Most businesses on Microsoft 365 already have a free version of Copilot. The paid licence is a different experience: it can read the emails, meetings, chats and files you have access to, and work inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Used well, it saves real time every day. Used badly, it’s an expensive chatbot.

This guide covers what the paid licence adds, practical ways to use it in a small business, and the settings worth checking first.

Which Copilot do you have?

Microsoft has recently renamed its products. Microsoft 365 Copilot is now called Microsoft Copilot, and the free Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is now Microsoft Copilot Chat. You’ll still see the old names in places while Microsoft makes the change.

Copilot Chat (free with a work account): a chat assistant that answers from the web. It can work with the email or file you have open, but it can’t search across your mailbox, chats and SharePoint for you.
The paid licence: adds “work” answers grounded in everything you have permission to see, plus Copilot inside Outlook, Teams meetings, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and agents such as Researcher and Analyst.
Copilot Business: the add-on aimed at small and medium businesses with up to 300 users on Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium. Microsoft says it has the same capabilities as the full Microsoft Copilot licence. It’s an annual commitment, billed monthly or yearly.

Outlook: get through email faster

Outlook is where most people feel the difference first. With the paid licence you get:

Summary by Copilot: the key points of a long email thread at the top of the message.
Draft with Copilot: a full reply drafted from the thread and what you tell it, for example “politely decline, offer two dates next week”.
Coaching by Copilot: feedback on the tone and clarity of an important email before you send it.
Prioritize my inbox: Copilot reviews new mail as it arrives and marks it high, normal or low priority.

Try asking Copilot Chat in Outlook “which unread emails need a reply from me today?” at the start of the day.

Teams: let Copilot take the meeting notes

In Teams meetings Copilot can summarise the discussion, say who said what, suggest action items and answer questions such as “what did we agree about the delivery date?”, during or after the meeting.

To ask questions after a meeting has ended, the meeting needs a transcript, so turn on transcription when you start. Let attendees know, especially clients, and see our guide to using Copilot safely for when recording isn’t appropriate.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote

Copilot works inside the Office apps too, and Microsoft’s newer “Edit with Copilot” mode (previously called Agent Mode) can make changes to a document, spreadsheet or presentation for you. Good starting points for a small business:

Word: turn rough notes or an existing file into a first-draft proposal, letter or policy, then ask for a shorter or more formal version.
Excel: ask questions about a table in plain English, such as “which customers spent the most this quarter?”, and have Copilot add a chart or summary.
PowerPoint: start a presentation from a Word document and tidy it up from there.
OneNote: summarise long notes and pull out the to-do items.

Treat everything as a first draft. Copilot is fast, but you’re still responsible for what goes out.

Ask questions about your own work

Copilot Chat with the paid licence answers from your own emails, chats, meetings and files. Questions like “what has the Smith & Co account asked us for this month?” or “summarise everything about the office move” pull the threads together in seconds.

The licence also includes Researcher for longer, multi-source research tasks, Analyst for working through data, and Copilot Notebooks for gathering files and notes on one project in one place.

With Agent Builder you can describe a simple assistant in plain English, such as one that answers staff questions from your HR handbook in SharePoint, and share it with your team. Anything that needs to connect to outside systems moves up to Copilot Studio, which is worth planning with your IT provider.

Write prompts that work

Microsoft suggests four parts to a good prompt. Only the first is essential, but the others make a big difference:

Goal: what you want, for example “draft a reply to this complaint”.
Context: why, and who it’s for: “the customer is a long-standing client and the delay was our fault”.
Source: what to use: “use the delivery email from Tuesday”.
Expectations: how it should read: “under 150 words, apologetic but not grovelling, offer a call”.

Expect to go back and forth. Ask for changes rather than starting again, and check the answer against the original emails or files before relying on it.

Check your billing settings

Microsoft is adding usage-based charges for some newer Copilot services. From 1 December 2026, new Copilot Business licences bought through a Microsoft partner will have usage-based billing switched on by default, with a default limit of 4,000 Copilot Credits a month for each person, which admins can change. An “auto-apply new services” option is also on by default, so newly added Copilot services can start using credits automatically.

Before you buy, agree a monthly budget, set spending limits and alerts in the Copilot cost management settings, and decide whether new services should switch on automatically.

Sources

Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Copilot Business FAQ (25 August 2026)
Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Copilot licensing (25 September 2026)
Microsoft Support: Frequently asked questions about Copilot in Outlook (August 2026)
Microsoft Support: Catch up on meetings with Copilot in Teams
Microsoft Learn: Build agents with Agent Builder (30 September 2026)
Microsoft Support: Get started writing prompts (September 2026)
Microsoft Partner Center: October 2026 announcements (1 October 2026)
Microsoft Learn: Manage Copilot credits and usage-based billing (1 October 2026)

Details are correct at the time of writing. Microsoft updates Copilot often, so check the sources above for the latest features and terms.

Want help with this in your business? Call 01787 209 003, see our Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace service, or book a free IT consultation.

How to get the most from a paid Microsoft Copilot licence in your business