After I wrote about the new pricing for SharePoint agents, many of you asked the next logical question: “OK, but where do we start?” This is the checklist I use with customers before we switch on the first agent.
1️⃣ Fix oversharing first
An agent answers from the content its user can already access. If a site is shared with “Everyone except external users” by mistake, the agent will happily use that content. Review permissions on the sites you plan to use before you build anything.
2️⃣ Choose content people actually ask about
The best first agents sit on content that generates repetitive questions: HR policies, IT how-tos, travel and expense rules, onboarding guides. If the helpdesk answers the same question every week, that is your candidate.
3️⃣ Clean up before you connect
- Remove outdated versions and duplicates.
- Make sure documents have clear titles.
- Archive what nobody should rely on anymore.
An agent can only be as good as the content behind it.
4️⃣ Set up billing and budgets
Decide who pays. Users with Microsoft 365 Copilot are covered; for everyone else, link pay-as-you-go to an Azure subscription and set a budget with alerts so there are no surprises.
5️⃣ Pilot, measure, then scale
- Start with one agent and a pilot group of 20–50 people.
- Collect feedback on answer quality.
- Watch usage and cost for a month.
- Only then roll out to more sites and users.
My take
SharePoint agents are one of the fastest ways to show real value from AI, because the content is already there. But the organisations that succeed are the ones that treat it as a content project first and a technology project second.
Which content would you connect to your first SharePoint agent? 🤔
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