Microsoft 365 Copilot training for NZ office teams
What does this training cover? Learn Microsoft 365 Copilot for Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel. Choose workplace delivery anywhere in NZ or live remote training. Use a half-day foundations session to practise checked outputs. We confirm account access and agree your team’s tasks before booking; the enquiry starts that conversation.
A practical half-day starting point in Excel and Outlook for accounts, QS and admin.
Try the free introduction — no login.
Run by Adam Holt and Simon Conroy, co-founders of thecolab.ai.
How much does Microsoft Copilot training cost in NZ?
Team workshops start from $4,000 + GST for up to 10 people, with $200 + GST per extra person. Public sessions start from $399 + GST per person; the schedule is coming soon.
How do I choose Microsoft Copilot training for a NZ business?
Start with the work your staff do, their current experience and the accounts they can use. Compare course topics and outcomes, then choose on-site or remote delivery. Use cleared examples and decide who will check the work.
Where can our team get Copilot training?
- Copilot training Auckland
- Copilot training Wellington
- Copilot training Christchurch
- Copilot training Hamilton
All regional and main-city hubs. We can also train your team remotely.
- Courses
- 7introductory, practical, organisation, advanced, finance, administration, leadership
- Formats
- Half-day to rollouthalf-day, full day, or a series of sessions
- Where
- On-site or remotewe come to you, anywhere in New Zealand
- Training hubs
- 28regional and main-city training
Independent training by thecolab.ai. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Microsoft.
Prices
Team training
From $4,000 + GST for up to 10 people
+$200 + GST per extra person. Private training for your staff, with your own work as the exercises.
EnquirePublic workshops
From $399 + GST per person
Schedule coming soon. Register interest and we email you when a day is set near you.
Register interestPrices are in New Zealand dollars and exclude GST.
7 courses, one path
Start the online introduction at your own pace, with practice lessons and quizzes. No login needed.
Start with a hands-on session, then choose team rollout or advanced training. Every course uses your own tasks and documents.
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1Introductory
Microsoft 365 Copilot foundations workshop
A half-day of Microsoft 365 Copilot training: check your access, draft an email, review a document and test a spreadsheet answer using cleared examples.
For: Office staff, administrators, coordinators and team leaders who use Microsoft 365. It suits beginners and teams moving from occasional Copilot Chat use to a shared checking method. Include your administrator in the access check before the session.
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2Practical
Microsoft Copilot for a working day
A full day that takes one real piece of work through Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
For: People who have tried Copilot and want one repeatable way to draft, check and file everyday work.
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3Organisation
Copilot rollout and readiness
Prepare the tenant, choose a pilot, and measure whether people use Copilot well.
For: IT leads, Microsoft 365 administrators, information managers and the leaders of the teams in the pilot.
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4Advanced
Copilot Studio agents and advanced Excel
Build and test a Copilot Studio agent for one internal process, and go further with Copilot in Excel.
For: Power users, analysts, Power Platform makers and the IT people who will govern what gets published.
Courses for specific roles
Who's behind this
Copilot Training NZ is run by thecolab.ai, the people who assist with New Zealand's Claude Community meetups. We help run the events and teach at them.
Adam Holt
Adam is a co-founder and the technical lead. He's New Zealand's first Claude Ambassador and has been building software for NZ businesses for nearly a decade: PO2Order, Rapido, PricePulse NZ. He writes the code, runs the demos and builds most of the material you'll learn from.
Simon Conroy
Si is a co-founder and the strategy lead. He has 20+ years in data and technology strategy, with senior roles at Air New Zealand, Spark, Flight Centre and Qrious, and he's run his own analytics agency, Decisive, since 2018. He's the one who asks how it fits your business, your data and your risk settings.
The community behind us has 1,000+ members, and there have been 2,000+ registrations at the Claude Community events we help run in Auckland and Wellington. We've also spoken at Connect Waikato.
What AI means for work in New Zealand
63.6% of employed New Zealanders, about 1,669,000 people, work in desk-based roles: the managers, professionals, admin and sales staff whose tasks AI assistants help with most.
That share ranges from 71.1% in Wellington to 54.2% in West Coast, and varies between towns. Regional and main-city hubs show sourced local figures and what they mean for Microsoft Copilot training.
An indicative measure of where AI assistance applies, not a forecast of job change.
