What automation actually means
Automation means the routine steps of a job happen on their own, the moment something sets them off. Take an invoice landing in your inbox. Usually someone opens it, saves the PDF, types a line into the invoice spreadsheet and tells whoever pays the bills. With automation, the email arriving sets off those same steps and nobody has to touch them.
In Microsoft 365, this is done with Power Automate, a tool included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium and moves information between your apps for you. Each automated job is called a flow. The thing that starts it is the trigger, and the steps it takes are the actions. Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, helps with jobs that involve words, like summarising a long email or drafting a reply.
What you're already paying for
Microsoft 365 is Microsoft's subscription for work: the one behind Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams. If your business is on the Business Basic, Standard or Premium plan, everything below is already part of what you pay for.
- Power Automate with standard connectors, for moving information between Outlook, Teams, Excel and more
- SharePoint and Microsoft Lists, for shared team files and simple tables of records
- Microsoft Forms, for online forms like holiday requests, bookings or enquiries
- Planner, for shared to-do lists and checklists your team can tick off
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, a secure AI chat for work, at no extra cost
A few things cost extra: premium connectors in Power Automate (links to some other apps and services), the full Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio. Our advice is to use what you already pay for before buying anything else.
Which Copilot is which
Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant: you type a question or a request, and it answers or writes for you. There are three versions with very similar names. Below is what each one does and whether it costs extra.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot ChatIn Business Basic, Standard and Premium
- A secure AI chat for work. For example, ask it to draft a reply to a complaint or explain an Excel formula. It comes with eligible Microsoft 365 business plans at no extra cost.
- Microsoft 365 CopilotPaid add-on per user
- A paid add-on per user. It works with your own email, files, chats and meetings inside Word, Outlook, Teams and the rest. For example, it can catch you up on a long email thread.
- Copilot StudioLicensed separately
- A tool for building your own AI assistant (Microsoft calls these agents), for example one that answers staff questions from your handbook in Microsoft Teams. It is licensed separately.
How to spot a job worth handing over
Think through a normal week. A job is usually worth handing over if most of these are true:
- It comes round every day or every week
- It's done the same way every time
- It means copying details from one place to another
- Something predictable starts it, like an email, a form or a date
- A mistake would cost you time or money
Good places to start include invoices, holiday requests, weekly reports, paperwork for new staff and answering common enquiries. For example, a holiday request could go straight to the manager in Teams for a yes or no, then land in the team calendar once approved.
What to leave to people
Automation is good at repetition and poor at judgement. Keep people in charge of decisions that need the full picture, like whether to give a regular customer a discount. Leave one-off jobs alone too: if it would take longer to set up than to do, it isn't worth it. And when a customer wants to speak to a real person, let them.
A good flow keeps a person in the loop on purpose. It does the re-typing and chasing, then waits for someone to say yes.
What you need to get started
You don't need a technical team. To hand a job over well, it helps to have:
- Someone who does the job now and can talk us through it
- A few real examples, like last month's invoices or a typical enquiry
- Access to the Microsoft 365 apps the job uses
The first call is free and takes 15 minutes. Bring a job you'd like to hand over.
Book an intro callJargon buster
- Flow
- One automated job in Power Automate, like saving every invoice email to the right folder.
- Trigger
- The thing that starts a flow, like a new email arriving or a form being sent.
- Connector
- The link that lets Power Automate work with an app, like Outlook or Excel.
- SharePoint list
- A shared online table for keeping track of things like jobs, invoices or requests.
- Power Apps
- A Microsoft tool for building simple apps for your team, like a job sheet on a phone.
- Agent
- An AI assistant set up for one job, like answering staff questions from your handbook.
