If your ABA or behavioral-health practice already runs on Microsoft 365 – Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive – Microsoft 365 Copilot is often the lowest-friction way to start with AI. Not because its underlying model is universally “better,” but because it works inside the tools, identity and permissions your team already uses. Here’s where it helps, app by app – and the one setup step that comes first.
Why Copilot is often the natural first step
Copilot runs inside your existing Microsoft environment, so there’s no new app to roll out and no separate login to manage. It draws on the content your team can already reach and follows the permissions you already have. That makes it a practical first step for a practice that lives in Microsoft 365 – and, as we’ll see, the fact that it follows your existing access is also the thing to get right before staff use it broadly.
Where it helps, app by app
- Outlook – an excellent first use: drafting replies, catching up on long email threads, and clearing the inbox faster.
- Teams – a standout for meeting recaps, action items, and catching up on channels or calls you missed.
- Word – everyday drafting: policies, letters, job descriptions, and first drafts of almost any document.
- Excel – strong for explaining formulas, summarizing data and spotting trends; for complex financial models, it’s worth benchmarking against a tool like Claude.
- PowerPoint – useful for turning existing Word or SharePoint content into a first-draft deck.
- SharePoint – one of Copilot’s biggest differentiators: it can find and synthesize across the documents your team already has, using your existing permissions.
- OneDrive – a natural fit for finding, summarizing and comparing your own files.
The one thing to set up first
Because Copilot works within the access your team already has, an over-shared folder, mailbox or SharePoint site becomes easier to surface, not harder. So before staff use it broadly, review who can reach what and clean up obvious oversharing. Where client information is involved, the right business or enterprise plan and a Business Associate Agreement matter too – but a BAA is a starting point, not the finish line. Setting Copilot up the HIPAA-minded way is the same discipline we bring to ABA IT every day.
Copilot, ChatGPT, or Claude?
For a practice already on Microsoft 365, Copilot is usually the place to start – but ChatGPT and Claude each earn a place for specific work, from flexible drafting and research to long-document writing. We walk through the trade-offs, and the HIPAA-minded setup, in our full comparison below.