Businesses already use AI to research information, summarise documents, and draft communications. The UK Government’s 2026 Business Data Survey found that 51% of small businesses handling digitised data use AI technologies, rising to 58% of medium-sized businesses.
You don’t need to start with a major investment or a complex project. The opportunity may lie in everyday tasks such as managing emails, preparing meeting notes and finding information. The key is identifying where AI can make a genuine difference, choosing the right tools and helping your team use them safely and effectively.
Five ways to put AI to work
If your business uses Microsoft 365 Copilot, here are five places to start:
- Make meetings more productive. Summarise discussions, identify key decisions and capture actions, so everyone knows what needs to happen next.
- Get on top of email. Summarise long email threads, draft responses and adjust the tone of communications, with a human checking the final version.
- Work smarter with documents. Summarise lengthy reports, extract key information and create first drafts to reduce time spent starting from scratch.
- Turn information into action. Use AI to help organise information, identify themes and prepare summaries that support better decisions.
- Reduce repetitive admin. Explore where AI can help with recurring tasks, freeing employees to focus on customers, problem-solving, and higher-value work.
The key is to start with a real business need, rather than introducing AI simply because the technology is available.
Productivity needs the right safeguards.
Before rolling out AI, establish clear guidelines on which tools employees can use, what information they can share and when outputs need checking. Confidentiality, data protection, accuracy and human oversight all matter.
It’s also important to help employees understand how to use AI effectively. Training, practical examples and opportunities to share learning can make the difference between a tool people rarely use and one that becomes part of their working day.
Start small: choose a repetitive task, measure how long it takes today, introduce an appropriate AI tool and assess the results. Look at time saved, quality and employee experience before expanding to other areas.
From AI potential to everyday productivity: the BioScript Group example
BioScript Group’s experience shows what practical AI adoption looks like. Rather than relying on one big transformation, the organisation has focused on small, repeatable improvements across everyday work. Employees use Microsoft Copilot to draft emails and documents, summarise meetings and capture actions, reduce repetitive administration and find useful information more quickly. Individually, these gains may seem modest, but across teams they can add up to meaningful productivity improvements.
Crucially, BioScript recognised that providing access to Copilot wasn’t enough. It established an AI Steering Group to oversee responsible use, alongside AI Working Groups within individual business units to encourage adoption and share useful examples. A dedicated SharePoint resource provides guidance and best practice, while a Teams channel gives employees somewhere to ask questions and get support.
The organisation also took a practical approach to measuring value. Rather than relying on a single headline return-on-investment figure, it looked at how everyday time savings accumulate across the business and whether the benefits justify the licence cost. As Mark Christie of BioScript explains, the value comes from “thousands of small actions” that collectively deliver a much larger return.
For other businesses, the lesson is clear: successful AI adoption combines useful applications, clear safeguards and support that helps people build confidence. EBS can help businesses assess their Microsoft 365 readiness, address security and data-access considerations, identify relevant use cases and give employees the training they need to use Copilot effectively.