Advania goes all in on Copilot

After a successful trial in using Microsoft Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) software internally, which saw benefits in terms of employee productivity and creativity, channel player Advania has opted to make the tech available to all of its 1,000-plus staff.

The firm is one of the first partners to decide on a staff-wide deployment, reacting to the success of its own pilot scheme. Staff will now be able to use Copilot for Microsoft 365, Copilot Studio, and get creative with ChatGPT deployments.

“Our pilot deployments revealed the tremendous potential to improve employees’ experience and productivity by using Copilot for automating repetitive tasks. More exciting was the power it gave our employees to accelerate problem solving,” said Geoff Kneen, CEO of Advania.

“We witnessed individuals coming up with creative ways to solve the little niggles that distract them from doing their best work. We had to go workforce-wide – the potential was too compelling to delay roll-out.”

Research has shown that many customers are waiting for compelling use cases to emerge before pulling the trigger on AI investments.

Advania discovered that AI can help to digest and respond to complex RFPs, analyse data, produce graphics to support presentations, and track the sentiment of client communications.

Advania’s move to Copilot also got the backing of Orla McGrath, GPS lead at Microsoft UK, who said: “As one of our most certified partners in the UK, I am pleased that Advania has committed to bringing the value of Copilot for Microsoft 365 to all of its employees.

“Advania has been an early mover in the adoption of Microsoft’s generative AI technologies, and I know that the experience gained from its own use of Copilot will quickly inform how it helps its thousand-plus clients across the SMC, enterprise and public sector segments achieve even greater value from this transformative technology,” she added.

The use cases might be emerging, with the positive experiences of the likes of Advania adding to a sense of optimism around AI, but there is still education for the channel to do around convincing customers.

AI is associated with negative connotations around jobs, with job losses seen as a result of taking up the technology. Keen said those dragging their feet risk missing out on the benefits of early adoption.

“It was shocking to learn that UK workers are less likely to trust AI than the global average. Companies investing early in generative AI will create a substantial competitive advantage over those slower to adopt,” he said.

“We recognise that not all employees or projects will benefit the same, and we believe that broad adoption is the best way to figure this out. This approach, which is quite different than traditional technology adoption plans, will allow us to learn and iterate faster, allowing us to share these real-life, real-time results with our clients, which has been impossible until now.”