Copilot ROI Calculator
Estimate the business impact of Microsoft 365 Copilot for your organization. Adjust variables to build a data-driven business case for executive approval.
Configuration
Number of Copilot Users: 500
Weekly Time Savings per User: 8 hrs
Microsoft research: 5-11 hours/week average
Adoption Rate: 70%
Well-managed deployments achieve 60-80%
9744%
3-Year ROI
1 months
Payback Period
$62.4M
3-Year Net Savings
350
Effective Users
Annual Breakdown
Annual Productivity Value
+$21.0M
Annual License Cost
$-180K
Implementation Cost (Year 1 only)
$-100K
Year 1 Net Value
$20.7M
Year 2 Net Value
$20.8M
Year 3 Net Value
$20.8M
3-Year Total Net Value
$62.4M
Productivity Impact
2,800
Hours saved per week (org-wide)
140,000
Hours saved per year (org-wide)
67
Full-time equivalent (FTE) capacity gained
$15K/mo
Monthly Copilot license cost
Assumptions & Notes
Based on 50 working weeks per year (excluding holidays and PTO).
Microsoft Work Trend Index reports 5-11 hours/week time savings depending on role and use case maturity.
Loaded hourly rate should include salary, benefits, overhead (typically 1.3-1.5x base salary / 2,080 hours).
Adoption rate significantly impacts ROI. Invest in change management to achieve 70%+ adoption.
Implementation costs include consulting, governance setup, training, and change management. See our TCO analysis guide for a detailed cost breakdown.
Before deploying, ensure your environment passes a readiness assessment and security checklist.
Executive Business Case
Building a Winning Copilot Business Case
Numbers alone do not get budget approval. Here is how successful CIOs present the Copilot investment to their executive team.
Lead with Strategic Value
Position Copilot as an enterprise productivity transformation, not a software purchase. Connect time savings to strategic outcomes: faster deal cycles, quicker time-to-market, improved employee retention.
Show Conservative ROI
Use the lower end of time savings estimates (5 hrs/week) and realistic adoption rates (60-70%). Under-promise and over-deliver. Executives distrust aggressive projections.
Phase the Investment
Start with a 100-user pilot ($36K/year + implementation). Demonstrate measurable ROI in 90 days. Use pilot data to justify full deployment. This reduces initial risk.
Address Security Proactively
CISOs will ask about data governance. Present your readiness assessment results alongside the ROI case. Show that you have addressed security before asking for budget.
Related Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Need Help Building Your Business Case?
Our team helps CIOs build data-driven Copilot business cases that get approved. We provide ROI validation, risk analysis, and executive presentation support.