Every business owner we speak with is asking about AI. And fair enough—the potential is real.
But here’s what we’re seeing: most SMEs are diving into AI tools without checking whether they’re actually ready to get value from them.
The good news? You don’t need a comprehensive AI strategy or a transformation roadmap. Most organisations are finding their way with AI one step at a time—trying Copilot here, experimenting with automation there, learning as they go.
But there are three fundamental questions that determine whether those experiments will succeed or flounder. Get these Copilot readiness fundamentals right, and you’re set up to learn and adapt. Get them wrong, and you’ll waste time and money on AI tools that don’t deliver.
Question 1: Is Your Organisational Data AI-Ready?
This is the foundation everything else is built on. AI is only as good as the data it can access and understand. Yet this is where we see the biggest gap between expectation and reality.
Ask yourself three things:
Is your data accessible? If your critical business information lives in local drives, personal folders, or filing cabinets, AI can’t help you. For AI to be useful, your data needs to be in connected systems—SharePoint, OneDrive, your line-of-business applications. Not everything needs to be perfect, but the information your team actually uses daily should be digitally accessible. (Learn how SharePoint can transform your information management.)
Is your data current and clean? Most organisations have years of digital clutter. Old versions of documents. Outdated information no one’s touched since 2015. Duplicate files scattered across different locations. When AI tools search through that mess, they can’t tell what’s current and what’s obsolete. You don’t need to clean everything overnight, but you do need to know where your source of truth sits for important information.
Is your data properly governed? Here’s the kicker: AI respects the same permissions your people do. If your SharePoint permissions are a mess—where anyone can access anything, or critical information is locked down so tightly that no one can find it—those same problems will plague your AI tools like Copilot. Good AI outcomes require good information governance.
Good information governance means having clear ownership of information, consistent permission structures, and documented policies about who should access what. For example, your finance team should be able to access budget documents while keeping them restricted from general staff—and those same boundaries will guide what Copilot can surface for different users.
The reality check: If someone new joined your team today, could they find the information they need within your digital environment? If the answer is “not really,” then AI won’t fare much better.
Once your data foundation is solid, the next question is whether your technology environment can support safe experimentation.
Question 2: Is Your Technology Foundation Ready for Safe Experimentation?
You don’t need cutting-edge infrastructure to benefit from AI. But you do need an environment that’s stable and secure enough to turn on AI features without creating new risks. Copilot readiness starts with your technology foundation.
Is your Microsoft 365 environment in good shape? For most SMEs, AI adoption starts with the Microsoft ecosystem—Copilot in Word, Teams, Outlook. But if your M365 environment has security gaps, inconsistent configurations, or systems that don’t talk to each other properly, you’re building on shaky ground. Basic hygiene matters: multi-factor authentication, proper licensing, security policies that actually work.
(For detailed guidance: Discover which M365 security features you should be using to protect your Copilot deployment)
Can you pilot safely? The beauty of modern AI tools is that you can test small before committing big. But that requires an environment where you can trial features with a subset of users, measure what happens, and roll back if needed. If your systems are so fragile that any change creates chaos, you can’t learn effectively.
Do you have the right guardrails? AI amplifies everything—including security risks. Before you enable AI tools like Copilot across your organisation, you need basic data protection and compliance frameworks in place. Not perfect, just appropriate for your business. What information can AI tools access? What can they do with it? Who’s responsible for monitoring usage?
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s having a solid enough foundation that you can experiment, learn, and scale what works without creating new problems.
With your data and technology foundation in place, success ultimately depends on whether your people can actually use these tools effectively.
Question 3: Can Your People Actually Adopt and Iterate with AI?
Technology is only half the equation. The other half is whether your team can realistically learn, use, and benefit from AI tools.
Do people have time and permission to experiment? Here’s what doesn’t work: rolling out Copilot or other AI tools and expecting people to figure them out on top of their already-full workload. Successful AI adoption requires some dedicated time for learning, testing, and adjusting workflows. Not months—but enough space to properly onboard.
Are expectations realistic? AI isn’t magic. It won’t solve problems that are actually people or process issues. It won’t replace thinking. And it definitely won’t deliver value overnight. Teams need to understand what AI can genuinely help with (automating repetitive tasks, surfacing information faster, drafting routine content) versus what it can’t (strategic thinking, relationship building, complex decision-making).
Is there a culture of learning? The organisations getting value from AI are the ones that treat it as an ongoing learning process, not a one-and-done implementation. That means being comfortable with trial and error. Sharing what works and what doesn’t. Adjusting approach based on real experience. If your culture punishes mistakes or resists change, AI adoption will be an uphill battle.
Can you build capability over time? You don’t need everyone to become an AI expert. But you do need some internal capability to assess tools, guide usage, and help people improve their skills progressively over time. Whether that’s upskilling existing staff or bringing in external support, there needs to be a path for building competence.
And remember: not everyone will embrace AI at the same pace. Some team members will dive in immediately while others need more time and support. Both approaches are valid.
What This Means for You
If you’re reading these three questions and thinking “we’ve got some work to do”—that’s completely normal. Very few SMEs tick all these boxes today.
The key is knowing where you stand so you can make informed decisions about where to invest your time and budget. Maybe you need to clean up your data environment before deploying AI tools. Maybe your technology foundation is solid but your team needs more support. Maybe you’re actually in better shape than you thought and just need confidence to start experimenting.
AI readiness isn’t about having everything perfect. It’s about having the fundamentals right so you can explore opportunities as they emerge, learn from what works, and build capability over time.
That’s how successful AI adoption actually happens in the real world—one pragmatic step at a time.
“Is this AI thing actually worth our time, energy and investment?” It’s a question we hear from business leaders when evaluating Microsoft Copilot. The answer isn’t about chasing the latest trend—it’s about identifying where Copilot delivers genuine business value.
When used strategically, Microsoft Copilot unlocks far more than productivity—it becomes a catalyst for innovation and growth.
