Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: is it worth it for small teams?

For a long time Microsoft 365 Copilot was mainly a topic for large enterprises. Since December 2025, Copilot Business has been available for companies with up to 300 users and no minimum seat count. For many Swiss SMEs that raises a serious question for the first time: is it worth it?

What Copilot Business costs

According to Microsoft partner information, Copilot Business costs around USD 21 per user per month on an annual commitment, with a promotional price of USD 18 until the end of 2026. Month-to-month billing costs more. In Switzerland the price is shown in Swiss francs. You also need an existing Microsoft 365 licence such as Business Standard or Premium.

What Copilot does day to day

• Outlook: summarise long email threads and draft replies.
• Teams: take meeting notes and record tasks and decisions.
• Word and PowerPoint: create drafts from notes or existing documents.
• Excel: analyse data and explain formulas.
• Search across everything: "What did we quote client X in spring?" Copilot searches emails, chats and files you have access to.

The key requirement: clean permissions

Copilot sees everything the user is allowed to see. If SharePoint folders have been shared "with everyone" for years, Copilot will suddenly surface payroll lists or confidential quotes. Before rolling out Copilot, review sharing settings and separate sensitive data properly. That is usually the biggest effort, and it pays off even without AI.

Who it pays off for

A simple rule of thumb: if Copilot saves a person about an hour a month, the licence pays for itself. That usually works for roles with lots of email, meetings and documents, such as management, sales or project management. For staff who rarely work at a computer, the free Copilot Chat is often enough.

Our suggestion

1. Start with three to five licences for the roles that benefit most.
2. Review SharePoint and OneDrive permissions first.
3. Take stock after two months, then expand.

Copilot or a custom AI solution?

Copilot is strong for general office work. For company-specific workflows, such as quotes from your price list or reports from your industry software, a targeted custom automation is often more effective. The two don't exclude each other. As part of our IT support we set up Copilot securely, and through AI & automation we build what Copilot doesn't cover.