The right answer sits on a spectrum. Some agents are well-grounded conversational assistants answering questions from your knowledge sources, which is the right shape when that is what the use case needs. Others reason over data, take actions across line of business systems, or run autonomously on triggers with a human in the loop on the decisions that matter. We help you choose where on that spectrum each use case should sit, and build to suit.

Less than most teams expect. The essentials are a clear use case with an owner on your side, sensible data hygiene in the systems the agent will draw on, and a view on which Microsoft 365 environment the agent will sit in. Licensing, governance ownership, and any Data Loss Prevention arrangements are typically confirmed as part of discovery rather than blockers to it. Where any of those need work, we will say so plainly and shape the early engagement to put them in place, frequently with Microsoft partner-led funding offsetting the cost. A free Agent Triage is designed exactly for this: an honest readout on what is and isn’t in place before you commit to building anything.

A focused agent answering questions from a defined knowledge source typically reaches a first release in two to four weeks. Agents that take actions across line of business systems, with proper governance and lifecycle controls in place, usually run as phased deliveries over one to three months depending on scale and complexity. The variables are data readiness, integration scope, and the level of process change involved. We confirm timelines after a short discovery rather than guess up front.

There are two cost lines to think about. The first is consumption from Microsoft — how much it costs for your users when they run agents — which depends on whether they are licensed for Microsoft 365 Copilot, whether you opt for pre-paid Credit Packs or configure Pay-as-you-Go. The second is delivery, covering design, build, and governance. For early-stage work we publish three fixed-price packages: a free one-hour Agent Triage, a £3,000 Agent Analysis of an existing agent, and a Tune-up from £3,000 to £8,000 depending on scope. Full custom builds are scoped after discovery. For eligible organisations, Microsoft partner-led funding can offset a meaningful share of early-stage work; we confirm what applies before any commitment is made. The fastest way to a real number for your use case is a free Agent Triage call.

Answer quality is engineered in from the start, not added afterwards. Each agent is grounded in your authoritative sources, with existing permissions and sensitivity labels carried through to the response so users only see what they are entitled to. We build with Copilot Studio test sets and conversational evaluations that exercise expected use, edge cases, alternate phrasings, misuse, and adversarial inputs before go-live. In production we apply human-in-the-loop oversight on the decisions that warrant it, run-time monitoring of behaviour and usage, and Responsible AI documentation aligned to Microsoft’s principles. Where an agent is uncertain, it cites a source or escalates to a person rather than guesses.

Copilot Studio runs inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. Data stays within the boundary you already trust for the rest of your Microsoft estate, governed by Microsoft Entra for identity, Microsoft Purview for sensitivity and Data Loss Prevention, and Microsoft Defender for threat protection. Each agent operates with an Entra Agent ID, so it can be managed, audited, and decommissioned alongside your users. Grounding respects existing permissions and sensitivity labels through to the agent’s response, meaning users only see what they are entitled to. We design the environment, identity, and DLP arrangements up front so the agent is enterprise-ready from day one, rather than retrofitted later.

Yes, and a substantial share of our work sits there. We are G-Cloud listed and routinely deliver into UK public sector, NHS, financial services, and other regulated environments. Our agents are designed to hold up under information governance reviews, DPIAs, and audit scrutiny, which is the standard our regulated clients expect. Each agent runs with an Entra Agent ID and is managed alongside your users with Defender, Purview, and Intune controls, and Responsible AI documentation is maintained as part of the build rather than retrofitted. If you have a specific compliance question, the Agent Triage is a good place to put it to us directly.

Hand-over is built into the engagement from the start. Your team receives the agent fully documented, with run-time analytics and monitoring in place and a clear support model agreed up front. That can be ongoing managed support from Intelogy, in-house ownership with us on retainer for incidents and enhancements, or a structured transfer to your own makers with enablement. The same UK consultants who design and build the agent are available to operate and evolve it, or to train your people to do so.

Moving from a successful pilot to a managed portfolio of agents is a different problem from building any single agent. It requires an operating model that the organisation puts in place: environment strategy, build authorisation, component reuse, lifecycle controls, and a team that owns them. Many organisations formalise this as a Copilot Center of Excellence. We recommend establishing it alongside the early builds rather than retrofitting it later, so that the second, fifth, and twentieth agent benefit from what was learnt on the first, and adoption scales deliberately rather than as shadow AI in the gaps. For organisations already several agents in, we run a focused review of what is in place and where to invest next.

Copilot Studio is not the right tool for every use case, and we are direct about that. Requirements involving sophisticated retrieval, bespoke document processing, or specialist orchestration beyond Copilot Studio’s native capabilities are typically better suited to Microsoft Foundry. Genuinely deterministic work is generally more cost-effective and reliable as a Power Automate flow than as an agent. Where the underlying business process is itself flawed, no agent will resolve the issue; the appropriate first step is to address the process. Every engagement includes an honest assessment of whether Copilot Studio is the right platform for the requirement, including cases where it is not.