Transforming Business – Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot to Jersey Business for productivity gains
Productivity is the cornerstone of Jersey Business’s strategy. Having identified that workforce productivity has declined by as much as 30% since 1998, they wanted to lead by example in their advisory capacity to the Island’s business community, while ensuring their own processes were as efficient as possible. Jersey Business recognised that technology was an integral part of the answer to the ongoing productivity challenge and when Microsoft announced in January 2024, that its generative AI tool, Copilot for Microsoft 365, was to be made available to businesses of all sizes, they were eager to be early adopters.
Paul Murphy, CEO of Jersey Business explained, “Having attended public sessions with Prosperity 24/7 we began to understand that Microsoft Copilot would be an opportunity for us to think about how we could test, develop and drive productivity gains across our own business and we were really excited about it.”
“Prosperity 24/7 worked with us to understand how they could ensure the organisation was fully prepared for effective implementation of Copilot and as part of the approach, identified candidate processes that would free up time spent on administration, in turn enabling us to allocate our scarcest resource, our colleagues, so that they could focus our activity on improving business performance and increasing economic impact, which is ultimately our purpose.”
Getting ready for Copilot
To ensure Jersey Business was fully prepared for Copilot, Prosperity implemented their 10-day Readiness Assessment, taking a strategic view of how Copilot would be used within the organisation.
This encompasses four key pillars: security, technical readiness, strategy, and change management with a particular focus on people. A people-first approach and being sure technology works the way that people work is the most important part of any investment of this type.
Geraldine Evans, Prosperity’s COO explained, “Helping our clients adapt to new ways of working without anxiety, and ensuring we involve all colleagues in this transformation process, not only maximises the return on investment but ultimately ensures success.”
“Everyone has a different approach to change. Some are fearful of it, while others embrace it. Creating a sense of community, yet urgency, supported by effective communication is so important. That’s where the permissive culture at Jersey Business really made a difference, allowing us to drive change by focusing on how people use technology and how this could streamline and improve efficiencies in their processes and then celebrating and sharing the successes.”
The Solution
Copilot for Microsoft 365 streamlines tasks, automates workflows, and enhances collaboration. Its adaptability allows for customisation to meet any organisation’s specific needs. Prosperity’s team were able gain early access to Microsoft’s new AI tool and worked understand the potential positive impact of Microsoft’s innovation, whilst addressing any concerns that early adoption of new tech can surface. This proactive insight enabled Prosperity to drive greater value to the solution that was implemented for Jersey Business.
The outcome? Repetitive, administrative-heavy processes have been streamlined, freeing the team to spend essential, face-to-face time with Jersey business customers. Within just five weeks of implementation, Jersey Business reported remarkable time savings:
- 27% reduction in time spent on daily prioritised scenario processes.
- 24% reduction in time spent on daily tasks.
This translated to over two hours liberated per person on just two daily tasks, which achieved the desired outcome of giving the team more time to focus more on their clients.
June Stead, Senior Business Advisor at Jersey Business said, “Copilot helps us in six out of the seven steps of the new business application process, giving us a 40-minute time-saving per application. It frees me up time to focus on the part of the job I really enjoy, which adds the most value, human interaction and our ability to share our knowledge with new businesses. I feel really encouraged to keep on exploring features to continuously improve how we work.”
Impact of Copilot
The positive impact of Copilot has extended beyond Jersey Business, as they share their success and experiences with other businesses across Jersey. Paul Murphy, CEO of Jersey Business, stated, “Copilot will help to ease the productivity challenges we see across Jersey in the wider business community. We can only see businesses benefitting from Copilot and we are happy to share our own experiences for the benefit of others.”
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