As technology advisors, we’ve identified three practical ways to use Copilot that help teams work smarter, communicate better, and drive meaningful results.
1.Crafting Strategic Prompts for Targeted Outcomes
The foundation of effective Copilot utilisation lies in developing clear, purposeful instructions. When your prompts lack precision, the resulting output may fall short of your expectations.
Best Practices for Business-Focused Prompts:
- Provide Context and Specificity: Rather than requesting “write a business email,” specify “create an email announcing our upcoming system maintenance to clients, explain the benefits and include a timeline of what to expect”.
- Define Communication Parameters: Clearly state your intended audience and purpose. For example, “Draft an email to our team explaining the new project management software, focusing on how it simplifies collaboration and what they need to do before launch day”.
- Set Appropriate Constraints: Include practical parameters such as word count limits or specific formats that align with your business needs.
Real-World Applications:
A Non-Profit Organisations: Prompt: “Use Microsoft Copilot to build a checklist in Microsoft 365 that automates thank-you emails to donors. Include steps to personalise messages based on donation amount, connect with our donor database (e.g., Excel or Dynamics 365), and add tracking to measure email engagement like open and click rates.“
Why it works:
This prompt clearly tells Copilot what to automate, how to personalise, and what metrics to track — all within tools non-profits already use.
An Engineering Firm: Prompt: “Write a procedure using Copilot to pull out key specifications from technical documents. Ask it to keep all measurements accurate, highlight any important compliance rules, and point out possible design issues.”
Why it works:
Engineers can quickly get the info they need without missing critical details, helping projects move faster and safer.”
A Medical Practices: Prompt: “Create a Copilot template that turns complex medical procedures into easy-to-read patient handouts. Ask it to keep all medical facts accurate but explain them in plain language that patients can understand.”
Why it works:
Patients feel more informed and confident, and staff spend less time rewriting the same explanations.
This foundation of precise, context-rich prompting transforms Copilot from a generic assistant into a strategic partner that understands your specific industry requirements and delivers consistently relevant results.
2. Develop an Iterative Collaboration Strategy
Think of Copilot as a collaborative partner rather than a one-time tool. By having back-and-forth conversations with it, you’ll refine your ideas and create better content.
Effective Collaboration Techniques:
- Refine Content Progressively: When initial output needs improvement, guide Copilot with specific feedback: “Simplify this explanation and use more straightforward language that non-technical users can easily understand.”
- Generate Alternative Approaches: Explore different options by asking: “Show me three different ways we could structure this quarterly business review presentation for our board members.”
- Deepen Analysis: Enhance your documentation with prompts like: “Expand this section to include specific regulatory requirements that apply to our industry and how our solution addresses each one.” For accuracy, you might paste the regulatory requirements sourced from a reliable directory straight into the tool.
Practical Examples:
For Service-Based Businesses (consulting, healthcare, professional services):
Initial Request: “Draft an email template reminding clients about their upcoming appointments.”
Follow-up Refinement: “Revise the template to include a brief explanation of how coming prepared benefits them and what documents they should bring.”
Final Enhancement: “Add a friendly section about our rescheduling policy that emphasises flexibility while reducing last-minute cancellations.”
For Project Documentation:
Initial Request: “Create an outline for our monthly project status report.”
Follow-up Refinement: “Expand the ‘Challenges’ section to include more thoughtful questions about resource allocation.”
Final Enhancement: “Add a forward-looking section that helps team members anticipate next month’s priorities based on current progress.”
This collaborative methodology ensures that your initial ideas evolve into polished, professional communications that align with your strategic objectives and resonate with your intended audience.
3. Elevate Existing Business Documentation and Communications with Seamless Copilot Integration
One of Copilot’s most valuable capabilities is its ability to optimise your existing content, ensuring clarity, consistency, and strategic alignment across all business communications.
Key Enhancement Applications:
- Refine Communication Clarity: Request improvements to technical documentation with instructions like “Simplify this network assessment report for our client’s leadership team while preserving the essential technical findings”
- Strategic Content Optimisation: When updating client-facing materials, specify “Revise this managed services overview to emphasise business continuity benefits and long-term value rather than just technical specifications”
- Improve Documentation Precision: Enhance operational documentation with requests such as “Review this disaster recovery plan for clarity, completeness, and actionable steps for non-technical users”
Demonstrated Value:
For Non-Profit Leadership: Original Content: “Here’s the volunteer schedule for next month.”
Enhancement Prompt: “Improve this schedule with a more engaging introduction paragraph that thanks our volunteers and explains how their time contributes to our mission.”
Enhanced Output: “Thank You for Your Dedication! This schedule represents more than just dates and times—it’s a roadmap for community impact. Each shift you serve directly supports our mission to improve literacy rates in underserved communities. We’ve highlighted key events where your participation will make an exceptional difference.”
For Project Management: Original Content: “Here’s the technical specification document for the project.”
Enhancement Prompt: “Add a brief executive summary at the beginning that explains the business benefits in non-technical language.”
Enhanced Output: “Executive Summary: This project aims to significantly decrease customer wait times while also reducing operational costs. The technical improvements outlined in this document directly address the key customer pain points identified in our recent satisfaction survey, without requiring additional staffing resources.”
By systematically enhancing existing content, you can leverage these assets more effectively, ensuring every document serves both immediate operational needs and broader strategic communication goals.
Leveraging Copilot as a Strategic Business Asset
For forward-thinking organisations, Copilot represents more than just a productivity tool—it’s a strategic asset that can transform how you develop solutions, communicate with stakeholders, and scale your business operations:
- Save Time: Create documents, emails, and presentations faster without sacrificing quality
- Improve Communication: Generate clearer explanations of complex topics for different audiences
- Focus on What Matters: Spend less time drafting and editing, and more time on strategic work. When implemented with clear purpose and strategy, Copilot becomes a powerful extension of your team’s capabilities, enabling more informed decisions and enhancing your ability to deliver exceptional value to clients.
