Who Benefits Most? Roles & Personas for Copilot in an SME (+ How Agentic AI & Security AI Support IT, Security & Compliance Teams)
We’ve covered much ground in this beginner series of blogs on Copilot and In Episode 7 we looked at How Copilot will benefit your Business, so today I will introduce you to:
“Who in my business will actually benefit the most from Copilot?” This episode answers that directly.
Rather than talking in abstract terms, we’ll look at real SME roles, the work they do every day, and how Copilot fits naturally into their workflow specifically for teams where Office 365 plays a big part of their productive day. Think of this as a practical guide to help you decide where to start, who to train first, and how to build momentum.
PLUS: There’s a group we haven’t talked about yet, and they’re often the ones who feel the pressure the most. The people who keep the business secure, compliant, and running smoothly.
So In this episode I’ll expands the lens. I’ll still cover the core SME roles, but also explore how agentic AI, security AI, and new Microsoft 365 features are transforming the work and related roles.
Let’s Jump in.
1 – Business Owners & Directors
The people wearing ten hats at once
Most SME leaders suffer with lack of time, so creating some breathing space or allowing them to concentrate on high value tasks is a must.
Where Copilot helps
- Summarising long email threads
- Drafting announcements or updates
- Turning meeting notes into action plans
- Researching suppliers, competitors, or regulations
- Creating first drafts of proposals or strategy documents
Real example
A director of a 15‑person consultancy uses Copilot in Outlook to summarise the last 50 unread emails after a week of travel. Instead of spending an hour catching up, they get a clean overview in under a minute, with flagged actions.
The Impact: Better decision‑making, less admin, and more time spent leading instead of firefighting.
2 – Office Managers & Administrators
The operational backbone of the SME
Admins are often the first to feel overwhelmed jumping from task to task with scheduling, chasing, organising and documenting.
Where Copilot helps
- Drafting routine emails
- Creating meeting agendas
- Summarising Teams calls
- Preparing reports
- Tidying up documents
- Creating templates
Real example
An office manager in a small property firm uses Copilot to turn handwritten notes from a site visit into a structured inspection report. What used to take 45 minutes now takes 5.
The Impact: Fewer repetitive tasks, faster turnaround, and more time to add value into work that matters most.
3 – Sales Teams
The people who need to move fast and stay consistent
Sales roles rely heavily on communication, follow‑ups, and documentation.
Where Copilot helps
- Drafting proposals
- Writing follow‑up emails
- Summarising customer calls
- Preparing pitch decks
- Updating CRM notes (when integrated)
Real example
A salesperson in a small IT reseller uses Copilot in Teams to summarise a discovery call and automatically extract the customer’s requirements, budget, and next steps. They paste the summary straight into their CRM.
The Impact: More selling and less admin with fewer missed details.
4 – Finance & Accounting
The people who spend their day in spreadsheets
Finance teams don’t need Copilot to “do the maths” but always need a companion to help them interpret and communicate.
Where Copilot helps
- Analysing spreadsheets
- Identifying trends
- Drafting financial summaries
- Preparing board‑ready reports
- Cleaning up data
Real example
A finance manager in a 25‑person manufacturing business asks Copilot in Excel:
“Explain the main changes in our monthly expenses and highlight anything unusual.”
Copilot spots a supplier cost increase that would have taken much longer to notice manually.
The Impact: Results in faster insights and fewer blind spots.
5 – HR & People Teams
The people who keep the business running smoothly
HR teams spend a lot of time writing, documenting, and communicating.
Where Copilot helps
- Drafting job descriptions
- Creating interview questions
- Writing policies
- Summarising employee surveys
- Preparing onboarding materials
Real example
An HR manager in a growing SME uses Copilot to create a first draft of a new parental leave policy based on existing documents and government guidance.
The Impact: Consistent, professional documentation without starting from scratch.
6 – Marketing & Content Roles
The people who need ideas on demand
Marketing teams often struggle with time, not creativity.
Where Copilot helps
- Writing social posts
- Drafting newsletters
- Creating campaign ideas
- Repurposing content
- Summarising analytics
Real example
A one‑person marketing team uses Copilot to turn a 30‑minute webinar into a blog post, three LinkedIn posts, and a customer email which after getting used to the ability can do this all in around 10 minutes.
The Impact: More output, same headcount.
7 – Operations & Field Teams
The people who keep the wheels turning
Operational roles rely on documentation, checklists, and communication.
