This week, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, a version of Copilot specifically designed to fit the needs and budgetary restrictions of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Since its introduction in 2023, it hasn’t been hard to sell SMBs on the potential of Copilot to boost productivity and enhance efficiency. What’s been a little harder to convince them on is the price. Microsoft has now taken this feedback onboard, allowing SMBs to access all the powerful capabilities of Copilot at a more realistic price point.
Copilot Business will be available worldwide on December 1, 2025, for any business with a Microsoft 365 Business plan and fewer than 300 users.
As an MSP, this change will open up Copilot conversations with customers who previously haven’t been able to consider AI tooling due to budget constraints. This is an incredible opportunity for you to position yourself as a leader in the space and help your SMB customers implement AI strategically and securely.
Let’s break down what’s changing, and how you can properly prepare.
What are the new bundles?
Microsoft is bundling Copilot Business with the existing qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plans to simplify purchasing for SMBs and increase overall value. They are also running promotions within the first quarter of 2026 which help to significantly reduce the cost of adoption.
Copilot Business Standalone SKU:
- $21/user/month
- Promo: $18/user/month (Dec 1, 2025 – Mar 31, 2026)
- Supports up to 300 users with no seat minimum
- Includes the same features as Copilot for enterprise but optimized for SMBs at a lower price point without the need to commit to enterprise-level licensing.
Microsoft 365 Business + Copilot Bundles:
- Business Basic + Copilot: $36/user/month, paid yearly.
- Business Standard + Copilot: $42.50/user/month, paid yearly.
- Business Premium + Copilot: $52/user/month, paid yearly.
Purview Suite Add-On for Business Premium:
- $5/user/month (down from $10 during promo)
- Limited-time promo runs December 1, 2025–March 31, 2026
- Discounted pricing for a full year
What are the risks of Copilot for SMBs?
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business will make Copilot more attractive and accessible for SMBs. It’s your job as an MSP to make sure that they are fully prepared for adoption and minimize the security risks of roll out and ongoing usage.
Copilot sits within the Microsoft 365 environment and draws upon the data within that environment to form its answers. As Copilot has access to all your customers’ Microsoft 365 data, if you have not properly configured their security posture, sensitive information could be exposed. This could have negative operational, financial, or even legal consequences for your customers.
How can you prepare SMBs for Copilot?
To protect your customers, and your reputation, it’s imperative that you have the correct security and data governance policies in place. Before implementing Copilot in any customer environment, setting up sensitivity labels, configuring Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies, and enforcing identity management practices such as Conditional Access and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) should be non-negotiables.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium contains all the tools you need to ensure your customers’ environments are secure enough for Copilot. Set up identity management and Conditional Access polices with Entra ID Plan 1, secure your devices with MDM/MAM using Intune, prevent risky documents from compromising your clients’ environment with safe attachments and safe links, and lock down your endpoints using Microsoft’s EDR (Microsoft Defender for Business).
Creating a standard practice of policies or “golden” environment for security posture is a difficult task. In fact, many MSPs spend months crafting their perfect image. I always recommend making sure you understand exactly what your customers need before implementing a set of policies since everyone’s environment is different.
How to know if customers are ready for Copilot
Copilot assessments that can provide a full, clear picture of your customers’ security posture have previously been difficult to come by. Waiting 48 hours for all the reports to download from Partner Center is time-consuming and manual, meaning productizing a Copilot service has not been scalable.
That’s why inforcer built a Copilot Readiness Assessment for our partners to automate this manual checking process. You can quickly identify areas of improvement or success in your customers’ security posture, data governance, and technical readiness and access targeted remediation suggestions to inform your next steps.
The report also digs into Microsoft 365 adoption data to identify top candidates and departments within your customer’s business who will benefit the most from Copilot. This allows you to add real value when helping customers adopt Copilot.
Bringing AI to the SMB
SMBs want AI, and Microsoft is making it easier for them to access it. But many haven’t yet considered the security risk AI introduces. That’s where you come in. With a new LLM or AI platform being released every day, a locked down environment that can implement these tools safely needs to be at the forefront of every MSP’s AI strategy.
Learn more about our Copilot Readiness Assessment here.
