Listen here instead:
No matter the size of your business, keeping overheads at a minimum is crucial. Small businesses understandably have to monitor their costs even more closely than larger ones. So when you hear that there’s a Microsoft add-on costing nearly £25 per user, per month, your first instinct might be: “We can’t afford that.” Especially when it costs more than the full Microsoft 365 Business Premium license.
But here’s what I want you to consider: It’s not about what Copilot costs — it’s about what your time is worth. As a Product Director, I’ve seen so many businesses lose valuable time through manual admin, repetitive tasks, and endless document hunting.
That’s exactly where Microsoft Copilot comes in. It’s not just another tool; it’s a serious time-saver, and when used right, a game-changer for productivity and cost savings. Wasted time isn’t just a tangible salary cost, but also in the lost opportunity to be doing other things. In this article, I’ll show you how Copilot can start paying for itself almost immediately — and how you can put it to work in your business, fast.
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What This Blog Covers:
- The Real Metric: Time Saved, Not Price Paid
- No Complex Setup. Just Seamless Integration.
- Don’t Just Turn It On — Turn It Into a Habit
- Make Copilot Work for You
The Real Metric: Time Saved, Not Price Paid
At first glance, this NextGen AI assistant may appear to be quite costly (£24.26 per month per user isn’t exactly cheap) — especially when stacked against a Microsoft 365 Business Premium license at around £17 per user.. However, the best way to quantify Copilot’s return on investment is to look at the time it saves, and not the price you pay.
Think of it this way. The average office worker in the UK earns about £35,828 a year. If you divide that across a full-time workload (around 2,000 hours annually), you’re looking at roughly £17.19 per hour. So, if Copilot saves just two hours a month, it’s already paid for itself. And these aren’t hypothetical savings: they’re happening every day in businesses that have implemented it smartly – more on that later.
Stop Wasting Time on Tasks AI Can Handle
Let’s face it, no matter our role, we all tend to get stuck in repetitive tasks far more often than we’d like. This is where the value of Copilot truly comes to the surface: by taking care of the tedious, admin-heavy tasks. Whether it’s taking meeting notes, summarising client documents, or trying to remember how to do a VLOOKUP in Excel, Copilot gets the job done in less time than it would take you to make your morning brew.
Instead of spending hours Googling how to do something in Excel, just ask Copilot. It can solve problems, manipulate data, and even compile reports from multiple sources in a fraction of the time. For example, you could say, “Tell me everything about Project XYZ for Company ABC, with references to emails and Teams chats,” and Copilot would return a neatly formatted document.
But this would give you an immediate head start, not a finished product. It’s not about doing your job for you. It’s about taking you from a blank page to something you can run with.
Turn Time Saved Into Happier Customers
While time saved is the key metric to measure — customer satisfaction is another (and arguably the most important). Faster response times mean better customer service. Say a customer emails you asking for a status update. With Copilot, you can search your entire organisation’s data — emails, meeting notes, documents — and get a consolidated view in moments. That’s a major business advantage.
That competitive edge isn’t limited to the customer service sector either. If you’re at a desk most of the day, Copilot will benefit you in one way or another. Whether it’s legal, finance, marketing, or recruitment — any role dealing with documents, emails, or meetings will see a boost.
Catch Mistakes Before They Cost You
Another lesser-known advantage is improved accuracy. Mistakes are expensive, and they tend to happen when we pick up the pace (like rushing to get back to a customer). The cost of making errors is seen in the added time it takes to fix them. Copilot isn’t just great for helping you get started – it’s also an excellent proofreader. It can help you review documents for inconsistencies, double-check tone, or highlight missing sections. It’s like having a second pair of AI eyes on everything.
No Complex Setup. Just Seamless Integration.
In the previous article, Rachael spoke about how the new Copilot app is even more user-friendly by making the tools easier to find, understand, and embed into real workflows. So if your business already runs on Microsoft — as most SMBs do — Copilot slots right in. It’s easy, quick, and immediately effective. No need for complex integration or new systems. For most small businesses, especially those in service-based sectors, that’s a big win.
Even in industries, like recruitment, for example, where third-party CRM tools are standard, Copilot still adds value. You don’t need full integration for it to be useful. If your data lives across Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams, Copilot can already tap into that ecosystem powerfully.
Don’t Just Turn It On — Turn It Into a Habit
One of the biggest mistakes I see is businesses buying Copilot and doing nothing with it. This is usually because they don’t understand how to get the most out of it and therefore don’t know how to use it. While this tool is intuitive, don’t think you can just “plug and play”. Simply turning Copilot on is not the way to go. You want to invest in some light-touch training or internal workshops.
Training Support Without the Price Tag
The best part is that Microsoft is heavily investing in Copilot adoption. There are funded onboarding programmes like their Copilot Academy for small businesses — not just for the big corporates. So don’t be shy about asking your Microsoft vendor or account manager what’s available. There’s so much free, self-paced content out there.
Want Real ROI? Build a Culture of Curiosity
Success also hinges on fostering a sharing culture where everyone is eager to learn from each other. The most successful businesses we’ve seen are the ones that create an internal hub — like a Teams channel — where employees share tips, tricks, and prompts. That peer learning unlocks real value because it’s the best way to see how Copilot meets the unique needs and workflow of the organisation.
I get it, it can be a bit awkward when you begin to see just how much it can do. Copilot can feel like cheating. You go from a blank screen to a polished draft, and it feels like you didn’t do the work. But that mindset has to shift. Once colleagues see the efficiency, the stigma disappears. Trust me, if you saw someone in your office whip up a perfect report in minutes, you’d ask them how they did it.
Make Copilot Work for You
If you’ve been on the fence about Microsoft Copilot, let me reassure you — it’s not about adding another tool to your tech stack. It’s about freeing up your team’s time, cutting unnecessary costs, and helping your business move faster and smarter.
Remember, the real issue most small businesses face isn’t just a lack of time or resources: it’s wasted effort. Too much time is spent on admin and dealing with delays. That’s where Copilot can make a difference, quickly.
In my years of experience, I can assure you that Copilot empowers small businesses to do more with less. If you’re looking to start turning Copilot from a costly experiment into a profit-driving initiative, that’s exactly what I’m here for.
My advice is to embrace the learning curve and build a culture of curiosity. Use Copilot to do the heavy lifting so your team can focus on what they’re good at.
