AI and Microsoft 365 training: how to make sure it pays off

In many organisations, the AI licences are ready, but hardly anyone uses them well. Your employees determine whether AI and Microsoft 365 deliver anything. They need to know what the tools can do and how to use them responsibly.

In this guide, we set out how to set up a training path that shows in everyday work, based on the projects we run with our clients.

Training only delivers when you see different behaviour on the work floor: people who find what they are looking for faster, collaborate more smoothly and use AI for tasks that used to take hours. Learning therefore starts with people, and technology is a means to that end.

Since February 2025, the AI Act also requires organisations to ensure sufficient AI literacy among the employees who work with AI. That makes training an obligation as well.

Training is often scheduled as a one-off session, without follow-up. Everyone gets the same content, whether they are a beginner or already work fluently with Copilot. The examples come from a manual rather than from people's own work. And afterwards, nobody measures whether anything has changed.

A one-off training remains a good start. The effect grows when it is part of a path. The steps below help you with that.

Before you choose a training, it helps to know what your team can already do. With Xylos Insights, an AI agent has a short conversation with each employee. You get a DigiScore per employee, a heatmap per team and an overview of learning needs and the learning formats your people prefer. On that basis you build a tailored learning path, down to the level of each employee if you wish.

The order depends on your organisation. These are the starting points we see most often. Some organisations first lay a broad foundation for everyone. Others go in depth with one department and then roll out further. Others still choose a complete growth path, or first ensure a strong digital foundation before starting with AI.

People learn in different ways. So combine classroom and online training with coaching in the workplace. Short videos in OASE, our video learning platform, give your people an explanation the moment they need it. With PlayForward, our online platform for gamified learning, teams experience AI and Copilot through play and team challenges. The AI literacy programme builds up the knowledge to use AI tools productively within a few months.

Participants learn fastest in a safe learning environment, with assignments from their own job. So start with a knowledge intake, so the trainer knows which documents, processes and questions your people work with every day.

When you roll out Microsoft 365, Copilot or a new application, plan the support right away. Change management makes sure people know why something is changing and what it brings them. Digital Coaches help colleagues in the workplace, and your service desk gets fewer questions.

After the path, measure again where your people stand and look at how the tools are used. That way you see what progress has been made and where to focus next.

• Does the partner first measure where your people stand, before a training is chosen?

• Does the partner work with assignments from your own work?

• Does the partner combine training, coaching and online learning?

• Does the partner also support adoption when new tools are rolled out?

• How does the partner measure the effect on the work floor?

Maxeda DIY Group opted for a personalised learning path that embedded Microsoft Copilot in daily work. Erik Cuypers, Group CDO & CIO: "Thanks to their varied offering of training sessions, webinars and one-to-one coaching sessions, the enthusiasm is tangible today. People are not afraid of AI, on the contrary: they are starting to use it more and more."

Xylos is a Belgian family-owned tech company headquartered in Antwerp. Training has been our craft for forty years: we train more than 74,000 people every year, and that experience sits in a knowledge base of more than eighty courses and learning formats. Xylos is a Microsoft Solutions Partner for AI Business Solutions, with the Adoption and Change Management specialisation.

With Learning Services, Xylos helps organisations train their people. The offering includes Microsoft 365 training, AI and Copilot training, the Microsoft 365 productivity track, the AI literacy programme, PlayForward and the OASE video learning platform. Xylos Insights is the starting point to measure where your people stand. Xylos has worked for Maxeda, AXA, AG Insurance, Belfius and DP World, among others.

Curious which path suits your organisation? Plan a conversation with our experts or start with Xylos Insights.