0:00

<b>Over the last year, we've seen huge

0:00

anticipation for Microsoft 365 Copilot.</b>

0:05

<b>And it's finally here.</b>

0:07

<b>For most organizations, the question isn't

0:07

whether to adopt, but how and how fast.</b>

0:13

<b>Early adopters stand to gain the most, but

0:13

moving ahead without a plan comes at its</b>

0:18

<b>own risks.</b> <b>You're listening to The Catalyst Gets

0:19

Clear on Copilot Adoption, a mini-series</b>

0:23

<b>hosted by Softchoice's Braeden Banks.</b>

0:25

<b>From building a business case,</b> <b>to getting security, rollout and adoption

0:27

right, we're going to help leaders like</b>

0:32

<b>you chart your best path forward.</b>

0:34

<b>It starts right here, right now.</b>

0:39

<b>On today's episode, we ask, how do you

0:39

start planning for Copilot adoption?</b>

0:48

<b>If you're considering Copilot for

0:48

Microsoft 365, you're far from alone these</b>

0:51

<b>days.</b> <b>The first question you might ask is, how

0:52

soon can we get started?</b>

0:55

<b>But perhaps the more important question

0:55

is, how do we know this is going to pay off?</b>

0:59

<b>We know about Copilot's huge

0:59

transformative potential, but there's more</b>

1:03

<b>to it than simply turning it on and

1:03

watching the productivity gains roll in.</b>

1:06

<b>To get it right, you'll need a deep understanding of how your team works today</b> <b>To get it right, you'll need a deep

1:06

understanding of how your team works today</b>

1:10

<b>and all the ways they'll be able to

1:10

transform tomorrow.</b>

1:13

<b>On today's episode, we'll be taking you

1:13

through the best practices and potential</b>

1:16

<b>pitfalls</b> <b>on the way to building a clear, compelling

1:17

business case for Microsoft Copilot.</b>

1:21

<b>I'm sitting down with Jaime Waterfield,

1:21

the Director of Microsoft Category at</b>

1:24

<b>Softchoice.</b> <b>Jaime has been instrumental</b>

1:26

<b>in guiding our customers</b> <b>through this game-changing</b> <b>transformation and taking full</b>

