AI Readiness for Microsoft Customers

AI Readiness for Microsoft Customers

Data, Governance, Strategy and Adoption That Works

AI isn’t just turning on Microsoft Copilot. Sustainable success starts with clean data, strong governance, and a clear strategy followed by careful training and adoption with small pilot groups.

Why This Matters

Businesses that prepare properly:

• Reduce risk and avoid compliance issues
• See faster ROI from Microsoft Copilot, Agents and automation
• Build user confidence and adoption that lasts

Your AI Readiness Foundations

1) Data Accuracy and Structure

AI outcomes are only as good as your data.

• Clean, consistent, well-labelled data in Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams)
• Clear ownership and lifecycle (create, classify, archive, delete)
• Use Dataverse or structured lists for critical operational data
• Monitor quality with simple KPIs (duplicates, completeness, timeliness)

2) Governance and Compliance

Protect information while enabling productivity.

• Apply sensitivity labels, data loss prevention (DLP), and conditional access
• Define who can create sites/teams and where data should live
• Keep an auditable trail of decisions and controls

3) Strategy and Prioritisation

Make AI serve the business, not the other way round.

• Tie AI to clear goals (e.g., reduce reporting time by 30%)
• Pick 2–3 high-value, low-risk use cases to start
• Define success metrics (time saved, accuracy, satisfaction)
• Plan for scale: what happens after the pilot works?

Adoption Done Right – Start Small, Prove Value, Then Scale

Pilot Approach (6–8 weeks)

• Pilot group (8–15 users) across one function (e.g., Finance, HR, Sales)
• Enable Copilot where it helps most (Outlook, Teams, Word/Excel, SharePoint context)
• Automate one process with Power Automate
• Measure time saved, error reduction, cycle times, user feedback
• Review and decide to iterate, scale, or stop

Staff Training and Support

• Role-based sessions tailored to everyday tasks (15–30 min)
• Real world practical prompts and examples for each role
• Champions program to train advocates in each team to drive adoption
• Guidance on responsible use, best practice, compliance and data handling

Quick Readiness Checklist

Data

☐ Our core information is accurate, consistent, and where it should live in M365
☐ We have named owners for key data sets

Governance

☐ Sensitivity labels, DLP, and access controls are in place
☐ Retention and records policies are applied

Strategy

☐ We’ve prioritised 2–3 business problems with measurable outcomes
☐ We know how we’ll decide whether to scale a pilot

Adoption

☐ We have a defined pilot group and a training plan
☐ Success metrics are agreed and easy to track

If you’re mostly “Yes”, you’re ready to run a pilot. If not, start with data hygiene and governance first.

Example Microsoft Use Cases (Low-Risk, High-Value)

• Meetings and Minutes: Copilot in Teams to summarise actions and decisions
• Email Triage: Copilot in Outlook to draft replies and categorise requests
• Reporting: Copilot and Power BI to surface trends; reduce manual compilation
• HR/Finance Automation: Power Automate to route approvals and reduce rekeying
• Knowledge Access: Copilot grounded in SharePoint to answer policy/process questions

How We Help

• Data and Governance Health Check (Purview, labels, DLP, site sprawl)
• AI Readiness Sprint (strategy, prioritised use cases, metrics)
• Copilot Enablement and Pilot (role-based training, prompts, adoption plan)
• Process Automation with Power Automate and Dataverse

To learn more, get in touch with the iThink 365 team today: https://www.ithink365.co.uk/contact-us/