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Title
City of Helsinki pilots Microsoft 365 Copilot with 1000 employees
…also allowed for a wider range of perspectives and use cases to be considered. In total, 1000 employees participated in the pilot, representing a diverse cross-section of the city's workforce. Secondly, a dist…
Company
City of Helsinki
…red tools to enhance employee’s wellbeing and work The Responsible Organisation The City of Helsinki , the capital of Finland, is the largest employer in Finland, with over 38,000 employees dedicated to pr…
Country
Finland
…us: Pilot Responsible Organisation: City of Helsinki Geographical extent: Local Country: Finland Function of government: General public services - R&D general public services T…
Description
The City of Helsinki ran a 2024 pilot of Microsoft 365 Copilot with 1000 employees in teams that did not handle sensitive data, with training, usage monitoring and employee surveys. The Interoperable Europe case reports that 48% of participants felt Copilot did not meet their high expectations, and notes Finnish language support as an early barrier.
…65 products made Copilot a natural choice for initial testing. For this reason, the City of Helsinki decided to launch a pilot program in 2024 to explore Copilot's potential to enhance knowledge work across various departments. Lehtinen noted that Copil…
…also allowed for a wider range of perspectives and use cases to be considered. In total, 1000 employees participated in the pilot, representing a diverse cross-section of the city's workforce. Secondly, a dist…
…arding the tool’s wider implementation. Feedback data gathered highlights that, while 48% of participants felt that Copilot didn't meet their high expectations, a significant portion reported positive outcomes. Lehtinen shared that "25% of…
…o encountered some challenges. The main obstacles identified are the following: In the first version of the Copilot tool utilised, the pilot group faced language support barriers . The lack of comprehensive Finnish language support posed a significant obstac…
Industry
Government & Public Sector
…nd, is the largest employer in Finland, with over 38,000 employees dedicated to providing a wide array of public services, including education, healthcare, and culture. Recognising the potential of emerging technologies, the city's digitalisation…
Problem
The City of Helsinki runs over 800 services and at least 600 different data systems and apps, and employees had started experimenting spontaneously with generative AI tools like ChatGPT, so the city wanted a more structured and secure way to use generative AI in existing workflows.
…ment team is experimenting Generative AI solutions in this context. The problem The City of Helsinki provides over 800 different services and produces massive amounts of data, presenting a significant level of complex…
…many of them have been at least 30 years and they have produced a lot of data. That city, I would say have at least 600 different data systems, apps, and similar”. However, recently, the government team also observed that employees started t…
…hien explained, a challenge emerged consequently regarding how to better ensure a more structured and secure way to employ generative AI tools that could be integrated into the city’s existing workflows. The solution and its implementation To address this challenge and harness the…
Solution
The city piloted Microsoft 365 Copilot in 2024 with 1000 employees in entire teams, in four groups, excluding areas that handle sensitive data. Copilot offers functions such as generating meeting notes, summarising lengthy documents and drafting emails.
…tands generative AI, and how they can use it in their work ." The pilot program The pilot program adopted a phased approach, gradually introducing Copilot to four different groups of employees across various city departments. The selection process for the pilot was strategically oriented towards the sele…
…lution, offering AI-powered assistance within the familiar Microsoft 365 suite. The tool's functionalities include generating meeting notes , summarising lengthy documents , and drafting emails , among other tasks. In his words, "we wanted to have some kind of tool that would be as easy as pos…
Business value
The pilot was reported as feasible to run while maintaining data security. Survey feedback was mixed: 48% of participants felt Copilot did not meet their high expectations, while Lehtinen said 25% of the people in Group #3 felt better in their work. Copilot helped employees with limited Finnish proficiency understand and translate documents. Productivity and time savings are described as expected benefits in the long term, not measured results.
…other adoption of the new tool and encouraged wider participation in the pilot. The pilot project proved feasible to implement a generative AI tool across the city workforce while maintaining the data security. The collaboration with Microsoft was based on a large and comprehensive data pr…
…arding the tool’s wider implementation. Feedback data gathered highlights that, while 48% of participants felt that Copilot didn't meet their high expectations, a significant portion reported positive outcomes. Lehtinen shared that "25% of…
…ations, a significant portion reported positive outcomes. Lehtinen shared that "25% of the people in Group #3 [of the pilot test] felt that they are feeling better in their work, [meaning that] it's much easier to come to work when they're using Copilot." T…
…so highlighted specific use cases where Copilot proved particularly beneficial, such as aiding employees with limited Finnish proficiency in understanding and translating documents. Expected benefits Among the benefits identified and expected, the following ar…
…aily tasks, improving their wellbeing and satisfaction with their work results. Expected benefits also comprise an improvement in both the quality and the efficiency of the work across the city teams, potentially leading to increased productivity and time savings in the long term. A key benefit of the solution was the seamless integration of Copilot into the…
Implementation approach
The pilot adopted a phased approach, gradually introducing Copilot to four groups of employees across city departments. Entire teams were selected rather than individuals, areas regularly handling sensitive data and HR teams were excluded, and the Bing AI feature within Copilot was disabled for all participants.
…tands generative AI, and how they can use it in their work ." The pilot program The pilot program adopted a phased approach, gradually introducing Copilot to four different groups of employees across various city departments. The selection process for the pilot was strategically oriented towards the sele…
…t attention to areas of government that did not handle sensitive data. Firstly, instead of selecting individuals, the city selected entire teams to participate in the pilot to ensure a comprehensive sample to test the solution. This approach also allow…
…es are working with [citizens] data, they cannot join the pilot." Additionally, HR teams that handled employees or potential new hires data were also excluded for this phase. This restriction aimed to minimise the risk of inadvertently exposing personal…
…excluded from the pilot project. Finally, to mitigate further potential risks, the City of Helsinki decided to disable the Bing AI feature within Copilot for all pilot participants. Main challenges The pilot program also encountered some challenges. The main o…
Onboarding approach
Training sessions covered the technical use of the tool and broader generative AI concepts. The city monitored usage (entries and queries) and gathered feedback through employee surveys.
…ions. To prepare the participants for the pilot and ensure high adoption rates, training sessions were delivered to equip staff with the necessary skills to utilise Copilot effectively. The trainings covered not only the technical aspects of using the tool, but al…
…AI and its potential applications in their work. Throughout the pilot program, the city monitored the usage of Copilot . This involved tracking the number of entries and queries made by employees, providing data on the adoption and utilisation of the tool. This data helped t…
…identify areas where further training or support might be needed. In parallel, the city gathered feedback through surveys to understand, from the employees’ perspective, how the solution impacted their…
Technology
Microsoft 365 Copilot
…ki decided to explore integrating AI tools into its existing work environment . Microsoft 365 Copilot emerged as a promising solution, offering AI-powered assistance within the familiar Microsoft 365 suite. The to…
AI capabilities
Generative AI
…d Function of government: General public services - R&D general public services Technology: Generative AI Interaction: G2G Do you want to know more about this story? Contact Us Report a…
Headline outcome
…l role in informing future decisions regarding the tool’s wider implementation. Feedback data gathered highlights that, while 48% of participants felt that Copilot didn't meet their high expectations, a significant portion reported positive outcomes. Lehtinen shared that "25% of…
Use case type
Content generation
…lution, offering AI-powered assistance within the familiar Microsoft 365 suite. The tool's functionalities include generating meeting notes , summarising lengthy documents , and drafting emails , among other tasks. In his words, "we wanted to have some kind of tool that would be as easy as pos…