Taking the Next Step: Strategic Implementation
Mastering these approaches to Copilot usage can significantly enhance your team’s productivity while ensuring consistent, high-quality output across all business activities.
If you’re interested in exploring how Copilot can be integrated into your broader technology strategy, our team is available to help you determine your Copilot readiness aligned with your business objectives and growth plans.
When efficiency and impact are paramount, non-profit organisations are increasingly turning to advanced technologies to streamline their operations and amplify their reach. According to The Institute of Community Directors Australia “Our data shows that not-for-profits are moving quickly to embrace these new tools and the promise of increased productivity in a resource-constrained sector.”
Two game-changing technologies at the forefront of this transformation are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). These powerful tools have the potential to revolutionise how non-profits operate, allowing them to do more with less and focus more on their core missions.
Understanding AI and RPA
Before we dive into specific applications, let’s clarify what we mean by AI and RPA:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. This includes learning from data, recognising patterns, and making decisions. Although AI has existed for many years it has only recently gained mainstream awareness when OpenAI launched ChatGPT to the public in 2022.
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) involves using software “robots” to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks. These bots can interact with digital systems just like humans, but faster and with fewer errors.
While distinct, AI and RPA often work together extremely effectively. RPA handles routine tasks, while AI can be applied to more complex, decision-making processes.
AI Applications in Non-Profits
1. AI Chatbots for Instant Support
AI-powered chatbots can revolutionise how your non-profit interacts with stakeholders, providing immediate assistance around the clock:
- 24/7 Availability: Chatbots offer constant support for donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries, ensuring that help is always at hand
- FAQ Handling: By answering frequently asked questions, chatbots can significantly reduce staff workload, allowing team members to focus on more complex tasks.
- Guided Processes: Chatbots can walk users through donation processes or volunteer sign-ups, making these interactions smoother and more efficient.
- Instant Information: Provide quick access to information about programs and services, improving user experience and engagement
Implementing AI chatbots can lead to increased engagement, improved response times, and more efficient use of human resources. While custom-built chatbots are an option, in many cases you can also leverage existing AI platforms. For instance, Microsoft Copilot, integrated with Microsoft 365, can be used to create chatbots that interact with donors or volunteers through Teams or other Microsoft platforms.
2. Natural Language Processing for Grant Writing
Grant writing is a critical but often time-consuming task for non-profits. AI, specifically Natural Language Processing (NLP), can provide valuable assistance:
- Analysis of Successful Applications: NLP can analyse previously successful grant applications to identify common patterns, language, and structures that resonate with funders
- Content Suggestions: Based on the analysis, AI can suggest relevant statistics, case studies, or phrasings to include in new applications, potentially increasing their effectiveness
- Alignment Checking: AI can compare your proposal against a funder’s stated priorities and guidelines, ensuring better alignment and potentially increasing success rates.
- Writing Assistance: Some advanced NLP tools can even help with drafting sections of the proposal, which you can then refine and personalise (the old-fashioned way!).
By leveraging AI in grant writing, you can potentially increase your success rates and efficiency in securing crucial funding. Tools like Claude, an AI assistant developed by Anthropic, can be particularly useful in this context. Claude can help analyse past successful grants, suggest improvements to current drafts, and even assist in generating initial content for grant proposals.
3. Sentiment Analysis for Social Media
Understanding public perception is crucial. AI-powered sentiment analysis can provide valuable insights from social media:
- Monitoring Public Sentiment: AI can analyse social media posts to gauge public sentiment about your organisation or cause, helping you respond promptly to both positive and negative feedback.
- Identifying Trends: Sentiment analysis can spot emerging trends or issues in your field, allowing you to stay ahead of the curve and adjust your strategies accordingly.
- Campaign Impact Assessment: By analysing social media reactions, you can measure the impact of your awareness campaigns and adjust your approach in real-time
- Crisis Management: Early detection of negative sentiment spikes can alert you to potential crises, allowing for swift response and mitigation.
Sentiment analysis can help you stay tuned to your audience, adapt your messaging effectively, and manage online reputation proactively.
RPA Applications in Non-Profits
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offers significant potential for non-profits to streamline operations, reduce errors, and free up staff time for more strategic work. Here’s a deeper look at how you can apply RPA in your organisation:
1. Automating Data Entry and Processing
RPA can significantly reduce the time spent on manual data entry tasks, improving accuracy and efficiency:
- Inputting donation information: Create bots to extract donation details from various sources (e.g., email, web forms, spreadsheets) and automatically input them into your central database. This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of data entry errors
- Processing volunteer applications: Develop RPA workflows to screen volunteer applications, check for completeness, and even perform initial eligibility checks based on predefined criteria. This can speed up your volunteer onboarding process
- Updating contact information: Implement bots that can scan incoming emails or forms for updated contact details and automatically update your CRM or database systems. This ensures your contact lists remain current with minimal manual intervention
2. Streamlining Financial Processes
Financial tasks that follow set rules are prime candidates for RPA, allowing for faster processing and improved accuracy:- Reconciling bank statements: Develop bots to match transactions in your accounting software with bank statements, flagging discrepancies for human review. This can significantly reduce the time spent on monthly reconciliations
- Processing expense reports: Implement RPA to validate expense reports against company policies, check for required documentation, and even initiate reimbursement processes for approved expenses
- Invoice processing: Automate the capturing of invoice data, matching with purchase orders, and routing for approval, significantly speeding up your accounts payable process
3. Simplifying Reporting and Compliance Tasks
RPA can assist with the often-time-consuming task of creating reports, ensuring accuracy and timeliness:
- Automatically gathering data for annual reports: Create bots that can extract relevant data from various internal systems (financial, program management, CRM) to compile information needed for annual reports. This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of data inconsistencies
- Generating compliance documents for regulatory bodies: Develop automated processes to gather required data, populate standardised forms, and generate compliance reports for various regulatory bodies. This helps ensure timely submission and reduces the risk of non-compliance
- Grant reporting: Automate the collection and compilation of data required for grant reporting, ensuring you meet reporting deadlines and maintain positive relationships with funders
Getting Started with AI and RPA
If you’re considering implementing AI or RPA in your non-profit, here are some steps to get started:
- Identify Pain Points: Look for repetitive, time-consuming tasks that could be automated, or areas where better predictive capabilities could improve decision-making
- Assess Data Quality: Both AI and RPA rely on good data. Ensure your data is accurate, consistent, and well-organised
- Start Small: Begin with a pilot project in one area of your operations. This allows you to learn and adjust before scaling up. For instance, you might start by using Microsoft Copilot to assist with drafting donor communications or Claude to help with initial grant proposal drafts
Conclusion
AI and RPA offer exciting possibilities for non-profits to increase their efficiency and impact. By automating routine tasks and leveraging data for better decision-making, these technologies allow organisations to focus more on their core missions and less on administrative burdens.
