Digital assistant in the Microsoft 365 cockpit: Würth IT tests Copilot for the Group’s 400 companies

Writing emails, summarizing meetings, and culling content for presentations: it’s routine tasks like these that eat up time and energy that people could otherwise spend tackling their real day-to-day challenges. On behalf of the global Würth Group, Würth IT was in the market for a solution that would relieve employees of precisely these tasks and free up time for them to spend on those activities that bring the Group forward. As part of an early access program (EAP), Würth IT put Copilot for Microsoft 365 through its paces—and recognized the vast potential offered by this digital assistant.

The challenge: Time-sucking tasks lower productivity

The Würth Group is the global market leader in fastening and assembly materials. Highly diversified, it has 400 companies in 80 countries with some 2,500 branch offices staffed by a total of around 87,000 employees who drive the Group’s success every day. Digital innovation plays a central role in expanding the Group’s market position: as a company in its own right, Würth IT covers the software, IT infrastructure, and technology needs of all in-house and field staff throughout the Group. Dr. Thomas Burkhart, Managing Director of Würth IT GmbH, explains: “It’s our job to use technology to create a suitable work environment for efficiently pursuing our corporate goals.” Würth IT recognizes that the applications it has already rolled out hold the potential for increased workplace efficiency: sales teams both in-house and in the field can lose entire days to reading and writing texts, laboriously preparing and evaluating the content of meetings, and composing emails. This takes time away from tasks that count directly toward achieving their sales targets. “It’s in precisely these tasks that automation through digitization can unleash its enormous potential,” Burkhart says. “So for workplace IT, we’re always looking for innovations that we can roll out to our employees all over the world. Microsoft 365 had long since established itself as the work cockpit for all employees. Now we were looking for a technology that relieves them of certain tasks, increases efficiency, and reduces workload.” With the advent of language-based artificial intelligence (AI), there was suddenly an innovation that promised to considerably speed up the completion of tasks performed in Office solutions like Word, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook. Würth IT took part in an early access program (EAP) for Copilot for Microsoft 365 and tested an AI assistant for the entire Würth Group.

The solution: Identify use cases and rely on Copilot to increase efficiency

Würth IT’s priority was to be able to test new technologies as exhaustively as possible. “We’re making decisions on behalf of 400 companies, so it’s our job to identify as many use cases as we can,” explains Axel Conrad, Head of Würth Global Services at Würth IT. “Microsoft’s invitation to take part in the EAP arrived at just the right time for us.” The program gave Würth IT the chance to really get to grips with Copilot for Microsoft 365: What added value does the tool create? Where does it make the most sense to integrate it into the Office applications that the Würth Group already uses? Which employee roles stand to benefit the most? “We gave test licenses to employees across the Group,” Conrad says, “and in no time at all, we’d identified a number of exciting use cases.”

One of these was summarizing meetings held on Microsoft Teams. “Right now, that’s the Copilot function I find the most useful,” says Stefano Manzolelli, System Administrator at Würth IT. “I give the command: Summarize what was discussed and decided. And Copilot provides me with the summary.” That saves time when searching for information and works for any meeting for which a transcript was made—no matter whether you were able to be at the meeting or if you had to pull out at the last minute.

Adina Lang, Executive Assistant at Würth IT, has another use case. She spends her days communicating with colleagues in all areas of the Group in both German and English—both at meetings and through countless emails. In addition to the Copilot functions in Microsoft Teams, she’s a big fan of the integration into Outlook: “When I write an email, I draft the core message I want to send as a set of bullet points. Copilot suggests the wording of the email, hits the right tone, ensures the message has a logical structure, uses concise phrasing, and even trims if necessary.” And this works with multiple languages: “I can write the bullet points in German and ask Copilot to compose the email in English—and vice versa of course. Given that we’re an international company, this function is invaluable.”

These use cases demonstrate considerable added value of Copilot: by easing the burden on the Würth Group’s employees, the technology helps increase efficiency. Conrad takes up the analogy of the cockpit: “Just like in an aircraft cockpit, Copilot for Microsoft 365 relieves our employees of routine tasks so that they can focus on those tasks that really add value.”

Würth IT has now moved on to testing further use cases for the AI assistant: “This is a technology that’s here to stay. It’s our job to identify where we can use it to our best advantage,” Burkhart says. Building on the initial licenses issued as part of the EAP, many additional roles and locations have now also registered their interest. It’s possible that in the future, Copilot will be assisting all Würth Group employees as part of their Microsoft 365 cockpit.

“When I write an email, I draft the core message I want to send as a set of bullet points. Copilot suggests the wording of the email, hits the right tone, ensures the message has a logical structure, uses concise phrasing, and even trims if necessary.”

Adina Lang, Executive Assistant, Würth IT GmbH