As a technology-driven company, Kantar wants to ensure it is at the forefront of Gen AI innovation.
Kantar adopted Microsoft Copilot, harnessing the power of AI to drive value for clients and empower employees.
With an 85% daily use rate, Copilot is enabling employees to save between 1.8 hours and ten hours per week. Employees also report increased efficiency, creativity and the ability to deliver more targeted support for clients.
“The beauty of Copilot lies in its infancy – it’s just 18 months old. Every month brings astonishing change. The pace of innovation is remarkable and I can’t imagine how different our work will look a year from now, let alone in three years.”
Johanna Lloyd, Strategy Team Lead for Digital AI Transformation, Kantar
“Everything we do is in the service of our clients, so the experience we provide for them needs to be fantastic,” says Johanna Lloyd, Strategy Team Lead for Digital AI Transformation at Kantar. “At the same time, we want our employees to be engaged, inspired and love coming to work.”
Kantar sees technology as a key enabler in these goals. From data analytics to daily operations, the company leverages cutting-edge solutions to deliver the best insights and experiences for its clients and employees. It is investing heavily in exploring the opportunities of AI, partnering with Microsoft to establish strong foundational technology using Microsoft Azure, Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Fabric. It was a natural progression for the Kantar team to want to be at the forefront of Generative AI adoption.
Jo Harris, Transformation Director at Kantar, explains, “The world is going to transform and we want to support our people to get on the bus: to embrace Gen AI, to not be scared of it; to think how we might use it most effectively and be at the forefront as an organisation and as an industry.”
Being fully integrated with the office and productivity tools the majority of Kantar staff use every day, Microsoft Copilot offered an exciting way to get started on this journey.
“Copilot is something we could give to our colleagues to enable them to do more right now,” explains Tim Sparks, Digital Consultant at Kantar. “It helps them on the road to understanding AI and what its implications are going to be. At the same time, it uses all the power of our documentation and knowledge already in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem to support us to create new content and do things more efficiently.”
Having explored Copilot’s potential using a few hundred licences with convincing success, the Kantar team opened up a series of workstreams to identify opportunities to leverage Copilot across the business, drive adoption and maximise the returns.
By working with “influencers” throughout the business, Kantar has been able to extend the Copilot rollout to 12,600 members of its team with an incredibly successful daily use rate of 85% percent.
Tim Sparks says, “We work with a large group of influencers and there are some real diamonds who help drive usage, adoption and enthusiasm in their teams.”
The results of Kantar’s proactive use of Copilot have been impressive. Johanna Lloyd reports, “On average, people are saving 1.8 hours per week and some people are saving up to ten hours per week. But it’s not just about the time they are saving. People say the quality of their work has improved and they are feeling more creative.”
The time savings are now used in a variety of ways, including to enhance colleagues’ work-life balance. By reducing the time spent on more mundane parts of the job, teams can work on areas that really matter and fulfil the growth ambitions of the business.
Jo Harris emphasises, “They can use that time to excel better in their job.”
One of the important areas in which the team has worked closely with Microsoft is in developing specialist prompts to harness the capabilities of Copilot in support of Kantar’s business development teams.
“Copilot certainly helps me to connect with clients’ business more quickly and write more impactful copy about how we can add value and impact. I can answer questions in a more informed manner more quickly and stand out from the other agencies that might also be pitching for that piece of work,” reports Dan Parkes, Senior Director of Business Development at Kantar. “My outreach has become significantly stronger. The conversations I’m having now are more closely aligned with my clients' needs and I'm able to leverage the best of Kantar.”
85% daily use rate
Kantar’s decision to explore Copilot was a natural next step in a long-standing partnership with Microsoft. The business took the opportunity to deepen the partnership and learn directly from Microsoft’s experts.
“We’ve tried to do everything in partnership with Microsoft so we get our learning quicker than having to learn on our own,” Johanna Lloyd explains.
Tim Sparks offers a practical example: “Microsoft spent time with our business development teams to really look at what their tasks are and how Copilot can help. Together with Microsoft, we have built some templated prompts to create a new enhanced process that delivers so much more value.”
Kantar also leans into Microsoft support to deliver “power half-hours" – weekly bite-sized training sessions that helped embed Copilot into daily routines. These sessions have become a cornerstone of ongoing learning and support.
“Training has been part of our magic formula,” says Johanna Lloyd. “We meet every month to inspire each other and get creative about how we bring these messages to life.”
This shift is helping teams refocus their energy on creativity, strategy and client impact. Instead of switching between tools or digging for data, employees can now stay in flow and make faster, more confident decisions.
“For me, what’s really exciting is handing over some really useful functions to my colleagues that they will then continue to evolve over time,” says Dan Parks.
Jo Harris agrees, “Copilot is a real mindshift because we’re basically saying to people go and play with these tools and then think about how you can use them to make your life easier. It’s an agile approach with a tool that is still continuing to develop. For example, when we get Copilot helping us to use PowerPoint better, it will be an absolute gamechanger.”
Kantar’s next wave of innovation is already underway.
“We’ve got so many more workstreams we’re working on with Microsoft,” enthuses Johanna Lloyd. “We will be using Copilot to transform the way we do research and are working with Microsoft to revolutionise the whole industry of research. This is just the tip of the iceberg of our working relationship with Microsoft.”
In addition, through close collaboration with Microsoft Unified, Kantar is unlocking the power of integrations, using Microsoft Copilot Studio and the Azure OpenAI Connector to analyse historical data and surface new insights.
Johanna Lloyd reflects on what’s ahead: “The beauty of Copilot lies in its infancy – it’s just 18 months old. Every month brings astonishing change. The pace of innovation is remarkable and I can’t imagine how different our work will look a year from now, let alone in three years.”
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“The world is going to transform and we want to support our people to get on the bus: to embrace Gen AI, to not be scared of it; to think how we might use it most effectively and be at the forefront as an organisation and as an industry.”
Jo Harris, Transformation Director, Kantar
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