M&G wanted to enhance operational efficiency and reduce repetitive tasks.
In partnership with Microsoft, M&G has harnessed advanced AI technologies, including Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot.
This collaboration resulted in a 25% increase in productivity within the customer engagement team and established a strong foundation for ongoing innovation and excellence.
“With Microsoft, we’re not just solving today’s challenges—we’re building the AI–driven foundations that will define the future of work. The journey has only just begun.”
Jack Evans, Product Owner for Data AI and Integration, M&G
With a legacy spanning over 170 years, M&G is one of the UK's largest investment companies. Known for its commitment to innovation, the business continuously evolves to meet customer needs while prioritising the optimisation of the employee experience.
As part of this ongoing commitment to innovation, M&G partnered with Microsoft to explore transformative AI solutions that could enhance efficiency, reduce workloads, empower its workforce, and continue to advance the customer experience.
Innovation is embedded in M&G’s approach. The business has set an ambitious target to reduce operating costs by £230 million through 2025. AI-driven tools, combined with Microsoft’s collaboration, are seen as key enablers to achieve this goal.
“We were really curious about what AI could do for us,” says Simon Carroll, Head of Engineering at M&G. “We questioned how we could provide tools that make our people’s jobs easier.”
“Anything that enhances the colleague experience—making their days more productive and streamlined—has a huge impact for us,” adds Lee Walker, Technology Experience Manager at M&G.
Given M&G’s reliance on Microsoft 365 solutions in its everyday work, Microsoft 365 Copilot was an early focus of interest.
Through Microsoft’s Early Adoption Programme, M&G enrolled 300 licensed users in a pilot programme to explore potential of Microsoft 365 Copilot. M&G took the decision to target the deployment to different teams, where it had identified compelling use cases. Initial rollout was focused on the Enable Network, M&G’s disabled and neurodiverse community, and the customer interaction and software development teams.
Given M&G’s strong emphasis on security and compliance, ensuring data protection was the first priority before moving forward with any implementation.
“Our primary focus was on deploying AI safely,” says David Gracie, Chief Engineer at M&G. “We took great care in understanding where our data was going and how it was being stored.”
M&G’s strong foundation with Microsoft—built through prior collaborations and its cloud-first strategy with Microsoft Azure—was instrumental in ensuring seamless integration. By consolidating data and technologies within a unified cloud environment, the company achieved enhanced scalability, real-time insights, and operational agility, setting the stage for long-term success. Regular engagements with Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Architects (CSAs) ensured M&G was always informed about new features, best practices, and optimisations, helping maximise the impact of innovation.
Lee Walker emphasises, “Having Microsoft’s expertise and support throughout this journey made all the difference.”
“AI has the power to transform how we work—allowing people to tailor it to their individual needs. If we train and educate teams to use it effectively while maintaining a strong partnership with Microsoft, we can unlock its full potential and build the ultimate productive workforce.”
Mav Dhothar, Head of AI & Analytics Experience, M&G
The first team to experience the benefits of Copilot was the customer interactions team. Before its implementation, responding to customer inquiries could take up to eight hours. With Copilot, response times were significantly reduced, enabling the team to double the number of resolutions processed, improving both efficiency and customer support.
“We’ve seen a 25% reduction in touch time without any drop in quality, which is massive,” says Caroline Illingworth, Head of Performance Oversight at M&G.
Additionally, Copilot has transformed the quality assurance process, automating reporting to identify compliance, investigation areas, and potential errors. Agents can refine their work before human review, greatly expediting workflows.
“It provides a report highlighting areas of compliance and where further investigation is needed, which definitely speeds up our processes,” explains Caroline Illingworth.
As part of M&G’s commitment to inclusivity, its Enable Network was amongst the first colleagues in the business to explore the potential of Microsoft 365 Copilot. By easing workloads and supporting everyday tasks, Copilot has helped create a more accessible and equitable workplace.
"With Copilot, we were able to bridge the gap between an able person and someone with a disability or neurodiverse condition. We’re not just feeling more productive—we are more productive," says Mav Dhothar, Head of AI & Analytics Experience at M&G.
For employees with physical mobility challenges, Microsoft 365 Copilot reduces manual effort, allowing them to work more efficiently. For those with dyslexia, it provides real–time corrections, minimising stress and improving accuracy. Neurodiverse employees benefit from contextual reminders and improved organisation, helping them focus and manage workloads more effectively.
Mav Dhothar continues, "I type with one hand, and before, I was naturally at a disadvantage. With Copilot, I can dictate, structure emails, and summarise documents effortlessly—suddenly, I’m just as fast, if not faster, than others.”
The impact goes beyond productivity gains; employees now have more time and confidence to focus on high–value work. Mav Dhothar adds, "Writing a report used to take me about two and a half weeks. With Copilot, I completed it in just three days, saving more than a week for other meaningful tasks.”
