As a managed service provider (MSP), you’re on the front lines of helping your customers harness the transformative power of Copilot for Microsoft 365. To truly unlock the potential of this powerful AI tool, MSPs must not only understand the technology but also possess the ability to articulate its value proposition and their role in the adoption journey. This is an essential part of building your AI practice (alongside building a profitable offer and getting to know security best practices) and requires a strategic approach that extends beyond technical expertise.
To help you confidently lead conversations about Copilot with your customers, let’s explore the areas you should focus on to leverage your role as a business advisor and help them get the most from Copilot for Microsoft 365.
1) Speak from experience to get the conversation started
So, what’s the best way to prepare yourself to speak about Copilot for Microsoft 365 with your customers?
The first step is to get started with your own license and try it for yourself. Being able to speak from first-hand experience will have the most impact when discussing Copilot. And trying it for yourself gives you the opportunity to see the advantages and develop your own use cases for saving time and money. Unsure how to do create your own use cases?
To collect and address a range of use cases, set up your own pilot program with employees in a variety of functions. It’s particularly important to get your sales team involved because it will be easier to help them learn to sell Copilot if they’re using it for themselves.
Depending on your customers’ business needs, there’s likely some overlap with how you use Copilot and how they could benefit from it. These first-hand examples can provide a lot of value when discussing AI adoption with your customers and give concrete ways that they can save time and money themselves.
First-hand knowledge will also help you build trust with your customers. This is key as you step into that business advisor role as you help your customers get started on their AI journey and with Copilot for Microsoft 365.
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2) Help your customers define success
After using Copilot yourself and getting a better sense of what it’s capable of, the next part of the conversation is about defining what success with Copilot looks like.
Part of this process is setting realistic expectations in initial conversations. Remember, Copilot has many applications and it’s still a new tool. Some Copilot functionality is still developing across Microsoft 365 apps. Setting expectations will help you mitigate any gaps in functionality that are still being worked out.
Think of it this way—if you buy a car expecting it to take you to the moon, you’re going to be disappointed. But, if you understand the car will take you from city A to city B, you’ll be pleased with how fast you got there and all it can do.
The same applies to Copilot. It has so many uses but they’re not all going to be relevant to your customers. The key is to work with customers to identify the best ways for them to use it, focusing on where they’re spending a lot of time and money to identify ways that Copilot can provide value.
3) Demonstrating the value of Copilot for Microsoft 365
Here’s a framework you can use to help your customers identify the areas where Copilot can help them the most.
Create user personas
To start, work with your customers to develop user personas within their organizations. They can start simply by identifying functions and roles in the organization. Ask:
- Who will benefit most from Copilot? What functions are they in?
- Who are key influencers for Copilot engagement?
- Who can act as champions and help drive adoption?
Highlight key activities
From there, highlight the most impactful activities for each of these personas—focus on activities where they’re seeing the most time or money lost.
For a sales representative, this could include creating sales proposals, creating sales presentations and managing opportunities.
Identify pain points
Next, identify the pain points they experience when completing these key activities.
When it comes to creating a sales proposal, do reps struggle with structuring content? For sales presentations, are they unsure how to create compelling, well-designed slides?
Create use cases for tackling pain points
Once you’ve identified the pain points, focus on finding ways that Copilot can tackle these paint points for each persona’s key activities.
In the example above, Copilot can help with structuring and drafting content for the sales proposal and creating compelling, well-designed slides for a sales presentation.
Bringing ROI into the conversation
These use cases can also help you start a conversation around return on investment (ROI), specifically where they can save time and money. In the case of our example, this not only leads to time saved but it can also increase deal close rate by enabling better sales conversations, proposals and presentations.
ROI will vary from customer to customer, depending on how much an employee uses Copilot and the type of tasks, but the potential to streamline tasks across Microsoft 365 apps represents an opportunity for significant ROI.
Need a bit more support to get this conversation started? Microsoft’s Copilot Scenario Library is a great resource for use cases that includes impacted KPIs, value benefits and concrete ways that Copilot can help a range of functions across an organization.
4) What’s next: Phased deployment and ongoing support
To round out any conversation about Copilot, ensure your customers feel confident they’ll be supported throughout the process and let them in on what the deployment process would look like.
When they’re ready to take the plunge, help them ease into Copilot adoption with a phased deployment. We recommend:
- Start with a pilot program.
- Rolling it out to a limited number of licenses.
- This limited program will help develop internal use cases with different functions.
The longterm results of this practice will help customers ensure they have concrete use cases they can use as a starting out point for different functions, so they get the most ROI possible before rolling it out across their organization.
Finally, providing support throughout the process will be essential for helping your customers find success with Copilot. Leverage your own expertise as you get familiar with Copilot’s AI capabilities to develop training and offer support throughout the adoption process.
If you need support yourself, Sherweb partners can lean on our team of Microsoft experts for additional support, training and resources. Reach out to get the conversation started. Microsoft also has a host of Copilot adoption resources you can share with your end-customers to help them find success as they get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365.
You may run into the scenario where your customers simply aren’t ready to go all in on Copilot for Microsoft 365. If this is the case, all’s not lost. If they still want time to get to know generative AI tools and get a better sense of Copilot’s functionality, recommend they start with Copilot for the web (it’s free) or Teams Premium to start getting used to generative AI tools. They won’t have the same range of functionality and features as Copilot for Microsoft 365, but this can help them get used to foundational skills like prompting and experience the value of Copilot for themselves.
Simplifying Copilot for Microsoft 365 for MSPs
Driving Copilot adoption doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Sherweb’s team of experts is here to help you every step of the way. We’ve been mastering the Microsoft ecosystem since 2005 and we have the expertise and the resources to help you get more from Microsoft and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
If you’re looking for an experienced partner you’ve come to the right place!
Want to stay on top of Microsoft Copilot developments? Ready to experience the future of work? Copilot is now available for MSPs to offer to their customers via Sherweb’s portal. Not yet a Sherweb partner? Getting started is easy, learn more about the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program at Sherweb.
Sherweb is committed to helping MSPs not only make the most of their Microsoft relationship but capitalize on opportunities that will drive growth for their business as well. As Copilot for M365 rolls out and evolves, we’ll continue to provide updates and assist partners and their customers in leveraging this AI technology for their benefit. Our expert team will guide you through the implementation process and help you unlock the full potential of this revolutionary tool.
