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How to add AI to Excel on a company account?
Short answer
To use AI directly in Excel, check Copilot access on the account you work on. The administrator confirms the licence and the organisation's settings, and the employee runs the first trial on a copy of the file. A missing button usually comes from the app version, the licence, the network or privacy settings. A Microsoft 365 Copilot licence at $30 pays back if an employee saves 0.8 hours a month.
- net for implementation for a team of up to 10 people, paid once
- from €1,150
- from start to work of the entire team
- 2 weeks
- after this time, we measure the effect on the same tasks
- 30 days
- conversation with an engineer and a written plan within 2 business days
- €0
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
AI in office work: statistics 2026
0.8 h
a month is all an employee needs to save for a $30 Microsoft 365 Copilot licence to pay back, at €34.90 an hour. Scenario.
32.7%
According to Eurostat (2025), 32.7% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU used generative AI tools in the previous 3 months.
15.1%
According to Eurostat (2025), 15.1% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU used generative AI tools for work.
40%
According to a study published in Science (2023), ChatGPT cut the time 453 professionals spent on writing tasks by 40%.
Source: Noy and Zhang, Science (2023) ↗
48%
According to the European Commission (2026), 48% of EU SMEs and mid-caps name a lack of expertise as a barrier to AI.
Source: European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer on AI (2026) ↗
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
Check the account before you buy an add-on
Microsoft lists several kinds of eligible subscriptions, including some business accounts with access to Copilot Chat (get started with Copilot in Excel). Do not assume that every account has Copilot in Excel.
- The name of the account you work on
- The platform and version of Excel, for example Windows or the browser
- An exact description of what is missing: „on my company account in Excel for Windows I cannot see the Copilot button”
- The file format and where the file is saved
If you compare Copilot with another vendor's add-in, settle separately who receives the workbook's contents and who manages access. An add-in that appears in the Excel interface does not mean its vendor processes data on Microsoft's terms.
Open Copilot and check the mode
You open Copilot with the icon in the bottom right corner of Excel. Microsoft describes chat, planning and edit modes. Edit mode can change the workbook directly, so run the first trial on a copy of the file with no confidential information. If you only want to understand a formula, you do not need a mode that changes the report.
A missing button can come from the app version, the licence, the network or privacy settings (frequently asked questions).
The first trial: a total with a missing quantity
Create three lines of a packaging list. Two have complete data: 4 cartons of 25 pieces and 2 cartons of 80 pieces. The third has 30 pieces per carton, but no number of cartons.
| Check | What to look at |
|---|---|
| Numbers | Does 4 × 25 + 2 × 80 give 260? |
| Missing data | Is the third line flagged as incomplete? |
| Formulas | Can you see the calculation and change the inputs? |
| Scope of changes | Did the other sheets and cells stay unchanged? |
Then enter the missing quantity: 3 cartons. The total should come to 350 pieces. Check whether the result recalculates, or whether the number typed in the previous answer stayed.
After the trial, write down how long checking the result took. If checking takes longer than doing the count yourself, the task is not ready for Copilot yet, or the instruction needs work.
When the licence pays back
- Licences
- 10 × $30 = $300 (€268) a month
- An hour of work
- €34.90
- Break-even for the team
- 7.7 h a month
Per person
0.8 h a month
Price from Microsoft's US price list of 15 October 2026, on an annual subscription, before tax, at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat.
The full budget also covers the base Microsoft 365 plan and its terms, so check both before you buy seats for a whole team.
Training, Copilot or automation
Copilot is there, but the team does not know how to check the result
training on the team's own spreadsheets
from €1,150
The company does not have Copilot yet
a Copilot rollout with settings and training
from €1,150
Collecting files and delivering a report every day
Excel automation
from €3,000
Analysing a file outside the workbook
ChatGPT on an uploaded file
from $20 per person
With campaign files, first check how the import reads dates and amounts. The Excel automation for marketing page shows an example of a date that fits two different months. For analysis outside the workbook, see ChatGPT for Excel analysis. Tools for different Excel tasks are compared in how to choose AI for Excel.
„I already use AI.”
Your people too. Just no rules.
From our conversations with companies
5 na 10 employees paste sensitive data into private AI accounts: contracts, invoices, customer data.
In ESET survey (2026)
1 na 10 admits this in the survey.
Customer data pasted into a private AI account without an data processing agreement is a violation of the GDPR.
Don't worry, we won't tell anyone :)
What do we see in companies that "already use"
- Only ChatGPT or Claude accounts, without plugins, skills, integrations and MCP servers with company tools.
- Company programs are not connected to AI. People still click through systems and Excel, and enter chat data manually.
- Lack of company standards: everyone writes instructions in their own way, no one shares what works.
- No rules for personal data, GDPR and company secrets.
- No limits and no visibility: no one knows who uses AI, how much and for what.
