# Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: how to set it up in a small company

> For owners and Microsoft 365 admins in European companies under 300 people. You finish with a trial policy, tighter file sharing and a paid pilot that you can measure.

- **Canonical URL:** https://appwave.dev/en/blog/microsoft-365-copilot-business-setup-for-small-companies
- **Language:** en
- **Updated:** 2026-10-22

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- **Published:** 2026-10-22
- **Author:** Mateusz Cieśliński - Co-Founder, DevOps Engineer
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/mateusz-cie%C5%9Bli%C5%84ski/
- **Reading time (min):** 10
- **Topics:** Guide, AI security

![A laptop with an AI assistant reaching into open folders and stopping at a locked one, next to a checklist.](https://cms.appwave.dev/uploads/microsoft_365_copilot_business_setup_for_small_companies_7556fd2ccb.webp)

**Copilot Business setup goes well when you sort out three things before you buy licences: employee requests, free trials and file sharing. This guide takes you through eight steps in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. It takes 60-90 minutes. Licences cost 15.60 euro per user per month under the current offer. Checked on 22 October 2026.**

Since July 2026 Microsoft has sold Business Standard and Business Premium with Copilot included ([Microsoft, 28 May 2026](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/05/28/introducing-microsoft-365-business-with-copilot-the-new-standard-for-small-business/)). In organisations with up to 300 Microsoft 365 licences, users can also start a 30-day Copilot trial themselves, without payment details ([Microsoft admin notice MC1338815](https://mc.merill.net/message/MC1338815)). Microsoft planned to reach every region by mid-September. If someone in your company started a trial, it may already have ended, and their licence request is waiting in your admin centre.

Whether your company needs AI at all, we covered in [what actually changes in the first year of AI at work](https://appwave.dev/en/blog/ai-in-the-workplace-what-actually-changes-in-the-first-year). Here we assume you run Microsoft 365 and want Copilot on with your eyes open.

## Before you start

Copilot comes in two forms. Copilot Chat is included in Microsoft 365 at no extra cost and answers from the web and from files uploaded into the chat. The paid Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licence also uses the company data in Microsoft 365 that person can open: mail, calendar, chats and files ([Copilot FAQ](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/faq)).

Have these ready before you open the admin centre.

- **Global Administrator role (the highest permission level in Microsoft 365).** Where to get it: whoever set up your Microsoft 365 account. Check your role under Users → Active users by selecting your name.
- **A Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium plan.** Where to get it: Billing → Your products in the admin centre, or your invoice.
- **A list of 3-20 pilot users.** Where to get it: you: pick people who write, summarise and search documents a lot.
- **Someone who knows your folders.** Where to get it: an office manager, or whoever set up SharePoint and Teams.
- **Time.** Where to get it: 60-90 minutes, then up to 72 hours for settings to apply.
- **Budget.** Where to get it: from 15.60 euro per user per month, see the cost section.

The Microsoft 365 admin centre is the web panel at admin.microsoft.com. Some left-menu items appear only after you select "Show all". We wrote the steps from Microsoft's documentation, so button names may differ slightly.

## How to set up Copilot Business step by step

The order matters. Permissions first, licences second.

![Eight steps to roll out Copilot Business: from licence requests and file permissions to measuring usage after four weeks.](https://cms.appwave.dev/uploads/microsoft_365_copilot_business_setup_for_small_companies_diagram_e3ff6e36b7.webp)

### Step 1. Check who is already asking for a licence

Some staff may already have started a trial or requested a licence. That is your ready-made list of pilot volunteers.

Where: Microsoft 365 admin centre → Billing → Licenses → Requests tab.

How you know it worked: you see a list with the product, the person and the date. Requests are kept for 12 months ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/commerce/licenses/manage-license-requests)).

Do not approve anything yet. You come back here in step 6.

### Step 2. Decide whether staff can start trials themselves

The Copilot trial is on by default. After 30 days the user loses the features unless you assign a paid licence. If you have not decided yet, choose "Do not allow". "Allow for trials only" permits trials but blocks self-service purchases.

Where: Settings → Org settings → Services tab → Self-service trials and purchases → select the Copilot product → "Allow", "Allow for trials only" or "Do not allow" → Save changes.

How you know it worked: the product shows the option you chose. Changes can take up to 72 hours ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/commerce/subscriptions/manage-self-service-purchases-admins)).

