In boardrooms and leadership meetings, a similar question is being asked: “What returns are we really getting from AI?”
The release of a new whitepaper — Unlocking AI’s Impact: Measuring Adoption and Business Value with Copilot Analytics — tackles that question head-on. With Copilot Analytics, a part of the Copilot Control System, this whitepaper shows how business and AI transformation leaders can move beyond surface-level usage metrics to demonstrate tangible impact from Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents.
Why measurement matters
Copilot integrates directly into the Microsoft 365 apps your teams already use — Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint — bringing AI to where work happens. But potential isn’t proof. To justify investment and sustain momentum, organizations need a framework that connects Copilot usage with business outcomes.
The whitepaper breaks measurement into three tiers of maturity:
1. Foundational: track license utilization and active users to establish a baseline.
2. Productive: quantify hours saved, adoption, usage intensity, and sentiment.
3. Strategic: link outcomes to business KPIs like revenue growth, customer satisfaction, or time-to-market.
This approach turns AI deployment into a disciplined, phased practice of business transformation.
From usage to outcomes
Deploying Copilot is just step one. Real transformation happens when adoption becomes intentional and measurable. Organizations measure Copilot and agent adoption at different levels to drive change.
Admins use reporting to effectively manage and optimize Copilot and agents across the organization. The Microsoft 365 admin center and Copilot usage report surface data like active users, license utilization, agent costs, and application-level trends — insights you can act on immediately.
Meanwhile, leaders, adoption managers and analysts look at detailed usage across groups and departments to identify best practices and uses cases to drive AI transformation. The Microsoft Copilot Dashboard provides a strategic view of Copilot adoption and impact, allowing leaders to understand where Copilot is saving time and driving measurable impact.
The whitepaper recommends a few key steps:
- Identify early adopters as internal champions.
- Compare adoption benchmarks across departments.
- Expand licensing where success is proven.
- Tailor enablement where usage lags.
By focusing on adoption patterns, leaders can move from “we turned it on” to “we’re scaling value.”
Demonstrating business impact
An important tool for measuring AI’s value lies in advanced analytics in Viva Insights, now available for organizations with over 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. This capability goes beyond standard dashboards, enabling leaders to correlate Copilot usage with key operational and financial KPIs.
At the center is the Copilot Business Impact Report—a customizable Power BI template that merges Copilot telemetry with business performance data. Leaders can import metrics from systems like sales, service, HR, or finance to uncover where Copilot drives measurable gains.
With this framework, organizations can analyze adoption trends, compare high- and low-usage groups, and reveal clear links between AI engagement and outcomes such as revenue growth, cost savings, or cycle-time reduction.
Your playbook for action
1. Activate the Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights for your organization.
2. Define your key business metrics and connect them to Copilot usage data.
3. Establish a reporting cadence that keeps leaders informed and engaged.
4. Celebrate and share success stories to build momentum.
The takeaway
In the AI era, success isn’t about deploying tools — it’s about proving transformation. By grounding Copilot adoption in measurable outcomes, you move from anecdotes to evidence and from hype to impact.
Start now: download the whitepaper and learn how to measure, scale, and sustain AI-powered productivity across your organization.
Microsoft