1:28

<b>advantage of Generative AI.</b>

1:31

<b>She also happens to be a pro when it comes

1:31

to spotting trends and aligning strategies</b>

1:34

<b>and use cases to technology and business

1:34

demands.</b>

1:37

<b>Jaime, welcome to the show.</b>

1:40

<b>Heading into 2024, there's a huge

1:40

amount of hype around Copilot.</b>

1:46

<b>The tool is amazing.</b> <b>Its capabilities are unprecedented and

1:47

there's a ton of interest out there in the</b>

1:52

<b>marketplace.</b> <b>How does an organization go about the

1:53

process of making sure that Copilot</b>

1:58

<b>lives up to that hype?</b> <b>I think it's really important to

1:59

take the appropriate time to think about</b>

2:05

<b>the different personas within your

2:05

organization and their specific use cases.</b>

2:13

<b>We see a lot of companies just like, I'm

2:13

going to get one or two</b>

2:16

<b>licenses and try this out in my IT

2:16

department.</b>

2:20

<b>Well, one, IT works very differently than

2:20

your sales organization, who works</b>

2:26

<b>differently than your marketing

2:26

organization, who works differently than</b>

2:29

<b>your product team, who works differently

2:29

than your finance, right?</b>

2:32

<b>So throughout your business, the use cases

2:32

are different and the value they're going</b>

2:40

<b>to get out of Copilot is different.</b>

2:43

<b>Now, Copilot may not fit the full

2:43

organization, but if you go too narrow,</b>

2:50

<b>then you're gonna dismiss it if you choose

2:50

the wrong person or use case, like two</b>

2:56

<b>people in IT.</b> <b>If you go too wide and say, okay, well,

2:57

I'm gonna get everyone a license, but you</b>

3:04

<b>haven't defined specifically the use case

3:04

for them or the outcome that you're</b>

3:09

<b>expecting,</b> <b>then you're likely gonna be disappointed

3:11

with the results.</b>

3:14

<b>So having clear idea of these personas

3:14

because of these use cases, an idea of</b>

3:23

<b>then what outcomes you want, whether it's

3:23

okay, it's gonna save them time or it's</b>

3:30

<b>going to improve the quality and then

3:30

training, right?</b>

3:34

<b>So we talk about adoption and change

3:34

management.</b>

3:37

<b>So giving them the right guidance</b>

3:40

<b>to ensure they're successfully positioned

3:40

to maximize what the tool can do for them.</b>

3:46

<b>This is a new language that they have to

3:46

learn, new prompting.</b>

3:50

<b>It's not natural to most people.</b>

3:53

<b>And so ensuring that community, those

3:53

champions, the right training and guidance</b>

3:58

<b>to maximize.</b>

4:00

<b>So all of that has to be built upfront

4:00

into your approach and into your business</b>

4:05

<b>case to allow this-</b>

4:07

<b>the right evaluation and ultimately then

4:07

confidence as you further move forward in</b>

4:13

<b>that journey.</b> <b>So Jaime, we understand the "why" behind

4:15

approaching with a clear understanding of</b>

4:18

<b>the business case and the individual

4:18

personas and use cases.</b>

4:21

<b>What's at risk for organizations who maybe

4:21

skip that step, don't consider that, or</b>

4:29

<b>move ahead with Copilot without what we

4:29

believe to be at the important planning</b>

4:33

<b>phase?</b> <b>And have we seen any examples</b>

4:36

<b>of organizations just, you know, in our

4:36

early work with Copilot where something</b>

4:40

<b>has gone wrong?</b> <b>Yeah.</b>

4:42

<b>So, you know, if you're not doing the

4:42

proper identification of the personas,</b>

4:48

<b>right?</b> <b>The risk is I buy licenses for people,</b>

4:53

<b>and I mean, they're not, they're not the

4:53

cheapest licenses, right?</b>

4:57

<b>and I give these people access and they

4:57

don't use it,</b>

5:03

<b>or they try and they get frustrated with

5:03

it,</b>

5:05

<b>and so they abandon it, right?</b>

5:08

<b>So obviously no one wants to spend money

5:08

on something that's not gonna be used.</b>

5:13

<b>So that's certainly one risk.</b>