Share of employed residents in desk-based roles, by region
| Region | Chart | Share | NZ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington | 71.1% | 63.6% | |
| Auckland | 67.0% | 63.6% | |
| Canterbury | 61.4% | 63.6% | |
| Bay of Plenty | 61.3% | 63.6% | |
| Waikato | 61.2% | 63.6% | |
| Nelson | 60.8% | 63.6% | |
| Northland | 60.4% | 63.6% | |
| Otago | 59.9% | 63.6% | |
| Taranaki | 59.4% | 63.6% | |
| Tasman | 59.3% | 63.6% | |
| Hawke's Bay | 58.7% | 63.6% | |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 58.5% | 63.6% | |
| Gisborne | 56.7% | 63.6% | |
| Marlborough | 56.0% | 63.6% | |
| Southland | 55.6% | 63.6% | |
| West Coast | 54.2% | 63.6% |
Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast.
Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).
New Zealand’s 2,622,534 employed people, by occupation group.
| Occupation group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Managers | 479,514 | 18.3% |
| Professionals | 703,356 | 26.8% |
| Technicians and trades workers | 327,714 | 12.5% |
| Community and personal service workers | 236,406 | 9.0% |
| Clerical and administrative workers | 282,462 | 10.8% |
| Sales workers | 203,433 | 7.8% |
| Machinery operators and drivers | 154,053 | 5.9% |
| Labourers | 235,596 | 9.0% |
| Desk-based (bold rows) | 1,668,765 | 63.6% |
Examples from your industry
Examples for each sector, its privacy and compliance requirements, and where its jobs are in New Zealand.
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Professional services, finance and property
19% of NZ employees
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Government and public services
6.4% of NZ employees
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Farming, horticulture and forestry
4.8% of NZ employees
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Manufacturing and food processing
9.4% of NZ employees
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Construction and trades
9.0% of NZ employees
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Retail and wholesale
14% of NZ employees
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Tourism and hospitality
9.2% of NZ employees
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Transport and logistics
4.2% of NZ employees
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Health and social services
12% of NZ employees
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Education and training
8.5% of NZ employees
How we train
In the apps your staff use
Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with your own files and meetings as the exercises.
Licences sized to the work
We help you pick the pilot group and the roles that benefit, before you pay for everyone.
Sources for every figure
Every figure here comes from Stats NZ or a cited source. We show the method and the source. We do not use borrowed logos.
Which plan? Start with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which many Microsoft 365 business users already have, then buy Microsoft 365 Copilot licences for a pilot group once permissions are tidy.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
- Available to many Microsoft 365 business users at no extra licence cost. Web-grounded chat and pay-as-you-go agents: a good place to start training.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot licence
- An add-on for broader work-data grounding and additional capabilities. Confirm your current account label and the apps needed for the workshop with your administrator.
- Copilot Studio
- For building your own agents over company data and processes. Licensed and metered separately.
- Readiness first
- Copilot respects existing permissions, so overshared SharePoint sites and Teams become searchable. Fix that before a wide rollout.
Training is delivered by practitioners from thecolab.ai, New Zealand’s community of people building with AI. thecolab.ai also runs Claude training and ChatGPT training.
Common questions
Are you a Microsoft partner?
No. This is independent training from practitioners in the thecolab.ai community. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Microsoft.
How much does team training cost?
Team training is from $4,000 + GST for up to 10 people, then $200 + GST for each extra person. Public workshops are from $399 + GST per person. Schedule coming soon. Send an enquiry and we reply by email with a suggested course and format.
Do we need Microsoft 365 Copilot licences for training?
Not for everything. Many Microsoft 365 business users can use Copilot Chat without an extra licence, and it is a good way to start. Outlook can be included without the add-on; access to other apps depends on your account label and administrator settings. Not sure which licence? We check before training.
Will Copilot show staff documents they should not see?
Copilot only shows content a user already has permission to open. If your SharePoint or Teams sites are overshared, it will surface those documents. Fixing that is part of the rollout course.
Do you cover GitHub Copilot?
This site covers Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio. Ask us if you need developer tooling as well.
Train your team
- ScopeHeadcount, sites, Microsoft 365 plan and licences, and the teams you want to start with.
- PlanWe propose a course, a pilot group and a format, and agree the files and meetings to use.
- TrainOn-site or over Teams, in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams, with your own work.
- In person
- Remote
- Half-day workshop
- Full-day workshop
- Team rollout
Independent training by thecolab.ai. Not affiliated with Microsoft.
Enquire
Tell us about your team. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.