Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered productivity tool from Microsoft and the newest addition to the powerful Microsoft 365 suite. Using large language models (LLMs) and Microsoft Graph, Microsoft 365 Copilot offers a more productive way to work.
With all the added benefits of Microsoft 365 Copilot, there is an additional cost. As of January 2025, Microsoft 365 Copilot costs $30 USD user/month with an annual subscription. This is in addition to the price of a required Microsoft 365 plan.
As organizations start to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot across their teams and departments, there is one big question on everyone’s mind: How can we maximize our return-on-investment (ROI)?
5 Key Aspects of Maximizing Your Microsoft 365 Copilot ROI
Our experience assisting clients with their Microsoft 365 Copilot management has led us to identify five key factors that influence ROI throughout the deployment journey. Explore tips for preparing, deploying, and extending Microsoft 365 Copilot while maximizing your team’s ROI below.
1. Prepare your organization’s data.
Before purchasing a Copilot license, consider your technical readiness.
One of the ways Microsoft 365 Copilot is such a powerful productivity tool is its integration with organizational data through Microsoft Graph. This feature allows users to efficiently access their data from sources like Exchange, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and more.
Since Microsoft 365 Copilot is within the Microsoft 365 service boundary, your organization’s data privacy, security, and compliance policies are all retained. While this can help with a quick deployment of the tool, it also poses a risk to organizations that have not diligently set up and managed their data policies since their tenant creation.
That’s where the importance of technical readiness comes in. Before purchasing your organization’s Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses, consider taking the time to audit and update your data policies to reflect the latest in privacy and security. Since Microsoft 365 Copilot uses available data to return responses, private data secured incorrectly is more likely to be exposed inadvertently to users than ever before.
In order to evaluate your organization’s technical readiness, your team (or a consulting partner) should map your current data landscape, review all existing data policies, and identify any data of specific concern. From there, policies should be updated using tools like Microsoft Purview and Compliance Manager, identities and devices should be reviewed using Microsoft Intune, and best practices for data policies should be established.
Ensuring this preparedness before deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot will not only reduce the risk of user “data dilemmas” but also increase the ease of user adoption, therefore increasing ROI.
2. Develop an AI implementation roadmap.
Streamline your Copilot adoption with actionable and achievable steps.
After preparing your organization’s data, it’s time to plan your deployment. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot organization-wide isn’t something that should be done overnight. Instead, consider using a “stoplight” implementation system, deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot gradually and securely.
By developing a clear roadmap, your organization will have a deeper understanding of what steps are required for a successful implementation. This can also help mitigate unnecessary risks, assist in change management, and establish clear best practices.
Your IT team, often with the help of a consulting partner, should create an organized rollout plan that includes department-specific data risks and use cases, achievable deadlines for training, and check-ins with new users to review any challenges or concerns.
Slowly and methodically introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot to your organization, regardless of its size, will ensure you’re maximizing your ROI with increased adoption and best practices.
3. Focus on key department stakeholders.
Proof-of-concepts can be a great driver for user adoption.
While many users understand the general benefits of adding Microsoft 365 Copilot to their organization’s tenant, some may find it difficult to see the value for their specific tasks. By working with individual departments to identify specialized use cases, their team will have a better understanding of the tool and feel more confident in its implementation.
Consider meeting with key stakeholders from individual departments to identify their concerns, readiness, and possible uses. This may be completed by an IT team, change management team, or by a third-party consulting firm. From there, develop a proof-of-concept or introductory training program to ease the team’s transition into using the new tool.
Some specific departments this may apply to include Finance, Accounting, Sales, Human Resources, Marketing, Operations, Management, Research and Development, and Customer Service. Your organization may also include specified departments that could benefit from departmental proof-of-concepts.
This process can not only assist with establishing clear communication but also increase ROI through deeper user understanding and increased adoption. As Microsoft 365 Copilot continues to evolve with new features, creating these connections early in the deployment process can aid in additional training and implementation in the future.
4. Integrate and extend your Copilot license.
Extend your Copilot experience with SharePoint Agents and Copilot Studio.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a key addition to an already advanced platform of productivity tools designed for customization and development. As with many of these technologies and applications, your ROI is connected to utilizing these customization features to fit your organization’s needs most effectively. For instance, integrating Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate can transform SharePoint sites, business processes, and more.
SharePoint Agents are just one of the ways Microsoft 365 Copilot can be extended to fit your organization’s needs directly. Not only does it utilize your existing data, but it assists in delivering more in-depth results to increase productivity on a larger scale. Your team can start exploring SharePoint Agents “out of the box” with your Copilot license or start developing some of their own.
If you’re looking to speed up implementation and customization, consider working with a consulting partner that offers Copilot services. Consultants may assist with introductory training or develop specialized agents and tools for your team.
5. Stay connected to updates, users, and data.
Your Copilot journey doesn’t end when it’s implemented.
It’s nearly impossible to evaluate the ROI of a tool without a way to measure it. By staying connected to your users after their Microsoft 365 Copilot implementation, your team will have a deeper understanding of their adoption beyond usage data. New ideas, challenges, and questions will continue to arise and being able to quickly respond to them will continue to develop user adoption and increase ROI.
As your organization gets started, allow several months for users to explore the tool and continue their training before measuring its ROI. It will take time for each department to become more familiar and comfortable with using Microsoft 365 Copilot most effectively.
Continue to provide resources and training to users, discuss current limits of the tool and possibilities, and develop new department-specific POCs. Following along with the latest updates to Copilot from Microsoft can also help increase ROI and streamline continued use.
From there, it is recommended to use a mix of reporting and department reviews to create a measure for “time saved” by users with the aid of Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you run into challenges, a consulting firm can be a great asset in improving your ROI quickly and effectively.
Jumpstart Your Copilot Journey
If your team is considering implementing Microsoft Copilot within your organization and you would like to learn more about AI readiness, Copilot support, department proof-of-concepts, and customized agents, get in touch today.