5:16

<b>Alternatively, if I provide access to the

5:16

wrong people and expect to see a</b>

5:23

<b>particular outcome, or maybe it's the

5:23

right people but they don't provide the</b>

5:27

<b>right support and training around it and I

5:27

don't get the outcome, then I'm gonna make</b>

5:33

<b>a quick</b> <b>decision around, okay, this isn't a fit

5:33

for us without giving it the proper time</b>

5:40

<b>or the proper focus with the persona.</b>

5:43

<b>So, you know, we have seen people buying

5:43

two licenses.</b>

5:47

<b>Well, I'm just going to try it out and

5:47

decide if I want to expand it further.</b>

5:51

<b>That's probably not going to go very well

5:51

because again, it's such a narrow look</b>

5:59

<b>into your business that you're not</b>

6:03

<b>going to have the right amount of data and

6:03

support to further justify moving forward.</b>

6:08

<b>So, you know, we are seeing companies err

6:08

on the side of buying less licenses,</b>

6:14

<b>thinking that, okay, I'm just going to

6:14

test this out.</b>

6:18

<b>And then sitting here going, well, yeah,

6:18

it's a neat tool, right?</b>

6:23

<b>But it's probably not a fit for us.</b>

6:25

<b>So they're missing out on the real

6:25

benefits and the potential that they can</b>

6:32

<b>unlock</b> <b>with the technology by taking that

6:33

approach.</b>

6:36

<b>No, and I mean, it's great that you raise

6:36

that word "potential" specifically.</b>

6:39

<b>And I mean, that point that one of the

6:39

risks what I'm hearing is rushing that yes</b>

6:44

<b>or no decision on Copilot for the long

6:44

term.</b>

6:46

<b>It sounds like what you're suggesting is

6:46

it's easy, almost too easy for an</b>

6:50

<b>organization to rush the test and decide,

6:50

hey, no, this isn't for us.</b>

6:54

<b>They're losing that competitive edge that

6:54

all of the competition who are on</b>

6:57

<b>Copilot or similar Gen AI are getting.</b>

7:00

<b>So, no, that's a great point.</b> <b>So we know that in the early stages,

7:02

Copilot adoption can support measures</b>

7:07

<b>around optimization of processes, making

7:07

workflows easier, better, leading up to</b>

7:12

<b>those productivity gains we've seen

7:12

rewarded so often.</b>

7:16

<b>But how does an organization go about

7:16

justifying that value and justifying that</b>

7:22

<b>investment in the long term beyond just

7:22

10%, 20 % more productive?</b>

7:28

<b>What does that look like?</b> <b>Yeah, so there are a few other areas that

7:30

you can take a look at.</b>

7:34

<b>One is inspiring creativity.</b>

7:37

<b>So Copilot is enabling fresh ideas.</b>

7:42

<b>It's giving alternative solutions.</b>

7:45

<b>So if you think about your product team or

7:45

your marketing team, advertising team,</b>

7:52

<b>that creativity, that's valuable.</b>

7:55

<b>That has a competitive edge that has,</b>

7:59

<b>in a way, its own productivity gain, but

7:59

in a different light because you're able</b>

8:06

<b>to think differently with the assistance

8:06

of the tool itself.</b>

8:12

<b>You can also look at quality, quality of

8:12

content produced.</b>

8:17

<b>Copilot can provide intelligence

8:17

suggestions.</b>

8:22

<b>It can reduce errors.</b>

8:24

<b>And so that higher quality,</b>

8:26

<b>again is making you more reliable to your

8:26

end customer.</b>

8:33

<b>It's putting you in a better light, could

8:33

again give you a competitive advantage.</b>

8:39

<b>And then also the faster decision-making,

8:39

being able to get more research, better</b>

8:47

<b>research at your fingertips is then

8:47

enabling faster decision-making, which</b>

8:54

<b>could speed up a,</b> <b>a product life cycle, right?</b>

8:57

<b>Again, different types of cost savings

8:57

that are a bit more on the periphery of</b>

9:04

<b>productivity gains and more tangible to

9:04

the business.</b>

9:07

<b>productivity gains and more tangible to the business.</b> <b>So, Jaime, you've gone through how the

