Why Read?

Most IT managers and directors have tried Microsoft Copilot and found it useful for summaries and drafting inside Microsoft... but we've noticed many of those same IT professionals also have Claude open in another tab.

Why? Because Claude was noticeably stronger for deep technical analysis. Working through complex system issues, comparing outputs across large datasets, and the kind of sustained reasoning that IT work actually demands. The catch is it has always lived outside your business, outside your data.

Microsoft just changed that permanently.

Sitting right inside the Copilot you already manage is an AI agent, built by Anthropic's Claude team and integrated directly into Microsoft 365.

This AI agent, specifically, is called Microsoft Cowork.

And this blog will tell you exactly what it is, what it can do for IT teams and organisations, and how it is governed inside the Microsoft environment you already run.

Quickfire: Your 5 Must-Have Takeaways:

• Cowork completes multi-step workflows for your team end-to-end, inside your Microsoft 365 environment. It generates documents, coordinates meetings and runs research, all within your existing governance boundaries.
• You can now allow Cowork to work across apps across Microsoft's Office 365 interface. This means it can access and work between your SharePoint, Outlook email, calendar and Teams Meetings.
• It runs on Claude, built by Anthropic, inside Microsoft. Your data stays inside your tenant, governed by your existing DLP policies, sensitivity labels and compliance controls. There is nothing new to sign up for and no data going anywhere outside your Microsoft 365 boundary.
• Cowork is an agent, not a chatbot. It executes tasks in the background, operating only within the signed-in user's existing permissions. It cannot access data the user cannot access, and it requires approval before any sensitive action is taken.
• It is now generally available worldwide. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and Cowork is then billed on a usage basis. You pay only for the tasks you run, not a flat fee per seat.

What is Microsoft Cowork?

Cowork is what we call an AI agent.

This is a type of AI that completes tasks all the way through for you. Where you can set it up to work through a task, leave for a meeting, and view your deliverables ready to claim upon your return.

Here at labdesk, some of the tasks we enjoy putting to work on include:

• Cleaning up and rescheduling your Outlook calendar.
• Building meeting materials from emails and past meetings or files.
• Researching deep intel on a topic and delivering results in a full Excel workbook.
• Drafting and sending emails in Outlook.
• Messaging people in Teams.
• Creating Word documents and PowerPoint decks.
• Building plans and competitive comparisons, and delivering them to your team.

Essentially your giving Cowork a goal via a prompt, and it makes a plan, draws on the information it has access to, and completes each step in turn.

It's smart too. Cowork will ask its own questions to clarify exactly what you want delivered during your conversation.

What results are IT teams and organisations getting with Cowork?

Now this is something very exciting...

On June 16th 2026, Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork as generally available worldwide. And the early results are genuinely impressive.

During the Frontier preview, more than half of the Fortune 500 put Cowork to work. Microsoft has called it the fastest growing feature in the history of their Frontier programme, with among the highest user satisfaction of any Copilot experience they have ever shipped.

The real-world results from those early users tell the story of how people are currently using it to shave off weeks worth of work from their plate. So they can get on with what really matters.

One engineering team used Cowork to compare nearly 4,000 files across two product versions automatically. Work that would have taken weeks was completed

One sales lead pointed Cowork at a stalled pipeline and got back a ranked list of at-risk opportunities, with the exact follow-up that had gone cold on each. A week of manual review, collapsed into a single morning.

To put these upgraded findings into context, let's look at results from the original Microsoft Copilot:

A pilot across 90 NHS organisations (the largest AI trial of its kind globally in healthcare) found Microsoft 365 Copilot saved staff around 43 minutes of admin time per person, per day.

NHS England's own Chief Digital Officer put a number on what that means: roughly 5 weeks of time back, per person, per year.

For an IT team managing a business of 50 to 100 people, that is hundreds of hours of admin and manual task time returned every year. Time that goes back into security improvements, strategic projects and the work that actually needs your expertise and deep attention.

Allegis Group, an organisation of 18,000 people, saved 150,000 hours and cut one internal process from 31 hours down to 13. Lloyds Banking Group rolled out Copilot to 30,000 staff and saw 93% daily usage within their organisation.

Remember, those results above came from Microsoft Copilot before this exciting Claude x Microsoft collab existed.

If Copilot (nearly 3 years old now) can achieve hundreds of thousands of hours saved for employees without automating tasks... we believe it will be fascinating to see what results look like in the near future for early adopters to Cowork in 2026.

A word on Cowork from Mike Douglass, Director of labdesk

"Before Cowork, we helped a client build a Copilot-powered tender agent inside their Microsoft 365. It took over the repetitive, time-consuming parts of their personal tender process- like drafting, cross-referencing, formatting- and handed their team back a significant chunk of their week.

...The quality of what Copilot already produced was a step above what they had been putting together manually...and the outcomes reflected that. That client went on to win a 7-figure tender, with Copilot's optimised outputs playing a real part in how they presented and positioned themselves.

What was incredibly impressive is that was Copilot without Cowork. So now Cowork is here, we are talking about an AI that doesn't just give a hand and helps you draft, but automatically plans, coordinates and carries the work through from start to finish while you're not at your desk..."

