Build your Champions and Early Adopters programs

  • 7 minutes

Similar to your AI council, your Copilot champions and early adopters are a key team in driving wider adoption. This group leads by example, helping showcase the practical benefits of Copilot for Microsoft 365 in their daily work. Plus, their positive experiences will naturally inspire curiosity and interest among their colleagues—encouraging broader usage.

To identify Copilot champions and early adopters:

  • Lean on your AI council to help determine your power users.
  • Look at your Copilot Center of Excellence to see who’s sharing tips or giving feedback.
  • Reach out to managers and ask them to identify a team representative.
  • Use the Copilot Dashboard to measure usage.

Build a sustainable Champions Program

As mentioned, peer learning is a powerful tool for user enablement. Use this skill in your organization by building or extending an internal Champions program. Champions are employees who like to help others and are excited about new tools like Copilot for Microsoft 365.

How will Champions support you?

Champions help reduce the strain on the resources of the core project team. They help drive awareness, engagement, and understanding throughout the community. They also:

  • Create the wave of enthusiasm that grows adoption.
  • Build a circle of influence among their teams.
  • Bring the new ways of working to life across teams.
  • Identify business challenges and possible solutions.
  • Provide feedback to the project team and sponsors.
Copilot Champions program essentials

Champions should be formally trained to increase their depth and breadth of their knowledge and be empowered to guide, teach, and train their peers. It's important to regularly offer positive feedback that acknowledges the value of their work. A clear action plan is essential for their success. To support this, the Copilot Champions program planning checklist includes:

  1. Find enthusiastic Champions who can commit time and effort.
  2. Build a Team or Viva Engage group for Champions to share updates and successes.
  3. Provide materials ready to support their work with teams and individuals (for example, lunch and learn sessions).
  4. Ensure a regular rhythm for discussions with the Champions on what’s working and what’s not.
  5. Design a program to engage and recognize their effort, such as providing privileged access to relevant events or speaking engagements.
  6. Communicate to individuals about the Champions' role and how to find them – remember, Champions aren't IT support but business representatives.
  7. Incorporate Copilot for Microsoft 365 training resources and custom learning into your own internal training site using Copilot Lab and provided guidance.
  8. Create a contest (for example, Prompt of the Week and giveaways) between users to encourage people to interact with Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Five steps to developing a Champions community:

  1. Set the context.
  2. Align the Champions community to organizational objectives and vision for your Copilot implementation.
  3. Identify Champions and get buy-in.
  4. Build a plan with Champions. Skill them first and often.
  5. Execute and share Champion feedback with leaders and through Service Health Reviews.

Branding your Champions program:

  • Copilot Champions may be referred to with terminology that is in alignment with your company culture.
  • Champions are professionally referred to as User Enablement Specialists.
  • Microsoft Partners can aid you in creating your internal user enablement function.
  • Champion recognition – in the form of badges for engagement, Praise via Viva Insights, or other forms – are essential to Champion morale.
  • As advocates for the employee experience, regular feedback, employee engagement, and communications are required for role success.
  • Champion duties are a part of the day-to-day duties of the employee alongside their core job function.
  • Representation from across the organization ensures balanced viewpoints and early identification of risks and issues.

Use our Build Champions Program Guide to help build and launch your own Champions program. Join the free program aka.ms/M365Champions to enhance your career and expand your knowledge of Copilot and Microsoft 365 and help others do the same.

Build and launch your Early Adopter Program

An Early Adopter Program gives your organization early insights and learnings that help you bring Microsoft 365 apps and services to life for all users. Think of it as a dry run of your organization-wide rollout, among a representative group of your users that will help prepare you for the full-scale launch. It’s an opportunity to test your ideas and understanding with a group of end users who, with their constructive feedback and insights, will help the project team bring that “WOW” factor to the full launch across your organization.

Why is this program important?
  • Identify pitfalls. Gather initial feedback and identify potential stumbling blocks to help shape your final launch plan.
  • Collect feedback. Get feedback from users on the identified goals and scenarios for your Copilot for Microsoft 365 implementation.
  • Solve problems. Troubleshoot potential issues with a smaller group of users prior to an organization-wide launch.
  • Recruit Champions. Develop a pool of potential enthusiasts to recruit from. These individuals help colleagues adopt Copilot for Microsoft 365 once the full rollout takes place.
Selecting Early Adopters program participants

Selecting the right participants for the Early Adopter Program is key to gain valuable insights and inform the organization-wide launch. For success, a larger group of employees should be selected for Copilot onboarding than in other service enablement plans. This allows for organic knowledge sharing, rapid feedback, and success at scale.

The following list describes the types of employees to include in your program:

  • Users primarily from the same lines of business or departments, preferably those who collaborate on projects or business processes.
  • Champions or leaders ready to support and promote the project during its broad organizational launch.
  • Individuals who often find technology challenging, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing their needs for a smoother launch.
  • IT and help desk team members who will support users during the launch and post-launch phases.
  • Exclude the CEO and upper management from the Early Adopter Program to allow for refining and troubleshooting before the full rollout.
  • Motivated participants who are key influencers within the organization, committed to the project's success and willing to dedicate time to training and providing valuable feedback.
  • Members likely to participate in the Microsoft 365 Champions Program, who are eager to extend their knowledge, offer peer coaching, and assist others.

Note

Executive onboarding is a distinct category of business user with different needs and requirements. Plan for dedicated learning time and feedback cycles from these users.

Use Early Adopter feedback to adjust your adoption approach

Use feedback from Early Adopters to revisit your communications, training, and feedback plans. Adjust your overall approach based on the input received. Consider bringing your Early Adopters into the Champions Community so they can continue to support their peers through the transition.

For more guidance to help you build and launch your early adopter program follow Microsoft’s Early Adopter Program Guide. This guide includes information such as program timelines, communication and training samples, and survey templates.