Genesis Energy has recently joined the Copilot for Microsoft 365 Early Access Program, a significant move towards empowering its employees rather than its tech department to drive technological change. This shift has most companies, Genesis included, pondering on how to establish a potent, organisation-wide Gen AI strategy with pertinent safeguards, all the while optimising ROI, data protection, and privacy.

Steph Creasy, Future Energy General Manager at Genesis, explained the company's stance a year prior: "We looked at Chat GPT, and people wanted to use it. The question was how to manage it. We realised we couldn't just ban it - we'd miss the chance to harness the technology." Joining Microsoft's Early Access Program afforded them the opportunity to probe what generative AI could do, mitigating risk while doing so.

Genesis utilised a broad strategy across its organisation to account for different types of roles, seniority levels, and attitudes towards AI. The company also aimed at specific business areas believed to gain the most benefits. Heather Ballantyne, responsible for the change management process, said, "We started with 30-odd champions, and Microsoft supported us in understanding our business, guiding us on how Copilots could revolutionise specific business sectors." Genesis deployed Github Copilot, more relevant for the firm's engineering squad than Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Genesis and Microsoft's collaboration ensured that each business group received the proper experiences they desired. However, a significant task was setting up the data and privacy structure right for everybody to utilise the AI tools. Microsoft's product development arm was regularly building and tweaking the tech, as the technology is always progressing, according to Josh Mackenzie, Service Provider Outcomes Manager at Genesis. Once Genesis achieved the right path, they initialised Copilot across all 270 office employees.

Genesis employees, including Finance Analyst Andrea Crasta and Corporate Accounts Specialist Shaina Moss, have offered potent endorsements for Copilot. Andrea had praise for Copilot’s problem-solving ability, noting her ability to manage a complex task with the AI in less than a day. Similarly, Shaina appreciated Copilot’s capacity to summarise and track high volumes of information, saving her substantial time. Both employees recognised the value of Copilot's email coaching function. Andrea noted, "It's really growing my skillset in the role – I'm becoming so much more effective at my job."

Vanessa Sorenson, Partner Director for Microsoft ANZ, highly commended Genesis's approach to incorporating AI, labelling the company as an excellent example of executing this right. Using their experiences as part of the Early Adopter Program, Genesis has been counselling other major NZ businesses on their gen AI journeys.

Isabelle Rousseau, who headed Copilot's deployment across Genesis, noted the timesaving benefits for team members with English as a second language. She also lauded the convenience and stress relief offered by allowing AI to draft meeting agendas or condense technical information. Heather Ballantyne added, "We've seen people we didn't really expect to be power users who are absolutely flying with it! Now, we're fostering creativity and fun. We have ambitious goals, and AI is now a part of our business DNA."