However, it’s important to approach these technologies thoughtfully. They are tools to augment and support your team, not replace them. The goal is to free up your staff to focus on the high-value, human-centric work that is at the heart of what non-profits do.
If you’re interested in exploring how AI and RPA could benefit your organisation, we’d be happy to discuss your specific needs and help you chart a path forward. Together, we can harness the power of technology to create meaningful change in the world.
At the heart of every successful enterprise lies the customer journey, and to genuinely boost customer engagement, it’s essential to identify and address pain points to make this journey as seamless as possible. This process requires a deep understanding of the customer journey and an ability to anticipate potential bottlenecks.
The strategic application of technology in this process is crucial for delivering exceptional customer experiences. By optimising business operations and facilitating seamless interactions, the right technology can give your business a substantial competitive edge.
Opportunities for Improvement
There are numerous pathways for businesses to enrich customer interactions, two of which have become particularly attractive due to recent advances, namely Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Business Process Automation (BPA).
Improving the Customer Experience with AI
AI is a game-changing technology that can help businesses tackle various customer experience challenges. It enables personalised messaging, intelligent decision-making in real-time, and predictive analytics for anticipating customer needs.
Some key opportunities include:
- Enhanced Customer Service: AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 customer support, answering inquiries and resolving issues promptly without the need for constant human intervention. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also allows businesses to scale their customer service operations efficiently.
- Improved Decision Making: By leveraging AI for data analysis, businesses can gain deeper insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and operational performance. These insights enable more informed decision making, helping companies to strategise more effectively and anticipate market shifts.
- Increased Productivity: AI can automate routine tasks, from scheduling to inventory management, freeing up human resources for more complex and creative tasks. This automation leads to significant improvements in customer interactions and productivity.
- Personalised Customer Experiences: AI technology can analyse individual customer data to deliver personalised recommendations, offers, and content. This personalisation enhances the customer experience, it also fosters loyalty and increases engagement.
Improving the Customer Experience with BPA
BPA involves automating business processes to streamline operations, reduce errors and improve efficiency. It is a valuable tool for businesses looking to enhance the customer experience by improving internal processes.
Some key opportunities include:
- Faster Response Times: BPA can automate workflows and eliminate bottlenecks, leading to faster response times and improved customer satisfaction. For instance, automated order processing systems can significantly reduce the time it takes for customers to receive their orders.
- Consistent Service Delivery: By automating routine tasks, BPA ensures consistency in service delivery. Customers can expect the same level of service quality every time they interact with a business, leading to increased trust and satisfaction.
- Reduced Costs: BPA eliminates the need for manual labour in certain processes, reducing costs associated with human error and increasing operational efficiency. This cost-saving can be passed down to customers through better pricing or improved services.
Real-World Examples
Case Study: Automated User Creation
To streamline the experience for their internal clients, the IT team at a large non-profit organisation leveraged SharePoint, Power Automate and Entra ID to automate the creation of user accounts for new employees.
This solution not only reduced the time required to provision a new user it also improved the quality and consistency of the end-result, reducing the number of follow-up interactions required for the new employee to be fully provisioned.
Case Study: Customer Service Chatbot
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, many companies’ customer contact centres faced overwhelming challenges due to shutdowns and resource constraints.
To address this, a Financial Firm worked with a Microsoft engineer to implement Azure Bot Service, hosted on a customer – facing website. These bots were designed to handle routine inquiries and processes, thereby freeing call centre capacity. By automating self-service interactions, contact centres could refocus staff on more complex enquiries, improving overall efficiency and customer experience.
Case Study: Project Reporting & Bid Tracking
An engineering firm specialising in large-scale infrastructure projects faced several challenges related to project management and their legacy project management platform. Existing spreadsheet-based processes were no longer able to cope with the complexity and volume of client projects.
To tackle these challenges, the Grassroots IT team leveraged the Microsoft Power Platform to provide users with enhanced functionality around project reporting and bid tracking. This strategic application of Business Process Automation streamlined project management and improved communication channels, resulting in reduced project delays and increased client satisfaction.
Evaluating Customer Experience Opportunities
When evaluating and implementing new technologies within a business setting it is critical to ensure that investments enhance capabilities and align with long-term goals. Our tip: This should involve a multi-step approach, starting with three important tasks:
- An in-depth evaluation of existing processes and technology, mapped against the customer journey.
- Identify key processes and areas along the customer journey for improving the customer experience.
- Carefully select technologies that offer the most significant potential for impact.
Below are key considerations and steps organisations should undertake in this process:
- Identify Customer Pain Points and Opportunities:Start by pinpointing the aspects of your business that could benefit most from technological improvements. This might include streamlining manual processes through automation or enhancing customer touchpoints.
- Research and Compare Solutions: Conduct thorough research on potential technology solutions that address customer needs. Compare features, costs, and user reviews to find the best fit for enhancing the customer journey.
- Consider Scalability and Integration:Choose technologies that can grow with your business and integrate seamlessly with existing customer systems and processes, ensuring a smooth experience as your business expands.
