You can't read a tech news site without seeing 'AI' on every headline. Microsoft has rebranded half its products around 'Copilot'. Your competitors are probably talking about it.
But for a small business owner, the questions are simpler: Does it actually work? Will it save me money? Should I be paying attention?
What Copilot Actually Is
Microsoft Copilot is AI assistance built into Microsoft 365 apps. It can:
- Draft emails based on prompts ('write a polite follow-up to Sarah about the invoice')
- Summarise long email threads or documents
- Create first drafts of documents from bullet points
- Generate meeting summaries and action items from Teams calls
- Answer questions about your organisation's documents and emails
- Create presentations from text descriptions
It's not magic. It's a very sophisticated autocomplete that's read a lot of text.
The Pricing Reality
Here's where it gets tricky for small businesses.
Microsoft 365 Copilot costs £24.70 per user per month, on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. That's nearly £300 per person per year.
For a 20-person company, that's £6,000 annually just for the Copilot add-on.
And it requires Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E3/E5 licences as a foundation. If you're on Business Basic or Standard, you'll need to upgrade first.
Where It Actually Helps
Email-heavy roles
If someone spends 3 hours a day processing email, Copilot can meaningfully reduce that. Drafting replies, summarising threads, catching up after holiday - these become faster.
Document creation
First drafts are the hardest part. Copilot can generate a reasonable starting point from bullet points. You still need to edit, but you're editing rather than staring at a blank page.
Meeting catch-up
Missed a meeting? Copilot can summarise what was discussed and what actions were agreed. This actually works well in Teams.
Research within your organisation
'What did we agree with ClientX about pricing last year?' Copilot can search across your emails and documents to find the answer.
Where It Disappoints
Accuracy
Copilot confidently produces text that sounds right but might not be. You absolutely need to check everything it writes. It doesn't know your business nuances.
Learning curve
Getting good results requires learning how to prompt effectively. Staff who expect magic are disappointed. Staff who learn the tool find it useful.
Security considerations
Copilot can access everything the user can access. If your permissions are messy (everyone can see everything), Copilot exposes that. You need proper information governance first.
Cost-benefit for small teams
If someone saves 30 minutes a day, that's valuable. But if they save 10 minutes, the maths doesn't work at £300/year per user.
Our Honest Recommendation
Don't rush in. The technology will improve and likely get cheaper. Early adopters pay premium prices for imperfect tools.
Start small if you do. Deploy to 2-3 power users who will actually learn to use it well. Measure real time savings before expanding.
Fix your foundations first. If your Microsoft 365 isn't well-configured - permissions are messy, data is disorganised, people don't use it effectively - Copilot won't help.
Consider the free alternatives. The free Copilot in Edge and Windows handles many simple tasks. ChatGPT for £20/month might meet your needs without the enterprise price.
The Bottom Line
Microsoft Copilot is genuinely useful technology. For the right use cases, it saves real time.
But for a small business, the per-user pricing makes it hard to justify for everyone. Start with a pilot, measure actual results, and expand only where the benefit is clear.
We're helping clients evaluate Copilot as part of their Microsoft 365 strategy. If you're curious but cautious, we can guide the process.