The Challenge
The Engineering Firm wanted to improve productivity without loosening control over sensitive project data. Engineers, project managers, and executives were spending too much time on non-billable work such as meeting notes, proposals, emails, and reports. Finding and summarizing historical project information was slow, which limited faster decision-making.
Governance was the bigger barrier. The firm was technically ready for Copilot, but its data security readiness lagged, at 42% compared with 94% for the organizational profile. The gaps were mainly in sensitivity labeling, data loss prevention (DLP), and lifecycle management. That created a real risk of oversharing, and there was no standard AI governance framework for enterprise-wide adoption.
Key Challenges
- Excessive time spent on non-billable tasks such as meeting notes, proposals, and reporting
- Limited efficiency in accessing and summarizing historical project information
- Concerns around data security, governance, and oversharing risks
- No standardized AI governance framework for enterprise-wide adoption
The Solution
Creospark partnered with the Engineering Firm to combine Microsoft 365 Copilot with a readiness, governance, and change management strategy. The approach let the firm adopt AI with confidence while protecting sensitive engineering data.
Readiness and Governance
- Ran a Copilot readiness assessment to confirm the baseline
- Helped set up a governance model led by the AI Task Force, with leaders from IT, security, and the business
- Used Microsoft Purview for sensitivity labeling and DLP
- Started content cleanup and lifecycle management with Orchestry to reduce redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) content and limit oversharing
Phased Pilot and Rollout
- Launched with about 30 executive leaders and early adopters
- Expanded to about 200 users across engineering, project management, communications, and IT
- Focused on high-value scenarios: meeting summaries, proposal and email drafting, document summarization, and internal research
Change Management and Training
- Delivered three one-hour introductory sessions for about 200 users
- Hosted “Prompt Lab” workshops for advanced, scenario-specific prompting
- Built an adoption community across Viva Engage, a SharePoint Resource Center, and a Teams channel
- Built a champions network and secured executive sponsorship to keep momentum
The Results
The Engineering Firm now has a secure, repeatable foundation for AI-powered work across its offices.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Manual documentation, reporting, and communication | Faster document creation, meeting summaries, and communication with Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| Limited visibility into past project data | Faster summarization and access to project knowledge |
| Oversharing risk from inconsistent governance | Stronger governance with Microsoft Purview, DLP, and lifecycle management |
| Inefficient collaboration across teams | Better collaboration across engineering and project teams |
Key Outcomes
- 40–50% of licensed users engage with Copilot weekly
- Less time spent on non-billable tasks, with a better balance of billable and non-billable work
- Fewer overshared links and more consistent permissions across engineering project sites
- Faster proposal drafting, meeting recaps, and summarization of past project documents
In Their Words
“Copilot has transformed how our teams approach everyday work. From automating document workflows and generating technical documentation to building intelligent agents that surface insights from across emails and files, we’ve significantly reduced manual effort and improved efficiency. What stood out most was how quickly we could develop and deploy practical solutions without needing additional software, enabling our teams to focus more on delivering outcomes rather than managing processes. Creospark’s structured enablement approach helped ensure these solutions were not only implemented quickly but also scaled consistently across teams to drive long-term value.”
IT DevOps Manager, U.S. Civil Engineering Firm
What’s Next
The firm holds monthly Copilot governance syncs and is tracking usage and security with the Copilot Dashboard, Orchestry, and Secure Score. It plans to expand licenses to more teams, starting with those most involved in proposals and communications, with a long-term goal of a firm-wide rollout.
Start Your Copilot Readiness Journey Today
Ready to transform your organization with secure governance and AI-powered productivity? Book a personalized consultation with our experts to learn how we can accelerate your Microsoft Copilot adoption.