Where Copilot helps
- Creating SOPs
- Writing safety checklists
- Summarising incident reports
- Drafting customer updates
- Preparing shift handovers
Real example
A field service supervisor uses Copilot to turn technician notes into a clean, customer‑ready service report.
The Impact: Better documentation and faster turnaround.
8 – IT & Technical Teams
Where AI quietly becomes a force multiplier
This is where the new wave of AI, especially agentic AI and security‑focused AI makes a dramatic difference and where the Impact is driving change in a different way.
SME IT teams are often one person, or a small team juggling:
- Device management
- Security alerts
- User onboarding
- Patch compliance
- Access requests
- Documentation
- Incident response
Copilot and Microsoft’s new AI‑powered admin tools reduce that load significantly
🛡️ How Security AI Helps IT & Security Teams
Microsoft is now embedding AI directly into the tools SMEs already use which is driving enhancements Admins crave for and helping to create new roles.
🔐 Microsoft Security Copilot (Security AI)
Security Copilot helps small teams handle tasks that used to require a full Security team.
Where it helps
- Analysing security alerts
- Explaining incidents in plain English
- Suggesting remediation steps
- Summarising threat reports
- Investigating suspicious activity
- Correlating signals across Microsoft 365
Real example
A single IT admin receives a suspicious login alert. Instead of manually digging through logs, they ask:
“Explain this alert and tell me whether it’s part of a larger pattern.”
Security Copilot analyses the event, checks related activity, and provides a clear explanation with recommended actions.
The Impact: Faster investigations, fewer mistakes, and less stress.
📱 Intune Admins: AI for Device & Policy Management
Microsoft is rolling out AI‑powered assistance inside Intune to help admins:
- Generate configuration policies
- Troubleshoot device issues
- Draft conditional access rules
- Summarise device compliance
- Recommend security baselines
Real example
An Intune admin needs to create a new device compliance policy but isn’t sure which settings to include. They ask:
“Create a secure but practical compliance policy for Windows 11 devices in a 30‑person SME.”
Copilot generates a full policy draft with explanations for each setting.
The Impact: Less guesswork, faster deployment, and more secure devices.
🗂️ Purview Admins: AI for Compliance & Data Governance
Purview admins often struggle with:
- Data classification
- Sensitivity labels
- DLP rules
- Insider risk alerts
- Compliance reports
AI now helps by:
- Summarising compliance risks
- Suggesting label structures
- Explaining DLP alerts
- Drafting policies
- Identifying unusual data access patterns
Real example
A Purview admin sees a spike in “sensitive data accessed” alerts. Instead of manually reviewing logs, they ask:
“Summarise the last 24 hours of DLP alerts and highlight anything unusual.”
Copilot identifies that one user accessed a large number of customer files outside normal hours.
The Impact: Better visibility, faster response, and stronger governance.
🤖 Agentic AI for IT Teams: The Next Step
This is where things get exciting and I can say that from experience.
Agentic AI can take multi‑step tasks and complete them end‑to‑end.
Examples of agentic workflows for IT
- Automatically disabling accounts for leavers
- Checking device compliance daily and notifying users
- Reviewing risky sign‑ins and escalating only when needed
- Creating onboarding checklists and provisioning tasks
- Monitoring Teams usage and recommending cleanup actions
Real example
I recently wrote some agents for a customer where I was able to reduce the time to HR related queries from 1-2 days down to 1 minute and automating the review of supplier contracts using automated processes meant contract renewals were identified earlier meaning the necessary analysis and preparation could all be in place way ahead of time.
The Impact: IT finally gets ahead of the workload instead of reacting to it.
These are just some of the ways Copilot is helping SME’s as well as Enterprise companies now. Going back to previous episodes it’s all about the preparation and identifying or even documenting the priority roles that will bring greater impact to your company.
🧭 Episode 8 Summary
Copilot benefits almost every role in an SME, but the biggest leap forward is happening in:
- IT administration
- Security operations
- Compliance and governance
With new AI capabilities in Microsoft 365, Intune, Purview, and Security Copilot.
This is the beginning of a shift from manual IT to AI‑assisted IT, and SMEs stand to gain from Less time on repetitive tasks. More time on meaningful work. Better quality output. Faster decisions.
By understanding each role is therefore why Copilot adoption works best when SMEs roll it out role‑by‑role, starting with the teams who feel the pain of admin the most.
Coming Next: Episode 9
Building Your First Copilot Use Cases — A Practical Starter Kit
This episode will help SMEs choose their first 5–10 use cases and build momentum quickly.