The chances are, if you work in IT or digital workplace enablement, you’ve probably been asked:
“How can we build a Copilot agent? What types exist? What should we use it for?”
We get it — those are exactly the questions we faced when we built our own HR Agent. Along the way, we learned some important truths that mirror what we’re hearing across the community.
Most people don’t actually know these experiences even exist. When they hear Copilot, they tend to think ChatGPT inside Teams, maybe secured by their organization’s data – and that’s it. But the real power of Microsoft 365 Copilot goes much deeper. From SharePoint’s “Create a page with AI” to site-level and custom agents, there’s an entire ecosystem of tools that most teams haven’t even touched yet.
That’s why education and clear implementation templates are so critical. It’s not enough to show someone a “Create with AI” button – you need to help them understand how to use it successfully, which sources to include, and how to build on what they’ve already created. We found that leveraging existing content – meeting notes, PDFs, Word docs, and PowerPoints – as input produced far better first drafts and agent results than starting from scratch.
Microsoft recently announced that over 230,000 organizations – including 90 % of the Fortune 500 – have already used Copilot Studio to build custom agents and automations. In just a single quarter, more than one million agents were created across SharePoint and Copilot Studio (Microsoft Build 2025; CX Today).
That surge shows how fast this space is evolving. But for in-house IT professionals, the real question isn’t if you should build a Copilot agent – it’s which level of agent is right for your goals, your governance model, and your team’s readiness. Let’s take a look…
Level 1: SharePoint Site Agents (Out of the Box)
At this level, you use what’s already built in. Every modern SharePoint site can host an AI agent that answers questions based on its own pages, libraries, and documents. The agent honours existing permissions, so there’s very little to configure.
It’s the easiest way to start – fast to deploy and great for internal knowledge hubs such as HR, IT help, or project sites.
Benefits
- Quick activation and minimal configuration
- Governance stays simple because it reuses your existing SharePoint permissions
- Perfect for quick wins or proof-of-concepts
Challenges we ran into
When we first tried this with our HR content, we discovered that “garbage in, garbage out” absolutely applies. Outdated PDFs and inconsistent pages caused wrong answers. Cleaning and organizing content took more time than the setup itself.
We also learned that discoverability matters – many users didn’t even know the site agent existed until we ran short training sessions. And while the agent is great for retrieval, it can’t trigger workflows or connect to external systems yet.
Level 2: Custom SharePoint Agents (Scoped & Curated)
Once your content foundation is solid, you can step up to creating custom SharePoint agents. These let you define exactly which folders, libraries, or hub sites your agent can access. You can brand it, limit its scope, and aim it at a single problem – for example, an onboarding or policy-lookup agent.
Why it’s worth the effort
A curated agent produces cleaner, more relevant answers and gives you clearer ownership. It’s still stored and governed within SharePoint, so you don’t need new infrastructure.
Challenges we faced
The hard part is curation and maintenance. Someone must decide what content is “in scope,” keep it updated, and audit it for drift. We learned the importance of designating an owner – in our HR Agent case, HR owned the content while IT managed the configuration.
Another subtle challenge was user perception. People thought it was “just another chatbot.” We had to communicate that it was their HR assistant built on our data, which built trust and adoption.
Level 3: Advanced Agents in Copilot Studio (Workflows & Integrations)
At level 3, the possibilities really open up. Using Copilot Studio, you can design agents that go beyond answering questions – they can perform actions, trigger workflows, call APIs, and connect multiple systems like HR, CRM, or ticketing. These agents can also run across Microsoft 365 surfaces such as Teams, Copilot Chat, and SharePoint.
Why it’s powerful
- Let’s you automate routine tasks, not just explain them
- Integrates data and tools across systems
- Provides a single conversational interface that scales enterprise-wide
What to watch out for
With great power comes complexity. You’ll need to think about connector security, rate limits, error handling, and governance. Agents that can “do” things can also “do” them wrong if permissions or logic are off.
We also saw that users quickly raise their expectations – once they know an agent can complete tasks, they’ll expect every request to work the same way. Setting boundaries and providing human escalation paths are key.
Microsoft has also warned about “agent sprawl,” compliance gaps, and emerging risks like prompt injection or “confused-deputy” attacks if retrieval logic isn’t sandboxed (Microsoft Inside Track; arXiv ConfusedPilot research).
How to Decide Which Level Fits You
If you’re just getting started, begin with Level 1. It’s the fastest way to test the waters and prove value without any heavy lift.
Once you’ve cleaned up your content and proven the concept, graduate to Level 2 for specific use cases like onboarding or HR policies. This is where scoped, curated agents shine – they’re still lightweight but far more focused.
When your organization starts asking for true automation or cross-system integration, that’s your signal to move up to Level 3 with Copilot Studio. At that point, you’re building not just conversational interfaces, but actual digital co-workers that can act.
Many IT teams follow this path naturally: start small, learn what works, and expand responsibly.
Lessons and Best Practices
From building our own HR Agent and helping clients do the same, here are our biggest takeaways:
- Content first, agent second. Even the best AI can’t fix messy information architecture.
- Iterate fast but govern well. Empower creators, but track ownership and approvals.
- Measure performance. Monitor unanswered questions, accuracy, and time saved.
- Provide human backup. Always give users a way to escalate beyond the agent.
- Communicate scope clearly. Set expectations on what your agent can and can’t do.
- Secure early. Review connector access, prompts, and external data exposure before rollout.
How Cloudwell Can Help
At Cloudwell, we’re living these Copilot Agent challenges ourselves – from cleaning up SharePoint content to wiring up Copilot Studio integrations – and we know how to turn lessons into repeatable success.
We can help you:
- Evaluate which agent level fits your current readiness
- Prepare and structure content for Copilot agents
- Build and govern scoped SharePoint agents
- Design advanced Copilot Studio workflows and connectors
- Measure, iterate, and expand safely
If you’re ready to move from experimentation to real business impact, let’s talk.
Work with Cloudwell’s team to pick your pilot, navigate the challenges, and deliver your first working Copilot agent with confidence.