9:07

ability of Copilot to enhance that</b>

9:11

<b>creativity and quality of outputs across a

9:11

whole bunch of different use cases.</b>

9:15

<b>It makes a lot of sense to build into your

9:15

business case, but to put yourself in the</b>

9:18

<b>shoes of someone, perhaps an IT leader or

9:18

business leader who's in the process of</b>

9:25

<b>building that case themselves, how do they

9:25

go about putting that on a PowerPoint</b>

9:29

<b>slide, so to speak?</b> <b>Yeah, so again, this is why it's important

9:30

to partner with different business</b>

9:34

<b>departments,</b> <b>and look at those process flows, right?</b>

9:38

<b>You talked earlier about the benefits of

9:38

AI improving process flows, right?</b>

9:43

<b>So if I'm say working with my product

9:43

development team on their specific process</b>

9:51

<b>flows and where we expect some gains, then

9:51

I might say, okay, their typical sprint or</b>

9:59

<b>cycle to developing on a new design or

9:59

idea is</b>

10:06

<b>15 weeks and two of those weeks is spent

10:06

on particular research.</b>

10:12

<b>And then we can say, all right, well, with

10:12

Copilot, we expect to be able to cut</b>

10:18

<b>that in half.</b> <b>And then that's gonna allow us to move to

10:19

the next phase, which is design thinking.</b>

10:27

<b>And because of the creativity aspects

10:27

here, I'm able to cut two days out of</b>

10:33

<b>that</b> <b>life cycle and now instead of bringing a

10:33

product to market in say 15 weeks, we're</b>

10:39

<b>able to bring this new product to market

10:39

in 10 to 12 weeks.</b>

10:43

<b>What does that benefit me in terms of

10:43

sales, in terms of competitive advantage?</b>

10:48

<b>So you can start at each step of the way

10:48

to put some dollar value to that, right?</b>

10:54

<b>So depending on your business, taking a

10:54

look at very specific departments, very</b>

10:59

<b>specific process and workflows,</b>

11:02

<b>and then the expected, time savings or,

11:02

other benefits from, from the improvements</b>

11:10

<b>that Copilot is enabling.</b> <b>You can put some hard dollars to that.</b>

11:14

<b>Right.</b> <b>And it also reinforces that notion that,

11:14

you know, this can't just be an IT or just</b>

11:19

<b>a technical decision, right?</b> <b>Really understanding how this tool is

11:20

going to show up in the daily, daily work</b>

11:24

<b>of everybody, who's going to touch it is

11:24

just town amount to success.</b>

11:30

<b>And you can kind of see right away, you

11:30

know,</b>

11:32

<b>failing to consider that would almost

11:32

certainly lead to disaster or at least,</b>

11:36

<b>you know, wasted investment.</b> <b>Absolutely.</b>

11:39

<b>Absolutely.</b> <b>Beyond the productivity gains and the

11:39

upticks we've already seen in Microsoft</b>

11:43

<b>studies and things like that about workers

11:43

able to produce the same level of work</b>

11:48

<b>much faster, how does an organization

11:48

justify the investment beyond just those</b>

11:54

<b>early productivity gains?</b> <b>Yeah, so I think one of the big ones is

11:56

the creativity, right?</b>

12:01

<b>So Copilot is inspiring creativity by

12:01

providing fresh ideas and alternative</b>

12:07

<b>solutions.</b> <b>So depending on your business, maybe you

12:08

have a product team, right?</b>

12:14

<b>And so thinking through new product ideas.</b>

12:18

<b>Copilot can really help to inspire that

12:18

creativity with your product team or with</b>

12:23

<b>your marketers.</b> <b>That is going to result in faster to

12:24

market perhaps or more unique fresh ideas</b>

12:31

<b>that are gonna be more marketable.</b>

12:33

<b>Also just the faster decision making.</b>

12:35

<b>because of the research capabilities of Copilot.</b>

12:40

<b>And then quality, which I think is

12:40

different than a productivity game because</b>

12:43

<b>it's really ensuring that you're getting

12:43

intelligent suggestions and reducing</b>

12:50

<b>errors so that quality of your content

12:50

that's being produced is next level,</b>

12:55

<b>again, to help your competitiveness in the

12:55

field or your reliability to the end</b>

13:03

<b>consumer.</b> <b>Excellent.</b> <b>Now let's take a bit of a reverse angle.</b>

