Grow your MSP with Copilot for Microsoft 365: How to Get Started

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how businesses operate, and for managed service providers (MSPs), it presents an exciting opportunity to deliver more value to clients. Microsoft 365 Copilot, a powerful AI tool, is leading the charge in this revolution by seamlessly integrating with familiar Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, SharePoint, and Teams.

As AI continues to evolve, MSPs and Microsoft Partners who embrace these technologies will find themselves better positioned to meet customer demands, streamline internal operations, and grow their business. In this article, we’ll explore how Microsoft 365 Copilot can help MSPs thrive in this new era of AI-driven productivity and outline key strategies for integrating Copilot into your service offerings.

Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot: Your AI-Driven Business Companion 

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant that integrates with Microsoft 365, using large language models and Microsoft Graph data to streamline tasks like drafting emails in Outlook, generating reports in Excel, and summarizing meetings from Teams. 

For MSPs, this represents a game-changing tool. Copilot not only enhances the services you deliver to clients but also streamlines your internal workflows. AI has gone from being a “nice-to-have” to an essential tool for boosting productivity, enabling both you and your clients to stay competitive in an ever-evolving landscape. 

Unlocking Productivity and Creativity: Copilot’s Core Benefits 

Microsoft 365 Copilot offers a range of tangible benefits for end users, making it an invaluable tool for improving client satisfaction and enhancing your own productivity. Benefits of Copilot for MSPs include: 

Accelerated Productivity

Copilot helps automate mundane tasks, from drafting email responses to managing projects. By speeding up task completion, MSPs and their clients can focus more on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down in administrative work.

Innovative Creativity

No more staring at a blank document! Copilot generates content ideas and helps turn outlines into polished presentations or reports in seconds, allowing you to focus on refining and optimizing the message.

Reliable Security

Microsoft has designed Copilot to maintain the same high standards of security and compliance that businesses expect. This ensures that client data stays safe, allowing MSPs to confidently integrate Copilot into their service portfolio without security concerns.

Redefining MSP Success: IT Support to Strategic Business Consulting

Traditionally, MSPs have been seen as IT consultants—problem solvers who manage and troubleshoot tech issues. However, with tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot, MSPs now have an opportunity to move beyond IT support and take on a more strategic role as business consultants. 

MSPs can guide clients on how to best adopt AI tools like Copilot to meet their unique business needs. Whether it’s identifying areas where AI can reduce costs or help scale operations, stepping into this advisory role helps you deepen your client relationships, deliver more value, and position your business as a trusted partner in their AI journey. 

Adopting this broader consulting mindset can also help MSPs retain clients and build long-term relationships. AI adoption is not one-size-fits-all, so you can differentiate yourself by tailoring Copilot to fit the specific needs of each customer. 

Key Strategies for MSPs to Prepare for Copilot 

Here’s a roadmap for MSPs to successfully integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot into their service offerings: 

1. Getting to Know Microsoft Copilot: Learn the Essentials

A successful Copilot rollout starts with a deep understanding of the tool. Copilot provides personalized responses and actionable insights, and as an MSP, your role is to be the go-to expert. Begin by mastering how Copilot works—its key features, capabilities, and security measures. This knowledge will empower you to confidently answer client questions and offer valuable guidance throughout their AI journey.

• Learn Effective Prompts: Boost Your Copilot Outputs

  As the gateway to harnessing the full potential of Copilot for Microsoft 365, prompts play a pivotal role. Crafting the right prompts allows you to communicate clearly with Copilot, guiding it to deliver exactly what you need. Think of it as having a conversation—how you ask is just as important as what you ask for. 
  
  For more tips and strategies, check out Orchestry's How to Master Prompt Engineering webinar
  

• Learn Security and Compliance: The Backbone of Successful Copilot Adoption

  While Copilot for Microsoft 365 is designed with privacy, security, and compliance at its core, it's vital for organizations to take proactive measures to protect their data. Copilot works within Microsoft’s robust privacy framework, ensuring your data stays private and isn’t used to train its language models. However, maintaining a strong security posture is key to minimizing risks and ensuring compliance when adopting AI tools like Copilot. 
  