Common mistake: the setting works per product. If the list shows more than one item with Copilot in the name, set each one.

### Step 3. Tighten file sharing before Copilot starts reading files

Copilot does not bypass permissions. It sees what the user sees. In many companies the contracts or payroll folder is shared with "everyone in the organisation" because that was quicker at the time. **Copilot can surface such a file to someone who would never have gone looking, so sort out sharing before you buy licences.**

Where: SharePoint admin centre (from "Admin centers" in the Microsoft 365 admin centre) → Policies → Sharing → "File and folder links" → set the default to "Specific people".

This changes new links only. Go through existing sharing with the person who knows the folders. Every Teams team has a SharePoint site behind it, which is where its files live. Open the payroll, contracts or customer data folder, select "Share" or "Manage access", and remove access for everyone in the organisation. Keep named people.

Reports → Data access governance in the SharePoint admin centre lists sites shared with the whole organisation. On Business plans it usually becomes available only once at least one Copilot licence is assigned, so come back to it after step 6 ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sharepoint-advanced-management-prerequisites)).

How you know it worked: a new sharing link created in OneDrive points to specific people by default, and every folder with sensitive data has an access list you can explain.

### Step 4. Decide on Anthropic models

Copilot uses AI models, the engines that write its answers, from two companies: OpenAI and Anthropic. For organisations in the EU, EFTA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland) and the UK, Anthropic models are off by default. Microsoft states that they are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary, its commitment to process data inside the EU ([Microsoft Learn, 18 September 2026](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/connect-to-ai-subprocessor)). Some features only work when they are on; the core ones work without them.

Where: Microsoft 365 admin centre → Copilot → Settings → View all → "AI providers operating as Microsoft subprocessors" (a subprocessor is a company Microsoft passes data to for processing).

If you turn them on, select Anthropic and give access only to the people who need it. Write the decision down and show it to whoever handles GDPR (UK GDPR in Britain) for you. If nobody does, leave the default.

How you know it worked: the setting shows "No users" or the people you chose.

### Step 5. Buy licences for a pilot group

Buy as many licences as you have pilot users. Choose the add-on to your current plan, or Business Standard or Premium with Copilot included.

Where: Microsoft 365 admin centre → Marketplace, if you pay Microsoft directly. If another company invoices you for Microsoft 365, that company is your partner and you buy through it.

How you know it worked: Billing → Licenses shows the new product with the number of available licences.

Common mistake: choosing annual billing without checking whether you can reduce the licence count during the year. We have not confirmed those terms, so check them before you buy.

### Step 6. Assign licences and answer requests

Go back to the list from step 1. Approve requests from pilot users and reject the rest. Microsoft emails people the decision; send your own explanation separately. Send the team the message from "Template to copy" the same day.

Where: Billing → Licenses → Requests tab → select a request → tick the users → "Approve". If you tick only some users, the button becomes "Approve x - Reject y" → Submit. For anyone else, go to Billing → Licenses → "Microsoft Copilot", assign licences and add their names.

How you know it worked: Users → Active users shows the Copilot licence next to the person. Copilot can take up to 24 hours to appear in the apps ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-setup)).

### Step 7. Set the rules and your own request process

Staff need to know who to ask for a licence. Send future requests to yourself, so they do not pile up in a panel nobody opens.

Where: Billing → Licenses → Requests tab → "Connect your request process" → "Use my organization's request process" → enter a message and a link, for example to a Microsoft Forms form → Save.

How you know it worked: the next person who clicks "request a licence" sees your message.

### Step 8. Check usage after four weeks

A licence nobody uses is pure cost. The report shows who uses Copilot.

Where: Microsoft 365 admin centre → Reports → Usage → Microsoft Copilot → Copilot → Usage tab.

How you know it worked: the report shows active users over the last 7 and 28 days. Unassign an inactive user's licence and give it to someone else, as in step 6.

## What it costs

Euro prices come from Microsoft's EU store page for Poland on 22 October 2026, excluding VAT ([Microsoft](https://www.microsoft.com/pl-pl/microsoft-365-copilot/business)). Euro prices can differ between EU countries. The UK page lists the add-on at £13.80 with annual billing (offer, previously £16.10) and £19.32 monthly, excluding VAT ([Microsoft UK](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365-copilot/business)). The US page lists 18.00 USD annually ([Microsoft US](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/business)).

