Driving the future of work: How we’re approaching Microsoft 365 Copilot change management at Microsoft

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Technology is constantly transforming the way we work—and AI is driving that evolution faster than ever. At Microsoft, the launch of Microsoft 365 Copilot is a powerful example of this shift.

However, launching an innovation of this scale inside the world’s largest software company came with its own set of challenges. The mission to embed Microsoft 365 Copilot into the fabric of our daily operations was spearheaded by Alexandra Jones, director of business programs, and Sandra Hausfelder, a global adoption lead for Copilot. Together, the duo who work in Microsoft Digital, company’s IT organization, led a multi-disciplinary effort to ensure a smooth, impactful rollout—one that could serve as a blueprint for customers worldwide.

Jones, Hausfelder and their colleagues understood early on that rolling out Copilot and integrating it into the enterprise’s daily operations would require more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Every team and role at Microsoft have unique needs, and the success of Copilot hinged on understanding and addressing those differences. Subsequently, the duo and their teammates worked with their IT colleagues across Microsoft Digital and partner teams from across the company to develop a change management and skilling strategy grounded in data and tailored by role and organization.

To ensure our adoption strategy was rooted in actionable insights, the team developed a robust data framework to understand user behavior across the organization. By analyzing factors such as geographic location, job function, and Copilot usage patterns, they surfaced high-value opportunities—what they referred to as adoption “hotspots,” or clusters of employees with shared roles and training needs. Based on these adoption hotspots, they could design skilling activities for those specific groups, catering to their needs for more targeted and effective engagement.

 “We have created a wealth of metrics and usage numbers in order to analyze the organizations, where employees are based, what their role is and their current usage levels,” Jones says.

For example, one such hotspot identified was our Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO+I) organization, specifically employees in that organization working in data centers. The team designed targeted training events for these employees, using examples and skilling activities that resonated with their daily tasks and challenges. By mirroring real-world scenarios, Jones, Hausfelder and the team ensured that skilling felt relevant and immediately applicable—an approach that proved highly effective in driving usage.

From exploration to acceleration—building a culture of adoption

Hausfelder characterized the initial phase of Copilot deployment as a time of discovery and rapid learning.

“When I got engaged to drive adoption of Copilot at Microsoft, it was early days—some experiences were still basic, and all of us had to learn how to efficiently use it to support us,” Hausfelder says. “In fact, we were the first large, global enterprise to apply AI at scale. So initially we all were in a kind of explorer mode—discovering what it can do today, how we can bring all employees along on this journey, and how we can help envision the future of Copilot by collecting rich feedback.”

To support this journey, they launched an early adopters’ program, equipping engineers, support teams, and other strategic roles with Copilot licenses. As confidence and capability grew, the rollout expanded to include key areas such as legal, HR, marketing, and sales. Additionally, there were efforts to target employees working in specific roles, like change management, PM, software engineering, and so on.

Their multi-pronged enablement strategy included:

• Power hours: Guided sessions showing how to use Copilot across Microsoft 365 apps like Teams and Outlook.
• “Get Engaged” sessions: Interactive workshops—some hosted in local languages—to explore Copilot’s capabilities, gather live feedback, and surface feature requests.
• Surveys and analytics: Quantitative and qualitative feedback was gathered through in-app reporting, enterprise-wide surveys, and focused research activities.

These feedback loops weren’t just about fine-tuning internal adoption—they played a vital role in shaping the evolution of the product itself. User insights were prioritized and funneled directly to the Copilot product group, fueling a continuous improvement cycle.

Measuring success at scale and sustaining momentum

No transformation effort is complete without accountability. The team used Microsoft Viva to track progress and set measurable targets. Using aggregate data, they monitored monthly active usage—which consistently stayed in the 90% range—as well as net satisfaction (NSAT) scores, which offered insight into how users were responding to Copilot, and where there was room to improve.

This data allowed the team to pinpoint which change management strategies worked and where further engagement was needed.

“We could see exactly which organizations were thriving and where we had opportunities to re-engage,” Hausfelder says.

As Copilot continues to evolve, so does the need for ongoing learning and awareness. Features that may have underwhelmed users in the early days have since been enhanced—making it crucial to reintroduce them with a fresh perspective.

 “Copilot has completely changed the way I work,” Hausfelder says. “I’m excited to help others unlock the same kind of productivity gains—and to see where Copilot takes us next.”

To keep the momentum going without overwhelming users, we’re leveraging gamification, organic peer-to-peer learning, and an active internal community that shares role-specific use cases and favorite scenarios. We’re also expanding our Customer Zero efforts, identifying new “hero scenarios” that showcase transformative use cases and sharing those insights with both internal stakeholders and customers.

A playbook for the future of AI-assisted work

Our successful deployment of Copilot offers a pragmatic blueprint for organizations embarking on their own AI transformation. By grounding its strategy in data, tailoring adoption efforts to specific roles, and cultivating a culture of continuous feedback and exploration, As a company, we’re actively shaping the future of work—and setting a precedent others can learn from. As Copilot evolves alongside the workforce, our approach highlights a practical reality—transformation isn’t a one-time milestone, but an ongoing journey of learning, adaptation, and innovation.