Microsoft Copilot training for New Zealand teams
Copilot pays off in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel. Hands-on training for your staff, on-site anywhere in New Zealand or over Teams.
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% |
- Courses
- 3introductory, organisation, advanced
- 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
- Local briefs
- 278201 towns, 61 districts, 16 regions
Independent training by TheColab. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Microsoft.
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 much further between towns. Every region, district and town page on this site shows its own figures, with 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).
3 courses, one path
From a first hands-on session to a team rollout and advanced work. Every course uses your own tasks and documents.
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1Introductory
Microsoft 365 Copilot foundations
Hands-on Copilot across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, using your own everyday tasks.
For: Everyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, or Copilot Chat, who wants to use it well.
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2Organisation
Copilot rollout and readiness
Plan a Copilot rollout that pays for its licences: permissions hygiene, sensitivity labels, pilot groups, champions and adoption measurement.
For: IT leads, Microsoft 365 administrators, operations and people leaders.
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3Advanced
Copilot Studio agents and advanced Excel
Build agents in Copilot Studio over your own content and processes, automate the actions with Power Automate, and get more from Copilot in Excel.
For: Power users, business analysts, Power Platform makers and IT.
Examples from your industry
Use cases for each sector, with the privacy and compliance points that matter there, and where in New Zealand the jobs are.
-
Professional services, finance and property
19% of NZ employees
-
Government and public services
6.4% of NZ employees
-
Farming, horticulture and forestry
4.8% of NZ employees
-
Manufacturing and food processing
9.4% of NZ employees
-
Construction and trades
9.0% of NZ employees
-
Retail and wholesale
14% of NZ employees
-
Tourism and hospitality
9.2% of NZ employees
-
Transport and logistics
4.2% of NZ employees
-
Health and social services
12% of NZ employees
-
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.
Evidence, not claims
Every figure here comes from Stats NZ or a cited source. We show the method and the source, not borrowed logos.
Which plan? Start with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which many Microsoft 365 business users already have, then license Microsoft 365 Copilot 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 licence that brings Copilot into Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, grounded in your emails, files and meetings.
- 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, New Zealand’s community of people building with AI. TheColab also runs Claude training and ChatGPT training.
Common questions
Are you a Microsoft partner?
No. This is independent training from practitioners in TheColab community. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Microsoft.
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. The in-app features in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel need the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.
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. Not affiliated with Microsoft.
Enquire
Tell us about your team. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.