Essential Considerations in Allocating Copilot Licenses

The term Copilot has been gaining significant attention in recent weeks, particularly in light of recent announcements during Microsoft Inspire. However, there remains a degree of uncertainty regarding whether Copilot is a singular entity or if multiple Copilots exist within Microsoft. Addressing this question, Darrell as a Service's article endeavors to provide clarity on the matter.

Evidently, Microsoft Copilot functions as a service that offers support and information to various other services and tools within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This is evident from its nomenclature when integrated with different tools, such as Copilot in Word, Copilot in Excel, Copilot in Outlook, Copilot in Teams Meetings, among others.

Furthermore, Copilot is also present in the Viva suite, maintaining its designation across different components: Copilot in Viva Engage, Copilot in Viva Goals, Copilot in Glint, Copilot in Viva Topics, and so forth. This uniformity of nomenclature underscores its interconnected role within Microsoft's offerings.

How much does it cost

As officially disclosed by Microsoft during its Microsoft Inspire event, the pricing for Copilot has been set at $30 per user per month (€27 per user per month). This pricing model applies to users with a Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, or Business Premium license. Consequently, the Copilot subscription cost is separate from the expenses incurred for Microsoft 365 licenses.

The following table presents the individual costs associated with each of the aforementioned licenses, along with the corresponding expenses after the addition of a Copilot license. Additionally, the last column showcases the percentage increase in price resulting from the inclusion of the Copilot service.

The initial observation derived from the data presented in the table is that the cost of Copilot has a notable impact on Business licenses. The price increment introduced by Copilot corresponds to 1 or 2 times the original license expenses, which may pose a challenge for organizations utilizing Business licenses.

Given this financial consideration, it prompts a crucial question: is it justifiable for your employees to avail themselves of the Copilot service? Careful deliberation on the cost-benefit analysis and the potential productivity gains must be undertaken to determine the practical value of implementing Copilot for your workforce.

Yes, it pays off for employees to use Copilot

Those who have witnessed Copilot's presentation videos or currently utilize its services are likely to respond affirmatively to the posed question regarding the value of employees using Copilot. The positive consensus surrounding Copilot, as demonstrated by its users and promotional materials, suggests that it indeed proves to be worthwhile for enhancing employee productivity and overall coding experience.

For individuals who have yet to acquaint themselves with Copilot's functionalities or for those seeking to revisit its features, we provide a link to Microsoft's compilation of brief videos, each spanning less than 90 seconds, Microsoft 365 Copilot YouTube playlist. These videos succinctly showcase the advantages and benefits of utilizing Copilot, serving as a valuable resource for gaining insights into its capabilities.

Undoubtedly, Copilot holds the potential to significantly streamline employee workflows by saving substantial time in tasks such as documentation creation and information retrieval from the intranet and other corporate repositories. Furthermore, the tool empowers employees to swiftly obtain answers to recurrent inquiries, like entitlement to vacation days, thereby enhancing operational efficiency.

With Copilot's aid, employees can undertake a broader spectrum of tasks and activities with heightened effectiveness and precision, leading to enhanced productivity and overall work quality. Consequently, the cost of €27 per month for a Copilot license appears relatively modest when juxtaposed with the benefits it confers. Extrapolating this cost over a year, a Copilot license amounts to €324 per employee. At present, this might seem quite reasonable, given the advantages it delivers. However, as the number of employees in the company increases, the aggregate cost escalates significantly, which may present challenges in managing expenses. For example, a company of 500 employees will pay €162,000 per year.

This is not Microsoft Copilot...yet ;). Thanks to cottonbro studio for this picture from Pexels

To optimize Copilot's utilization and maximize its value to the organization, a thoughtful analysis is imperative. It entails considering the diverse tasks and responsibilities of each employee, identifying areas where Copilot can have the most considerable impact on productivity and efficiency throughout the company. By thoughtfully aligning Copilot with specific roles and functions, the company can maximize the return on investment and harness the full potential of this tool.

Which categories of employees are likely to experience the most significant productivity gains through the adoption of Copilot?

