Copilot business use cases

It’s one thing to recognise the impact that AI could have in certain areas of your business, but another to put its true potential to the test.

As one of a select group of organisations granted early access to Copilot for Microsoft 365, our team at Advania has gained valuable insights into the benefits and practicalities of rolling out a company-wide AI program.

Following a successful trial with Copilot, we quickly decided to unlock the value of AI for our entire workforce of 1000+ staff, becoming one of Microsoft’s first official partners to adopt full deployment of Copilot, Copilot Studio and advanced GPT-based tools.

Fast forward a year and we’re now in a good position to offer practical tips and guidance based on what we learned from our own business use cases. By sharing this experience, we aim to help you understand the importance of engaging users early, offering comprehensive training and fostering a culture of continuous improvement – so you can replicate our success within your own organisation.

Technical adoption and support

While the hype around AI can be justified by its massive potential, it shouldn’t be treated as an out-of-the-box solution that can solve all your business problems at the flick of a switch.

Like any advanced digital tool, it requires comprehensive training to make sure your staff develop confidence in using the new system – and that requires a multi-pronged approach.

We started by providing hands-on workshops, so that our employees had a chance to to experiment with AI tools in a controlled environment. We ran through common scenarios like automating repetitive tasks and generating insights from data, allowing all staff to explore features at their own pace without feeling overwhelmed.

Practical resources help to reinforce hands-on training, again focusing on scenarios related to both collective and individual roles. From streamlining customer service to enhancing project management, we found these resources help people to envision and implement their own use cases.

Finally, it’s crucial to provide dedicated support channels, while also ensuring all staff feel comfortable reaching out for help and experimenting with new capabilities.

Teething problems are to be expected and, whether it’s a quick query or a complex challenge, some staff may need more encouragement to use the support services at their disposal compared with others.

Creating a culture of continuous improvement

AI implementation isn’t a one-time project. It’s an ongoing journey that evolves in line with your business needs.

As part of our Copilot rollout, we marked out clear stages to review progress and collaborate with teams to assess what was working, what wasn’t and where adjustments needed to be made. This started with a pilot project involving a single team, which revealed tremendous potential to improve employee experience and productivity by automating a portion of their workload and accelerating their ability to solve problems.

Our staff found it much easier to digest and respond to complex RFPs, analyse data, produce graphics to support presentations and track the sentiment of client communications. The overall feedback we received from the pilot gave us confidence to go workforce-wide.

Culture plays just as big a role as the technology itself. Innovation can only thrive when teams feel empowered to test new features and share their experiences, which is why we always try to create an environment where experimentation is encouraged, successes are celebrated and failures are seen as a crucial step in the learning curve.

Key pointers from our AI deployment

Engage with users early – The success of any AI adoption initiative starts with understanding the people who will use the tools. Involving users from the start is essential to meet their biggest needs and build trust.
Take a co-creation approach – Rather than dictating to staff how they should use Copilot, we brought together diverse teams to explore different use cases that aligned with specific workflows, always keeping in mind that some uses will naturally be more valuable to productivity than others.
Provide comprehensive training – By offering a mix of staff training, practical workshops, ongoing support and access to valuable refresher content, we gave our staff the best possible chance of getting to grips with our new AI systems quickly.
Foster continuous improvement – Take time to evaluate project progress on a regular basis. The more assessment you can do in the early stages, the better positioned you are to expand the reach of AI across different areas of your workforce.
Celebrate successes and learn from failures – Every AI adoption journey comes with its share of successes and setbacks. We aim to create an open culture that embraces feedback and encourages experimentation because that’s the only way to push our capabilities further.

Time to test your own AI pilot?

Developing real business use cases with users is a critical component of the AI and Copilot implementation process.

At Advania, our collaborative approach, comprehensive training and commitment to continuous improvement have been key to our AI success so far. By following these principles, organisations can unlock the full potential of AI, driving meaningful business transformation and innovation.

If you’re currently looking to develop your own AI strategy with a view to deploy in certain areas or workforce-wide, get in touch today to arrange a free consultation with one of our AI experts.