  Here are some of the top security and compliance challenges that organizations need to be aware of: 
  
  • Data Leakage: Users may accidentally expose sensitive information while interacting with AI.
  • Data Oversharing: AI-generated content could be shared with unauthorized individuals, putting sensitive data at risk.
  • Non-compliant Usage: Without the right controls, AI could generate content that violates organizational policies or ethical standards. 

Before rolling out Copilot, it's essential for organizations to establish a solid data security posture. Here's how:

• Identity and Device Management:

  Implement controls and use conditional access to manage who can access data and prevent unauthorized entry.

• Data Governance: 

  Discover and classify data, create and enforce policies, and use metadata to clearly describe each data asset.

• Data Management and Access Policies: 

  • Define sensitive data.
  • Identify its location in Microsoft 365.
  • Review sharing permissions and access controls, updating where necessary. 

• Device Security: 

  Ensure proper device management to block bad actors from accessing compromised devices. Apply app protection policies (APP) to keep company data, including Copilot-generated content, secure within authorized apps. 

2. Strategic Pre-sales: Laying the Groundwork for Sales Success

In the pre-sales phase, MSPs should go beyond just selling licenses by crafting a complete Copilot package that includes training, pilot programs, and demos. This offering not only guides clients through AI adoption but also helps them tap into Copilot’s full potential, building trust and long-term partnerships right from the beginning.

• Copilot Training: Ensuring Confidence and Competency 

  Training is the foundation of successful AI adoption, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that are new to AI tools. Jumping into a solution like Copilot without support can feel daunting. MSPs can make this journey easier by providing personalized training, helping clients seamlessly integrate Copilot into their workflows and quickly realize its full potential. 

  • Personalized Training: Tailor training to client needs, offering one-on-one sessions for key staff or company-wide workshops, based on business models and AI familiarity.

  • Hands-on Workshops: Organize practical workshops to demonstrate real-world use cases like drafting emails or generating reports with Copilot, giving users firsthand experience.

  • Ongoing Learning Resources: Provide digital resources such as videos, guides, and best practices to help clients improve and stay updated on new Copilot features. 

• Pilot Programs: Test Before Full Commitment 

  One of the biggest challenges in AI adoption is the fear of the unknown. Many clients hesitate to commit to Copilot without knowing how it will affect their daily operations. A well-crafted pilot program gives them the chance to explore Copilot in a low-risk, controlled setting before making a major investment. This hands-on experience eases concerns and helps clients discover where Copilot can deliver the most value in their unique workflows. 

  • Pilot Program: Offer a limited Copilot rollout for select teams (e.g., marketing or finance) to test its impact without full deployment pressure.

  • Targeted Workflows: Identify and demonstrate specific use cases where Copilot enhances workflows, such as automating emails or managing tasks.

  • Success Metrics: Define and track clear metrics (e.g., time saved, task completion rates) to measure the pilot's success and justify broader adoption.

  • Support & Scale: Provide tailored pilot programs with ongoing support, analyze results, and recommend scaling Copilot across the organization. 

• Demos: Showcasing Copilot’s Capabilities

  For many clients, seeing is believing. Demonstrations are an effective way to showcase Copilot’s potential in action, helping clients understand how it can transform their workflows. Unlike a traditional sales pitch, demos give clients the opportunity to see Copilot solve real problems that they encounter on a daily basis.

  • Tailored Demos: Customize Microsoft’s demo content to align with the client's industry needs (e.g., legal for document drafting, finance for data analysis).

  • Interactive Engagement: Encourage clients to participate in demos by using sample data or specific tasks, making it more relatable to their business.

  • Key Feature Highlights: Showcase Copilot’s seamless integration across Microsoft 365 apps, demonstrating features like email summarization, report generation, and task automation relevant to client challenges.

• Security and Compliance Assessments: Building Trust 

  AI adoption often brings up concerns about data security and compliance, especially when sensitive information is involved. By including thorough security and compliance assessments in your Copilot pre-sales strategy, you can ease client worries and show your dedication to protecting their data. This not only builds trust but highlights your commitment to their security. 

  • Proactive Security Review: Assess client security measures and highlight areas for improvement, explaining Microsoft’s compliance, like not using Microsoft Graph data to train AI.

  • Data Privacy Education: Inform clients on how Copilot aligns with their data privacy policies, and guide them on implementing identity and device management controls.

