Unleashing the Power of Microsoft 365 Copilot: Opportunities for MSPs and Microsoft Partners

Microsoft 365 Copilot is poised to revolutionize how organizations work, offering unparalleled opportunities for managed service providers (MSPs) and Microsoft partners. Michal Pisarek, CEO of Orchestry, shares his insights on how MSPs can help their customers prepare for Copilot, the new services they can offer, and strategies for driving Copilot adoption.

Here’s a comprehensive guide based on Michal’s expert advice.

Preparing Customers for Copilot: A Three-Pronged Approach

1. Strengthening Security

The first step in preparing for Microsoft 365 Copilot is ensuring robust security measures are in place. MSPs must implement foundational security policies using tools like Microsoft Defender and Purview. These security frameworks protect sensitive data and create a secure environment for deploying AI-powered solutions like Copilot.

Michal: The first thing is obviously from a security perspective, making sure that your customers have those default base level security policies implemented, whether that's through Microsoft Defender, whether that's through some of the capabilities of, let's say, Purview, or just a general base level security stuff that you're going to offer.

2. Enhancing Content Quality

Quality content is crucial for a successful Copilot implementation. MSPs should guide their customers in organizing and cleaning up their content. Poor content quality can severely impact the effectiveness of Copilot, making it essential to have well-structured and relevant data.

Michal: If you're an MSP, on the content side, think about things like governance and Microsoft Purview. Help your customers understand that their Copilot and AI experience is going to be really terrible if their content is really terrible.

3. Providing Comprehensive Training

Training is the third pillar of preparing for Copilot. MSPs should offer extensive training sessions to help users understand how to use Copilot effectively, including how to prompt correctly. This training not only enhances user experience but also positions MSPs as invaluable partners in their clients’ digital transformation journeys.

Michal: By teaching your users how to use Copilot and how to prompt correctly, you're going to get much better results.

Key Strategies for Successful Copilot Adoption

Understanding the Copilot Journey

Implementing Copilot is not a one-time project but an ongoing journey. Learn more about Copilot readiness, the requirements, strategies and more in our helpful guide!

Michal: Copilot implementation is a journey, not a one-time project. It involves ongoing engagements or mini-projects to fully leverage Copilot within an organization. I advise MSPs to offer recurring services, such as Copilot adoption practices, to ensure continuous engagement and optimization.

Ensuring Data Quality

Copilot is influenced by the quality of the data, which impacts how useful it is. Outdated data will bring outdated results. 

Michal: The effectiveness of Copilot is directly tied to the quality of the organization's data. MSPs should advise customers to organize and clean up their content to ensure a better Copilot experience.

Strategic Licensing

Copilot licenses are flexible and can be added on top of existing Microsoft 365 subscriptions for Business Stardard and Business Premium customers. Organizations no longer need to purchase 300 licenses to start. That doesn't mean you should give everyone a license at the same time.  Roll it out slowly and test niche groups for a more focused and cost-effective implementation.

Michal:  I recommend starting with a smaller subset of users to target specific use cases and rolling it out over time. 

Leveraging Evangelists

To foster long-term adoption, get a smaller user group to utilize and become comfortable with Copilot. Then roll it out to a larger user group. This grassroots approach can significantly enhance user buy-in and satisfaction!

Michal: Get a small subset of users to fall in love with Copilot and let them evangelize its benefits within the organization. This approach ensures better long-term adoption.