- Involve Key Stakeholders:Engage key stakeholders, including employees and customers, in the evaluation process. Gather feedback to understand their needs, address concerns, and ensure the chosen technologies enhance the customer journey.
- Provide Training and Support: Offer comprehensive training and ongoing support to employees to ensure they are proficient with the new technologies. This minimises disruptions and maximises the benefits, leading to a superior customer experience.
Related: The Benefits of Automating Business Processes (and how to spot opportunities)
Conclusion
Advancements in technology such as AI and BPA offer numerous opportunities to enhance the customer experience. From automating routine tasks to providing personalised recommendations, these technologies can significantly improve efficiency, reduce costs, and foster loyalty among customers.
However, it is crucial for organisations to carefully evaluate and select the right technologies that align with their long-term goals and provide adequate training and support for employees to fully utilise them. By implementing these technologies effectively, businesses can not only improve the customer experience but also gain a competitive advantage.
Grassroots IT offer a range of services to improve business operations to fortify the customer journey. Contact our friendly team today to talk about your IT strategy and improved customer interactions.
Updated 19 January 2024 with new licensing details.
2023 has well and truly been the year of Generative Artificial Intelligence, triggered by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Not only have we seen an entire wave of AI based start-ups spring into existence, but big players like Meta and Google have also launched their own offerings.
Without doubt though, the latest technology to make waves in the business world is Microsoft Copilot – an AI-powered tool set to be embedded into almost every Microsoft app from Windows to PowerPoint to Dynamics CRM.
With a surge of interest and early adopters already on board, it’s essential to understand how to prepare your business for Microsoft Copilot to not only maximise the return on your investment, but also to avoid potentially unforeseen complications that may arise.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered tool that uses machine learning to assist users in completing tasks within various Microsoft apps. It has been designed to help with a range of tasks – from writing emails and creating slides, to managing your calendar and organising data. If you’re at all familiar with other interactive, chat-based AI tools such as ChatGPT then you will be comfortable with Copilot.
Why is Microsoft Copilot Important for Businesses?
It’s fair to say that AI offers huge potential benefits for businesses of all sizes. But what specifically is the importance of Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot offers a wide range of benefits for businesses, including increased efficiency and productivity, higher quality outputs, and improved accuracy. By automating repetitive tasks and providing helpful suggestions, it can save employees time and reduce human errors.
More importantly though, Copilot offers a number of features that no other AI tool can match:
1. Deep Integration
Copilot has been specifically designed to work seamlessly with commonly used Microsoft apps, such as Outlook and PowerPoint, meaning there is no need for users to switch between multiple platforms. Imagine opening up PowerPoint and instructing Copilot to “Create a 10-slide deck on next year’s investment strategy.”
2. Access to corporate data
With Copilot deeply embedded within the Microsoft cloud, it can have secure access to all of your existing corporate data stored not only in Microsoft 365, but other third-party cloud apps. This means that Copilot can provide personalised responses based on your company’s own data, not just the generally available public information that other AI tools are limited to.
3. Privacy and Security
Microsoft has always been at the forefront of privacy and security, and Copilot is no exception. All data used by Copilot is stored securely within the Microsoft cloud and is subject to strict privacy policies and existing security rules. Copilot will not make your data available to anyone who does not already have access to it.
The risks of adopting Microsoft Copilot
While the benefits are clear, it’s important for businesses to understand and mitigate any potential risks associated with implementing Microsoft Copilot. Many of these risks are best-practice considerations already but are worth revisiting before considering a Copilot deployment:
1. Poor user adoption
It’s important to remember that Copilot is an AI tool and therefore requires some level of training in order to use it effectively. Additionally, there may be a learning curve for employees as they get used to using Copilot and may need support during this transition period. A well-planned training and change management program can help mitigate these risks.
2. Data privacy
Copilot operates within the context of the user, meaning that Copilot will respect any security restrictions that exist around what corporate information the user can and cannot access. Copilot will not surface information that the user would not otherwise have had access to. This does however put the onus back on the business to ensure that all data is properly restricted to only those who should have access.
3. Governance & compliance
With the use of AI in businesses becoming increasingly common, it’s important for organisations to have a good understanding of how Copilot is using their data. A governance and compliance plan should be put in place to ensure that all data used by Copilot is compliant with existing regulations and policies.
Preparing for Microsoft Copilot
So, what should businesses do to prepare for the adoption of Microsoft Copilot? There are three key issues that need to be addressed:
1. Microsoft 365 Licensing
The first step is to ensure that your organisation has the appropriate Microsoft 365 licenses in place to support Copilot. This means that you must be using one of the following Microsoft 365 license types. Our recommendation for most organisations is Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
- Business Standard
- Business Premium
- E3
- E5
Copilot itself will require an additional per-user license costing approximately AU$540 per user for an annual license. At this stage there is no month-to-month purchase option available, only annual. Please also note that there is no non-profit pricing available at this stage.
2. Application Deployment & Adoption
Copilot requires the latest Microsoft 365 desktop apps such as Outlook and Word, so if you don’t already have these apps deployed & in use across your organisation, you will need to address this before deploying Copilot. Don’t forget to also consider user adoption. You can’t unlock productivity gains if no-one is using your new productivity tools.
Equally as important is where your corporate data is stored. Copilot is a cloud service, and your data must be in the cloud for it to be accessible. If you haven’t yet migrated your data into SharePoint, OneDrive, or some other cloud service accessible via Copilot Plugins, you will not be able to receive the full benefit of Copilot.
3. Data Security
The power of Copilot is in its ability to ingest your corporate data and provide intelligent, insightful responses. However, this also means that you must ensure your data is properly secured and only accessible to those who need it, lest you find information inappropriately surfaced to those who shouldn’t, but do, have access.
Microsoft 365 is extremely good at automatically surfacing relevant and related content. This can be handy when, for example, Outlook presents you with a list of documents related to your upcoming meeting. Of course, it will only show you documents that you already have permission to access, but there-in lies the potential for problems, when documents may not have been properly secured to only those people that truly need access.
