Microsoft 365 Copilot can help employees create, summarise, analyse and work with information more efficiently. That sounds useful.
So, should you simply give everyone access? Not necessarily.Â
Before rolling out Copilot, there are some important questions to answer about your people, your information and your cybersecurity.
Start by looking at how people work today:
These are potential areas where Copilot could help.
Starting with real work gives your AI project a purpose. Instead of adopting AI simply because it is available, you can focus on areas where it could deliver meaningful improvements.
Before introducing Copilot more widely, it is important to understand who can access your business information.
Microsoft 365 Copilot works with information that the individual user is already authorised to access. That makes good permissions particularly important.
Imagine an employee was given access to a SharePoint site for a project three years ago and that access was never removed. They may have forgotten they can access those files, but Copilot could potentially use information from content they still have permission to access when responding to them.
The problem in that situation is not that Copilot has bypassed your security. The underlying permissions were already too broad.
Microsoft’s current deployment guidance recommends identifying high-risk sites and sensitive content, addressing oversharing and fixing inappropriate access and permissions as part of establishing a secure foundation for Copilot.
Before a wider rollout, consider reviewing:
This is good practice even without Copilot, but AI makes getting it right increasingly important.
Permissions are only one part of the picture.
Introducing AI into your Microsoft 365 environment should form part of your broader cybersecurity and information governance strategy.
Before expanding Copilot, consider whether you have appropriate controls around:
Are accounts properly protected, and are users only being given the access they need to perform their roles?
Do you know where confidential business, customer, financial and employee information is stored and who can access it?
Do you have appropriate controls over internal and external sharing?
Are there safeguards to help prevent sensitive information from being shared or handled incorrectly?
Can your IT team identify risky access, investigate issues and maintain appropriate controls as your environment changes?
Microsoft’s current Copilot security and governance guidance centres on three areas:
Microsoft highlights tools including Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Advanced Management as part of this approach.Â
You do not need employees to understand all the technology behind these controls. But as a business, you should be confident that the right security foundations are in place before giving AI greater access to the information people use every day.
You do not necessarily need to begin with the entire company.
Start with a smaller group of employees who have clear use cases for Copilot. Give them appropriate support and training, then assess what is actually happening.
Use those lessons to improve your approach before expanding Copilot across the organisation.
Technology is only part of a successful rollout.
Employees also need to understand:
Keep the rules understandable. If people cannot understand your AI policy, they will find it difficult to follow it.
Purchasing an AI licence is easy. Creating useful, secure and responsible adoption requires more preparation.
You need clear business use cases, appropriate information access, strong cybersecurity foundations and people who understand how to use the technology responsibly.
Getting your Microsoft 365 environment, security and people ready can help you introduce Copilot with greater confidence.
The question is not simply: “Can we use Copilot?”
A better question is: “Are our people, information and security ready to use Copilot effectively?”
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant that works across eligible Microsoft 365 applications and services. It can help users draft, summarise, analyse and work with information they are authorised to access. Microsoft is progressively renaming it Microsoft Copilot, so you may see both names.
Copilot is designed to respect a user’s existing Microsoft 365 permissions. It can surface information the user is already allowed to access, which is why inappropriate access and oversharing should be addressed before a wider rollout.
Not necessarily. Begin with roles that have clear, repeated use cases and provide appropriate training. Use the results to decide whether broader deployment is justified.
Review information permissions, security, approved use, employee guidance and the business tasks you want to improve. It is also useful to identify a pilot group and decide how success will be measured.
Compare selected tasks before and after adoption. Measure time, quality, turnaround time, employee experience or customer impact, then assess what employees do with any capacity gained.
