Accelerating Productivity and Insights with Microsoft Copilot for M365 

Critical Issue

A leading Insurance Direct organization partnered with our team to deploy Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. The initiative aimed to enhance workplace productivity, improve collaboration, and generate meaningful insights from enterprise data. The project was structured to ensure governance, security, and measurable return on investment (ROI), aligning with the organization’s broader digital transformation strategy. 

Customer Profile

Leading Insurance Direct Organization

Over $500 million in annual revenue

Key Problem

The organization needed to enhance workplace productivity, improve collaboration, and generate meaningful insights from enterprise data while ensuring governance, security, and measurable return on investment (ROI) .

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Before deploying Copilot, the organization faced several challenges common to organizations adopting AI-driven productivity tools: 

• Data Oversharing Risks: Without a clear governance model, permissions across SharePoint and OneDrive were inconsistent, leading to potential security gaps. 

• User Adoption & Change Management: Employees were unfamiliar with how Copilot could streamline daily workflows and improve efficiency. 

• Lack of AI-Driven Insights: The organization lacked structured methodologies to extract actionable intelligence from business documents, emails, and collaborative content. 
• Unstructured Prompting & Inefficiency: Without standardized best practices, employees had inconsistent experiences in leveraging Copilot effectively. 

Outcomes

Increased Efficiency Across Key Workflows 

30% Reduction in time spent drafting emails and summarizing complex communications in Outlook. 

40% Faster document creation in Word using Copilot-assisted structuring and editing. 

25% Improvement in Excel analysis speed, enabling data-driven decision-making through automated insights. 

Enhanced User Engagement & AI Adoption 

High adoption rates: Over 70% of pilot users actively used Copilot within the first month of deployment. 

Positive employee sentiment: Surveys indicated that 85% of users found Copilot helpful in daily tasks. 

Data-driven optimizations: Insights from user interactions allowed for refined prompt strategies and continuous training enhancements. 

Stronger Governance & Data Security 

Oversharing risks reduced: Over 85% of flagged external sharing links were either removed or remediated. 

Improved compliance posture: Successfully aligned Copilot usage with the organization’s data security policies. 

our solution

1. Governance & Security Readiness 

Our initial focus was conducting a governance audit to ensure that Copilot’s deployment aligned with the organization’s security policies. Key activities included: 

• OneDrive and SharePoint audit: Identified and mitigated oversharing risks by resetting unnecessary external links and reinforcing internal access controls. 

• Sensitivity Labeling & Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Implemented structured sensitivity labels to classify and protect organizational data. 

• Security Stage Gate: Established a review phase to confirm governance compliance before onboarding additional users. 

2. Tailored Copilot Enablement Strategy 

To drive user adoption, we designed a structured rollout plan that included: 

• Persona-Based Use Cases: Identified key employee personas and tailored Copilot use cases to their roles. 

• Custom Prompt Library: Developed over 100 structured prompts across Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to ensure optimal usage. 

• Prompt Buddy Deployment: Enabled a pre-configured prompt coaching tool inside Microsoft Teams to help users discover effective queries. 

• Training & Enablement: Conducted five weeks of live training sessions, covering core Copilot functionalities across different M365 applications. 

• Ongoing Support & Adoption Monitoring: Provided a structured feedback loop for continuous improvement. 

3. ROI Measurement & Optimization 

To ensure business value, we implemented a framework to measure ROI and track utilization: 

• Baseline Productivity Metrics: Measured employee workload before Copilot deployment, analyzing email response times, document turnaround, and collaboration effectiveness. 

• Post-Deployment Utilization Tracking: Leveraged Microsoft Purview and engagement dashboards to monitor AI adoption. 

• Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs): Provided a structured summary of Copilot utilization, highlighting ROI insights and optimization opportunities. 
• Strategic Recommendations: Identified the highest-impact activities to drive further efficiency and AI-powered decision-making. 

LESSONS LEARNED & NEXT STEPS

• Proactive governance is key to successful AI deployment; addressing security concerns early streamlines adoption. 

• Standardized prompting significantly improves user experience and ROI, ensuring employees leverage AI effectively. 

• Ongoing training & support are critical—periodic coaching sessions sustain engagement and maximize AI-driven productivity gains. 

• Expanding AI-driven automation: Based on initial success, the organization is evaluating Copilot Studio for further automation and intelligent chatbot integrations. 

CONCLUSION

The deployment of Microsoft Copilot for M365 at the organization showcased how AI-powered productivity tools can drive measurable impact while maintaining security and governance. By combining a structured rollout strategy, tailored user training, and data-driven optimizations, the organization successfully increased efficiency, enhanced security, and improved employee collaboration. 

The organization continues to refine its Copilot adoption strategy, ensuring ongoing value realization and alignment with its digital transformation initiatives.