Turning Costs into Gains: Recovering Your Microsoft Copilot AI Investment

Many organisations are assessing Microsoft 365 Copilot to understand its potential benefits for their operations.

Microsoft conducted a survey of 297 users participating in their Copilot for Microsoft 365 Early Access Program to explore how they are utilising Copilot features, ranging from meetings to drafting documents and more. The overall feedback indicated that users consistently reported productivity gains and time savings.

Some of the feedback from organisations highlighted the following insights:

• Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency: Copilot users reported a noticeable increase in productivity, allowing them to complete tasks more quickly and efficiently.
• Improved Quality and Creativity: Organisations noted that Copilot significantly enhanced the quality of work produced by users. By providing intelligent recommendations and assisting in idea generation.
• Transforming Time Management: Feedback indicated that Copilot is fundamentally changing how users allocate their time. By automating routine tasks and offering smart insights, Copilot allows users to focus on more strategic and high-value activities, leading to a more effective use of their working hours.

Microsoft aimed to gauge how much employees value Copilot. Early users told them once they’ve worked with Copilot, they don’t want to go back to working without it.

• 77% would not want to give it up.
• Most people also said they would rather have access to Copilot than a free lunch at work—on a monthly (88%), bi-weekly (79%), or weekly (77%) basis.
• 30% even say access to Copilot would influence their choice of employer.

Study #1: A day in the life

The first study simulated a day in the life of a knowledge worker across a series of tasks. Microsoft divided 147 people into two groups, one working with Copilot and one without. Microsoft asked them to do three tasks: search for information across multiple sources, summarise a meeting recording, and write a blog post.

Copilot users completed tasks faster—while preserving quality and accuracy:

• Users were 29% faster in all three tasks, taking 29 minutes and 42 seconds, compared to 42 minutes and 6 seconds.
• For the writing task alone, a first draft with Copilot took 8 minutes and 12 seconds versus 13 minutes and 48 seconds.
• Across all three tasks, there was no statistically significant difference in accuracy.
• A Large Language Model (LLM) panel also scored the blogs written with and without Copilot. There was no statistically significant difference in quality.

Copilot actually lifts the weight of work:

• Copilot users don’t just expend less effort—they feel like they do too.
• 85% of users said Copilot reduced effort to complete the tasks.

Cost Recovery 101: Making Microsoft Copilot AI Pay for Itself

Before assessing how business value will be achieved, it is essential to determine the needed time savings to justify the investment. Considering a cost of approximately £30 per month per license for Copilot for Microsoft 365, an employee needs to save 54 minutes to break even, assuming an annual employee cost of £70,000 and that all saved time is directed back into work activities.

However, merely reaching the breakeven point isn't sufficient; let's explore attaining a 68% ROI with a 1.5-hour time saving and how various roles can achieve this.

On a functional level, certain features enable quicker completion of regular tasks, such as:

HR: Create detailed job descriptions, policies, and training manuals.

Marketing: Accelerate the creation of initial copy and analyse data to identify key market trends and segmentations.

Sales: Enhance deal closure rates by refining sales conversations, proposals, and presentations.

IT: Formulate project plans, quickly detect data patterns, and stay updated on project calls.

Finance: Simplify reporting and planning processes, analyse data for performance enhancements, and generate professional charts to effectively convey reporting metrics. The value of Copilot for Microsoft 365 goes far beyond saving time. Although the ROI example emphasises this, there are also other important benefits such as increased employee satisfaction, improved quality of work output, and a decrease in digital debt.

Cost savings: The time saved by using Copilot in Microsoft 365 can lead to cost reductions thanks to increased productivity. By speeding up task completion, employees can accomplish more each day, enabling organisations to avoid additional hires as they grow.

Business Process Improvements with copilot in Microsoft 365 streamline various tasks for employees, thereby enhancing the quality of their work. This assistance enables all employees to achieve higher performance levels, turning average performers into above-average contributors. As a result, businesses experience better outcomes, such as quicker and more accurate decision-making, increased lead generation, and faster bid responses.

By choosing Copilot over a competing solution, companies can avoid licensing and integration expenses. This choice also potentially lessens security demands and minimises security incidents. Furthermore, users gain by continuing to use well-known applications for their communication and content creation needs.

By automating straightforward tasks, Copilot in Microsoft 365 helps enhance wellbeing by freeing up time for more valuable activities. This newfound time can contribute to better work-life balance. Additionally, Copilot improves the quality of employees' work by enhancing writing and showcasing advanced data analysis skills.

Talent Retention, Copilot in Microsoft 365 enhances employee productivity, creativity, and efficiency by helping with various tasks. It also supports user upskilling, allowing them to generate content swiftly and autonomously. Thus, copilot aids in attracting and retaining top talent by promoting a supportive and empowering workplace.

From Expense to Asset: Strategies to Recover the Cost of Microsoft Copilot AI

Copilot can go from an expense to an asset by enabling employees to work smarter and faster, while also delivering higher quality outputs. By using Copilot, employees can focus on their core competencies and leverage AI to augment their skills.

Copilot can also help employees learn new techniques and best practices, enhancing their professional development. Moreover, Copilot can improve collaboration and communication across teams and departments, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence. Therefore, Copilot can provide a competitive advantage for organisations that invest in it, as well as a positive return on investment.

Microsoft Copilot AI transforms from a mere expense to a valuable asset by enhancing productivity, quality, and collaboration.