Is Cowork only available inside Microsoft 365?

Yes.

Microsoft built Cowork with Anthropic, the maker of Claude. In Microsoft's own words:

"Anthropic integrated the technology behind Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot."

So... the AI agent doing your work is the same Claude you'd use exclusively inside the Claude software. Which means one of the most capable models around now works securely inside your existing Microsoft environment...

Microsoft calls this its multi-model advantage. Cowork is not tied to a single AI. It picks the best model for the job, and Claude is a big part of why it is so capable.

For you, that means two things.

1. You get genuinely top-tier agentic AI. And you get it without signing up to another outside tool or sending your company data somewhere new.
2. Your biggest difference between using Cowork and Claude as a whole is that Cowork comes to you and your data already inside your business, rather than risking exporting your data outside to a separate Claude model.

What Cowork can't do:

• It cannot write, edit or deploy code (like using Claude Code).
• It cannot build apps, websites or software.
• It cannot work on tasks outside of Microsoft 365 (which keeps MC365 business data secure).
• It cannot access data outside of your existing Microsoft permissions.
• It cannot act without your approval on sensitive actions (requiring you to manually prove tasks like emails sent).
• It cannot connect to tools outside your Microsoft environment, such as Google Workspace, Slack, Obsidian or Notion.

How easy is Cowork to get for my team?

Very easy. Especially if you're already using Microsoft 365 for your team.

As of June 16th 2026, Cowork is available worldwide and lives directly inside your existing Microsoft 365 Copilot. There is no longer an exclusive "Frontier" programme necessary to join.

Here's how to get started:

1. Have Microsoft 365 Copilot in place. Cowork sits inside Copilot, so you need an active Copilot licence to use it.
2. Open Microsoft 365 Copilot. Go to copilot.microsoft.com in your browser, or open the Copilot app on desktop or mobile.
3. Find Cowork in the Agents section. In the left-hand navigation, look for the Agents section. If Cowork is listed, click to open it. If it is not there yet, click 'All Agents' to open the Agent Store, search 'Cowork' and add it.
4. Understand the billing. Cowork is billed on a usage basis, denominated in Copilot Credits. You pay for the tasks you run, not a flat monthly fee per seat. Pay-as-you-go is available, as is a prepaid credit plan for more predictable usage.

Most of the heavy lifting here sits with whoever manages your Microsoft setup, and it is largely a one-time job. For most businesses, the harder part is not switching Cowork on. It is deciding where to point it first!

Where does Cowork fit with the rest of your AI's?

Think of Cowork as the agentic layer sitting on top of the Microsoft 365 environment you already manage.

It is not a new tool to integrate or a new vendor to onboard. It lives inside the admin centre you already use, governed by the same controls you have already built. Your existing DLP policies, sensitivity labels, user permissions and audit logs all apply from day one. You can enable it for specific users or groups and monitor its use through the same reporting you already have in place.

For IT professionals, that matters because the productivity gains Cowork delivers do not come with new governance overhead. The compliance work you have already done is the compliance work Cowork runs on.

What changes is what your team can now accomplish inside that environment. The documentation that used to take an afternoon. The research that required pulling from three different systems. The report that meant an hour of manual data gathering. Cowork handles all of it end-to-end, inside your tenant, under your controls, with approval at every sensitive step.

It is not competing with your governance model. It is running on top of it.

Your Next Step After Cowork

Cowork is a highly capable tool. But like any AI, it is only ever as safe as the foundations you put under it. Access, data, security, and ways of working all decide whether Cowork is a trusted teammate across the business, or something people tiptoe around.

That foundation is what we help you build.

The easiest place to start is a free, tailored AI Readiness Conversation with a member of the labdesk crew. Together we look at how your team actually works today, where tools like Copilot and Cowork can save the most time, and what needs to be in place so they do it safely.

If it is useful and you want to go further, our Copilot Enablement and Readiness Workshop takes it end to end.

Over several sessions together, we:

• Survey how your business really runs (tools, tasks, meetings, focus time, ownership).
• Review your Microsoft 365 data and setup so Copilot and Cowork sit on solid, governed ground.
• Run a security and risk assessment across 17 core items, including identity, devices, sharing, sensitivity labels, governance and Secure Score.

You leave with clear findings, a simple picture of your current risk, and a phased roadmap from today's foundations to being genuinely ready for AI. Written in plain English, not tech-speak, and yours to keep and act on however you like: run it in-house, hand it to your IT team, or have labdesk deliver it alongside you.

For most organisations, the business case is already there. In a 100-person company, a 20-seat Copilot pilot can deliver around £110,000 of time value per year on roughly £6,000 of licences… provided the foundations are right. The workshop makes sure the work you are already doing on Microsoft 365 counts toward that AI readiness at the same time.

And for qualifying projects, there is up to £1,000 of Microsoft funding available if you choose to move ahead.

If you would like your AI foundations in place before you roll tools like Cowork out to everyone, you can book your free readiness conversation here:

→ Copilot Enablement Workshop by labdesk - Drive Value with Microsoft Copilot AI(opens in new window) (opens in new window)