Conclusion
Microsoft Copilot offers a wealth of benefits for businesses, from increased productivity and efficiency to improved accuracy and access to personalised data. As with any new technology, there are potential risks to consider and prepare for, such as user adoption and data privacy.
If you would like to talk about preparing your business for Copilot, contact us today.
Business process automation is becoming increasingly important in today’s fast-paced and competitive world. It allows businesses to streamline their operations, save time and resources, and ultimately increase their efficiency and profitability.
In this article, we will look at three real-life case studies of automation solutions that Grassroots IT has recently implemented for our clients. One key point that I would like you to take away from these case studies is that in many cases the most impactful automations are small and simple, such as automating a weekly report, or shifting a paper-based process to a digital form.
Redefining Staff Onboarding: How Automation Transformed a Complex Process
With over 600 staff across Australia, our client already had a comprehensive employee onboarding process for each new hire. Unfortunately, due to the complex and comprehensive nature of this process, it was proving to be a burden on staff to execute, and difficult to track, resulting in inconsistent quality and increasingly long processing times.
The project began by reviewing and understanding the existing manual process, identifying which business systems were involved, and who owned the process at various stages. From this an automated solution was designed and implemented, fully automating the onboarding of new staff members across multiple functions and business systems.
Starting with the initial request being logged by the Human Resources department, the new process not only automatically creates and configures all necessary user accounts but engages staff in other departments to complete necessary actions and provide additional information as required. The process culminates by emailing a welcome pack to the new employee with important information to help get them settled.
Not only is the new automated process on track to dramatically reduce processing times from days to just minutes, but also improve consistency and greatly reduce the risk of errors.
Automated Awareness: Powering Up Training Attendance Through Scheduled Updates
Surfacing the right information to the right people can sometimes be as simple as sending an automated report. In this case study our client maintains a list of scheduled training events in SharePoint but was finding that even though the information was readily accessible, many staff remained unaware of upcoming training opportunities. This was resulting in low attendance at events and misinformed frustration amongst staff at the apparent lack of training opportunities.
To address this concern, our client wanted to send a weekly email to all staff with the latest information on scheduled events. Our automation team was able to use Power Automate to automatically generate and send a weekly report to all staff, pulling information directly from the SharePoint list, and formatted to the client’s specification. This not only saved time for staff who were previously manually communicating the events schedule, but also increased awareness of training opportunities among employees.
From Paper to Power Apps: Automating Traveler Identification for Accuracy and Efficiency
Our Australian-based client often found themselves needing to collect identification details from international travellers, requiring a manual process of completing paper-based forms and photocopying identification documents such as international drivers’ licenses and passports. Not only was the process clumsy and inefficient, but it also exposed the business to potential errors and compliance issues.
To improve this process, our automation team developed a mobile application using Microsoft PowerApps that allows staff to collect customer identification details directly on their phones or tablets while meeting with the traveller. The app not only collects customer information, but also captures photographs of passports and licenses along with a digital copy of the customer’s signature. All confidential information is stored securely in the Microsoft cloud and is only accessible by authorised personnel.
Overall, the new automated app has greatly improved efficiency, reduced errors, and increased security of the confidential information our client collects.
Conclusion
As you can see from these three examples, automation doesn’t have to be complex to make a big impact on business processes. In fact, a great place to start is by asking these two questions:
- What forms do we fill out on paper?
- What things do we do over and over again?
By identifying areas where manual tasks can be automated, you can save time and resources, increase efficiency, and ultimately improve your bottom line. If you would like to explore ideas for process automation, contact us today.
Defining your IT strategy is a powerful step towards success, yet alarmingly we still find organisations that don’t take the time to clarify what they expect or require from IT. At its simplest your IT strategy is a statement of how you intend to use IT to support your over-arching business goals. You don’t have unlimited resources to spend on IT, so your IT strategy is there to clarify where you will focus your efforts, and equally as important where you will not.
In our work with clients formulating and executing on their IT strategies we often see clear trends emerging over time in response to the ever-changing IT landscape. Of course, every company will have their own unique IT strategy, but common patterns can emerge.
As we work with our clients in preparation for the year ahead, we are seeing the following three themes appearing with consistency.
Related: Why aligning your IT strategy with business goals is critical for success
User Experience
In response to the pandemic the world of work has changed significantly, also significantly shifting how people relate to their employment, the environments they work in, and the tools that they are expected to use. Simply put, user experience has become a critical element in every IT strategy.
But what does this mean for your organisation? It means that employees are expecting easy-to-use, efficient and user-friendly technology solutions that allow them to do their job effectively from any location. This includes everything from remote working tools to cloud-based collaboration platforms, all accessible as easily from their smartphone as their home office.
They are also expecting to have fingertip access to the information and expertise that they need, with top-tier training and support services available when required.
So, as you plan your IT strategy for 2024, make sure that user experience is at the forefront of your decision making and investment plans. Put yourself in the shoes of your employees and consider their daily tasks and interactions with technology – are they seamless, intuitive and empowering? If not, it’s time to make some changes.
Cybersecurity
As technology continues to evolve and become increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, the risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches has also risen exponentially. Cybersecurity is no longer just a concern for IT departments but should be a top priority for every organisation’s IT strategy, with direct board-level oversight.
A strong cybersecurity plan should include regular security audits, employee training on identifying and handling potential threats, as well as implementing the latest security software and protocols. Importantly in the post-pandemic world, your cybersecurity plan must also consider new ways of working. With many staff now working from home, old ways of securing your organisation may no longer be as effective.
Cybersecurity not a one-and-done task, but an ongoing process that must be continuously monitored and updated to stay ahead of potential threats. Make sure that your IT strategy reflects this and allocate appropriate resources to keep your organisation’s data safe and secure.
AI & Automation
2023 was the year that artificial intelligence hit the mainstream, with the release of ChatGPT throwing the floodgates open. The new-found accessibility of AI is emerging as an inflection point on the longer-term trend of business process automation, with the combination of the two promising significant opportunities.
