The problem
After a year-end or tax planning meeting, someone has to write up what the client said, what was agreed and who sends what. If two partners hold 20 client meetings a month on Teams and each write-up and follow-up email takes 25 minutes, that's over 8 hours a month, and points get lost when the write-up waits until Friday.
What the AI does
With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Copilot in a Teams meeting summarizes the key points, including who spoke and what they said, and suggests action items, during or after the meeting as long as transcription is on. The partner checks the recap against their own notes, corrects it, saves it to the client file and asks Copilot in Outlook to draft the follow-up email listing what the client needs to send. Nothing goes to the client until the partner has read it. Prompts and responses stay within the Microsoft 365 service boundary and aren't used to train the models.
A worked example
A six-person accountancy practice in Norwich already pays for Microsoft 365 Business Standard. The two partners, who hold about 20 client meetings a month on Teams, add the Copilot Business license.
Before
25 minutes to write up each of 20 meetings and send the follow-up: about 8.3 hours a month
After
About 10 minutes to check the recap and the draft email: about 3.3 hours a month
What it's worth
About $399£300€357A$576C$564 a month in partner time saved, against $43£32€38A$61C$60 for two Copilot Business licenses paid yearly. 15 minutes saved on each of 20 meetings is 5 hours, at an assumed $80£60€71A$115C$113 an hour.
How to set it up
- Check the practice's Microsoft 365 plan is eligible (Business Basic, Standard or Premium) and buy Copilot Business for the two partners: $21.41£16.10€19.16A$30.91C$30.27 per user a month paid yearly, or $25.70£19.32€22.99A$37.09C$36.32 monthly, excluding VAT.
- Tell clients in the meeting invitation that the meeting will be transcribed and summarized, and say so in the practice's privacy notice.
- Turn on transcription at the start of each Teams meeting so Copilot can summarize it and answer questions afterwards.
- After the meeting, ask Copilot for the recap and action items, check them against your notes and correct anything wrong.
- Ask Copilot in Outlook to draft the follow-up email, edit it, and save the checked recap to the client's file in the practice software.
What goes wrong
- Copilot only summarizes Teams meetings with transcription on. Phone calls and meetings at the client's premises aren't covered.
- A recap can credit a point to the wrong person or turn a 'maybe' into an agreed action. Check figures, dates and who agreed what before saving it.
- The free Copilot Chat that comes with Microsoft 365 doesn't recap Teams meetings; that needs the Copilot license (or Teams Premium for intelligent recap), charged per user.
- A recap records the conversation; it doesn't check the tax position. Review any tax point yourself before it goes in an email.