Clarity

With Copilot, it’s not about replacing people—it’s about empowering people by simplifying workflows and inspiring a forward-thinking mindset. It makes us faster, more productive, and easier to do business with.

–Ryan Asdourian, VP Lumen Technologies

In this chapter, you will:

• Explore why aligning Copilot capabilities with your strategic business objectives is fundamental for successful adoption

• Learn how to evaluate the readiness of your data and technology ecosystem for AI

• Discover how to build a compelling business case that demonstrates the value Copilot can add across your organization

The cost of confusion

Say you were starting a construction project, and your CEO bursts into the first planning meeting, shouting excitedly about new, innovative bricks. “They’re better than traditional bricks because they are self-stacking and align automatically,” she exclaims. The project manager flips through photos of buildings made from these amazing bricks; you’re sold. “Let’s start straight away,” you say. It’s a no-brainer. But even a house built with self-stacking bricks would require a blueprint—a strategy for building and a clear idea of the purpose that the structure will serve.

This scenario might feel farfetched, but a version of this conversation has been playing out in boardrooms around the world as AI hype inspires leaders to decree, “We must add AI to this project.” Forging ahead without taking the time to get clarity on the problems you’re solving with Copilot and the outcomes you want to achieve is likely to waste resources and ultimately delay progress. It’s important to get the foundations right. Just as a house requires a strong foundation and a clear blueprint, Copilot’s ability to help you get more stuff done is dependent on the quality of your data. The rate at which the building goes up and the condition of the building that stands in the end are still influenced by the skill set of the people involved.

Deep knowledge of how your organization operates and an understanding of the customers you serve are required to get value out of Copilot. Take the time to understand the current digital literacy of your staff; identify gaps in knowledge that could impact their ability to utilize Copilot effectively. And just as constructing a physical building requires permits and inspections, implementing AI like Copilot safely requires appropriate consideration of ethical, governance, and compliance implications.

Prioritizing creative and meaningful work

On average, knowledge workers spend 60 percent of their working day on repetitive tasks, in unnecessary meetings, or making sense of duplicated communications. That means that many organizations are losing hundreds of hours every week to “work about work,” as one report phrases it.¹ That’s time that could be spent on strategic initiatives, creative problem-solving, or proactive customer service. It can be hard to prioritize creativity and meaningful work when interruptions are constant.

The 2025 Work Trend Index report from Microsoft and LinkedIn highlights that employees are interrupted every two minutes, averaging 275 interruptions a day. This results in a workforce that is exhausted and overstimulated; the same study found that 80 percent of workers say they lack the time or energy to do their job.² Microsoft Copilot can help solve these challenges so that people can reclaim time in the day to prioritize what truly matters. As a leader or consultant, are you clear on what that means?

What would it mean if you could get several hours a week back? Do you know what you would do with the time saved? At a personal level, there’s no shortage of ways to fill half an hour. Many workers already juggle more than a day’s work, so that time could be spent getting ahead for the next day or recharging with family. But what about when those 30 minutes a day are aggregated across thousands of employees into perhaps weeks or months of time saved? How do you ensure that recovered time is reinvested wisely? Clarity on your organization’s purpose and objectives means you can align the capabilities of Copilot with your organization’s goals.

Copilot is so much more than just a shiny new tech tool. It can be a partner that helps everyone get stuff done if you pinpoint the workloads where Copilot can make an immediate difference and then create a clear vision and adoption strategy. This allows your people to leverage Copilot in every area of their daily work. Clarity on the value your organization stands to gain by embracing Copilot will prevent it from becoming another failed technology adoption project.

Let’s explore the capability, leadership, technology, and data readiness needed for your organization to realize value from Microsoft 365 Copilot and make the cost justification clear.