With more than a dozen Copilot offerings, companies need a clear plan to identify the right entry points, prioritize high-impact use cases, and manage change effectively.NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAI assistants and agents aren’t the future of work—they’re already here. And they’re reshaping how business gets done. Microsoft Copilot in particular is already embedded in the fabric of global business. Nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Barclays has rolled out more than 100,000 seats with plans to scale further. On the developer side, GitHub Copilot now has more than 20 million users and is in use at over 90% of Fortune 100 companies.
If your organization is already leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem, the real question isn’t whether to adopt Copilot—it’s how to do it in a way that maximizes ROI. With more than a dozen Copilot offerings across Microsoft 365, Dynamics, Power Platform, GitHub and beyond, companies need a clear plan to identify the right entry points, prioritize high-impact use cases, and manage change effectively.
Read on for a guide to help you sail smoothly through the Copilot waters and build a practical, strategic Copilot roadmap to make smart AI choices, drive employee engagement and—most importantly—deliver AI business outcomes.
A Crash Course On Microsoft Copilot OptionsMicrosoft now offers a multitude of Copilot products. When thinking through which Copilots make sense for your organization, it can be useful to group the options into two categories:
The first category includes the core Microsoft Copilot products, designed to integrate AI into everyday work. Microsoft 365 Copilot, for example, is embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and is designed to enhance productivity with AI-generated summaries, drafts and insights. Other “core” Copilot offerings include Copilot Chat, Copilot Studio, GitHub Copilot, Security Copilot and Windows Copilot. The second category includes more complex, customizable, functional scenario-based Copilots, tailored to specific business functions. This includes human resources, customer service, finance, legal, marketing and sales, with each Copilot designed to do specific tasks for that business function. For example, Microsoft Copilot for Finance supports forecasting, variance analysis and budget planning, while Copilot in Legal assists with contract review, compliance checks and legal research. A Simple Framework For Getting Started With Microsoft CopilotWhile it’s important to understand your Copilot options, the important question with Copilot isn’t “which tool should I buy?” Instead, it’s “what business problem am I trying to solve?” By reframing the conversation around business outcomes rather than technology features, leaders can build a practical roadmap for AI adoption. Answer the following foundational questions to get started:
MORE FOR YOU1. Is your organization ready for Microsoft Copilot? Copilot success requires more than technology. Companies should complete an AI readiness assessment to ensure the right conditions are in place before investing in Microsoft Copilot. Is your data clean and well governed? Do you he the appropriate permissions in place? Is leadership aligned on how the technology change will be communicated to employees? Do you he resources in place for adequate adoption and training?
2. What are your business motivators for investing in AI? Before you decide what Copilot to start with, you need to define your AI vision. What are you trying to achieve with AI? Is your goal to stay competitive and relevant? Are you wanting to improve efficiency or optimize costs? Are you hoping to innovate and modernize? The answer to this question will anchor your Copilot strategy in a clear business case.
3. What impact do you hope to make with AI? Should you start small to get buy-in or go big to leap ahead of the competition? The answer largely depends on where your organization is in its AI journey.
Companies just getting started with Copilots should aim to make a broad impact to score some quick wins and drive further AI investment and internal buy-in. In this scenario, a rapid deployment of one of the core Microsoft Copilot options with low-risk, high-visibility use cases is ideal. Microsoft Copilot 365, for example, allows you to introduce some simple automation and build entry-level agents.
Companies that he successfully integrated foundational AI tools (like Microsoft 365 Copilot) can aim for a targeted, high impact with Copilot. To do so, you’ll need to identify a specific problem or business function to address. This is ideal for organizations with a clear AI vision, with teams ready to tackle cultural, data and infrastructure shifts, and use cases with measurable, strategic outcomes. This path forward requires a high level of investment in one of the more complex Copilot offerings.
The third option is a hybrid path: Getting started with a broad approach to earn quick wins and build internal momentum, then, using insights and stakeholder engagement to scale into more strategic, high-impact initiatives.
For example, my company recently worked with a 300-person insurance company on Copilot integration. The company wanted to roll Copilot out to every department within a year, so a broad impact with quick wins was the best path forward. They invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio to gain buy-ins internally from key stakeholders. Now that they he good momentum, they’re well poised to make a larger investment to roll out the tools to everyone. Later, they’ll be able to make further investments in functional scenario-based Copilots to make more targeted impacts.
4. How are you going to measure success and drive adoption? Of course, selecting and buying a Copilot tool is only one step of AI success. Before you make any investment in Copilot, it is important to identify key use cases for how you plan to leverage Copilot in the organization and identify metrics to track success. For example, one use case could be improving overall productivity of the team when preparing for a meeting or streamlining the process for reviewing contracts.
My company often runs into clients that he made investments and bought licenses before considering the business case, success metrics or training needs. Then, they’re surprised to find poor adoption. To see ROI on Copilot investment, Microsoft Copilot adoption plans are essential. And it must go deeper than “how do you use this one tool?”
One common pitfall: Leaders often overlook the fact that employees must first be proficient with core Microsoft tools like Teams and OneDrive before they can layer AI tools on top and see meaningful ROI. Adoption planning, change management and clear success metrics are non-negotiable.
Getting Started With Microsoft Copilot Is EssentialWhen Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot in 2023, CEO Satya Nadella said: “Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new we of productivity growth.”
Early results are already validating that promise. In a randomized study of 6,000 employees across 56 firms, Copilot users spent 30 fewer minutes on email each week, finished documents 12% faster, and nearly 40% used the tool regularly over six months.
So if you’ve found yourself stressing over getting started with Microsoft Copilot, don’t ask “Which copilot should we buy?” Instead, ask “What problem are we solving, and what level of impact do we need?” That shift in thinking is how organizations will turn Copilot from an expensive experiment into a lasting competitive advantage.