Microsoft 365 has always been a powerful enabler of productivity for SMBs, containing a suite of tools that facilitate more effective collaboration, more streamlined communication, and a greater output of work. Now, Microsoft has added Copilot to their productivity suite: a dedicated AI assistant which can be used for key business tasks such as answering questions summarizing meetings, generating ideas, and creating content.
With Microsoft marketing Copilot hard, it won’t be long before your customers start asking how they can implement it into their IT strategies and business models. But Copilot is a complex tool and is not secure by default. Not everyone is ready to roll it out across their business. To properly support your customers as an MSP, you need to understand how to assess their Copilot readiness and help them to become more AI-mature.
It’s no secret that AI usage is on the rise. In fact, according to a report from Microsoft, 70% of employees now say they would delegate as much work as possible to AI if it meant lightening their workload.
As a strategic IT partner, you need to help your customers use AI to their advantage, ensuring they are configuring Copilot correctly, using it securely, and have a mature enough data environment to get the most out of the tool.
Copilot comes with inherent security risks as it connects to an organization's internal data and draws upon it to form the basis for its answers. This means it can sift through information contained in user documents, emails, meetings, chats, and calendars to create the advanced responses that users value so much.
Without proper data access controls in place, anyone within the company could access sensitive data. You could potentially find out details contained in confidential emails, access summaries of closed meetings, or even find out your colleague’s salaries.
If the company then experienced a security breach, this data could be exploited by cyber criminals.
You need to assess Copilot readiness to ensure that your customers have the correct security posture, data governance, and access controls in place to roll out Copilot safely.
As Copilot draws on data from Microsoft 365, if your customers are not using much of their 365 environment, Copilot might not have enough data to draw answers from. If this is the case, Copilot won’t be a particularly useful tool for them.
Auditing your customers’ Microsoft 365 environment is a major step in assessing their Copilot readiness. You can suggest ways that they can get more out of their Microsoft 365 licensing and highlight different tools they can use to achieve the business outcomes they truly care about. For example, they could use SharePoint to organise and share files easily, use Loop to collaborate seamlessly on projects, or use Teams to host online meetings and communicate with different areas of the business.
When getting your customers ready for Copilot, take them through the following steps to ensure they are truly prepared for rollout.
Ensure accurate, up to date responses from Copilot by centralizing, organizing, and structuring your customers’ data.
Define clear purposes, rules, and role assignments for each workspace within Microsoft 365 to prevent unauthorized actions occurring or sensitive data being shared.
Strengthen access controls and review permissions to prevent sensitive data being shared with unauthorized users.
Ensure your customers’ have a strong security posture across their Microsoft 365 environment to prevent data breaches.
Discuss how many Copilot licenses your customers want to purchase and how they want to use AI in their company.
Help your customers to conduct a pilot test before rolling out Copilot across their company to assess effectiveness, ensure security, and collate feedback.
You shouldn’t try and force Copilot adoption as quickly as possible across your customer base. You need to be strategic, and guide your customers based on their specific needs and AI maturity levels.
Struggling to get started? Ask the following questions to open the conversation about Copilot readiness:
Asking these questions will help to reveal potential issues and open wider conversations about your customers’ security posture, data governance, and overall Microsoft 365 strategy. You can then help to add value across your customers’ entire IT infrastructure, positioning yourself as a truly strategic and trusted partner – rather than someone just trying to push the latest trend.
Want to start having Copilot conversations with your customers? Download our templated Copilot readiness checklist to assess your customers’ AI maturity levels and help guide their next steps for Copilot adoption.