Most estimates of what Copilot saves on presentations start with someone else’s number — a percentage from a study, a vendor’s claim, a colleague’s anecdote — and multiply it by your headcount. The result is precise-looking and almost entirely borrowed.
Forrester, whose Microsoft-commissioned study is the most-cited source of Copilot savings figures, advises the opposite: readers should “use their own estimates within the framework provided.” This post gives you a simple framework for presentations specifically, with the one term most estimates leave out.
We don’t supply the inputs. They’re yours to measure or estimate, because the answer depends on your organization, your people and your template. The worked example at the end uses invented round numbers purely to show the arithmetic.
The model in one line
Annual net saving = (hours saved per deck × decks per year × loaded hourly cost) − annual costs of running the system
Everything below is about estimating those terms honestly.
Step 1: Count the decks, by type
Not all presentations behave the same way under Copilot, so split them. At minimum:
| Deck type | Examples | Decks per year |
|---|---|---|
| Routine | Status updates, briefings, team meetings, internal proposals | ____ |
| Important internal | Leadership reviews, planning decks, cross-functional proposals | ____ |
| High-stakes external | Board, investor, major pitch, keynote | ____ |
How to estimate: sample a few teams for a month, or use the number of PowerPoint files created in a typical month if your IT team can report it. Don’t try to be perfect; be consistent.
Step 2: Time per deck today
For each type, estimate the hours a typical deck takes today, from start to “ready to use” — including any designer or agency time.
| Deck type | Hours per deck today |
|---|---|
| Routine | ____ |
| Important internal | ____ |
| High-stakes external | ____ |
How to estimate: ask a handful of frequent presenters and your design team. Ranges are fine; use the midpoint.
Step 3: Time per deck with Copilot — split into two parts
This is where most estimates go wrong. Time with Copilot has two components:
- Draft time: prompting, refining the outline, generating slides.
- Fix-up time: everything needed to make the generated deck usable — correcting structure, emphasis, layout, brand and density, and checking facts.
| Deck type | Draft hours | Fix-up hours | Total with Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routine | ____ | ____ | ____ |
| Important internal | ____ | ____ | ____ |
| High-stakes external | ____ | ____ | ____ |
Fix-up time is the term that makes or breaks the case, and it depends heavily on the template Copilot learns from. Microsoft’s guidance is that Copilot learns primarily from a template’s sample slides, and falls back to the Slide Master when there aren’t enough — “which may result in less optimal output.” A template with good examples, real placeholders and a theme-defined brand produces drafts that need less fixing. A template without them can push fix-up time close to the time saved on drafting.
How to estimate: run a pilot. Have a few people produce real decks with Copilot and record both components. If you can’t pilot yet, estimate fix-up time conservatively.
For high-stakes decks, be cautious. These are hard because of argument and stakes, not formatting. Copilot can speed up a first draft, but assume the judgment-heavy work remains.
Step 4: Hours saved per deck
For each type: hours today − total hours with Copilot. If the answer is negative or near zero for a type, that’s a finding in itself — usually about the template, or about deck types that shouldn’t be generated.
Step 5: Put a value on the hours
Use a loaded hourly cost — salary plus benefits and overhead — for the people who make each deck type. Your finance team will have a standard figure. If designers or an agency handle part of the work, include their cost for that part.
Be honest about what saved hours mean. They’re capacity, not cash, unless they reduce spending — agency fees, overtime, contractors — or are redirected to work with measurable value. A business case that treats every saved hour as cash will be challenged, rightly.
Step 6: Subtract the costs of running the system
Annual costs to include:
- Licenses attributable to presentation work, if they’re being justified by it. (Microsoft’s US list price for Microsoft 365 Copilot enterprise is $30.00 per user per month paid yearly, as of 22 September 2026, on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan.)
- Template work, amortized over its useful life.
- Written rules — note instructions and Brand Skills — and their testing.
- Review time not already in fix-up.
- Upkeep — a quarterly cycle of re-testing and updating.
Worked example (invented numbers)
To show the arithmetic only. These inputs are made up. They are not benchmarks, not measurements, and not a prediction for any organization.
Routine decks only:
- Decks per year: 1,000
- Hours per deck today: 4
- With Copilot: 1 hour drafting + 1.5 hours fix-up = 2.5 hours
- Hours saved per deck: 1.5
- Loaded hourly cost: $60
Gross value: 1,000 × 1.5 × $60 = $90,000 of capacity per year.
Now change one input. Suppose the template teaches Copilot poorly and fix-up rises to 2.5 hours. Total with Copilot becomes 3.5 hours; hours saved per deck falls to 0.5; gross value falls to $30,000. Same licenses, same people, a third of the value — because of fix-up time.
That sensitivity is the point of the model. Fix-up time is one of its most sensitive inputs, and the template Copilot learns from is one of the main things that drives it.
Keep it honest
- Measure, then re-measure. Record a baseline before rollout and repeat the measurement after. Replace estimates with data as it arrives.
- Show ranges. Give low, middle and high cases rather than a single number.
- Separate capacity from cash. Say which savings reduce spending and which free time.
- Cite external studies with their conditions. They can frame expectations; they can’t replace your inputs.
Key takeaways
- Use your own inputs in a simple framework, as Forrester itself advises.
- Split decks by type; routine decks and high-stakes decks behave very differently.
- Split time with Copilot into draft time and fix-up time — fix-up is where estimates fail.
- Value saved hours honestly as capacity unless they reduce spending.
- Fix-up time is one of the most sensitive inputs, and the template is one of the main things that drives it.
Want a realistic read on your fix-up time? Have your template scored.**
Related reading
- What Copilot for PowerPoint costs in 2026
- Spending less on routine decks without cheapening the ones that matter
- What drives the cost of a Copilot-ready template
Sources
- Forrester Consulting, The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft 365 Copilot (March 2025), commissioned by Microsoft
- Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Copilot — enterprise (list price checked 22 Sep 2026)
- Microsoft Support, Keep your presentation on-brand with Copilot (July 2026)