Fit for Microsoft Copilot: How service providers can become Copilot pioneers for their customers

You will certainly have experienced it yourself: Introducing new technologies in companies is always challenging. Microsoft Copilot is no exception. As an AI-supported assistant that is deeply integrated into the Microsoft solutions used on a daily basis, Copilot offers a wealth of opportunities to optimise work processes and increase efficiency. However, as with any innovative technology, the introduction and use of Copilot requires expertise, careful preparation, specific adjustments and ongoing user support.

In this article, we look at some of the challenges that companies in general, and IT service providers in particular, have to overcome if they want to use Microsoft Copilot themselves or support it for their customers. After all, service providers who want to optimally support their customers are now faced with the task of gaining their own experience with the new technology as quickly as possible. In short, they need to become Copilot pioneers.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-supported tool that helps users to complete tasks faster and better by making suggestions, analysing data and even creating content. This tool is being integrated into more and more Microsoft products, not only in Office programmes such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Out-look, Teams or OneDrive ("Copilots for Productivity"), but also in Bing and Edge ("Copilots for Web"), Dynamics 365 (Sales, Finance, Service – "Copilots for Business"), Fabric ("Copilots for Analytics") or security solutions ("Copilot for Security"). The first AI assistant in this series (at least in name) was GitHub Copilot from 2021. In early 2023, with Bing Chat, appeared the first incarnation of the "Copilot system" as it is still in use today: with a chat-enabled Large Language Model (LLM) that is linked to current data from the web and the user context ("grounding"), now also supplemented with extensive compliance and appropriateness checks as part of Microsoft Responsible AI (RAI). You can find out more about this – with a focus on Copilot for Microsoft 365 – in our article Microsoft Copilot: How it works and how to make the most of it.

Challenges when using Microsoft Copilot

This variety of co-pilots and their rapid development alone make it difficult for companies to keep an overview and select and optimally utilise the right solutions for them. In addition, there are further challenges which concern both the technical and human components of an organisation. We list some of these challenges and give you recommendations on how to overcome them. It is particularly important for service providers to be aware of these challenges – and co-pilot pioneers will probably soon encounter them themselves.

1. Complexity of implementation

Microsoft Copilot may appear to be a simple solution at first glance, but the actual implementation can be complex. The multitude of available Copilots has various strengths and weaknesses that need to be known in order to find suitable usage scenarios for a company's individual processes. Not only do they offer different functionalities, they also each have their own requirements for grounding data: while Copilot for Microsoft 365, for example, is connected to the Microsoft Graph (where suitable access rights and restrictions must be defined), Copilot for Security needs to be connected to security solutions from Microsoft or third-party providers, in particular SIEM, XDR, endpoint management and threat intelligence. As a general rule, if relevant context information is stored in older systems or custom solutions, connecting them can be complicated and time-consuming.

Recommendations: You should carefully check in advance in which usage scenarios AI will bring you the greatest benefits, which copilots are best suited to your specific needs and how these can be embedded in the existing IT infrastructure with a manageable amount of effort. This includes a detailed needs analysis, but also an assessment of whether you are „Copilot ready“ technologically, organisationally and economically (keyword: licensing). Close co-operation between all stakeholders (business, IT, management) can help to identify and solve problems at an early stage.

Tip: As part of our Copilot Advisory Service, we support you in this process – from identifying the most valuable Copilot scenarios for you (Envision) to clarifying your readiness for Copilot (Discovery) to implementation (Solution/Pilot).

2. Acceptance and change management

One of the biggest challenges when introducing Microsoft Copilot lies in the acceptance of the new technology among employees. Companies must be prepared for the fact that not everyone will be immediately enthusiastic about it. The new technology will probably require adjustments to established work processes, which may cause uncertainty and resistance among employees. Some may also be concerned that AI might jeopardise their jobs or make their tasks unnecessarily complicated. A lack of knowledge about current and expected AI capabilities fuels these fears and makes it difficult to see meaningful application possibilities. Exaggerated expectations can also have a negative im-pact – in Gartner's Hype Cycle, Generative AI reached the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" only in 2023 and is currently on its way to the "Trough of Disillusionment".

Recommendations: It is important to view the introduction of Copilot not as a mere IT project, but as a holistic transformation process. Open and transparent communication is therefore crucial: companies should involve their employees in the process at an early stage and build trust that AI is not there to replace people, but to support them. In particular, they should offer training courses and workshops that allay employees' fears of the new technology, help them to understand the benefits and functions of Copilot and provide them with the skills they will need in the future.

Here, too, it is important to identify and communicate convincing usage scenarios with clear added value. IT service providers can also help to configure the tools so that they are optimised for specific workflows.

Tip: The SoftwareOne IT Campus offers numerous training courses and workshops as well as e-learning content on Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 for your employees or those of your customers and also supports you in organising education events yourself.

3. Data security and compliance

Handling sensitive data is one of the biggest challenges when using AI tools. Because the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) stipulates strict regulations for the handling of personal data, companies must ensure that the use of Copilot also complies with these requirements.

Microsoft assures Microsoft 365 Copilot's compliance with these requirements and promises that prompts, responses and context data will not be used to train LLMs. However, the main responsibility lies with the users: through data minimisation and strict access control, they must ensure that only data that is required for the user's tasks is available in their context.

Recommendations: Analyse the concrete data flows when using Copilot functions in specific scenarios (especially grounding) to ensure that all processes comply with the legal and data protection requirements specified by your organisation. Regular audits and the use of Microsoft's compliance tools can help to ensure data security.

Special challenges for IT service providers

While companies are primarily confronted with the implementation and use of Copilot in their daily work processes, IT service providers face a number of other challenges arising from their role as supporters and consultants.

As Copilot pioneers, IT service providers are already well placed to help their customers get started in the world of AI and remove obstacles. However, they must also be able to customise Copilot solutions to their customers' business processes and support them in scaling Copilot use. However, the rapid development of Microsoft Copilot and the constant release of new versions and functions make it difficult to stay up to date. Service providers need to regularly update and expand their expertise in order to offer their customers the best service possible – not only on the architecture, functionality and roadmap of Copilot, but also on licensing issues, for example.

Therefore, IT service providers should continuously invest in the further training of their employees. They must also ensure that they are aware of planned innovations at an early stage so that they can proactively inform their customers about updates, new functions or new Copilot implementations and offer the best implementation solutions. They can achieve this through close relationships with Microsoft – or by utilising the partnership with SoftwareOne, one of the largest Microsoft partners worldwide.