Will Holland is the Principal of Strategy and Marketing (PoSM) at ThreeWill, where he champions our core values by shaping and sharing how ThreeWill helps employees thrive. Using his love for storytelling, Will leverages his unique ability to balance technical depth and strategic vision, bridging the gap between developers and business leaders through clear, creative communication. Outside of work, Will can usually be found at the nearest soccer pitch, either cheering for his kids or for Atlanta United.
As 2025 approaches, it’s the perfect time to pause, reflect, and prepare for the year ahead. For organizations leveraging Microsoft 365, the intersection of generative AI, evolving workforce expectations, and a rapidly shifting technological landscape offers both opportunities and challenges. Whether you’re a Microsoft MSP, a business leader, or an employee, embracing this moment to refresh and recharge can set the foundation for long-term success. Here’s your 2025 Guide to thriving with AI and Microsoft 365.
Microsoft MSPs
Expand Value Through Strategic Partnerships
Our first tip in our 2025 Guide to AI is for MSPs, where the only thing they really want for Christmas is to be seen as something other than a least-cost provider of a commoditized service. Trying to avoid coming in last in the race to the bottom, MSPs desperately need to stand out from their competitors on something besides price; they need a way to add immediate value to their clients without increasing their own internal costs.
What to Do:
Look for ways to expand the value you provide to clients through strategic partnerships with organizations like ThreeWill, which specialize in AI and Microsoft 365 solutions. Partnering with specialists can help you offer more comprehensive solutions to your clients without incurring additional overhead. In some cases, partners may offer financial incentives to your MSP organization, adding additional “icing on the cake.”
Why It Matters:
Clients are seeking partners who can deliver both immediate solutions and long-term strategic value. Expanding your offerings or forming partnerships allows you to address their challenges more effectively, fostering stronger relationships and driving business growth.
Business Leaders
Empower Your People for the AI-Driven Workplace
For business leaders, staying competitive means preparing employees for an AI-enhanced environment. However, it’s going to take more than showing people how to type in a CoPilot prompt. Upskilling initiatives focused on creativity, personal productivity, and emotional intelligence will ensure that employees are equipped and excited to thrive alongside emerging technologies.
What to Do:
Use tools like Viva Learning within Microsoft 365 to deliver targeted training programs. Centralize resources in SharePoint for easy access and use Microsoft Teams to foster collaboration in hybrid work settings.
Show employees how these tools can improve their daily lives by giving them small boosts—responding faster, writing smarter, and getting back to what they really care about doing. Create a sense of community by showcasing the most fun and creative uses of the tool. Emphasize the value of skills that AI cannot replicate, such as leadership, problem-solving, and interpersonal communication.
Why It Matters:
Organizations that invest in their workforce will not only boost productivity but also foster employee satisfaction and retention. These efforts reduce turnover in a competitive talent market and position the organization as a leader in innovation and employee engagement. Organizations that drive the best adoption will, in turn, see the greatest returns. Once people begin to relate AI to their everyday life, the higher and more engaging adoption becomes.
Employees:
Embrace a Growth Mindset
For employees, 2025 will be about adaptability and continuous learning. The integration of AI in daily work means developing new skills and exploring innovative ways to enhance productivity and collaboration. It may also mean letting go of doing tasks you know are necessary but time-consuming—even if they make up the majority of your time. Especially then, for two reasons: one logical, one emotional. I’ll address the former now and save the second for “Why It Matters.”
As business leaders begin to fully understand the scope of what this technology can do, expectations for productivity will naturally inflate. The first time your boss recognizes they can create a PowerPoint presentation in five minutes, they’ll eventually come to expect the same from employees. Sure, they might realize that their five-minute presentation barely makes sense and looks just like the other 15 presentations they created, but they’ll still expect it “by EOD” before too long. When that day comes, you need to be ready—or someone else will be.
What to Do:
Do not be the person who thinks AI can’t help you or won’t affect you. It can and will. Your job is to figure out how and then leverage that knowledge.
Experiment with tools like Microsoft CoPilot to automate meeting follow-ups, analyze data, or draft proposals—saving time and reducing repetitive tasks. Explore training programs within your organization to deepen skills that can’t be automated, such as creative problem-solving and collaboration.
If your organization doesn’t offer such programs, there are several online communities you can freely join. Many of us here at ThreeWill participate in Microsoft’s “Patterns and Practices” (PnP) community, which includes great examples and use cases for generative AI tools like CoPilot.
Why It Matters:
A growth mindset enables you to remain agile and indispensable in a workplace that’s constantly evolving. Those who adapt quickly will find themselves better positioned for advancement and will help drive innovation within their teams.
Staying ahead of the curve will come with professional benefits. However, on that emotional note I promised earlier: this technology has the potential to change the lives of millions of employees. When we are born, we are only allocated so many heartbeats, and we never know how many we have left. I’ve always felt like work was, in a way, me trading my heartbeats for something I needed in exchange. This technology has the potential to free us from that antiquated value proposition.
It’s an opportunity to break free and embrace our own greatness. That’s why it matters, at least for me.
Looking Ahead
2025 is more than just a new year—it’s a new opportunity to align with the future of work. For Microsoft MSPs, business leaders, and employees, this means taking deliberate steps to leverage AI, invest in skills, and foster collaboration. By preparing today, you can confidently navigate tomorrow’s challenges and seize its opportunities.
Looking for help getting started. We would love to be your 2025 Guide to AI
