Is Microsoft 365 Copilot worth it for a small business?

What it actually does

Copilot works inside the Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft’s own overview lists these examples:

• +Outlook: draft emails and summarize long threads.
• +Word: draft, rewrite, and summarize documents.
• +Excel: analyze data and build formulas.
• +PowerPoint: build a presentation from a prompt or an existing document.
• +Teams: summarize and transcribe meetings and capture action items.

Source: Microsoft Learn, “What is Microsoft Copilot?”. Microsoft is renaming these products, so you may see “Microsoft 365 Copilot” and “Microsoft Copilot” used for the same thing.

What you may already have

Before you buy anything, check what your plan includes. Microsoft describes a basic Copilot Chat that comes with eligible Microsoft 365 licences. It mainly works from the web, plus files you paste or upload. The paid add-on is the version that works with your own emails, files, calendar, and meetings automatically. For many small teams, trying the included chat first is a sensible way to find out whether anyone would actually use the paid one.

Who it suits, and who should wait

• +It suits people who spend hours a week in email, documents, and meetings, on a Microsoft 365 setup that’s already tidy.
• +It can wait if you mostly work on site and rarely open a laptop, if your team is still on free webmail, or if your files and sharing settings are a mess.
• +It’s not a replacement for people. It produces drafts that someone has to read.

What to fix before you turn it on

Who can see which files. Microsoft states that Copilot only surfaces organizational data a person already has at least view permission to open, and tells customers to make sure the right people have the right access in tools like SharePoint. In practice, a document that was “technically shared” with everyone can suddenly be easy to find. Tidying that up is the most important step.

Where your data goes. Microsoft says prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren’t used to train its foundation language models. It also says requests are routed to the closest data centres but can use other regions when capacity is tight. If you hold sensitive records, read Microsoft’s data and privacy page for Copilot and ask your advisor. This guide isn’t legal advice.

Checking the output. Microsoft itself says responses aren’t guaranteed to be 100% factual. Decide who reviews what before it goes to a customer.

Start small. Give it to two or three people for a month. Microsoft’s admin tools include usage reports, so you can see who actually used it before buying more.

Copilot onboarding with AltaSmith

Copilot onboarding is a short, structured setup so it’s safe and useful from day one:

• +A sharing review: who can see which files, fixed before the licences are assigned.
• +Licence setup: through our Microsoft partnership, so you get the licences and the setup from one provider.
• +Training: a role-specific session for your team, not a generic webinar.
• +A usage check after about a month, so you keep what’s working and drop what isn’t.

AltaSmith is a brand of Code To Cloud Inc., a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner. Larger Microsoft 365 and Azure projects are handled by Code To Cloud at codetocloud.io. New to Microsoft 365 itself? See Microsoft 365 setup for small business.

What it costs

Copilot is usually sold as an add-on licence billed per person, on top of your Microsoft 365 plan. The price depends on your plan, how many people need it, and the currency and term at the time, and Microsoft changes licence names and prices often, so we quote it for your team instead of publishing a number that would go out of date. Ask for a quote and tell us how many people you’d want to start with.