What is a Copilot readiness assessment?
A Copilot readiness assessment checks whether your business is ready for Microsoft 365 Copilot before you buy licences for everyone.
What do you need before you can use Copilot?
Each person needs an eligible Microsoft 365 plan, a Copilot licence and a Microsoft Entra work account. Features that use email or calendars need an Exchange Online mailbox, and some need OneDrive. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business works with Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium, among other plans.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat with web results comes with eligible Microsoft 365 plans at no extra cost. Chat that works from your own files needs the paid licence. What's free and what isn't sets out the difference.
What are the security risks of Copilot?
Oversharing, mainly. Copilot only shows people what they can already open, but if folders, sites or old links are open to everyone, it makes their contents easier to find. The other risk is wrong answers used unchecked, since Microsoft says generative AI output isn't guaranteed to be accurate.
How do you fix oversharing before Copilot?
Find the sites, folders and links shared with everyone, limit the ones holding HR, finance or client records to the people who need them, and remove old links anyone can open. While you review, Microsoft's tools can keep chosen SharePoint sites out of Copilot's results.
Microsoft strongly recommends this but doesn't require it. Its tools for the job include SharePoint Advanced Management and Microsoft Purview.
Do you need a DPIA for Copilot?
If Copilot will work with emails and files holding staff or customer personal data, plan for a data protection impact assessment (DPIA). The ICO, the UK's data protection regulator, says most AI use with personal data is likely to be high risk. Your data protection lead decides and records it.
The DPIA template for AI projects covers what to write down.
The Copilot readiness checklist
Copilot readiness checklist
Work through it with whoever runs your Microsoft 365, before Microsoft 365 Copilot reaches more than a small test group. It isn't legal advice.
- Business
- [Your business]
- Checked by
- [Name, role]
- Date
- [DD/MM/YYYY]
1Licences and accounts
- Each test user has an eligible Microsoft 365 plan and a Copilot licence
- Everyone signs in with a work account, not a personal one
- Mailboxes are in Exchange Online, if Copilot will use email or calendars
- OneDrive is set up for each test user
2Permissions and oversharing
- You've found SharePoint sites and Teams shared with everyone in the business
- Sites holding HR, finance or client records are limited to the people who need them
- Old sharing links that anyone can open have been removed
- Sensitive documents carry sensitivity labels, if you use them
- Sites still under review are kept out of Copilot's results for now
3Data protection
- Your data protection lead has decided whether you need a DPIA
- Your AI policy covers Copilot, and staff have read it
- You know where Copilot processes your data, and it fits your rules
- You've decided how long Copilot chat history is kept
4People
- A small test group is chosen, with one job each to try
- Someone checks Copilot's work before it's used or sent
- The test group knows Copilot can be wrong and what to check
- There's one person to ask, and to tell when something goes wrong
5The first test
- You've timed each job as it's done now
- The test runs for four weeks on everyday work
- You'll compare the time taken and the quality at the end
- You've agreed what would make you roll it out further, or stop
Free to use and change.
How should you run a Copilot pilot?
Give a small group one weekly job each, and time it first. Run the pilot for four weeks on everyday work with someone checking every output, then compare time and quality and decide whether to roll it out, change course or stop.
How much does a Copilot licence cost?
On 05/10/2026, Microsoft listed the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on from £13.80 per user a month paid yearly, or £19.32 paid monthly, excluding VAT. The £13.80 is an offer for purchases up to 31/12/2026, against a usual £16.10. Microsoft 365 Copilot for enterprise is £23.10 paid yearly, or £24.26 paid monthly on an annual commitment.
Both sit on top of an eligible Microsoft 365 plan. Prices change, so check Microsoft's page before you buy.