Microsoft 365 Copilot drove up to 353% return on investment for SMEs: study

You’ve likely heard a lot about generative AI and how it’s transforming companies of all sizes, from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large organisations.

To better understand how AI is helping businesses grow and compete, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to study the potential return on investment (ROI) of Microsoft 365 Copilot for SMEs (or SMBs — small and medium businesses).

This generative AI companion, which connects seamlessly to existing Microsoft apps such as Word and Outlook, is designed to boost productivity and creativity by streamlining time-consuming everyday tasks.

The results of Forrester’s study,¹ titled New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact Of Microsoft 365 Copilot for SMB are eye-opening. It projects that over a three-year period, businesses can experience an ROI ranging from 132% to 353%.²

Moreover, the study reports that businesses are already experiencing the transformational impact of AI for their organisations in these areas:

• Faster time to market;
• Increased productivity; and
• Improved employee satisfaction.

The Forrester study demonstrates the transformative results that AI can help bring to businesses — making Copilot not just a productivity tool but a strategic investment for long-term growth:

• 6% increase in net revenue; 
• 20% reduction in operating costs; and
• 25% acceleration in new-hire onboarding.

It is critical to upskill on AI now, to be prepared for its capabilities in a few years. Running a business without Copilot in five years’ time would be like trying to run a company today using typewriters instead of computers.

Turning innovation into action with faster time to market

Bringing new products to market faster and more quickly meeting customer demands are critical for business success. Forrester’s study highlights how Copilot can help accelerate revenue growth and open doors to additional business opportunities.

The study found that 24% of businesses experienced a 16% to 20% reduction in time to market for new products, and 27% of businesses saw improvements in time to market ranging from 11% to 15%. These improvements can help you enhance your agility and increase competitiveness in the market.

You can optimise your business processes by working to map out workflow and ask Copilot for recommendations to eliminate inefficiencies. Then you can share the list of recommendations with your team for feedback before deciding how to move forward. Copilot can help ensure projects move forward without delays — ask Copilot to provide updates on your team’s progress to quickly identify where support is needed.

Increasing productivity across your business

Employees at SMEs often wear multiple hats, doing jobs across different departments, and sometimes having less time to spend on their own projects. Copilot can help address this challenge by taking on routine, repetitive tasks, helping teams to focus on more strategic work.

Forrester’s study shows that 51% of businesses using Copilot reported a 1% to 10% reduction in supply chain costs, while 59% saw operating costs decrease between 1% and 20%. This can help you to shift resources towards growth-focused initiatives without overwhelming your team.

With Copilot, your team can quickly find critical details from client contracts or vendor agreements and have emails from key clients prioritised, helping to ensure that the most urgent emails are addressed first. Copilot can also gather data from spreadsheets and text documents, analyse it, and create easy-to-understand charts and tables for faster decision-making.

Enhancing employee satisfaction and retention

The study also highlights Copilot’s impact on employee satisfaction. By freeing up time to collaborate more effectively and take on more fulfilling tasks, SMEs have experienced or anticipated, on average, an 18% increase in employee satisfaction, with a corresponding 11% to 20% reduction in employee churn.

People have a lot of anxiety about going on holiday because of what they’re going to miss. The ability to catch up fast with summaries on key meetings doesn’t just save the person who was away time, but will also save the other leaders in the organisation, who would have had to catch them up, time too.

Now’s the right time to invest in AI 

With potential benefits like increased revenue, faster time to market and significant ROI, Microsoft 365 Copilot can be a valuable investment for SMEs looking to thrive in a competitive market.

You can also learn how to make Copilot part of your everyday business activities by exploring the new Copilot Success Kit for SMEs, which provides resources on licensing, technical requirements and AI capabilities.

For more information on how you can harness the power of AI to boost your SME’s business operations, click here.

This article was sponsored by Microsoft SA.

^{1. 'New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact Of Microsoft 365 Copilot for SMB' is a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft. Results are based on Microsoft 365 Copilot customer interviews and surveys of over 200 companies with up to 300 employees across various industries, from retail to financial services. • 2. Forrester modelled a range of projected low-, medium- and high-impact outcomes based on evaluated risk. This financial analysis projects that the composite organisation accrues the after three-year net present value (NPV) for each scenario by enabling Microsoft 365 Copilot: Projected high impact of a $955,000 NPV and projected ROI of 353%; projected medium impact of a $658,000 NPV and projected ROI of 243%; and projected low impact of a $358,000 NPV and projected ROI of 132%.}