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Unlocking Copilot’s Potential with a Managed IT Services Provider

Since our recent webinar on Copilot agents, one question keeps surfacing: should we implement Microsoft 365 Copilot in-house or work with a Managed IT Services Provider (MSP)? It’s a fair question – and one that’s becoming increasingly urgent as firms realise the complexity, risks, and potential costs involved in getting Copilot right.

Microsoft 365 is already a technically intricate platform, and Copilot adds a whole new layer of complexity. From data governance to security frameworks and user adoption, deploying Copilot successfully requires more than just turning on a feature – it demands deep expertise across multiple domains.

Why Copilot Is a Game-Changer — If Your Microsoft 365 Is Ready

Here’s what 93% of professionals don’t realise (1): while they’re experimenting with consumer AI tools like ChatGPT, they’re potentially exposing sensitive business information to third parties if they’re not using a corporate version.  Many firms have moved to Enterprise plans of some services, but then data resides in multiple places from a compliance perspective. Microsoft 365 Copilot solves this fundamental problem by working exclusively within your existing Microsoft ecosystem.

Copilot represents a fundamental shift in how we approach business productivity.

Unlike standalone AI platforms, Copilot integrates seamlessly into the applications your team already uses daily. It appears directly in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook as an intelligent enhancement to familiar processes.

For organisations running on Microsoft 365, this integration advantage is only fully realised when your environment is properly configured. Microsoft partners understand the intricate dependencies between SharePoint permissions, Teams structures, and Exchange configurations that create either a seamless Copilot experience or a problematic one.

Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index introduced “Frontier Firms”: organisations fundamentally restructuring around AI with hybrid teams of humans and AI agents.

At Doherty Associates, we’ve already embarked on this journey, building our own custom agents to enhance service delivery and gain firsthand experience of the transformation ahead.

How Copilot Uses Your Data — And Why Governance Matters

Copilot leverages your existing Microsoft 365 data: emails, documents, SharePoint sites, Teams conversations. Rather than generic responses, it can draft proposals using your company’s templates, analyse your specific sales data, or create project updates referencing actual team communications.

However, this brings significant governance challenges. Microsoft’s Zero Trust documentation emphasises that if your data isn’t properly classified before Copilot deployment, you risk “oversharing” – where sensitive information becomes accessible to users who shouldn’t see it.

Understanding how Copilot interacts with your security model requires deep knowledge of SharePoint permissions, sensitivity labels, Conditional Access policies, and Information Rights Management. Microsoft partners specialising in Microsoft 365 security understand these interdependencies and can assess your security posture to identify oversharing risks before deployment.  Copilot will only surface data users already access, but if the data is not secured, Copilot can reveal information in surprising ways. Without proper data governance, it can inadvertently become a discovery tool for sensitive information.

Specialist Managed IT Services Providers Understand Microsoft Security Frameworks

The technical foundation for successful Copilot deployment goes well beyond basic Microsoft 365 administration. Microsoft’s guidance spans hundreds of pages across Microsoft Purview, SharePoint Advanced Management, Data Loss Prevention policies, and sensitivity labelling.  However, how to implement them safely in a working organisation isn’t included in the documents and relies on experience and understanding the organisation so that important activities aren’t disrupted.

Experienced IT services firms have implemented these frameworks across multiple environments. They know how to configure Microsoft Purview’s Data Security Posture Management for AI, implement oversharing controls, and ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 or financial services regulations.

Why Industry-Specific Experience Makes a Difference

Whether providing IT support for law firms navigating confidentiality concerns or IT services for financial services firms, for example, managing regulatory risk MSPs bring invaluable industry perspective. While Microsoft provides technical documentation, they don’t understand the context that firms work in, the pressures of deal flow and how other firms have approached these challenges.

This knowledge comes from real implementations. Experienced MSPs know which industries face specific adoption challenges, which features deliver highest ROI for different business types, and what change management approaches work best. This dramatically reduces risks and speeds up time to value.

Accelerating Implementation and Adoption with Proven Methodologies

The most compelling reason to partner with a provider of managed IT services is speed. Successful implementation involves licence assignment, data governance, security configuration, change management, and ongoing optimisation. Each area has multiple dependencies and pitfalls.

Managed IT services providers bring pre-built methodologies and tested configurations, getting teams productively using Copilot in weeks rather than months. They understand how to leverage Microsoft’s analytics tools: the admin centre’s readiness reports and Viva Insights’ Copilot Dashboard with adoption metrics and ROI indicators. They distinguish between enabled and active users, identify high-engagement applications, and target training effectively.  Without access to these dashboards from your MSP and making use of the information, you may be blind to who is actually using the tool.

Early adopters implementing Copilot properly report 20-30% productivity gains for knowledge workers, but only when done right from the start. For organisations tracking efficiency metrics, these translate to measurable operational improvements.

The pattern is clear: organisations partnering with experienced MSPs aren’t just deploying faster; they’re building foundations for sustained AI adoption extending beyond Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Making the decision to partner with an MSP recognises that successful AI adoption requires expertise spanning technical implementation, security governance, change management, and industry-specific optimisation. Where AI adoption speed increasingly determines competitive positioning, the smart choice is leveraging expertise that gets you there faster, more securely, and with predictable costs.

Not All Managed IT Services Providers Are Ready for Copilot — What to Look For

It’s important to recognise that not all managed IT services providers MSPs are equipped to support Microsoft 365 Copilot effectively. Some may hold Microsoft accreditations but lack hands-on experience with Copilot deployments, especially in complex or regulated industries. Others may not fully understand how Copilot interacts with your data, security posture, or compliance obligations.

At Doherty Associates, we’ve invested early in generative AI – building our own agents, refining deployment methodologies, and helping clients unlock real productivity gains. Our deep understanding of Microsoft 365, combined with industry-specific insight, means we don’t just deploy Copilot – we make it work for your business.

Our Discover and Protect methodology puts this into practice – delivering a structured programme that identifies and resolves risks, as well as making sure that Copilot can make the best use of your data.

Many organisations have also benefited from our user training, delivered as two linked sessions called ‘Art of the Possible’ and ‘Build the Plan’, which take Copilot from theory to actionable practice.

If you are interested in deploying agents, we are helping firms take advantage of them in Copilot Studio and Azure.

Ready to take Copilot to the next level for your firm?

Arrange a discovery call and let’s talk about how we can accelerate your journey – get in touch

Sources:

(1) Menlo Ventures – 2025: The State of Consumer AI

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