Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption Playbook

Welcome to Microsoft 365 Copilot

Organizations across industries have gone from talking about AI to deploying it at scale. This playbook, informed by insights from the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program, gives you actionable steps to become an AI-powered organization quickly, accelerate usage and engagement, and track progress and impact. It answers key questions, including:

Who do I give the first Copilot seats to?
Where can my organization get the most productivity gains?
How do I get employees up and running quickly?
Why is it important to build early momentum with Copilot?
When will I start seeing business results?
What are the ways to measure impact?

Get ready—preparing your business for AI

Step 1: Review your security and data settings

Microsoft 365 Copilot inherits your Microsoft 365 data and security permissions, which is why it’s essential to have solid content management practices and data governance in place before rollout begins. Work with your IT leads to review current policies and encourage teams to follow existing best practices on content management.

Step 2: Be intentional with seat assignments

Focus seats in a few areas of your business to start. Think about who’s using Microsoft 365 apps the most, define specific use cases for Copilot, and give licenses to whole teams so people can learn from each other.

Step 3: Create an AI council

Your AI council will be key feedback sources and help drive adoption. It should include an executive sponsor as well as representatives from IT, your change management team, and risk management.

Step 4: Help people build new work habits

Diverse perspectives around AI exist—so it’s important to provide support, training, and clear communication to transition workflows and mindsets into an AI-powered future of work. Equally important is managing expectations about what Copilot can and can’t do—and knowing when to use AI capabilities and when to rely on human expertise.

Onboard and engage—accelerating usage and engagement

Step 5: Create a Copilot user community

Build momentum through peer learning. A user community helps people learn from those who’ve successfully implemented Copilot and surfaces practical tips for specific roles.

Step 6: Identify Copilot champions and early adopters

Copilot champions spark interest in Copilot and show the real benefits of it in daily work. To find your champions, look to your AI council or user community, have managers identify a team representative, or use the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard.

Step 7: Make ongoing training the standard

Consistent use of Copilot helps it become a natural extension of people’s work processes. Publicize a variety of resources, guidance, and training to create a culture of continuous learning.

Deliver impact—tracking progress and business results

Step 8: Quantify impact with the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard

Measure usage and adoption at every phase of the rollout with real-time data. You’ll be able to see things like what apps Copilot is being used in the most and even the number of active Copilot users across your business.

Step 9: Meet with your AI council regularly

Have regular check-ins to stay on target with your AI goals. Discuss what’s working well, potential areas of opportunity, and any challenges related to this new way of working.

Step 10: Publicly celebrate successes

Be sure to acknowledge your milestones. Success stories play a big role in driving adoption, engaging stakeholders, and ensuring that your organization maximizes the impact of Copilot.

Enhance and optimize—integrating AI across your business

Step 11: Tailor Copilot to your business

Enhance Copilot with pre-built agents to improve workflows and processes, or build your own agents with Copilot Studio to fill in the gaps. Copilot easily connects to systems outside of Microsoft 365 to help you make the most of AI.

Step 12: Optimize with role-based Copilot agents

Expand Copilot for individual roles with out-of-the-box agents designed for specific tasks and functions—like sales, service, and finance—so you don’t have to start from scratch.

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