By automating manual tasks, Microsoft 365 Copilot has significantly improved staff morale, allowing employees to focus on meaningful work while reducing stress and anxiety.
“Copilot reduces time spent on the “boring” parts of the job, so people can focus on what matters,” says David Gracie.
It also provides real–time feedback, helping employees refine their work and boosting their confidence. “It makes us feel less anxious because we can rely on the tool,” says Mav Dhothar. “It catches errors before we send something out.”
“It’s almost like having a coach by your side,” adds Caroline Illingworth. “You get immediate feedback on areas to improve, without waiting for a human reviewer.”
With reduced workloads and more streamlined workflows, Copilot has the potential to lower the risk of overwhelm or stress.
M&G’s developer teams have also deployed several Microsoft AI technologies, including Copilot. The integration of GitHub Copilot has significantly boosted productivity, particularly among junior engineers.
“We’ve seen a 22% reduction in the time spent in development across the entire function,” says Jack Evans, Product Owner for Data AI and Integration, M&G. “We’re attributing 11% of that directly to our use of GitHub Copilot.”
The tool streamlines repetitive tasks, allowing developers to focus on higher–value activities.
“For junior engineers, Copilot acts as a supportive guide, helping them learn and providing a safe space to explore solutions,” says David Gracie. “Even though we encourage open dialogue, some juniors may hesitate to ask questions. Copilot fills that gap by offering immediate suggestions and guidance.”
For senior engineers, GitHub Copilot serves as an assistant to sharpen their skills and explore new possibilities.
“It’s more about growth and suggestion for senior engineers,” adds David Gracie. “Copilot might propose elements they hadn’t considered before, enabling them to dive into new ideas and stay innovative.”
Time spent on customer inquiries reduced by 25%
The innovation in the development teams extends further into Microsoft’s AI solutions. It is also leveraging Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services, using them to build PRAI, an in–house AI–powered code review tool. PRAI automates code reviews, identifying issues and raising comments.
“We designed PRAI to be a plugin that sits inside Azure DevOps,” explains Jack Evans. “It looks very natural and organic because it raises comments in the same way that a person would.”
“PRAI has become more than a tool—it’s a barometer for engineers,” he continues. “It highlights patterns and potential non–standard approaches, helping us focus on areas needing improvement.”
Since its beta rollout, in just five months, PRAI has scanned over 2 million lines of code and flagged 3,500 issues.
“We estimate that it has saved us approximately 200 hours of engineering time in that time,” explains Jack Evans. “It improves understandability of code. From an audit perspective, we have much stronger records of all code changes written in natural language. We are only a small team, but we have been able to create a novel product that is adding novel value thanks to the accessibility of the models, ease of integration, and API calling, and everything else Azure gives us.”
Given the successes of its case-by-case AI deployment, M&G has ramped up its AI ambitions. The business has increased Microsoft 365 Copilot user numbers dramatically, with 600 staff now using the tool. The excitement within M&G continues to grow, with employees recognising Copilot’s impact on their daily workflows.
"Our teams are eager to push the boundaries of what Copilot can do," adds Mav Dhothar. "People are excited to explore new possibilities and integrate it even further into their work."
M&G is continuing to explore new uses cases and their impact to determine the potential for continued further adoption.
Lee Walker enthuses, “We're currently having conversations with Microsoft about how to move this up a level.”
M&G is setting ambitious goals to further refine and scale use of AI through the business. Microsoft will be a key partner on this journey.
James Eaton, Chief Technology Officer at M&G, confirms, “We continue to see a great opportunity for Gen AI tools to help us uplift the experience for our clients, customers, and colleagues. The examples of what we have already achieved give us confidence that we have the capability within our team and a partner in Microsoft to support our continued innovation in AI."
“Our company's ambition is clear, and it's really exciting to see technology play a key part in achieving it,” adds Dave Ward, Chief Data Officer at M&G.
A priority for M&G developers' community is enhancing PRAI. Moving forward, the team hopes to improve its accuracy, expand capabilities, and open source it, allowing the broader development community to leverage the advantages.
M&G is now exploring AI-driven unstructured search functionalities to help teams quickly and efficiently query vast knowledge bases. By embedding AI deeper into workflows, the company is focused on boosting productivity, improving collaboration, and unlocking new efficiencies across the business.
"AI has the power to transform how we work—allowing people to tailor it to their individual needs. If we train and educate teams to use it effectively while maintaining a strong partnership with Microsoft, we can unlock its full potential and build the ultimate productive workforce," says Mav Dhothar.
Jack Evans concludes, “With Microsoft, we’re not just solving today’s challenges—we’re building the AI–driven foundations that will define the future of work. The journey has only just begun.”
“With Copilot, we were able to bridge the gap between an able person and someone with a disability or neurodiverse condition. We’re not just feeling more productive—we are more productive.”
Mav Dhothar, Head of AI & Analytics Experience, M&G
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