Work Smarter with Microsoft Copilot

Yes. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is built on the same enterprise-grade security and compliance architecture as the rest of the Microsoft 365 platform. Critically, your data is never used to train Microsoft's AI models, and it never leaves your Microsoft 365 tenant. Copilot respects your existing access permissions — so users only see content they already have permission to access. It also integrates with Microsoft Purview for data governance, sensitivity labels, and compliance policies. For UK businesses, this means Copilot can be deployed in a manner consistent with UK GDPR requirements.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is available as an add-on licence at £25 per user per month (excluding VAT), and requires an eligible base Microsoft 365 licence (Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, or E5). There is no longer a minimum seat requirement, meaning businesses of all sizes can purchase as few licences as they need. Microsoft also offers a free tier of Copilot (available in Bing and Edge) and a Copilot Pro tier for individuals (approximately £19/month) with access in Microsoft 365 desktop apps, though without the full organisational data integration available in the business licence. Disking IT can help you identify the most cost-effective licensing approach for your specific team size and needs.

Not necessarily. If you're already on a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan — such as Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, or E5 — you can simply add the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence on top of what you already have. You do not need to migrate to a new platform or change your existing applications. Disking IT will review your current licences as part of a readiness assessment and advise on any changes needed before deployment.

Both use large language models, but there are important differences for business use. ChatGPT is a standalone tool with no direct integration into your work applications or data. Microsoft Copilot is embedded directly into Microsoft 365 apps and has access to your organisation's data through Microsoft Graph — meaning it can summarise a specific email thread, pull information from a SharePoint document, or draft a reply with the context of your entire conversation history. Copilot also operates within your Microsoft 365 security and compliance boundaries, making it significantly more suitable for business and regulated environments than a public-facing chatbot.

Microsoft Copilot is designed to be intuitive for anyone already familiar with Microsoft 365 — the interface is conversational and embedded in familiar apps, so there's no steep learning curve. However, to get the most value from Copilot, users benefit from understanding how to write effective prompts (instructions given to the AI) and which Copilot features are best suited to their specific role. Disking IT provides role-based training for teams of all sizes, covering practical use cases relevant to your industry, so your team can start saving time from day one rather than experimenting on their own.

Copilot can only surface data that the user already has permission to access within Microsoft 365. It does not bypass existing access controls, sharing permissions, or sensitivity labels. However, this does highlight the importance of good data governance before deploying Copilot — if your Microsoft 365 environment has overly broad sharing permissions or outdated access rights, Copilot could surface more information than intended. As part of our deployment process, Disking IT conducts a data governance review to identify and address any such issues before Copilot is enabled.

The technical deployment of Microsoft Copilot is relatively quick — licences can be assigned within hours of procurement. However, a well-managed deployment that ensures security, governance, and user adoption typically takes two to four weeks end-to-end. This includes a readiness assessment of your Microsoft 365 environment, any necessary remediation (such as reviewing data permissions), configuration of Copilot settings, and delivery of user training. Disking IT follows a structured deployment process to ensure your rollout is smooth and that your team is ready to use Copilot effectively from the first day.

Yes. Microsoft removed the 300-seat minimum for Microsoft 365 Copilot in early 2024, meaning small and medium-sized businesses can now purchase as few or as many licences as they need. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available to businesses on qualifying plans including Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Business Premium — both of which are commonly used by SMBs in the UK. Disking IT works with businesses of all sizes and can help you pilot Copilot with a small number of users before rolling it out more widely.