62% Polish employees use AI at work · 27% companies have written rules for working with AI.
Source: ESET and DAGMA, Cyberportrait of Polish business 2026 (March 2026, 1,026 people) ↗
ChatGPT or Claude space review
Accounts, permissions, rules for working with data and 5 tasks set for the team. 1 day.
€450 net
Company accounts, rules of working with data and team training in 2 weeks, from €1,150 net.View implementation for the team →
„Is my data safe?”
Yes. You choose where they go: from your company account to the model on your server.
00Employee's private account
Customer and company data ends up in an account that the company cannot see or control. There is no data processing agreement, so it is a violation of the GDPR. When an employee leaves, the chat history goes with them.
01ChatGPT or Claude corporate account
The provider does not use your data to train models. A copy of the queries remains in his logs for up to 30 days.
02API with zero retention (ZDR)
The provider processes the request and does not save anything. It requires his consent, we prepare the application together.
03Processing in the EU
Queries are counted and stored in Europe: OpenAI in the EU region, Claude via clouds with the EU region.
04Model at your place
The open model runs on your server or in your cloud in the EU. The data does not go outside the company.
What we do with every implementation
- Confidentiality agreement and data processing agreement before we receive any data.
- You choose the cases for the prototype and we anonymize them upon request.
- The data stays in the EU and we delete it after the test.
- Corporate accounts with an administrator on your side.
When data cannot leave the company
The open model runs on your server or in your cloud in the EU. To choose from:
- White-tailed eagle
- Polish model, SpeakLeash and ACK Cyfronet AGH
- PLLUM
- Polish model, HIVE consortium commissioned by the Ministry of Digitization
- Qwen
- Alibaba
- GLM
- Zhipu AI
- DeepSeek
- DeepSeek
We select a model for the task and check it on your cases. We run it, tune it and maintain it.
Source: Bielik and PLLuM, ACK Cyfronet AGH ↗ · PLLuM, Ministry of Digitization ↗
Do you have a lot of your own data? We will fine-tune the small model.
- 1 Your examples
- 2 tuning
- 3 test on new cases
- 4 model at your place
When you have thousands of similar emails, documents or reports, we teach a small open model based on your examples. It works for you, responds quickly and costs less to maintain than a large model. We measure quality on issues that the model has not seen while learning.
Przemysław and Piotr did it in large programming and consulting companies. Artem did it before and does it today at Syntalith. It's about models on your own infrastructure, tuning and quality measurement.
You choose the protection level during the interview. We sign the data processing agreement before we see any data.Schedule a free analysis →
Price
Three packages. You know the price right away.
Team of up to 10 people
from €1,150
net, paid once · 2 weeks
Company, from 11 to 40 people
from €2,300
net, paid once · 3–4 weeks
Organization, over 40 people
from €4,600
net, paid once · 6–8 weeks
- The same packages once you have licenses. To start, an inspection of the space in 1 day is enough: €450 net.
- You buy ChatGPT Business licenses directly from OpenAI, without our margin: USD 20 per person per month for an annual payment or USD 25 for a monthly payment for 2 people.
From conversation to measurement
01 · 30 min
Free process review€0
An engineer picks 3 to 5 of your team's tasks with you. Written plan within 2 working days.
02 · 2 weeks
Rolloutfrom €1,150
Accounts and roles, rules for working with data, training on your team's tasks. You buy licences directly from the provider.
03 · after 30 days
Measurementincluded
We compare task times before and after. We name in writing the tasks worth handing to a system.
or call+48 888 78 48 78WhatsAppMon–Fri 9:00–17:00 CET
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: reports in Excel
We run the same count for your spreadsheets in the free process review.
€1,815
a month for 12 h a week of report preparation
Payback: 1.9 mo.
The hours for each firm size and checking in 15% of the old time are our assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. We measured the model cost in our report system: a commentary with a check of the figures costs about €0.0002, converted at the NBP rate of 21 October 2026 and the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
See the full calculation →Questions
How do I turn on Copilot in Excel?
The administrator confirms that the account has an eligible licence and that the organisation's settings allow Copilot. The employee opens Copilot with the icon in the bottom right corner of Excel and checks the work mode.
Why can't I see the Copilot button in Excel?
Microsoft names several causes: the app version, the licence, the network or privacy settings. If you see a message about an unsupported file state, also check the file format and where the file is saved.
How much does Copilot in Excel cost?
According to Microsoft's US price list, Microsoft 365 Copilot costs $30 per user a month on an annual subscription. Some business accounts have access to Copilot Chat at no extra charge.
Copilot in Excel or ChatGPT?
Copilot works directly in the workbook and can change it in edit mode. ChatGPT analyses an uploaded file and prepares a result for review. The choice depends on whether the work has to stay in the workbook.
