Microsoft 365 Copilot for a small team: is it worth paying for?
What Microsoft 365 Copilot does, how it differs from the free Copilot Chat, what it needs to work well, and how to trial it sensibly in a small team.
· 6 min readMost business owners we speak to aren't short of opinions about AI. What they're short of is a clear picture of what it would actually do on a Tuesday afternoon in their own office.
That's a fair gap to want filled. It's hard to judge whether something is worth your time until you can see it working on real, ordinary jobs.
This article offers five everyday tasks where an AI assistant tends to help straight away. For each one there's a simple way to try it, what to check, and where the time usually comes back. None of them needs new systems or a big decision, and all of them keep a person firmly in charge of the result.
Before you start: which assistant?
You may already have one. If your business uses Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is available at no additional cost with eligible plans, with more capable paid options on top. If you use Google Workspace, Gemini features are now included in Workspace business plans. Standalone assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude also offer business plans.
Whichever you use, sign in with your work account on a business plan rather than a personal free one, as business plans generally give you more control over how your information is handled. We supply Microsoft licences and know those tools well, but any of these will handle the tasks below. If you haven't yet thought about which tasks to start with, our earlier article on where to begin with AI is a good companion to this one.
1. Drafting and tidying emails and proposals
Writing is where most people feel the benefit first. A blank page is slow; a rough draft you can react to is quick.
How to try it: give the assistant a few bullet points and some context. For example: "Draft a friendly reply to a customer who has asked to move their installation date. We can offer the 14th or the 21st. Keep it short." Or paste in a proposal you've already written and ask it to make the language clearer and more concise.
What to check: facts, dates, prices and promises. The assistant only knows what you tell it, and it can fill gaps with confident guesses. Read it as you would a draft from a capable new colleague who doesn't yet know your customers.
Where the time comes back: mostly in getting started, and in the tricky messages you'd otherwise put off. Many people find the tone help is as useful as the speed, particularly for awkward conversations.
2. Summarising long documents and meeting notes
Contracts, supplier terms, tender documents, long email threads, a 40-page report someone has asked you to "have a look at". These all take time to read properly, and it's easy to lose the thread.
How to try it: ask for a short summary, then ask follow-up questions. "What are the notice periods in this agreement?" or "List the actions agreed in these notes, with who is responsible for each." If your meetings are recorded and transcribed in Teams or Google Meet, your assistant may be able to work from the transcript directly, depending on your plan and settings.
What to check: anything you'll rely on. A summary is a map, not the territory. For contracts and anything with legal or financial weight, use the summary to find the important sections, then read those sections yourself. And be thoughtful about what you share: our guidance is to keep personal data and commercially sensitive documents to tools your business has approved for them.
Where the time comes back: in the first read, and in finding the one clause or decision you need without scrolling through everything.
3. First drafts of policies, procedures and job descriptions
Every business needs documents that are important but rarely urgent: a hybrid working policy, a new starter checklist, a job description for a role you haven't hired before. They tend to sit on the to-do list for months.
How to try it: describe your business in a couple of sentences and ask for a first draft. "We're a 25-person engineering firm near Cambridge. Draft a one-page new starter checklist covering IT, health and safety and the first week." Then edit it to sound like you.
What to check: that it reflects how you actually work, and that anything with legal implications is right for the UK and for your situation. For HR and employment matters, ACAS is a good free reference, and a draft is still worth running past your usual adviser.
Where the time comes back: in getting from nothing to something. Editing a sensible draft is far quicker than starting cold, and the finished document usually turns out more complete.
4. Turning messy notes into lists and tables
Scribbled notes from a site visit. A voice memo recorded in the car. A long email listing twelve things a customer wants changed, in no particular order. AI assistants are good at bringing order to this kind of material.
How to try it: paste the notes in and say what shape you want. "Turn this into a table with columns for item, location, priority and who's doing it." Or "Group these customer comments into themes and count how many fall under each."
What to check: that nothing has been dropped or merged by mistake. A quick side-by-side comparison with the original usually takes a minute or two.
Where the time comes back: in the fiddly reformatting that nobody enjoys, and in making notes shareable with the team the same day rather than at the end of the week.
5. Answering "how do I…" questions in Excel and Word
Most people use a small slice of what Excel and Word can do, and the rest stays out of reach because working it out takes too long. An assistant can close that gap.
How to try it: describe what you want in plain words. "In Excel, how do I highlight any invoice more than 30 days overdue?" or "Write a formula that looks up a customer's account manager from the second sheet." You can also paste in a formula someone else wrote years ago and ask what it does. In Word, ask how to set up consistent headings, a contents page or a template your team can reuse.
What to check: test any formula on a copy of the spreadsheet first, with a few rows where you already know the right answer. If your business relies on a particular workbook, treat changes to it with the same care you'd want from anyone else.
Where the time comes back: in the searching and trial and error. Many people also find they learn the feature along the way, so the next time they don't need to ask.
A few habits that make all five work
The same few habits apply across every task above:
- Give context. Who it's for, what you want and what good looks like. Better instructions give better results
- Ask again. If the first answer isn't right, say what's wrong and ask for another version
- Keep a person responsible. Whoever sends or uses the result checks it first
- Mind what you share. Keep sensitive and personal information to tools your business has approved. The ICO's guidance on AI and data protection is a helpful reference
A sensible first step
Choose one of the five tasks that comes up often in your week. Try it three or four times over the next fortnight using the assistant you already have access to, and jot down a line each time about whether it helped.
If it's useful, share what you did with one colleague and ask them to try the same thing. Small, shared wins like this are how good habits tend to spread through a team, at a pace that suits everyone.
If you'd like help choosing where AI could make the most difference in your business, and setting it up sensibly, our AI Adoption service is designed for exactly that.