- **Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on).** Annual billing: 15.60 € (offer, previously 18.20 €). Monthly billing: 21.84 €. Who it suits: you already have Business Basic, Standard or Premium.
- **Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot.** Annual billing: 20.36 €. Monthly billing: 24.43 €. Who it suits: you are buying a plan or moving from Standard.
- **Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot.** Annual billing: 27.73 €. Monthly billing: 33.28 €. Who it suits: you need the extra security in Premium.
- **Copilot Chat.** Annual billing: 0 €. Monthly billing: 0 €. Who it suits: anyone with a Microsoft 365 account, no access to company data.

The UK page says the add-on discount runs from 1 July to 31 December 2026, covers the first year only and needs an annual commitment. The Polish page did not show that footnote when we checked. Budget for the full price in 2027.

Here is what the add-on costs per month with annual billing. The pilot size is our suggestion, not a Microsoft requirement \[estimate: 15.60 € × number of users\].

- **10 people.** Pilot: 3 licences. Pilot per month: 46.80 €. Everyone per month: 156 €.
- **30 people.** Pilot: 5 licences. Pilot per month: 78 €. Everyone per month: 468 €.
- **50 people.** Pilot: 10 licences. Pilot per month: 156 €. Everyone per month: 780 €.
- **200 people.** Pilot: 20 licences. Pilot per month: 312 €. Everyone per month: 3,120 €.

Add the time for step 3. With years of SharePoint folders, that means days, not an hour. We break down the wider costs in [AI implementation cost: what you actually pay for](https://appwave.dev/en/blog/ai-implementation-cost-what-you-pay-for).

## What can go wrong

Prepare for five situations.

1. Copilot shows someone a file they should not see. Prevent it with step 3. Undo it by removing access to the file or folder and, if needed, unassigning the licence under Billing → Licenses.
2. Trial users lose features after 30 days and feel let down. Prevent it with step 2 and the message from step 7. Undo it by licensing the people who used Copilot most.
3. Someone pastes customer data into Copilot with web search on. Web queries sent to Bing are outside the EU Data Boundary, and Microsoft handles them under its own terms rather than as your processor ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/microsoft-365/enterprise-data-protection)). Prevent it with the rules in the template. If that is not enough, your IT provider can switch off web search with the "Allow web search in Copilot" policy at config.office.com ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/configure-copilot-settings-extensibility/4-manage-web-search-copilot-copilot-chat)).
4. Anthropic models are on for everyone and nobody assessed it. Undo it under Copilot → Settings → User access → "AI providers operating as Microsoft subprocessors" → "Disable Anthropic as a Microsoft subprocessor".
5. You pay for licences nobody uses. Prevent it with the pilot and the report from step 8.

We explain how to have a person check AI output before it reaches a customer in [human in the loop: human oversight in a small business](https://appwave.dev/en/blog/human-in-the-loop-ai-human-oversight-in-a-small-business).

## What you can do yourself and where you need help

The line falls at file permissions and legal assessment.

- **Requests, trials, licences (steps 1, 2, 5, 6).** Yourself: yes. IT administrator: not needed. Implementation partner: not needed. Lawyer or data protection officer: no.
- **Default sharing links (step 3).** Yourself: yes. IT administrator: helps. Implementation partner: not needed. Lawyer or data protection officer: no.
- **Review of old sharing in SharePoint and Teams.** Yourself: partly. IT administrator: yes. Implementation partner: with many sites. Lawyer or data protection officer: no.
- **Anthropic models decision (step 4).** Yourself: technically yes. IT administrator: not needed. Implementation partner: not needed. Lawyer or data protection officer: yes, GDPR assessment.
- **Team rules (step 7).** Yourself: yes. IT administrator: not needed. Implementation partner: helps. Lawyer or data protection officer: yes, with personal data.
- **Copilot connected to your CRM or own system.** Yourself: no. IT administrator: partly. Implementation partner: yes. Lawyer or data protection officer: with personal data.

If you want someone to sort out permissions and stay with you after launch, we do that as part of [AI administration](https://appwave.dev/en/services/ai-administration). We can also look after it after launch.

## How to check it is working

After 2-4 weeks, look at four signals.