  • Compliance Assurance: Emphasize Microsoft's certifications (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO) to assure clients of Copilot’s regulatory compliance and minimized risk. 

Demonstrating ROI in Copilot implementation is essential for MSPs as it builds trust, justifies the financial investment, and addresses client skepticism by showing tangible value. It positions MSPs as strategic partners, differentiating them from competitors, and boosts client confidence in adopting AI tools like Copilot by showcasing real-world benefits and productivity gains. 

3. Sales Enablement Unleashed: Strategies for Maximum Impact

Once you've crafted a compelling Copilot offer, the next step is ensuring its successful adoption by targeting clients who are most prepared to benefit from its AI-powered capabilities. In the sales and enablement phase, MSPs can emphasize the real-world value of Copilot, highlighting its potential to drive ROI and boost productivity. By using tools like Orchestry and conducting readiness assessments, you can pinpoint the best candidates for Copilot and tailor your approach to meet their specific needs. Focus your messaging on the ROI and productivity gains that will resonate with decision-makers.

• Assess Copilot Readiness:

  Orchestry offers valuable insights into clients’ current infrastructure and usage patterns, helping MSPs prioritize clients that are AI-ready. Focus on clients who already use Microsoft 365 extensively, have the necessary licenses, and are positioned to benefit from Copilot’s automation features. These assessments will help identify any gaps and provide recommendations for smoother implementation.

• Tailor Messaging to Decision-Makers:

  Craft personalized messaging that resonates with decision-makers by emphasizing ROI and productivity gains. Highlight how Copilot can streamline specific workflows, reduce manual tasks, and deliver measurable improvements across their organization.

• CSP Briefings for Group Education:

  Host CSP Briefings to educate key stakeholders in group settings. These sessions allow you to introduce Copilot’s benefits to a broader audience, while also highlighting available promotions or incentives to ease the financial decision. 

4. Post-Sales Optimization: Strengthening Customer Relationships and Revenue

Deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot is just the first step in your clients' AI journey. The true value emerges through ongoing monitoring, optimization, and support. By offering post-sales optimization, MSPs can ensure clients fully unlock Copilot's potential while positioning themselves as trusted AI partners. This phase allows clients to continuously evolve their use of Copilot, stay updated with new features, and tackle any challenges along the way. With insights from the Orchestry and the Copilot Dashboard, MSPs can track usage, recommend enhancements, and drive better outcomes, keeping the momentum strong and delivering lasting value.

• Monitor Usage: Leverage the Copilot Dashboard to track adoption, sentiment, and usage patterns. Provide regular reports and insights to help clients improve and expand their use of Copilot.

• Ongoing Training: Offer tailored training sessions and introduce clients to Copilot Lab for self-paced learning, ensuring they continuously improve their AI skills and adapt to new features.

• Optimization: Schedule regular reviews to assess Copilot usage and identify new opportunities for automation and efficiency. Customize workflows and suggest expansions to other departments.

• Center of Excellence (CoE): Help clients establish a CoE to foster knowledge sharing among power users, encouraging broader adoption and innovation within the organization. 

By following these steps, MSPs can set their clients (and themselves) up for success in the age of AI-driven productivity. 

Can Copilot Help MSPs?

The rise of AI, particularly Microsoft 365 Copilot, offers MSPs an unprecedented opportunity to drive business growth, differentiate themselves in the market, and deliver more value to their clients. With Copilot, MSPs can move beyond traditional IT support services and embrace a more strategic, consultative role by helping clients fully leverage the potential of AI in their day-to-day operations.

Begin Your Copilot Jouney with Orchestry

Orchestry offers a range of management and automation tools that enhance the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot for MSPs. By integrating Orchestry’s platform, MSPs can: 

• Optimize tenant management: Automate repetitive administrative tasks across multiple tenants, saving time and reducing manual effort.

• Streamline workflows: Automate key processes within Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, complementing Copilot’s capabilities.

• Enhance governance: Ensure that your clients’ AI and automation strategies are secure and compliant through Orchestry’s governance and management solutions. 

When paired with Orchestry’s powerful automation and management tools, Copilot becomes an even more effective solution for streamlining operations, improving governance, and driving long-term client success. By combining Copilot’s AI-driven productivity with Orchestry’s automation tools, MSPs can offer a comprehensive solution that maximizes efficiency and value for their clients. 

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