AI and automation can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and reduce costs in almost every area of your organisation – from customer service to HR to supply chain management. It can also provide valuable insights and data analysis that humans may miss. As the technology continues to advance, it will only become more powerful and integrated with our daily lives.
It’s no longer a question of if but when AI and automation will become an integral part of every IT strategy. So, in the year ahead, make sure that you’re keeping up with the latest developments and considering how it can enhance your organisation’s operations and drive growth.
Conclusion
As we move towards 2024, it’s clear that user experience, cybersecurity and AI/Automation will continue to be pivotal elements of every IT strategy. Organisations must prioritize these areas to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their employees and customers. With a strong focus on these essential components, your IT strategy can serve as a roadmap for success in the ever-changing digital landscape.
Keep in mind, however, that these are just three of many elements to consider when crafting your IT strategy. As technology continues to advance, new challenges and opportunities will arise, requiring organisations to stay agile and adaptable.
Grassroots IT has many years of experience working with clients to formulate IT strategies that align with business goals and lead to tangible results. If you would like to talk about your IT strategy, contact us today.
As technology continues to advance, the role of automation in business processes is becoming increasingly crucial, at the same time as the complexity and cost of automation rapidly falls. What used to be the domain of large organizations with deep pockets is now easily accessible to small and medium-sized businesses thanks to a raft of cloud technologies such as Zapier and Power Automate.
The benefits of automation are numerous and can greatly impact a company’s efficiency, quality, and bottom line. Let’s explore some of the key advantages of incorporating automation into your business processes.
What is Business Process Automation?
Business process automation (BPA) is the use of technology to automate repetitive, routine tasks in a business. This can include anything from simple data entry and document processing to complex workflows and decision-making processes.
By automating these tasks, businesses can save time, reduce errors, and free up employees to focus on more important and strategic work. This not only increases productivity but also allows for better utilization of resources and streamlines operations.
The Benefits of Automating Business Processes
Automation ultimately can help with two things – reducing costs (money, time) and improving quality (errors, consistency). But how does that translate into broader business benefits? Here are some examples.
Reduced errors and rework
Human error is inevitable, but it can be costly for businesses. Automating a process can greatly improve the quality and accuracy of the output, drastically reducing the chances of errors and inconsistencies that result in costly rework. This is especially important for tasks that require a high level of accuracy or data input, such as financial calculations or data analysis.
Enhanced customer service
By automating tasks, businesses can provide faster and more consistent service to their customers. For example, automated order processing can reduce the time it takes for customers to receive their orders, resulting in a better overall customer experience.
Increased efficiency and productivity
Automation allows for tasks to be completed faster and more accurately, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity. This is particularly beneficial for businesses dealing with high volumes of repetitive tasks, such as data entry or order processing. By automating these tasks, employees can focus on more valuable work that requires human input and decision-making.
Scalability and flexibility
As your business grows and evolves, so do your processes. With automation, these processes can easily be adapted and scaled up or down to meet the changing needs of your business. This allows for greater flexibility and agility, resulting in faster response times and improved customer satisfaction without the need for additional manpower.
Identifying Opportunities for Automation
Your organisation will have plenty of opportunities for automation – I guarantee it. So how best to get started? The first step in incorporating automation into your business processes is identifying tasks and workflows that can benefit from it. When reviewing your current processes, keep an eye out for any of these characteristics that are good indicators that your process may be ripe for automation.
- Repetitive & rules based.
- High volume of transactions.
- Data intensive.
- Time sensitive.
- Prone to error or requires a high degree of consistency.
- Passes data between multiple systems.
- Relies on paper-based forms or rekeying data ‘back at the office’.
Every department is a candidate to benefit from automation, from back-office functions such as Finance & Admin, to Sales & Marketing, Customer Service and all points in-between. Watch closely for processes that consistently bottleneck at the same stage to see if automation could clear the way.
Listen carefully to when people actually use the word “process” as they speak, such as “We’re busy processing the purchase orders”. Pay particular attention to those job roles that involve a lot of data entry and be aware of when frustrations bubble over because someone isn’t properly “following the process”. All of these can be ideal opportunities to bring automation into play.
The Future of Business Process Automation
As technology continues to advance, the possibilities for automation are endless. With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, processes that were once thought to be too complex or unpredictable for automation can now be automated with high accuracy. This means even greater potential benefits for businesses in terms of productivity, quality and cost savings.
Conclusion
Best of all, business process automation is now easily within reach of organisations of all sizes. If you’d like to explore the opportunities for automation, contact us today.
In today’s rapidly digitizing world, artificial intelligence (AI) has become synonymous with innovation. However, knowing how to introduce AI to your business can be a daunting prospect. Thankfully (and contrary to popular belief), integrating AI into your processes does not need to involve sophisticated systems or complex coding.
In fact, there are numerous simple AI integrations that can be readily incorporated into your existing business processes to streamline and automate your business operations. With AI, you can enhance efficiency, reduce errors, improve customer service, and ultimately drive growth.
Read on for some easy and accessible ideas to kick-start your AI journey.
ChatGPT - the one that started it all
If you haven’t already played around with ChatGPT, it’s a great place to start familiarising yourself with what Generative AI is capable of. Best of all you can get started for free by heading over to https://chat.openai.com and creating a free account.
ChatGPT is essentially a chatbot, so once you’re logged on to your free account, don’t be shy. Go ahead and start asking it some questions. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- “What can I make for dinner tonight with 3 eggs and some pine nuts?”
- “Help me to write a concise and polite email to my client summarising why we can’t help with their project.”
- “Help me to create a strategy for improving team culture in a growing business.”
The more you play with ChatGPT the more ideas you’ll come up with, I guarantee it! Once you’ve got the hang of it, consider encouraging your staff to also have a play, and come up with ideas for how they could use it in their daily activities. At Grassroots IT our engineers regularly use ChatGPT to help write friendly and professional emails to our clients, which has made a noticeable difference to the effectiveness of our communication.
