How Microsoft 365 Copilot Can Transform Your Business — A Practical Guide for Brighton and Sussex Companies
If you have heard the buzz around Microsoft 365 Copilot but are not sure what it actually does — or whether it is worth the investment — you are not alone. Most business owners we speak to across Brighton and Sussex know AI is changing the way people work. What they want to know is: what does it actually do for my team, and how do I get started?
Here is the practical answer.
What Is Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant — powered by artificial intelligence — built directly into the Microsoft 365 applications your team already uses: Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and more. It does not replace your staff. It handles the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that slow them down.
Think of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat as a colleague who has read every email, attended every meeting, and can summarise it all in seconds. It sits inside your existing Microsoft 365 Business subscription and works with your business data — securely, within your tenant. Under the hood, Copilot in Microsoft 365 uses the Microsoft Graph to understand the relationships between your people, files, emails, and calendar — so its answers are relevant to your organisation, not generic.
Microsoft Copilot is not a standalone product. It is AI woven into the tools you are already paying for. If you already have a qualifying Microsoft 365 business plan, you can use Copilot as an add-on or upgrade to a plan that includes it. Previously known as Office 365, the platform has evolved — and Copilot capabilities represent the biggest leap forward yet.
What Can Microsoft Copilot Actually Do for Your Business?
Forget the marketing slides. Here is what small and medium businesses are using Microsoft 365 Copilot for in practice:
Meetings that do not waste time. Copilot in Microsoft Teams can transcribe meetings in real time, summarise key decisions, and list action items — so nobody has to take minutes again. Missed a call? Open Copilot Chat and ask what was discussed.
Emails handled in half the time. In Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Copilot drafts replies, summarises long threads, and highlights what needs your attention. For teams drowning in email, this alone justifies the cost.
Data without the headaches. In Microsoft Excel, Copilot analyses spreadsheets using plain English. Ask it “what were our top 5 clients by revenue last quarter?” and it builds the formula, the chart, and the summary for you.
Presentations in minutes. Give Copilot a brief in Microsoft Word and it will generate a first draft in Microsoft PowerPoint — complete with structure, content, and formatting. It is not perfect every time, but it gets you 80% of the way there.
Documents that write themselves. Need a proposal, a policy update, or a client-facing report? Copilot in Microsoft Word drafts from your prompts in Microsoft 365 and your existing files, keeping your tone and branding consistent.
The Microsoft 365 Copilot app also provides a central place to interact with AI across all your Microsoft 365 apps, making it easy to search, summarise, and create content without switching between applications. You can also integrate Copilot with third-party tools and data sources using Microsoft Graph connectors, extending its intelligence beyond the standard Microsoft 365 services.
Already Have Microsoft 365? Here Is What Copilot Costs
Is Microsoft Copilot free for businesses? Not quite. There is a free version of Microsoft Copilot available in Microsoft 365 — the Copilot app and Copilot Chat offer basic AI features at no extra cost. But the real productivity gains come with the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licence.
Here is how Copilot pricing and business plans break down:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic — includes web versions of the Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Teams, and cloud storage. Copilot is available for Microsoft 365 as an add-on to this eligible business plan.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard — adds desktop versions of the Microsoft 365 applications. The most popular business plan for small and medium businesses looking to use Copilot. Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Copilot together deliver a powerful combination.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium — adds advanced security via Microsoft Purview, device management, and compliance on top of Standard. The better choice for Business Premium customers who handle sensitive data. Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Copilot together give you both productivity and information privacy.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business — the newest version of Microsoft Copilot. Microsoft introduced this new Microsoft 365 plan bundling AI directly into a single licence at a competitive price point. Microsoft Copilot Business delivers everything small and medium businesses need to get Copilot working from day one.
Can existing Microsoft 365 Copilot customers switch to Microsoft 365 Copilot Business? Yes — Microsoft has made migration straightforward for existing Copilot users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. If you are using Microsoft 365 and want to get Copilot, your business subscription likely qualifies.
