Swedish Höglandsförbundet

Swedish Höglandsförbundet, or Höglandets IT, is an association of five Småland municipalities of Aneby, Eksjö, Nässjö, Sävsjö, and Vetlanda that have pooled their IT resources and environments together. Since 2010, the cooperation has aimed to provide the municipalities’ residents with cutting-edge digital services.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a generative AI tool designed to make work faster and more efficient within the Microsoft environment, such as the Office suite, files, and Teams. Thus, it sparked interest among the employees of Höglandets IT’s five municipalities from the outset. Amidst rising enthusiasm for AI, Höglandets IT wanted to reap its benefits securely.

Overwhelming AI demand

Earlier, Höglandets IT had had a few Microsoft Copilot test groups keen to try AI. However, the IT department had no straightforward way of managing the Copilot licences, user support requests, or the creation of AI agents.

“In the beginning, it felt like a wave of employees eager to try these new ‘magic tools’. From our side, we didn’t know how to manage all the requests or how to deliver the service to our users,” says Mikael Lindén, Unit Director for Höglandets IT.

At the beginning of 2025, the IT department noticed that the number of Copilot licences was rising exponentially. The AI boom was soon evident, and as usage increased, so did complexity and maintenance issues.

“From the few pilot groups at the start, the number of licenses exploded – from just a handful to around 250 in a couple of months. We struggled to scale the project safely and controlledly,” Lindén describes.

Höglandets IT wanted to enable generative AI for the municipalities’ employees while also better managing it. By Microsoft’s recommendation, Höglandets IT turned to a Finnish company, Sulava, which was awarded one of the AI and training experts globally in Microsoft’s 2024 Partner of the Year competition.

Structured delivery and governance

Sulava recommended Höglandet’s IT the Copilot Adoption Service, which identifies the best use cases, encourages people to share them internally and improves everyday work with Copilot. Sulava delivered the project within a 16-week cycle and incorporated its comprehensive AI expertise in security, governance, ethics, and legalities.

“The service and support Sulava offered was outstanding. We had a direct “hotline” and weekly planning meetings, and whenever a new question or an issue was presented, Sulava adjusted the next workshop to solve that need,” Lindén tells.

Sulava complemented the planning cycle with a robust AI skills training schedule for employees, covering topics such as prompting, using Copilot in various Microsoft apps, and sharing useful use cases.

“As word spread, more people wanted to join, and Sulava’s instructors did a great job addressing both the basic and more advanced questions. The adoption was not only about technical Copilot training, but also about fostering a culture where employees felt safe to try new ways of working,” Lindén points out.

Building readiness for Copilot Agents

A crucial part of the project was also creating the Power Platform’s governance model. It refers to the combination of structures, rules, and practices that a company employs to manage its platform, including Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio.

“Before, we had no control over what our employees could do on the platform, so they started creating different agents everywhere, and memory was running out. With Sulava’s help, we were able to create a governance model, train our developers, and ensure the system’s security and sustainability,” Lindén says.

High adoption – measurable ROI

Lindén enthuses that, according to Microsoft, the project was the second-largest user of Copilot in Sweden at one point. Over 270 staff members were licensed, trained, and supported to use the AI tool from February to May 2025.

As reported by a project feedback study, the project was a resounding success: 95 % of people with a Copilot licence used the solution daily, and 92 % of users plan to continue using it in the future. At least half of the users felt that Copilot had improved their employee experience.

The study showed that the employees felt that Copilot brought the most value in finding information and creating content. People also used it, for example, to summarise information, transcribe meetings, brainstorm ideas, and enhance written communication.

“Thanks to Copilot, our employees saved on average 30-50 minutes of working time per week, which I think is a fabulous ROI for a pilot project. Some of them even said this was the best initiative Höglands IT had done in years,” Lindén says proudly and continues:

“It was really motivating for our employees that Sulava’s experienced Copilot experts were supporting us. Everyone we worked with was highly professional, and they always went the extra mile to help us. We are truly very satisfied with the work they have done.”

Next, Höglandet’s IT will look into expanding the pilot and licences to a broader group of employees as interest in AI continues to thrive. The Copilot pilot proved one thing clear: every employee can benefit from AI – and the potential for the future is only growing.

Author: Mirka Kurkela
Published in September 2025