Considering the array of functionalities that Microsoft Copilot offers, including its capabilities to:

• Collaborate and co-create content with users, assisting in writing, editing, summarizing, and generating materials in real-time.
• Streamline the process of creating presentations by transforming ideas into well-structured slides through natural language commands.
• Efficiently identify trends and generate professional data visualizations in significantly less time than previously required.
• Enhance meeting productivity by providing real-time summaries and action points within the context of conversations.
• Accelerate development through the integration of new capabilities within Power Apps and Power Virtual Agents, promoting low-code solutions.
• Aggregate data from various sources, such as documents, presentations, emails, calendars, notes, and contacts, to aid in chat summarization, email composition, key date retrieval, and project plan development.

We can deduce that employees engaged in tasks encompassing document creation, data analysis, team and project management, and application development stand to benefit the most from acquiring a Copilot license.

On the other hand, for certain employees, the incorporation of Copilot may not be as pertinent. This is not to imply that the tool lacks utility in their daily tasks; however, from a company-wide perspective, the overall benefit may not be sufficient to warrant the investment for every individual. A discerning evaluation of the potential returns in productivity gains and efficiency improvements is essential in determining the optimal distribution of Copilot licenses within the organization.

Strategy for Assigning Copilot Licenses

Companies should adopt a strategic approach to identify employees whose roles involve tasks aligning with the functionalities described above. Taking the sales department as an illustrative example, senior positions often engage in activities suitable for Copilot utilization, making them prime candidates for license assignment. The following are potential performance-enhancing scenarios:

• Sales managers can establish more precise sales objectives and strategies by leveraging insights from past years' data analysis.
• Sales executives can generate sales agreement documents with greater accuracy, empowered by Copilot's capabilities.
• Business development specialists can explore markets and uncover hidden trends, optimizing their analyses.

Additionally, the possibility of consolidating multiple responsibilities into a single role becomes viable due to Copilot's ability to efficiently execute diverse activities within a reduced timeframe.

The subsequent phase involves setting clear and measurable objectives to gauge the impact of Copilot adoption, thus determining the extent to which productivity is augmented and the underlying reasons for such enhancements.

Tracking and assessing the progress of these objectives follow, ensuring their relevancy and impact are adequately assessed, with necessary adjustments made to accurately measure Copilot's influence.

Ultimately, the analysis of outcomes becomes crucial, enabling a comprehensive evaluation of Copilot's significance and contributions within the company's operations.

Conclusion

Microsoft Copilot proves to be an exceptional tool or service, with its extensive capabilities offering substantial value to employees, rendering it a highly desirable asset for companies. However, in light of the price presented by Microsoft during the Microsoft Inspire event, prudent consideration prompts inquiries to discern the optimal impact Copilot should have on individual companies. Ascertaining the most suitable approach to leverage its benefits becomes imperative in light of the associated costs.

For this reason, I propose the key steps of a strategic approach that companies can adopt to ascertain the most appropriate employees whose tasks stand to benefit the most from Copilot's influence, ultimately leading to heightened productivity and a positive impact on the company's profits.

References

• Microsoft 365 Copilot YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXPr7gfUMmKxDKxah3zpG4NhhDj-2lAvc
• Announcing Copilot in Viva Topics - Microsoft Community Hub: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/viva-topics-blog/announcing-copilot-in-viva-topics/ba-p/3801414
• Introducing the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program and new capabilities in Copilot | Microsoft 365 Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/05/09/introducing-the-microsoft-365-copilot-early-access-program-and-new-capabilities-in-copilot/
• Boost engagement with Copilot in Microsoft Viva | Microsoft 365 Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/04/20/introducing-copilot-in-microsoft-viva-a-new-way-to-boost-employee-engagement-and-performance/
• Copilot in Microsoft Viva - Microsoft Community Hub: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/copilot-in-microsoft-viva/ct-p/CopilotViva
• From Copilot in Microsoft Viva to the new Microsoft Intune Suite—What’s new in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft 365 Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/04/26/from-copilot-in-microsoft-viva-to-the-new-intune-suite-heres-whats-new-in-microsoft-365/
• Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work: https://news.microsoft.com/reinventing-productivity/
• Introducing Bing Chat Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing, and Microsoft Sales Copilot | Microsoft 365 Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/07/18/introducing-bing-chat-enterprise-microsoft-365-copilot-pricing-and-microsoft-sales-copilot/
• Compare Microsoft 365 Enterprise Plans | Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/microsoft365-plans-and-pricing
• Microsoft 365 for Business | Small Business | Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business#heading-ocb6f5
• cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/es-es/@cottonbro/
• Pexels: https://www.pexels.com