Most business owners in London and Windsor, Ontario, know Microsoft 365 as the software running their email, Teams calls, and Office applications. Copilot is probably a name they’ve seen but not paid much attention to. That’s changing.
As of 1 July 2026, Microsoft made Copilot a permanent part of its Business Standard and Business Premium plans. If your business is on either of those plans or heading toward a renewal, there are a few things worth understanding before that conversation with your IT provider or Microsoft partner.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant built into the Microsoft 365 apps your team already uses. It works inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. In practical terms:
- In Outlook, it can draft a reply based on the email thread it’s reading, summarize a long chain, or flag the action items buried in a conversation.
- In Teams, it can transcribe a meeting and produce a summary with decisions and next steps.
- In Word and Excel, it can help draft content, build out tables, or pull together reports from a description.
The important thing to understand is how it gets that information. Copilot doesn’t connect to the internet. Instead, it works through your Microsoft 365 environment, using the same files, emails, and data your users are already authorized to access.
What Changed on 1 July 2026
Until recently, Copilot was sold as a separate add-on that businesses chose to purchase independently. But from 1 July 2026, Microsoft introduced two permanent bundled plans for organizations with up to 300 users:
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot: $33.50 CAD per user per month
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot: $45.57 CAD per user per month
These replace the previous arrangement where Copilot was an optional extra on top of a base plan. The bundle pricing represents a meaningful drop from the previous $42.57 CAD add-on rate and is structured as a standard annual commitment.
For any Ontario SMB currently on Business Standard or Business Premium, this change affects your next renewal decision. Whether the bundled plan makes financial sense depends on your user count and your current agreement.
Your Microsoft partner can map that out for your specific setup, including any CAD rate differences.
The Part the Licensing Change Doesn’t Handle for You
Copilot works within your existing Microsoft 365 permissions. It can only surface content a user is already authorized to access – but that’s where the risk sits for most businesses.
Permissions decisions that made sense in the moment tend not to get revisited. A SharePoint folder opened broadly for a project that wrapped up years ago, access granted to a contractor who moved on and was never properly removed.
Nobody did anything wrong. The tidy-up just never made it onto anyone’s list.
A user browsing SharePoint manually would almost never stumble across those files. Copilot, asked the right question, can surface them in seconds. The access gaps were already there. Copilot just makes them faster to find.
What to Work Through Before You Turn Copilot On
A Copilot readiness check doesn’t have to be a lengthy project. For most SMBs, it comes down to a few honest questions:
- Do you know who has access to what in SharePoint and OneDrive, and when was that last reviewed?
- Are there shared folders, team sites, or document libraries that were opened broadly for one reason and never tightened up since?
- Is sensitive data, such as HR files, financial records, and client documents, protected with the right permissions and sensitivity labels?
- Have the team members who’ll be using Copilot had any introduction to how it works and what it can reach?
These are all simple to address, but they do need to happen before Copilot is given a broad footprint in your Microsoft 365 environment.
The businesses getting real value from Copilot right now treated activation as a configuration project first. Your Microsoft 365 environment determines what Copilot can see and do. Getting that right is the foundational step.
What to Think About at Your Next Renewal
If your Business Standard or Business Premium subscription is up for renewal after 1 July 2026, the bundled plan options will be part of that conversation. A few things worth confirming before you get there:
- Your current plan type and whether you already have a Copilot add-on in place
- Whether the bundle price represents a saving or an increase compared to your current setup
- Your renewal date and whether any transitional pricing applies to your agreement
For a 50-person business in London or Windsor moving to Business Standard with Copilot at $33.50 CAD per user, that’s roughly $20,100 CAD per year before taxes.
It’s worth knowing whether your team will actually use what you’re paying for and whether your environment is ready for it on day one.
How Attache Group Helps Local Businesses With Copilot Readiness
Attache Group has been supporting SMBs across London, Windsor, and Southwestern Ontario since 1995. When our clients ask us about Copilot, the licensing question is usually the straightforward part. The part that takes care of it is the environment review.
We assess your current Microsoft 365 configuration, including SharePoint permissions, sharing settings, sensitivity labels, and data access policies, before any Copilot rollout. For businesses already on a Copilot-included plan that haven’t yet looked at their access controls, we can review your current setup and identify where the exposure sits.
If you’d like to understand what the July 2026 changes mean for your specific subscription and what a readiness review would involve, reach out for a conversation. No commitment, just a straight answer about where your environment currently stands.
FAQs
- What is Microsoft 365 Copilot?
It’s an AI assistant built into Microsoft 365 apps, including Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It drafts emails, summarizes meetings, and answers questions about your documents – using the files and data already in your Microsoft 365 environment. - Does Microsoft Copilot have access to all my company files?
Only what the user is already authorized to see. The risk is that overly broad SharePoint and OneDrive permissions can expose content that was never meant to surface in everyday use. A permissions review before activation is the right call. - What’s the difference between Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot and Business Premium with Copilot?
Both include full Copilot functionality. Business Premium adds Microsoft Defender for Business, Intune device management, and advanced identity controls. For Windsor and London SMBs handling sensitive data or managing multiple devices, Premium is usually the stronger foundation. - Do I need to do anything to activate Copilot in Microsoft 365?
Turning on the licence in the admin centre is simple. Getting it working safely across your team takes more. Most SMBs benefit from doing that with IT support rather than activating it across the board on day one. - Can Attache Group help us set up Microsoft 365 Copilot in Windsor or London, Ontario?
Yes, we work with SMBs across Windsor, London, and Southwestern Ontario. We handle the Microsoft 365 configuration, permissions review, and Copilot rollout. Get in touch to start the conversation.
