Microsoft Copilot for every employee? When the licences pay off
5 min read
Short answer
Microsoft 365 Copilot pays off for employees who work a lot in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel and regularly summarise, write or search for information there. At typical licence prices, each licence needs to save less than one hour of working time per month. Start with a small group, measure the benefit and clean up access rights first.
What does this mean for your company? Book an intro call
Many companies work with Microsoft 365, and the question is obvious: should we switch on Copilot for everyone right away? The honest answer: for some, yes, for many, no. And before the first licence goes live, there is a piece of homework that is often overlooked.
What can Copilot do in daily work?
Copilot works directly in the programs your team already uses:
- Teams: summarising meetings, recording tasks and open points.
- Outlook: summarising long email threads, drafting replies.
- Word and PowerPoint: creating drafts from existing documents.
- Excel: requesting analyses and formulas in plain language.
- Search: finding information in files, chats and emails the user has access to.
How do you calculate the benefit?
The calculation is simple. Assume a licence price of 30 euros per user and month, and check the current price before deciding. With internal costs of 50 euros per working hour, each licence needs to save 36 minutes a month to break even. That sounds little, and for many office roles it is realistic.
Two caveats belong with it, though. First, saved time only counts if it is put to good use. Second, not every licence holder uses the tool regularly. So measure instead of estimating.
Who is Copilot less likely to pay off for?
- Employees with little office work, for example in production, the warehouse or field service.
- Tasks that happen in specialist software outside Microsoft 365.
- Recurring processes with fixed steps, such as entering invoices. Targeted automation is usually cheaper and more reliable here than a general assistant.
What do you need to settle before rollout?
Clean up access rights. Copilot shows every user everything they have access to. In many companies, folders and files have been shared with everyone over the years that were never meant for everyone: salary lists, contracts, personnel files. What nobody found before, Copilot finds in seconds. Review sharing settings before the start.
Rules and training. What may Copilot be used for, and who checks the results? The basic rules from ChatGPT at work apply here as well.
Works council. If a tool can be used to monitor behaviour or performance, the works council has a say under German law (§ 87(1) no. 6 BetrVG). Involve it early.
My suggestion: test first, then roll out
Start with five to ten people from different departments for three months. Ask participants to roughly record what they use Copilot for and how much time it saves. Afterwards you know which roles the licence pays off for. How to bring the team along is covered in Introducing automation.
Julius Launhardt advises small and mid-sized companies on selecting and introducing AI tools, independent of any vendor. More on the AI consulting page.
Frequently asked questions
Do all employees need a Copilot licence?
No. Licences pay off mainly for people with a lot of office work in Microsoft 365. Those who mostly work in production, in the warehouse or with customers rarely benefit enough to justify the monthly cost.
Is there a cheaper alternative?
Microsoft offers a chat version at no extra cost, but it does not access all your emails, meetings and files. For writing and research it is often enough. Check which features your team really needs before buying.
Is Copilot GDPR-compliant?
For business customers, Microsoft offers a data processing agreement and data processing within the EU. In practice, the bigger risk is usually overly broad access rights within your own company, which Copilot makes visible.
Does the works council have to agree?
It may. Copilot processes data about employee activities and can therefore be suitable for monitoring performance. Involve the works council early and set out the rules for use in an agreement.