Is Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Worth It?
Honestly? It depends on how it is rolled out.
We have seen businesses buy Microsoft 365 Copilot licences across their entire team, only for adoption to stall within weeks. People do not know what to ask it. They do not trust the output. They go back to doing things the old way.
The difference between Copilot being a cost and Microsoft Copilot being a genuine productivity tool comes down to three things:
- Configuration. Copilot works with your business data — but only if your data is organised. If your SharePoint is a mess, Copilot AI answers will be too. Microsoft Entra account users need proper permissions so Copilot only surfaces what each person should see.
- Training. Your team needs to know what Microsoft 365 Copilot can do and how to prompt it effectively. A 30-minute demo is not enough.
- Ongoing support. AI features update constantly. Copilot Studio lets you build custom agents and workflows — but someone needs to set that up and maintain it. New Microsoft 365 features roll out regularly and you need a partner who keeps up.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Prompts to Get Your Team Started
Unsure if AI is worth the investment? The biggest barrier we see is not the technology — it is people not knowing what to type. Here are real prompts in Microsoft 365 Copilot that your team can start using from day one:
Microsoft Teams — after a meeting:
- “Summarise the key decisions from this meeting and list the action items with owners.”
- “What did we agree about the project timeline?”
- “Draft a follow-up email to the attendees with the next steps.”
Microsoft Outlook — managing your inbox:
- “Summarise this email thread and highlight anything I need to respond to.”
- “Draft a polite reply declining this meeting and suggest an alternative time next week.”
- “What emails from this sender have I not replied to?”
Microsoft Excel — making sense of data:
- “What are the top 10 products by revenue this quarter? Show me a chart.”
- “Highlight any rows where the value is more than 20% above average.”
- “Create a pivot table showing sales by region and month.”
Microsoft Word — drafting documents:
- “Write a first draft of a company policy on remote working, keeping the tone professional but approachable.”
- “Summarise this 20-page report into a one-page executive brief.”
- “Rewrite this paragraph to be clearer and more concise.”
Microsoft PowerPoint — building presentations:
- “Create a presentation from this Word document, with one slide per section.”
- “Add a slide summarising our quarterly results with bullet points.”
- “Suggest a better layout for this slide.”
Copilot Chat — your AI starting point:
- “What files have I worked on this week related to the Henderson project?”
- “Summarise all emails and Teams messages from Sarah in the last 7 days.”
- “Help me prepare for my 2pm meeting — what do I need to know?”
These are not hypothetical. These are the prompts in Microsoft 365 that our clients across Brighton and Sussex are using every day. The key is giving your team a starting point — once they see the results, adoption takes care of itself.
How We Help Brighton and Sussex Businesses Get Copilot Right
At Ingenio Technologies, we are a Brighton-based managed IT services provider — and we have been rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot for businesses across Sussex since launch.
We do not just flick the switch and walk away. Our approach covers:
- Readiness assessment — Is your Microsoft 365 environment set up for Copilot? We audit your data, permissions, and licensing before anything gets turned on.
- Structured rollout — We start with power users, gather feedback, then expand. No big-bang deployments that overwhelm your team.
- Hands-on training — Practical sessions tailored to how your team actually works, including prompt libraries like the examples above. We help your people use Copilot effectively from day one.
- Copilot Studio setup — We build custom AI agents and workflows using Copilot Studio so your business gets more from Microsoft 365 Copilot than the out-of-the-box experience.
- Ongoing management — As Microsoft adds new Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities and features, we keep your setup current and your team informed.
Final thought
Microsoft 365 Copilot is not a magic button. It will not fix a broken process or replace a good team.
But for businesses that set it up properly, train their people, and have the right support behind it — it genuinely changes how work gets done. Less time on admin. More time on the things that matter.
If you are a business in Brighton, Sussex or the surrounding area and you are not sure where to start with Microsoft 365 Copilot — or whether it is even the right move — we are happy to talk it through.
No hard sell. Just a practical conversation about what makes sense for your business.
