hen Microsoft announced Copilot for Microsoft 365, the promise was huge: AI built right into the apps we use every day to make us more productive. A lot of our clients were excited. Some even bought licenses right away, convinced it would transform the way they worked.
The reality? Mostly disappointing.
The Reality Check
Analyst firms like Gartner have already pointed out that most organizations haven’t seen a clear productivity boost from Copilot. That we’ve observed here. Lots of hype and big expectations… but few real results for most SMBs.
Where Copilot Helps (and Where It Falls Short)
Copilot does have some very practical uses:
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Outlook: drafting or summarizing emails right inside Outlook can save real time.
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Teams: meeting transcription and summaries are super handy.
But there are limitations. For example, transcription struggles when meetings switch back and forth between languages. And here in Montreal, it’s not unusual for a conversation to jump between French and English in the same meeting.
The big promise of Copilot was that it could tap into everything you already have in Microsoft 365—your emails, calendar, OneDrive, and SharePoint files—to answer your questions. In our testing, the results weren’t great, and definitely not reliable enough yet.
Where AI Shows More Value
One area that works much better right now: virtual agents (chatbots). Instead of relying on Copilot to find everything for you, you can build an agent connected to a very specific set of data, like your client agreements.
Then you can ask it questions like:
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“When does Client X’s agreement expire?”
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“Does this contract have an auto-renew clause?”
For SMBs with a lot of documents, that’s a real time saver.
And there are other areas where AI is already a must-have, not just hype:
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Writing and translation: anyone drafting documents or switching between French and English should already be using AI.
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Summarization: quickly turn contracts, reports, or long documents into key takeaways.
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Brainstorming: whether it’s marketing ideas, strategy planning, or finding themes for your next team session, AI is an amazing tool to spark ideas and speed up the creative process.
Copilot Chat vs. Copilot 365
There’s also an important distinction:
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Copilot Chat (included for free in Microsoft 365) is a great place to start. Yes, sometimes you need to copy-paste, but it’s an easy, low-risk way to try out AI.
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Copilot for Microsoft 365 (built into Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams, etc.) costs about $40 per user per month, with a 12-month commitment. At that price, it really makes sense for power users and people who live in meetings—because that’s where the transcription and summaries really shine.
Hype or Real Productivity?
If I had to call it today, I’d say hype. For most SMBs, Copilot isn’t yet the revolutionary productivity engine Microsoft promised.
That said, if history has taught us anything about Microsoft, it’s that their products get better over time. I have no doubt that before long, Copilot 365 will become a must-have.
For now, the smartest strategy for SMB leaders is to:
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Adopt AI right away for writing, translation, summarization, and brainstorming—those are already delivering real value.
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Explore virtual agents for document-heavy processes.
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Experiment with Copilot Chat (no extra cost).
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Test Copilot 365 with a small group of key users before rolling it out company-wide.