Once you’re comfortable with ChatGPT, here are some power tips to help level up your AI game:
- Consider paying to access ChatGPT-4. Not only is this version more advanced in its “thinking” than the free ChatGPT-3.5 version, but it has live access to the internet, allowing you to use prompts such as “Please summarise today’s top news stories regarding commercial real-estate”
- You can ask ChatGPT follow-up questions. So, for example once we have today’s top news stories, we could then ask “Please tell me more about article #1”
- Don’t be shy to tell ChatGPT how you would like it to present its results. For example “Please compare the pros & cons of Makita vs Ryobi power tools, formatted in a table. “
- The secret to great results is in the prompt that you give it. In fact the hottest job on the market right now is a “Prompt Engineer”! Try some more advanced prompting, such as “Pretend to be an experienced digital marketer and …” or “Provide step by step instructions on how to…” or “My business is focussed on highly educated consumers between 25-30 years old. Help me to….”
Intelligent process automation with Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is powerful tool in the Microsoft 365 platform that allows businesses to leverage AI’s capabilities for advanced process automation. As a cloud-based service, Power Automate provides an intuitive platform to create, manage, and customize workflows that automate repetitive tasks.
The real strength of Power Automate lies in its AI Builder, a no-code AI capability that enables you to infuse artificial intelligence into your workflows. With AI Builder, you can automate tasks such as form processing, prediction modelling, text classification, and more.
For example, if your business deals with a high volume of invoices, you could use Power Automate with AI Builder to create a process that automatically captures and processes data from these invoices, significantly reducing manual data entry. Or, in a customer service context, AI Builder can be used to create a workflow that automatically triages incoming customer emails and directs them to the appropriate department, increasing efficiency and improving customer service response times.
Power Automate’s integration capabilities with a wide range of popular apps and services also means that your AI-powered workflows can connect seamlessly with the tools you use every day. Whether it’s saving attachments from Outlook emails to OneDrive, creating tasks in Microsoft Teams based on flagged emails, or syncing data with non-Microsoft platforms, Power Automate allows you to create holistic automated processes that streamline your business operations.
Level up your meetings with Otter
If you’re anything like me, it sometimes feels like you spend half your working day bouncing from one meeting to the next, leaving no time to gather your thoughts, review your notes and work out who needs to do what next!
This is where Otter.ai steps in as your handy AI meeting assistant. Otter uses AI-powered speech recognition technology to automatically transcribe and organize meeting notes in real-time, so you don’t have to. You can even import your existing calendar appointments and let Otter join the meeting for you, taking care of all the notetaking while you focus on actively participating in the discussion.
With its ability to identify different speakers and tag sections of the conversation, Otter makes it easy to quickly find specific information within your notes. And with its collaboration features, you can easily share and collaborate on your meeting notes with colleagues, making sure everyone is on the same page.
Conclusion
The important thing to understand about AI is that using it to streamline business operations is now table-stakes. Even if you’re not using AI yet, rest assured that your competition is. The good news is that integrating AI into your business can be surprisingly quick and easy. I encourage you to explore some of the ideas shared above, and if Grassroots IT can be of any assistance, contact us today.
What is Power Automate?
Power Automate is a tool for automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. As part of the Microsoft Power Platform, it can integrate quickly and easily into other Microsoft apps such as SharePoint and Outlook but can just as easily integrate with hundreds of non-Microsoft apps using an extensive collection of third-party and custom connectors. Even older legacy apps can be automated using a feature called Robotic Process Automation.
How can Power Automate help my business?
Power Automate is designed to automate repetitive and time-consuming business tasks. Not only does every organisation already have a plethora of these tasks being actioned manually every day, but there are often numerous business opportunities that are simply never pursued due to the perceived complexity and expense of the manual processes that would be required.
Handling these tasks manually is not only an expensive approach but can also introduce significant time delays and potential for human error. By automating these tasks, you can not only move staff onto more fulfilling and valuable activities, but also enjoy having the tasks done almost instantly and with perfect consistency.
Discovering new levels of efficiency with automation can be game changing, however the true value of Power Automate is in its ability to integrate multiple apps and systems together into a single unified and automated workflow. You no longer need to be constrained to the functionality built into a single app but can instead pull together the features and functionality of multiple apps and tie them all together using Power Automate. When used in this way the resulting process or workflow can truly be greater than the sum of its parts.
What type of processes can I automate?
Any computer-based process is a potential candidate for automation, especially those that use modern apps and cloud services such as Microsoft 365. Some examples of simple process automation are:
- Automatically save email attachments to SharePoint.
- Track mentions of your brand on social media to an Excel spreadsheet.
- Request approval of document updates before publication.
Far more complex business processes and workflows are also candidates for automation, using some of the more advanced functionality of Power Automate, such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI Builder. An excellent example of an advanced use case is presented in this Microsoft Case Study where Coca-Cola entirely automated a manual and complex business process using Power Automate, RPA and AI Builder, avoiding having to hire 10 new full-time employees for mundane data processes tasks.
Getting started with Power Automate
The potential for empowering your people to do more with less using Power Automate is huge, but sometimes it is hard to know how to get started. Rest assured there are numerous opportunities in every organisation for improvement through automation. Here are some tips to help identified where those opportunities lie in your business.
Tip #1
Check out all the Power Automate Connectors that are available, looking for any apps that you already use in your business processes. Click on each connector for inspiration from the templates and examples provided.
Tip #2
Consider any repetitive, data-entry style tasks you may have. Do you often have to re-key data from one system into another? These tasks make great candidates for automation.
Tip #3
Do you have any frequent but complex, multi-step processes that are well documented? Automation can be ideal for streamlining these.
The good news is that because Power Automate is a no-code platform, you don’t need to be a coding wizard yourself to get started streamlining workflows. Of course for more advanced applications you can always reach out to the Power Automate experts at Grassroots IT for help.
