, Oct 19, 7:00 AM CST
Please let me know all the times that work for you, so I can lock in the best time on both of your calendars.
Have a great day,
Cortana |https://calendar.help
October 16th 12:30
Let’s do 7:30 on the 18th.
Thanks.
Mike Jackson
Once your invitee responds, Cortana looks at your calendar to check for any conflicts within the proposed times. If a new time is needed, Cortana responds and proposes. The best part is, none of this back and forth is filling your inbox!!
Once a date and time has been confirmed, Cortana will create an event in your calendar and send invites to all parties involved.
Easy as pie and all along you haven’t been distracted while all correspondence has been batted around like a shuttlecock in an intense game of badminton!!
If you are interested in having your own personal assistant who doesn’t even take holidays, contact the team at Pendello Solutions. These experts can make sure your hardware is up to date and can help upgrade your office to utilize this incredible technology!
At Pendello Solutions, we turn technology hurdles into powerful assets. Our technology solutions fuel growth, productivity, and efficiency, through continuous innovation and strategic solutions, empowering your business beyond the imaginable. Contact us today to discover the Pendello Method.