Let’s be honest. If you’re running a small or medium-sized business in Bristol, there’s a good chance someone on your team has answered “What are your opening hours?” approximately 47 times this week. And it’s only Wednesday. The same questions. Over and over. Holiday policies. Invoice queries. Password resets. It steals valuable time from your busy staff.

For Bristol businesses competing in the Southwest’s marketplace, finding efficiencies can make a real difference. And no, we don’t mean working through lunch. Microsoft Copilot Studio offers a solution that doesn’t require you to be a tech wizard. Think of it as a tool that lets you build your own virtual assistant, one that can handle those routine questions whilst your team focuses on the work that actually grows your business.

What Actually Is Copilot Studio?

In simple terms, Copilot Studio is a platform that lets you build your own chatbot without needing to understand what Python is (spoiler: it’s a programming language, not just a snake).

You create an assistant that knows your business inside out. Your product catalogue. Your internal processes. That weird policy about who’s allowed to use the good coffee machine. The genuinely clever bit is that it connects to the information you already have in Microsoft 365. Your SharePoint documents, Teams files, and customer databases can all feed into your copilot. It’s like giving your business a really efficient receptionist who never calls in sick.

Why Should Bristol Businesses Care?

The real question is whether this actually saves time or just creates another thing for you to manage. Fair question.
Here’s a scenario. Your HR team answers 20 questions a day about holiday allowances, sick leave, and whether Sandra can claim mileage for that conference in Bath. A Copilot Studio assistant handles those queries instantly, pulling accurate information from your employee handbook in SharePoint. That’s hours back every week.

Or take customer service. If you’re a Bristol retailer with an online shop, your copilot can field the endless “When will my order arrive?” questions whilst your support team deals with the proper head-scratchers that need human judgement. You know, the customer who wants to return something they bought in 2019.

Is It Actually Easy to Set Up?

Microsoft claims Copilot Studio is straightforward, and for once they’re not overselling it. You pick what information your copilot should know, set up some basic conversation flows, and test it. The interface guides you through it, much like building a website but with fewer existential crises about font choices.

Setup typically takes a few hours rather than weeks. Start small. Build a copilot for one specific task, see if it works, then expand. If it’s rubbish, you’ve wasted an afternoon. If it’s brilliant, you look like a genius who’s embraced automation.

What’s the Catch?

First, you need a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Copilot Studio. It’s part of certain business plans, but not all of them. Check before you get excited!

Second, whilst it’s user-friendly, someone needs to take ownership of building and maintaining these copilots. That means Dave from accounts who “knows computers” might suddenly have a new job nobody told him about.

Third, and this is important: if your company information is scattered across 47 different SharePoint folders with conflicting policies written in 2014, your copilot will be as confused as everyone else. But honestly, if that’s your situation, you’ve got bigger problems than whether to use Copilot Studio.

Should Your Bristol Business Try It?

If your team spends half their day answering the same questions on repeat, then yes, probably.

Start simple. Pick one annoying, repetitive task. IT password resets. Product enquiries. Questions about your opening hours that are literally on your website. Build a copilot for that one thing. If it works, brilliant!

Whether you’re based in Bristol city centre or serving customers across the Southwest, tools like Copilot Studio can help you compete without hiring an army of staff. The technology exists, it’s relatively accessible, and the time savings are real. If you need some support getting Copilot Studio set up for you, get in touch! At Three Cherries, we take the gamble out of business technology.