At Pax8, we knew we couldn’t just talk about AI adoption, we had to live it. We became Customer Zero, implementing Microsoft Copilot across our own teams to master it before guiding partners.
By going through our own transformation first, we learned what works, what doesn’t and where to focus for the biggest impact. From strengthening security to streamlining processes, we went through every step to ensure a smooth, safe rollout. Now, we can help our partners with a proven roadmap built from real-world experience.
Read on to find out how we secured our foundation, empowered our teams and launched Copilot in a way that delivers value every day.
Setting Up Copilot
While every company’s Copilot setup and use cases may differ, the core steps for security and employee enablement are essential. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) must ensure these foundations are in place before launch to protect sensitive data and maximize value, no matter how AI will be used.
Key setup steps include:
- Validating prerequisites like Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, Azure AD, OneDrive, Outlook, Teams, Loop and the Semantic Index.
- Assigning Copilot licenses to users and groups.
- Sending onboarding emails to guide users through their first steps.
Now onto what Pax8 did (and does) to ensure Copilot success within our own organization.
Securing Our Foundation
From day one, security has been a foundational element at Pax8. We proactively implement best practices like on-going cybersecurity awareness training for our employees. By having that security-first mindset, Pax8 was in a strong position to implement Copilot smoothly and experience the benefits more quickly.
These are the top areas of best practice we focus on:
Auditing our access permissions
We regularly conduct access reviews for our most sensitive information, particularly customer data on the platform as well as sensitive data across SharePoint and OneDrive so that users only have access to the information they need to successfully do their job.
Strengthening identity protection
We have always enforced strong authentications for all users and deploy phishing-resistant authenticators for those with access to sensitive roles or data — with plans to roll this out to the entire Pax8 organization.
Centralizing logs for threat detection
We ensure all access and audit logs are stored in a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), we enable real-time threat detection, forensic analysis and compliance with security and regulatory standards.
Empowering Employees with AI
We knew robust security practices were just the beginning. Education and employee empowerment were the next crucial steps in adopting Copilot across all departments at Pax8.
To get every Pax8er ready, we provided resources and training focused on:
Ethical AI use and compliance
We circulated clear guidelines on responsible AI usage, covering security protocols, compliance and ethical considerations.
Role-based enablement
We worked with an external Microsoft-certified training partner to develop a training series based on employee needs and knowledge gaps, like AI prompting workshops, tailored use cases and weekly challenges.
AI Center of Excellence
We created a dedicated team to lead our AI transformation, ensuring efforts are strategic, scalable and aligned with business goals.
This approach helped build trust and confidence in AI, making adoption smoother and more impactful.
Delivering Value Every Day
Finding use cases has been a trial-and-error journey for Pax8. However, as curiosity and comfort levels increase, Copilot reveals more use cases and value in Pax8 processes and workflows. In fact, over the past month 96% of Pax8 global employees used Copilot to complete over 150,000 actions. And 74% of employees use Copilot three or more days a week, which tells us that AI habits are starting to form.
The top value drivers so far include:
Being a research assistant
Copilot quickly answers questions and surfaces relevant data, especially within Teams, giving Pax8ers faster access to the information and insights they need.
Improved meeting management
By providing clear recaps of Teams meetings, including action items and key takeaways, everyone stays aligned (even if someone missed the meeting).
Writing and content support
Generating first drafts, suggesting creative ideas, and refining text for brand tone and clarity helps employees deliver higher-quality work with less effort.
Excited About the Future with Copilot
As powerful as AI can be, its success depends on a secure foundation and employee buy-in. At Pax8, we became Customer Zero for Copilot, adopting it internally first, refining security practices and proving its value with real-world use cases before bringing it to our partners. Based on our learnings, here’s what we hope our partners will try as they continue their own journey toward AI adoption and implementation:
Protect your sensitive data
Cleaning, organizing and securing your data to ensure Copilot only surfaces information users are authorized to access. This step isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Pilot a small group
Gain some Copilot advocates early in your journey, especially at the C-level. This will help show the benefits to others within the company and encourage faster, wider spread adoption.
Create an environment to play
Your employees won’t get it “right” the first time (spoiler alert: we didn’t either), so provide training and, more importantly, the opportunity and freedom to try and experiment with different use cases. This not only helps find new opportunities, but strengthens the areas where AI is already being utilized.
Across the globe, Pax8 employees are embracing Copilot and experiencing more time back (which is what everyone truly wants at the end of the day), and we’re excited to share more valuable insights with our partners as we discover them as well.
