NIRAS is a value-driven, multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy fundamentally committed to sustainable progress and service delivery. The Copenhagen-headquartered business has more than 3,000 employees located in 61 offices around the world. Together, they have successfully delivered over 7,000 projects.
Can artificial intelligence ameliorate the talent shortage?
“One of our main challenges,” admits Claus Birkholm, CIO and VP at NIRAS, “is there is a scarcity of engineering talents.”
As a result, the organisation is always on the lookout for ways in which to improve productivity. It sees artificial intelligence (AI) as a big opportunity to gain competitive advantage. This is why the NIRAS team are excited about the potential of Microsoft Copilot.
“We believe if you teach your users and your employees how to utilise AI, it will give you a competitive edge,” states Maria Møller Emanuelsen, IT Change Director at NIRAS. “In our line of work, it has huge potential for a massive improvement to all areas of work.”
It’s a joy being in a firm like NIRAS where they embrace new technology. Copilot makes many tasks easier.
– Andreas Dam-Amby, IT Project Manager, NIRAS
A structured and collaborative approach to rolling out new tech
Recognising the potential impact that Copilot for Microsoft 365 could have on the business operations, Maria Møller Emanuelsen was determined to get the rollout right.
She explains, “You only get one chance to launch a new system. Our early forays into using Microsoft Copilot have convinced us that it is a very personal app to use. What makes sense for one person doesn’t necessarily make sense for another.”
“When introducing Copilot, I think it is really important to focus on the front runners,” agrees Claus Birkholm. “You need to take those who are ready to push their boundaries and then let them do like ripples in the water and get it out to all their colleagues.”
The initial deployment included 200 early users who were all trained in prompt engineering and encouraged to share their learning. The group is very engaged and regularly shares ideas and discusses the new and best ways to use Copilot.
Copilot has saved me a lot of time – it could be up to hours daily.
– Simon Skaar Karlsov, Project Manager, NIRAS
Inspiring colleagues to work in new ways
“It’s a joy being in a firm like NIRAS where they embrace new technology,” says Andreas Dam-Amby, IT Project Manager at NIRAS. “Copilot makes many tasks easier.”
Different colleagues are using Copilot for Microsoft 365 in different ways. For engineer Mikkel Astrup Jensen, Copilot helps to boost his confidence when communicating in English. He says, “I communicate with a lot of English-speaking investors, so I want to sound professional in English as a non-native speaker. Copilot is really helpful; it sounds natural but in a professional way.”
Other team members are using Copilot to complete mundane tasks, freeing them up to spend more time on the rewarding and interesting work they enjoy.
“The exciting part is coming up with solutions. The boring part is actually describing the solution,” says Simon Skaar Karlsov, Project Manager at NIRAS. “Copilot helps me with the description, and I get to just come up with the creative ideas, right? So it has saved me a lot of time – it could be up to hours daily.”
When you start using Microsoft Copilot, it’s really important that you push your own boundaries.
– Claus Birkholm, CIO & VP, NIRAS
Sharing learning to accelerate benefits
The NIRAS team are excited by the results and keen to use Copilot to drive further improvements. The team say curiosity and a willingness to think creatively about how you might use Copilot to support your own ways of working are key to maximising the success of your rollout. As Copilot use continues to accelerate, NIRAS expects productivity and other benefits to accelerate too.
“When you start using Microsoft Copilot, it’s really important that you push your own boundaries,” concludes Claus Birkholm. “You need to be interested. You need to be persistent. You also need to maybe do things in a different way than you used to. Then you will see the benefits.”