Brunel’s Three Cs: Colleagues, Contact, & Copilot

AI capabilities as an integral part of your daily work. In a way that adds value without constantly switching between tools and applications. Brunel committed to this and started with Copilot in various regions. Ariane Belva, IT Project Manager, and Peter Martens, Manager IT Operations, Cloud Infrastructure, and Security, share how they’ve been working with Copilot over the past year.

Brunel, with approximately 12,000 employees in 45 countries, works on customized project and staffing solutions. With technology and talent, the company aims to drive sustainable transformations. Peter begins by explaining how Copilot became part of Brunel’s journey: “We were already researching AI tools. We knew that colleagues were using ChatGPT. We let that slide at the time because if you block it, people will find a workaround. Copilot is similar to ChatGPT but integrated into Microsoft, which is a big advantage since we fully operate on the Microsoft platform. This way, colleagues don’t have to switch between tools to use AI in their daily work.”

As a trial, Brunel purchased three hundred Copilot licenses from Microsoft. “We feared this would be far too few, but we had to follow up by encouraging people. Using a survey, we identified who in the organization wanted to use Copilot. It included questions such as: Can you provide examples of cases where Copilot could be valuable to you? How would you use it in your daily work? This allowed us to find interested users and make them all happy.”

“After a month of internal communication and testing, we conducted six feedback sessions ourselves: one meeting with a presentation for each region. It turned out that Copilot was fantastic for Outlook and Teams, but it fell short for financial colleagues. Excel was not yet at the expected level. Colleagues appreciated features like summarizing actions and drafting emails in PowerPoint. However, the speed and tone of Copilot were less well received: the quality and accuracy of the output were not always what they were looking for. That has improved in recent months.”

The purpose of the feedback sessions was to distribute the licenses effectively across regions and the organization, understand how Copilot was being used, and identify user benefits. “We also asked colleagues to share their preferences for training methods and topics. This intentionally put users in the driver’s seat. It’s about creating a better way of working for them. It’s also about changing habits and building trust in AI technology.”

With a Brunel Touch

This was the point where Brunel reached out to Wortell, leveraging their existing partnership in MDR, Azure management, and Virtual Desktop. Ariane elaborates:
“In collaboration, we created a program with twenty adoption workshops. These covered four topics: the art of prompting, Copilot in Teams & Outlook, Copilot in PowerPoint & Word, and Copilot in the Excel preview. For each topic, we had five different time slots. This was highly appreciated because it covered all time zones. The participation rate was very high, between 40% and 50%. We shared a master template for communication and concrete examples with Wortell, ensuring that all prompts used during the workshops were Brunel-related. The training was interactive and lasted an hour, which was later highlighted as a plus. After the workshops, we sent out surveys to collect feedback about the training. The responses were very positive and showed that the workshops helped spark interest in Copilot. That interest spread far, even reaching our colleagues in Canada. Wortell is now conducting workshops there as well.”

From the Copilot employee journey in September, it emerged that features for meeting notes and drafting emails are widely used. “With the end of the year approaching, we’re taking stock of how many licenses will be needed in 2025. Colleagues need to genuinely use it.”

Human Contact

Whatever the inventory reveals, Brunel is preparing for the next round with Copilot. “We’re in discussions with Peter Usmany from Wortell to put together a more robust program for the next awareness and adoption round. Since the summer, we’ve been communicating about Copilot monthly, spotlighting a user each time: What does Copilot deliver for you? How does it help you in your work? Our assumption is that it likely increases employee productivity. We consistently receive feedback from colleagues that it helps in their daily work.”

This focus on people is critical for Brunel. “That’s the point: the people. By keeping colleagues at the center of everything surrounding Copilot, we intentionally reflect on what they need to embed AI into work processes. This, in turn, provides them with an efficient workplace. The phrase I keep using is that we’re not replacing colleagues with AI. Instead, AI can help you move forward faster. That’s the difference, right? We present it positively to our colleagues and highlight the benefits they experience,” says Ariane.

Tips for Other Organizations

“The collaboration with all Wortellers has been a remarkable journey, where we’ve not only celebrated successes together but also learned valuable lessons,” Peter and Ariane conclude. The first three hundred licenses turned out to be just the beginning of a longer journey with Copilot. Their tips for other organizations starting with Copilot:

• Invest in communication and workshops to bring people together. Do this with a proactive facilitator who conveys energy.

• Aim to create real connections during (digital) workshops: encourage colleagues to turn on their cameras and share their Copilot experiences. This builds more support.
• Keep in mind that you want to involve more people over time: share enthusiasm, energy, and positive vibes with participants.
• Never stop: start with a clear program, setting goals for what you want to achieve and deliver to the organization. Keep moving forward together.
• Showcase active colleagues and concrete examples of Copilot to share tips and spark curiosity about the possibilities.
• Distribute Copilot licenses across the organization, prioritizing the business. This encourages colleagues to discover its value more broadly.

Try First, Then Learn

Peter Usmany from Wortell shares:
“We initially wanted to start with an inspiration session: What can you do with Copilot? But Brunel was already a step ahead since Copilot had been in use for three months. And that’s recommended. When people use a technology, questions come up afterward. What we often see, however, is that only a few licenses are purchased, ending up with IT, where usage remains limited. If you have licenses, distribute them across the organization and ensure multiple licenses per department. This allows colleagues to share their experiences. Everyone uses Copilot differently: it makes a big difference whether you’re handling tickets or are a knowledge worker. Brunel did the same: the first three hundred licenses are used organization-wide—in all regions. My advice is to start with at least 100 licenses and try them out for a month. If Wortell then guides users through the possibilities, it becomes clear what you can get out of it. An additional advantage: with 100 users, you gather valuable insights via the Copilot Insights dashboard. This helps explain Copilot’s value to colleagues and build a business case to make it more integral to the organization.”

“If your organization struggles with where to begin or needs support in defining a vision and strategy, I recommend starting with an Envision process. This helps develop a clear vision and strategy for implementing Copilot.”

Building Blocks in Productivity

Jeroen Unk, Senior Client Executive Enterprise at Microsoft, shares:
“The renewal moment is a great time to evaluate which technologies you need to succeed in the coming years. Especially if your core business is sensitive to economic fluctuations, it’s helpful to easily scale up or down based on market developments. A pilot helps you discover added value, for instance, in working more efficiently.

Brunel now runs entirely on the Microsoft platform, so there’s no fragmentation of information anymore. On the backend, everything is connected, making it easier to work with Copilot on the frontend. These are key building blocks to boost office productivity; certain tasks are much faster with Copilot than before. Think, for example, of writing job descriptions or finding documents. It’s a completely new way of working and engaging with technology. Microsoft and Wortell are happy to assist organizations with this.”