A Guide to Prepare Your Business for Microsoft 365 Copilot

As usual, when a new product is launched, there is a tendency to invest in the technology without giving much thought to the steps to ensure a successful adoption of the technology (in this case Microsoft 365 Copilot).

So… I have decided to write this article to share M365 Copilot readiness recommendations and useful resources. I am interested in hearing what others think about this topic: Do you agree, disagree, what else would you add?

Here we go:

Begin by acquainting your employees to the FREE version of Copilot (available in Edge and Windows 11).

I was skeptical about the “free” Copilot in Edge/W11 at first but, after playing with it a bit more with this tool, I was converted.

Here’s an example of an excellent productivity tip you can share with employees: Open a PDF document using Edge and use the Copilot for Edge to analyze, rewrite, or summarize the document. It’s amazing what it will do for you and the best part is that you don’t need paid licenses. You can also ask the free Copilot to extract highlights from a video in YouTube, analyze pictures you provide, create prompts to simplify simple tasks, or to improve your writing. All very useful actions!

So… why not start demonstrating the Edge / W11 Copilot TODAY? This could be an excellent way to get your employees to start learning to create prompts, use Copilot to review documents, etc. Moreover, if you encourage your users to sign into Bing when they use Copilot in Edge, they will be using a more secure alternative to other consumer tools like ChatGPT, safeguarding your organization’s confidential data!

Take Aways:

  • Don’t wait until you’ve purchased Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses to introduce your employees to the benefits of the AI assistant.
  • There is a great deal of value in the free version of Copilot in Edge that employees can start realizing today.
  • Demonstrate how the free Copilot can streamline useful tasks.
  • Educate employees on effective prompt crafting and adherence to your organization’s AI policies.

Educate your users on the use of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive for collaboration, and related Microsoft 365 applications.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is deeply integrated with OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint. One of the cool features of Microsoft 365 Copilot is its ability to crawl through data in your Microsoft 365 tenant and find answers to your employees’ queries.

The concern for some is that this could expose data from users unwillingly. While this is true to a certain extent, keep in mind that if Copilot can crawl through this data, this is data that is already been exposed.

Here’s a quick check for you: Do a search in SharePoint and see what you find. If you run into files you were not expecting to find, chances are someone didn’t realize they are sharing them.

So… It’s more important than ever to educate your employees on the proper use of OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint for sharing and collaborating with others, as well as the risks of oversharing.

Other Microsoft 365 apps like Forms, Planner, etc. also interact with Microsoft 365 Copilot so this is an opportunity to familiarize your employees with how they work. A separate mention should be made for the New Outlook, which not only is an excellent new experience for Outlook but also a pre-requisite for Microsoft 365 Copilot to work with your emails.

Take Aways:

  • Ensure your employees have a solid understanding of OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint as a pre-requisite for Microsoft 365 Copilot .
  • Expand your learning program to other Microsoft 365 apps that interact with Microsoft 365 Copilot such as the New Outlook (a prerequisite for Microsoft 365 Copilot ), Forms, Planner, and more.

Pilot Microsoft 365 Copilot with a group of “Early Adopters.”

Consider expanding the scope of your trail licenses to business users that can give you valid opinions on how much value Copilot can yield for your workforce, the use cases, and who may be able to help you with adoption activities down the road.

When creating an Early Adopter program, we recommend selecting participants carefully and promoting early access as a perk in exchange for their involvement. Look for people who are tech-savvy and enthusiastic about new tech. Of course, include your IT and Help Desk teams.

Take Aways:

  • Pilot Microsoft 365 Copilot with a select group of Early Adopters.
  • Don’t just invite IT people to the Early Adopter group. Expand your scope to a handful of business users who would be keen to participate, are tech-savvy, and who can give you useful feedback to inform the rollout.

Take some simple steps to protect your data.

This point is related to my earlier comment about Copilot crawling through OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint data. While Copilot will only retrieve and expose information that a user has access to, the issue is that—in most organizations—oversharing is the norm.

While there are many ways to approach the problem of oversharing, there are some simple steps organizations can take right away:

  • Turn all public Teams or SharePoint sites to Private (unless public sites are absolutely required),
  • Archive unused, inactive, or ownerless Teams and SharePoint sites. Make an inventory of inactive sites and agree on a simple rule for archival (e.g., “any sites that have not been used for the last 365 will be archived”). With a little bit of courage and organizational change management, get rid of the clutter!
  • In the longer term, implement “Sensitivity Labels” to add extra layer of protection on confidential files and messages people share. This does require some level of planning and organizational change management.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Resources

If you are looking for ideas to drive Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption and value realization, I encourage you to contact us at Change Champions Consulting. We can help you think about the best approach for your organization, offer training, and technical advisory. If you prefer to take some initial self-serve steps, here are some great resources to get you started:

Summary

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a definitely a game changer. As you look at ways to leverage this investment in your organization, we recommend you take some simple steps to ensure your employees get the most of this powerful assistant and your data is protected!

Conclusion

Microsoft 365 Copilot will undoubtedly yield significant time savings, productivity gains, and overall returns on investment. While exploring its potential, remember that preparation is key. At Change Champions, we specialize in user adoption, change management, and Microsoft technologies. For assistance with any of these strategies, please contact us.

Share This Post: