Building an AI-Ready Organization: How a National Retail Franchisor Took Flight with Copilot
A Need for Scalability and Smarter Operations
As a national retail franchisor with a complex operational ecosystem, the organization was seeking better ways to streamline recurring tasks, support field teams, and improve access to timely insights. Manual reporting cycles, content creation, contract reviews, and day‑to‑day support functions were creating inefficiencies across departments—from operations to marketing to HR.
Company leaders recognized that AI could help elevate efficiency and unlock new capacity, but they needed a structured, secure way to introduce these tools across the organization. That’s where Stoneridge’s Copilot for Microsoft 365 Flight Plan came in.
Taking Off with a Guided AI Journey
Stoneridge Software partnered with the organization on a 12-week Copilot Flight Plan for Microsoft 365 – a hands-on, structured program designed to help teams adopt Copilot effectively and responsibly. The journey included strategic planning, environment readiness, training, and the development of AI agents tailored to business needs.
1. Setting the Foundation
The engagement began with a joint executive kickoff and Business Value Workshop. Leaders identified key operational pain points – manual reporting cycles, slow knowledge sharing, data silos, and repetitive administrative tasks. Together, the franchising company and Stoneridge Software outlined high-value use cases and defined what success with AI would look like.
2. Ensuring a Secure and Ready Environment
Before rollout, Stoneridge worked with IT leaders to review licensing, validate governance, and ensure tenant readiness. This included device readiness, Intune configuration, Copilot license assignment, and establishing a clear baseline for measuring adoption and usage.
3. Champion Enablement Through Flight School
The final phase of the Copilot for M365 Flight Plan is Flight School, where designated champions put their learnings into practice. Over seven weeks, 11 participants received hands-on training designed to build confidence, reinforce best practices, and prepare them to lead Copilot adoption across the organization.
During this phase, they:
- Learned how to use Copilot daily across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and Loop
- Practiced effective prompting
- Explored Microsoft’s pre-built agents
- Built and tested custom Copilot agents
- Met weekly for coaching, assignments, and use‑case refinement
Participants quickly moved from basic experimentation to confidently applying AI to their own workflows.
4. Bringing AI to Life with Custom Agents
As Flight School progressed, participants moved beyond learning how to use Copilot and began applying it to real operational scenarios through the creation of Copilot agents. These agents supported day-to-day work by helping teams:
- Analyze performance trends
- Surface insights for merchandising and operations
- Streamline hiring and contract reviews
- And reduce manual efforts across field operations, support, and communications.
More importantly, this work marked a shift in how the organization approached problem-solving. Rather than treating AI as a one-time exercise, participants began identifying practical ways Copilot and AI agents could be embedded into existing workflows. The result was growing confidence and a shared understanding of how AI could be used as a practical tool to improve how work gets done. improving everyday work.
The Results: A Stronger, Smarter, More AI‑Ready Organization
“What mattered most wasn’t just that teams learned how to use Copilot—it was how quickly they started applying it to real work.
The Flight Plan for this client created clarity, confidence, and momentum, turning everyday tasks into opportunities to work smarter and focus on what truly drives the business. Seeing how this team worked together was truly special.” – Tracy Ottenstroer, Lead Copilot Consultant, Stoneridge Software
Greater Daily Efficiency Across Teams
Adoption during the pilot was both high and consistent. Most participants used Copilot multiple times per day, applying it to tasks such as drafting emails, generating reports, reviewing contracts, prepping for meetings, and summarizing documents.
Across the cohort’s time together, daily time savings ranged from 5 to 60 minutes, with the majority reporting 15–30 minutes saved each day – a meaningful improvement that compounded across teams and workstreams.
High‑Impact Automation Through Custom Agents
The agents developed as part of Flight School delivered clear early wins, from improving candidate screening efficiency and KPI reporting to strengthening social media audits and surfacing store‑level performance trends. Champions also built communication and contract‑review agents that streamlined previously manual steps and improved consistency across workflows.
A Shift Toward Innovation and “Working Smarter”
User feedback and champion presentations highlighted a noticeable mindset shift. Employees began approaching their work with more experimentation and curiosity, openly sharing that AI helped them “work smarter” and rethink long-standing manual processes. This cultural shift, fueled by visible leadership support, became one of the most meaningful outcomes of the program.
A Partnership That Propelled Real Change
Through the Copilot Flight Plan, this organization didn’t just adopt a new tool – they activated a new way of working. With Stoneridge Software as a strategic partner, they built the foundation, skills, and internal champions needed to use AI responsibly and effectively.
Today, their Copilot-driven AI strategy is helping teams work faster, think differently, and support their franchise network more efficiently. And with continued investment and a roadmap in hand, the organization is ready to scale AI in ways that continue driving operational excellence and business value.