1. At least 70% of pilot users show as active in the Copilot usage report for the last 28 days.
2. New licence requests drop or reach your own process instead of the panel.
3. Nobody has reported Copilot showing them someone else's document.
4. Every pilot user can name one task they now do faster, and roughly how much time it saves each week.

If you are weighing another assistant for the team, see our guide to [setting up the Claude Team plan](https://appwave.dev/en/blog/claude-team-plan-setup-for-business).

## Template to copy

A message to your team. Fill in the brackets and send it on the day you assign licences.

```
Subject: Copilot in Microsoft 365: pilot rules

Hi all,

From [date], [names] get a Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licence for a pilot until [date].
Everyone else has Copilot Chat at no extra cost. Copilot Chat cannot see our files or mail.

Rules:
1. Do not paste national ID, passport or National Insurance numbers, card details, passwords or health data into Copilot.
2. A person checks every Copilot answer before it goes to a customer.
3. If Copilot shows you a file you should not see, tell [person] the same day.
4. Do not start trials or purchases. Send licence requests to [person/address].
5. Once a week, note one task Copilot shortened and by how many minutes.

After the pilot we decide who keeps a licence.

[signature]
```

We checked these steps against Microsoft documentation on 22 October 2026. We did not click through them on a test account. Labels may differ with your interface language. We are not a Microsoft partner and not a law firm: leave the GDPR assessment to your lawyer or data protection officer.

## Sources

All sources accessed on 22 October 2026.

- [Microsoft: Introducing Microsoft 365 Business with Copilot, 28 May 2026](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/05/28/introducing-microsoft-365-business-with-copilot-the-new-standard-for-small-business/)
- [Microsoft: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business pricing, Poland (EUR)](https://www.microsoft.com/pl-pl/microsoft-365-copilot/business)
- [Microsoft: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business pricing, US](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/business)
- [Message MC1338815: 30-day Copilot trial for tenants up to 300 seats (Message Center mirror)](https://mc.merill.net/message/MC1338815)
- [Microsoft Learn: manage self-service licence requests](https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/commerce/licenses/manage-license-requests)
- [Microsoft Learn: SharePoint and OneDrive sharing settings](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/find-settings)
- [Microsoft Learn: Anthropic models in Microsoft Online Services](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/connect-to-ai-subprocessor)
- [Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Copilot setup](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-setup)
- [Microsoft Learn: enterprise data protection in Copilot](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/microsoft-365/enterprise-data-protection)
- [Microsoft Learn: manage self-service purchases and trials](https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/commerce/subscriptions/manage-self-service-purchases-admins)
- [Microsoft Learn: SharePoint Advanced Management prerequisites](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sharepoint-advanced-management-prerequisites)
- [Microsoft Learn: manage web search in Copilot](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/configure-copilot-settings-extensibility/4-manage-web-search-copilot-copilot-chat)
- [Microsoft UK: Copilot Business pricing and offer terms](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365-copilot/business)

## Questions & Answers (FAQ)

### Is Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat free for business users?

Copilot Chat comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription at no extra licence cost. It answers from the web and from files a person uploads into the chat. It cannot read company mail, calendars or documents stored in SharePoint and OneDrive. For that you need a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licence.

### How much does Copilot Business cost in Europe?

On 22 October 2026 Microsoft's EU store page for Poland listed the Copilot Business add-on at 15.60 euro per user per month, excluding VAT, with annual billing (an offer, previously 18.20 euro) and 21.84 euro with monthly billing. Prices can differ by country, so check your local page.

### Can employees start a Copilot trial without the admin?

Yes, unless you turn it off. From July 2026, in organisations with up to 300 Microsoft 365 licences, users can start a 30-day Copilot trial from Copilot Chat with no payment details. Each trial creates a licence request in the admin centre. Admins control this under Self-service trials and purchases.

### Can Copilot see every file in the company?

No. A licensed user's Copilot sees the files, mail and chats that person can already open. The risk comes from permissions that are too broad, such as a folder shared with everyone in the organisation. Copilot can surface such a file to someone who never went looking, so tidy up sharing before you buy licences.

### Are Anthropic models in Copilot covered by the EU Data Boundary?

No. Microsoft's documentation, updated 18 September 2026, says Anthropic models in Copilot are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary. For tenants in the EU, EFTA and the UK they are off by default. An admin can enable them for chosen users or groups in the Copilot settings.

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