Scottish Borders Council
Scottish Borders Council transforms public services with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Scottish Borders Council (SBC) is a local authority responsible for delivering public services to its residents. It is a predominantly rural area. With a growing number of citizen-facing digital devices, a workforce increasingly reliant on technology, and a desire to become more efficient, the council was keen to explore the potential advantages of AI.
Key facts
- Sector: local government
- Users: Approx. 3,000 (including frontline and office staff)
- Devices: 2,500 laptops/ desktops, 1,500+ mobile/ tablet devices
- Council IT team: six members, primarily focused on contract and vendor management. Day-to-day services delivered by an external supplier
The council was keen to understand how M365 Copilot could be applied across its many services to improve productivity, support accessibility, and drive digital transformation.
Phoenix engaged SBC with a Microsoft-funded engagement called Vision and Value for M365 Copilot. Following the success of this, SBC elected to purchase 200 licences and continue the relationship with Phoenix. Due to SBC purchasing these licences, they become eligible for a Proof of Value (PoV) engagement to demonstrate how they could specifically benefit from AI; however, SBC needed a managed service provider with excellent knowledge and experience of working with local authorities to deliver the PoV. After evaluating three potential providers, Phoenix stood out for its subject matter expertise and its proven experience with, and understanding of, the unique challenges faced by local authorities.
Phoenix’s Adoption and Change Management (ACM) Team delivered a comprehensive Proof of Value (PoV) engagement for Microsoft 365 Copilot for Scottish Borders Council (SBC). Over a three-month period, Phoenix worked closely with SBC to:
- Deliver a series of workshops and training sessions
- Provide Q&A support and communications assistance
- Build a user community and identify internal champions
- Offer guidance on policy and governance
- Identify use cases and potential cashable savings
- Assist with collation and presentation of data to show impact of Copilot
The engagement involved 200 pilot users from a cross-section of departments and seniority levels. This diverse group provided valuable insights into how Copilot could be used across the organisation.
Benefits (outcomes)
The PoV engagement was described by staff as the “best software rollout they had ever experienced”. It not only demonstrated the capabilities of Copilot but also won the hearts and minds of users. Key benefits included:
Staff reported an average of 154 minutes per week saved. These significant reductions in time spent on tasks such as summarising emails, writing reports, preparing presentations and even developing new workflows.
Copilot proved revolutionary for neurodiverse staff, such as those with dyslexia, enabling them to create and review content more effectively.
SBC has launched a major public consultation on leisure and sport services, which will result in a significant quantity of qualitative data in the form of free-text responses. Copilot will be used to consolidate and summarise this significant data set, reducing any potential bias and helping to spot trends from this important consultation process.
During the engagement, some of the users emerged as passionate advocates for the power of AI, helping to drive adoption and share best practices with the rest of the pilot.
Following the success of the Proof of Value (PoV), SBC is now exploring opportunities to modernise additional systems and processes using AI, aiming to deliver a more efficient and future-ready service for its citizens.
The council is partnering with Phoenix to position Copilot as a key element of its upcoming five-year transformation strategy. Insights and data from the PoV are actively informing multiple business cases where AI can be used to deliver more cost-effective and innovative services.
“I’m finding Copilot so, so helpful in generating initial presentations for school assembly. With a little tweaking and personalising for our school context, it is saving hours of creating PowerPoint content from a blank canvas. Similarly, I used it today to generate starter questions for a pupil survey, which we refined using Copilot and were able to share with colleagues elsewhere. We were able to do this in 2-3 minutes. The ability to take lengthy documents and summarise them, either for ourselves or to create simplified versions of things to share with others, is a great time-saver. I know I’m saving time and working more efficiently as a result. Love it.”
I’m absolutely loving Copilot! Separately though, it is also helping me to explore other parts of Microsoft apps and things that could help me.”
See how you can benefit from Microsoft Copilot
Get in touch to discover how Phoenix can help you unlock the full potential of Microsoft 365 Copilot, just like Scottish Borders Council.