Microsoft Copilot has been one of the most talked-about tools in business technology over the past year. But for most small business owners, the big questions remain: what does it actually do, is it worth the money, and will my team actually use it?
We have deployed Copilot for businesses across Jersey, from five-person teams to organisations with 100+ employees. Here is what we have learned about making it work in practice.
What Microsoft Copilot Actually Does
Copilot is an AI assistant built directly into the Microsoft 365 apps your team already uses: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. It uses artificial intelligence to help with tasks like:
- Outlook:drafting email replies, summarising long email threads, suggesting responses
- Word:creating first drafts of documents, rewriting text in a different tone, summarising long documents
- Excel:analysing data using plain English questions, creating formulas, generating charts
- PowerPoint:creating presentation slides from a brief or document
- Teams:summarising meetings you missed, capturing action points, answering questions about what was discussed
The key difference between Copilot and standalone AI tools like ChatGPT is that Copilot works inside your existing apps and has access to your company data. You do not need to copy and paste information between tools.
What It Costs
Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an add-on licence. At the time of writing, it costs around £25 per user per month on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. That means for a team of 10, you are looking at roughly £250 per month, or £3,000 per year.
That is not nothing. But consider this: if Copilot saves each person just 30 minutes a day on email drafting, meeting summaries, and document creation, that adds up to around 10 hours per month per person. For most businesses, the time savings far outweigh the licence cost.
Where We See the Biggest Impact
Not every feature of Copilot delivers equal value. Based on our experience deploying it for Jersey businesses, these are the areas where it makes the biggest difference:
- Teams meeting summaries:this is consistently the most popular feature. People who miss meetings or want to review decisions can get a comprehensive summary in seconds instead of watching an hour-long recording.
- Email drafting in Outlook:particularly useful for people who spend hours writing professional emails. Copilot creates a solid first draft that just needs minor editing.
- Excel data analysis:asking questions about your data in plain English instead of writing complex formulas is genuinely transformative for people who are not Excel experts.
- Document first drafts in Word:useful for reports, proposals, and client communications. It will not write a perfect document, but it gets you 70% of the way there in seconds.
What You Need Before You Start
Copilot needs a properly configured Microsoft 365 environment to work well. Specifically:
- Your files need to be stored in SharePoint or OneDrive (not local drives)
- Data permissions need to be set up correctly, as Copilot can access anything a user has access to, so if permissions are too broad, people might see data they should not
- Your Microsoft 365 tenant needs to be on the right licence tier
- Teams meetings need to be recorded for meeting summaries to work
This is where many businesses run into problems. They buy Copilot licences, hand them out, and wonder why nobody uses them. Without the right setup and training, Copilot is just another tool collecting dust.
How to Roll It Out Successfully
Our recommended approach for Jersey businesses:
- Start with a small pilot group:pick 3-5 people who are open to trying new tools and give them Copilot first. Let them explore it for a couple of weeks.
- Focus on specific use cases:do not just say "use Copilot." Give people specific tasks to try: "Use Copilot to summarise your next Teams meeting" or "Ask Copilot to draft your next client email."
- Review and expand:after the pilot, gather feedback. What worked? What did not? Then roll out to the wider team with clear guidance based on what you learned.
- Get proper training:we can arrange Copilot training through our partners so your team learns prompt engineering and practical techniques.
Is It Worth It for Your Business?
Honestly, it depends. If your team spends a lot of time on email, meetings, and document creation, Copilot will likely pay for itself within the first month. If your work is more hands-on and less document-heavy, the value may be lower.
The businesses that get the most value are those in professional services, finance, and legal, industries that are well represented in Jersey. If that sounds like you, it is definitely worth trying.
Want to explore Copilot for your Jersey business? Our AI services team handles the full deployment, from licensing to training. Book a free consultation to find out if it is right for you.