13:08

<b>What about those cases where someone who

13:08

sees the light and wants to get Copilot</b>

13:13

<b>moving, but faces a skeptical leadership

13:13

team or maybe a board that's not seeing</b>

13:18

<b>that vision?</b> <b>Do you have any advice for leaders in

13:20

those positions?</b>

13:22

<b>Yeah.</b> <b>I mean, obviously you've got your business

13:22

case that we talked about earlier.</b>

13:27

<b>And so leaning into that business case and

13:27

focusing on the long-term benefits.</b>

13:32

<b>So it's important to consider Copilot as an</b>

13:35

<b>investment for the long term.</b>

13:38

<b>it certainly is going to address immediate

13:38

challenges like some immediate</b>

13:41

<b>productivity gains, but it's also

13:41

preparing the organization for future</b>

13:46

<b>advancements in AI.</b>

13:48

<b>So looking at this as a stepping stone

13:48

into understanding how AI can benefit,</b>

13:54

<b>your organization in the long term.</b>

13:57

<b>And, and then looking at those benefits

13:57

that we mentioned earlier, like making you</b>

14:02

<b>more creative.</b> <b>Higher quality, how is this helping you

14:03

from a competitive standpoint?</b>

14:07

<b>So these would be considered long-term

14:07

benefits.</b>

14:11

<b>And that's why it's important to

14:11

understand the use cases and the personas,</b>

14:16

<b>right, that you can benefit from Copilot.</b>

14:18

<b>So choosing one department that you know

14:18

is gonna have the greatest return based on</b>

14:25

<b>how they use the tools and where they have

14:25

challenges today, that can help.</b>

14:32

<b>get through that skepticism and show some

14:32

real hard results in a relatively quick</b>

14:37

<b>timeframe.</b> <b>Amazing.</b>

14:39

<b>Copilot is great and it's built into just

14:39

about everything within the Microsoft</b>

14:45

<b>technology stack.</b> <b>But what about cases or use cases where

14:46

there is a need for Generative AI, but</b>

14:50

<b>something more custom built on something

14:50

like Azure OpenAI, for example, makes more</b>

14:55

<b>sense?</b> <b>How does an organization make that

14:55

determination as they're building the</b>

14:58

<b>business case?</b> <b>Yeah, I mean, this isn't a new question,

14:59

right?</b>

15:02

<b>It's that build something custom versus

15:02

buying off the shelf and package, right?</b>

15:07

<b>There's obviously going to be pros and

15:07

cons and limitations depending on which</b>

15:12

<b>way you go.</b> <b>So for more complex use cases where I do

15:14

need customization, I want more control,</b>

15:20

<b>then a custom-built Generative AI

15:20

solution is probably going to be the</b>

15:24

<b>better choice for me.</b> <b>I can train my own LLMs.</b>

15:27

<b>I can</b> <b>have it work exactly the way that I need

15:29

it for my business.</b>

15:33

<b>that investment is therefore going to be

15:33

worthwhile.</b>

15:36

<b>Jaime, you know, after listening to our

15:36

conversation this morning, what is, what</b>

15:42

<b>is the next thing that, anyone out there

15:42

listening, who is in the process or</b>

15:47

<b>planning to begin the process of building

15:47

that business case, what do you recommend</b>

15:51

<b>that they do next?</b> <b>If they aren't sure where to start, right,</b>

15:56

<b>I'd recommend reaching out to Softchoice

15:56

and having a conversation with, with our</b>

16:00

<b>specialists around understanding, okay,

16:00

their business, their different users,</b>

16:06

<b>we can provide the guidance on, you know,

16:06

where they could focus in. Our readiness</b>

16:11

<b>offerings, focus on all aspects, from the

16:11

use cases and the personas to the adoption</b>

16:20

<b>and change management best practices.</b>

16:23

<b>So as you build that overall</b>

16:25

<b>plan for your business and start to put

16:25

some estimates behind it.</b>

16:30

<b>We are prepared to guide you not just from

16:30

our own experience, but the hundreds of</b>

16:35

<b>customers we've already spoken to and

16:35

learned, have takeaways from.</b>

16:41

<b>Because you as a customer only are doing

16:41

this once, right?</b>

16:43

<b>And we're doing this on a repeatable

16:43

motion.</b>

16:46

<b>So we're able to provide those learnings

16:46

into the experience and working alongside</b>

16:50

<b>you.</b> <b>From there then, that will start to

16:51

uncover</b>

16:54

<b>your technical dependencies and we can

16:54

again hold your hand through that journey.</b>

17:00

<b>Alright, Jaime.</b> <b>Thank you so much for your time.</b> <b>Thank you.</b>

17:02

<b>It's a pleasure to be here.</b> <b>Building a clear business case is step one

17:06

on the flight path to success with Copilot</b>

17:10

<b>for Microsoft 365.</b> <b>This process is all about getting clear on

17:12

use cases, generating buy-in and</b>

17:16

<b>excitement, and charting all the steps

17:16

between takeoff and your destination, a</b>

17:19

<b>fully AI-assisted workforce.</b> <b>Well, that's a wrap for today.</b>

17:22

<b>On our next episode, we'll look into

17:22

everything you need to know to assess your</b>

17:25

<b>readiness for Microsoft Copilot.</b> <b>Until then, I'm your host, Braedon Banks.</b>

17:30

<b>Thank you for listening.</b> <b>Imagine a world where your organization

17:33

doesn't just follow AI trends, it leads</b>

17:38

<b>the way.</b> <b>Softchoice is ready to help you build that

17:39

world with Copilot for Microsoft 365.</b>

17:43

<b>Why Softchoice?</b> <b>We help our customers navigate the whole

17:45

Copilot journey with a proven consulting</b>

17:49

<b>framework, secure implementation

17:49

experience, and deep certification in</b>

17:53

<b>Microsoft technology.</b> <b>We know Microsoft better than anyone.</b>

17:57

<b>Every Copilot needs a navigator.</b> <b>Softchoice is yours.</b>

18:01

<b>Visit softchoice.com/microsoft-copilot</b>

18:01

<b>to learn how we can help you</b>

18:07

<b>unleash the potential in your people and

18:07

technology with Copilot.</b>