Spirax Group drives efficiency and productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Engineering leader partners with SoftwareOne for a comprehensive training program for M365 Copilot to better use and adoption

The company was particularly interested in exploring the potential of generative AI to transform routine tasks. Darryn Warner, IT Director at Spirax Group said: “We saw Copilot as a very exciting, emerging technology. Microsoft had talked about it for some time in its beta programs, and effectively bringing AI to personal productivity for us had great potential. We wanted to put some very smart automation and very smart insights into the hands of our colleagues and allow them to use those to give them more time back in their day through using technology.

Spirax Group partnered with SoftwareOne, a long-standing Microsoft Modern Work advisory and consultancy partner, to assist in designing and developing a comprehensive training program for the adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot across the organization.

Copilot, a generative AI-powered assistant, was identified as a crucial tool for achieving Spirax’s productivity goals. The partnership was initiated alongside a pilot program involving 300 employees from various departments and roles, enabling the company to identify and tailor use cases that would deliver the most significant impact.

SoftwareOne’s expertise was instrumental in guiding Spirax Group through the Copilot adoption process. SoftwareOne worked closely with Spirax Group to identify the most relevant use cases for Copilot across different roles within the company. By understanding the specific needs of each department, SoftwareOne helped Spirax focus on areas where Copilot could deliver the greatest value. Ivan Miskin noted, “SoftwareOne brought some specific, measurable benefits from what we've been doing with Copilot. Up until that point, a lot of our benefits were relatively intangible.”

Recognizing that effective use of AI tools requires more than just technical implementation, SoftwareOne designed and delivered targeted training sessions. Rachel Daddow, Customer Success Specialist at Spirax Group, explained, “We delivered initially one training session, introducing colleagues to Copilot, and then we had a session with Microsoft as well. Based on the feedback, we realized we needed more training than just two short sessions. Copilot is something you learn over time and with some practice, and that’s where SoftwareOne was able to help us with delivering further training sessions.”

To ensure a smooth transition, SoftwareOne provided ongoing support to help Spirax Group manage the cultural and operational changes that come with adopting new technology. This included setting up a center of excellence within the Group to encourage knowledge sharing and continuous learning.

Significant efficiency gains

The pilot program at Spirax Group was carefully structured to maximize the impact of Copilot. It focused on several key areas where Copilot could drive significant efficiency gains:

Documentation and content creation: Employees using Copilot for generating Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and emails saw immediate time savings. Copilot’s ability to assist in content creation not only reduced the time spent on these tasks but also improved the quality of the outputs by providing suggestions and automating repetitive tasks.

“For me, Copilot has been the first time that a supplier has democratized LLM AI technology, which is then an opportunity for us to use it in content generation and creation. We found it particularly beneficial for users that create documentation, PowerPoint slides, etc., and as it's embedded in Teams and other office applications, it greatly improves productivity for a whole host of colleagues,” explained Robin Burnikell, Head of Solutions Development at Spirax Group.

Meeting efficiency: By integrating Copilot into Microsoft Teams, The Group’s employees could quickly summarize meetings, generate actionable points, and retrieve relevant information stored across multiple platforms like SharePoint and Outlook. This feature was particularly beneficial for teams working across different time zones. Darryn Warner, IT Director at Spirax Group, highlighted the benefits: “When I'm running Teams meetings, it allows me to summarize meetings, get the actions and different perspectives from different people quickly and easily. When I'm unable to attend a meeting, I can go back and ask the same questions as if I was there.”

Information retrieval: One of the most significant time-savers identified during the pilot was Copilot’s ability to pull together data from various sources. This capability drastically reduced the time employees spent searching for information, allowing them to focus more on analysis and decision-making.

Ivan Miskin shared a personal example: “I was asked to pull together some key information around one of our key opcodes which would normally take quite a bit of searching and going through emails and files. Leveraging the Copilot search capability, I pulled together the information within five minutes through various prompts, I then used that to generate a Word document, then leveraged that to put together PowerPoint slides which took me 30 minutes, in all, it probably saved me six hours of work.”

Throughout the four-month pilot, all participants reported saving at least 20-30 minutes per week, with some “power users” saving up to 11 hours weekly. These power users were employees who fully integrated Copilot into their daily routines, demonstrating the tool’s potential when used to its fullest. The success of the pilot led to Spirax Group expanding the use of Copilot, purchasing an additional 800 licenses to extend the benefits across more roles and departments.

Transformative benefits

The implementation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, supported by SoftwareOne, has brought measurable and transformative benefits to Spirax Group. Firstly, improving colleague experience through enhanced productivity– the ability to automate routine tasks and quickly retrieve information has enabled employees to reallocate their time to more strategic activities.

The significant time savings reported by employees directly translated into higher productivity levels across the organization. As Darryn Warner put it, “Anything that helps us make our colleague’s working day simpler and more productive is of huge benefit. We've seen colleagues use this in a variety of different ways and get an awful lot of value from it.”

Employees have appreciated the time savings and the ease of generating content and managing communications. This not only improved overall job satisfaction but also reduced the stress associated with managing large volumes of information and meeting tight deadlines.

By improving meeting management and making information more accessible, Copilot has fostered better collaboration across teams. Employees are now able to share knowledge and insights more effectively, leading to more informed decision-making and a stronger sense of teamwork.

Next steps

The success of the pilot has paved the way for broader adoption across the organization, with plans to integrate Copilot into all knowledge-based roles by 2025. Spirax Group is also exploring additional AI capabilities, such as Copilot Studio, to develop custom AI solutions that address specific business needs. Robin Burnikell remarked, “Copilot Studio has specific capabilities [to drive use cases beyond the Office tool] that we've identified would be very beneficial, such as creating a chatbot to support policy documents.”

Additionally, Spirax Group is exploring the use of AI to support its Dynamics 365 rollout, aiming to leverage AI for deeper insights and smarter decision-making. The company is committed to staying at the forefront of technological innovation, ensuring that its employees have the tools they need to drive continuous improvement and maintain a competitive edge. Ivan Miskin expressed optimism about the future, stating, “I think that AI tools like Copilot will enable many people to be more productive by removing some of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks. It’s not about replacing jobs but about giving people more time to do their jobs more effectively.”