When global engineering and professional services firm WSP set out to be a catalyst for modernization, it deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot on a global scale. It shares its experience using Copilot to empower tens of thousands of engineers and scientists in this customer story. Read the story to discover how Copilot helps the firm maximize productivity and prepare to accelerate product validation cycles.
What is WSP’s partnership with Microsoft 365 Copilot about?
WSP has entered a seven‑year, $1 billion strategic partnership with Microsoft to help modernize the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry and to give its people better tools for day‑to‑day work.
A key part of this partnership is expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot across WSP’s global workforce of about 75,000 professionals in more than 50 countries. Tens of thousands of engineers and scientists now use Copilot to:
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Improve grammar and clarity in emails and documents
- Find information and answers quickly
- Support multi‑language communication and translation
- Assist with coding (including PowerShell, T‑SQL, Kusto, and Excel formulas)
By embedding Copilot and Copilot Studio into everyday workflows, WSP is rethinking how work gets done so that engineers and scientists can spend more time on innovation, collaboration, and client impact, and less time on routine tasks.
How is Copilot impacting productivity and project delivery at WSP?
WSP is already seeing clear productivity gains from Microsoft 365 Copilot. In regular internal surveys, 84% of Copilot users report that they save time every day. That time is being reinvested into higher‑value work such as client collaboration, training, and upskilling.
Beyond internal efficiency, Copilot is starting to reshape project delivery. In a recent transportation project in South America, WSP piloted an AI‑supported approach for the final validation phase of a large infrastructure program (such as metro lines or urban transit systems). The analysis showed that, if fully applied, the team could have completed final validation in roughly 10–15% of the usual cycle time. These validation phases typically take weeks, months, or even quarters, so this represents a significant potential acceleration.
Faster validation means:
- Infrastructure can open sooner, bringing benefits to communities earlier
- Teams can maintain strict quality and compliance standards while moving more quickly
- Engineers and scientists can focus more on complex problem‑solving instead of manual checks
WSP is now looking at how to scale these kinds of time savings to other projects and sectors while keeping quality management non‑negotiable.
How does WSP ensure AI and Copilot are used responsibly?
WSP treats AI as a powerful tool that must be used with clear accountability. The company talks about keeping “tech in the middle,” meaning AI supports the work, but engineers and scientists remain responsible for what goes into models and what comes out of them.
WSP has built an AI framework that aims to align with the EU AI Act and is based on four non‑negotiable principles:
1. Innovation‑friendly
- Enable teams to move quickly, experiment safely, and learn from real‑world use.
- Start with small, focused initiatives that make daily work easier.
2. Proportional
- Scale risk management with the potential impact of each project.
- Apply more rigorous controls where the consequences are higher.
3. Transparent
- Be open with clients and communities about how AI is used and where it adds value.
- Maintain clarity on AI’s role in analysis, recommendations, and decision support.
4. Human‑centric
- Keep health, safety, and human rights at the center of every AI decision.
- Ensure people, not systems, remain accountable for outcomes.
In practice, this means WSP:
- Encourages experimentation but is ready to pause initiatives that don’t add clear value.
- Focuses investment on AI projects that create measurable outcomes for clients and communities.
- Uses AI to augment institutional knowledge—for example, testing AI tools with about 300 engineers and scientists so that junior staff can access expert insights on demand.
This balanced approach—combining agility with accountability—helps WSP use Copilot and other AI tools to reimagine work while staying grounded in safety, ethics, and long‑term sustainability.