Microsoft 365 & the executive office · For CEO
How Claude and Microsoft 365 together lift productivity across the whole organisation
- Claude
- Microsoft 365
- Outlook
- Teams
- SharePoint
- OneDrive
- Word
- Excel
- Microsoft Entra ID
The short answer
Claude connects securely to Microsoft 365 through Microsoft's own connection layer, Microsoft Graph. It reads and drafts across Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word and Excel, sees only what each user is already allowed to see, and prepares work that named people review and approve. Teams typically recover hours each week per person.
Key takeaways
- Your people already live in Microsoft 365, so Claude works where the work already happens.
- Claude only sees what each person is already permitted to see, so access rules stay exactly as they are.
- Rolling out department by department lets you prove value early and manage risk at every step.
- Named people approve every consequential action; Claude drafts, checks and prepares.
- Typical organisations measure return in hours recovered, cycle times shortened and fewer errors.
Executive summary
Most of your organisation's knowledge work sits inside Microsoft 365: emails, meetings, shared documents, spreadsheets and proposals. Yet much of it is still assembled by hand, copied between tools and checked twice. Claude, Anthropic's AI model, can connect to these systems through Microsoft's secure connection layer and take on the preparation work that slows people down. It summarises threads, drafts documents, reconciles figures and tracks follow-ups, always within each person's existing permissions. A structured rollout, starting with the executive office and moving through finance, sales, HR, legal, operations and IT, lets leaders see results early and keep control throughout. This guide explains how it works, how it is governed, how a 90-day rollout runs and how to measure the return.
What problem is costing your organisation time today?
Ask any executive where their week goes and the answer is rarely strategy. It is searching for the right file, rereading a long email chain, rebuilding a slide from last quarter's numbers, or chasing a colleague for a status update that should already exist. Each task looks small. Added together across hundreds of people, they consume a remarkable share of paid capacity.
The hidden cost is not only time. When information lives in many places, decisions are made on partial views. A customer escalation sits in one inbox while the contract sits in another folder. A budget variance is explained three different ways by three teams. Delay and inconsistency compound, and senior people end up as the human glue holding the organisation together.
- Searching for documents and previous decisions across Outlook, Teams and SharePoint
- Rewriting the same update for different audiences
- Manually copying figures from Excel into Word or slides
- Chasing action items after meetings that nobody formally tracked
What changes when Claude works inside Microsoft 365?
Claude does not replace your Microsoft 365 estate or ask people to learn a new destination. It works alongside the tools they already open each morning. With the appropriate connections in place, Claude can find the relevant thread, read the attached proposal, check it against the latest pricing sheet and draft a reply for the account owner to review.
The shift is from people searching and assembling to people reviewing and deciding. Claude handles the retrieval, first drafts, consistency checks and tidy-up. Your people keep judgement, relationships and sign-off. Over time, teams stop treating preparation as a chore and start spending their attention where it matters most.
- Less time locating information, more time acting on it
- First drafts ready for review rather than blank pages
- Consistent language and figures across documents and channels
- Follow-ups tracked rather than forgotten
How does Claude connect securely to Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word and Excel?
The connection runs through Microsoft Graph, Microsoft's own secure layer for accessing data in Microsoft 365. Think of it as the controlled front door that every Microsoft 365 service already uses. Access is granted through Microsoft Entra ID, the same identity system that manages your staff sign-in today, so single sign-on and multi-factor checks continue to apply.
Each Claude capability is connected to a specific set of permissions. A typical deployment might allow Claude to read a user's mailbox and calendar, search SharePoint sites that user can already open, and work on documents in their OneDrive. Administrators decide which scopes are switched on, and they can be narrowed or withdrawn at any time. A closely related automation is An inbox that sorts itself: Claude in Outlook for leadership teams. A closely related automation is Every Teams meeting ends with clear decisions, owners and deadlines. It is built on Claude for Microsoft 365, from Anthropic.
- Microsoft Graph: the secure connection layer used by Microsoft 365 itself
- Microsoft Entra ID: controls who signs in and what each account may access
- Scopes set by administrators: only the access you approve is switched on
- Audit records: activity can be reviewed through the usual Microsoft 365 tools
How are existing permissions respected?
This is the most important design principle. Claude does not gain new powers over your information. It acts on behalf of a signed-in user and sees only what that user could already open. If a finance analyst cannot see the board's confidential folder today, Claude cannot see it when helping that analyst either.
Sensitivity labels, sharing settings and site permissions all continue to apply. For highly restricted material, organisations often choose to keep it out of scope entirely until governance has matured. The rule is simple: if a person is not allowed to see it, the assistant is not allowed to see it either.
- Claude acts as the signed-in user, never as a super-user
- Sharing and sensitivity settings continue to apply
- Restricted sites can be excluded from the connection
- Permission reviews run on the same cycle as your existing access reviews
What does a day look like before and after, for a real role?
Consider a chief financial officer preparing for a Monday leadership meeting. Before, the CFO reads a dozen emails, opens three spreadsheets, copies the key numbers into a Word briefing, and asks a team member to confirm two figures. Preparation can take the better part of a morning, and the result depends on how much time was available.
After, the CFO asks Claude to summarise the weekend's finance threads, pull the latest cash position from the shared workbook and draft a one-page briefing with open questions flagged. The CFO reviews, adjusts the commentary and sends it. The same preparation takes a fraction of the time, and the flagged questions are less likely to be missed.
- Briefings drafted from live sources rather than memory
- Open questions listed automatically for follow-up
- The CFO keeps final judgement on what is sent
How do you govern the rollout and keep people in charge?
Good governance is designed in from the start, not added after a problem. Define which tasks Claude may prepare, which must always be approved by a named person, and which are off limits. Common rules include: Claude may draft but never send external email without review; it may propose changes to shared documents but a human accepts them; it may summarise but never make commitments on behalf of the organisation.
Clear ownership matters too. Name an executive sponsor, a business owner for each department, and an IT owner for the connection. Review usage and access on a regular schedule. Your Microsoft 365 administrators already run these disciplines for other tools, and Claude fits within the same framework. The Anthropic Trust Center sets out the security and compliance information you will need for internal assurance reviews.
- Approval rules written down for each task type
- Named owners for sponsorship, business use and IT connection
- Regular access and usage reviews aligned to existing cycles
- Clear escalation route when something looks wrong
How do you start and measure the return?
Begin with a free automation audit. In that session we map where time is lost, which systems hold the relevant information, what permissions already exist and which departments are ready first. The output is a prioritised list rather than a sweeping promise. We then agree two or three pilot workflows with clear success measures.
Measure what matters to the business: hours recovered per role each week, days saved on a recurring cycle such as month-end or proposal turnaround, and error rates on repeated tasks. Track adoption honestly, because a tool used by few people returns little. Compare against a baseline captured before the pilot starts, and report results to the leadership team every month.
- Baseline measured before any change
- Two or three pilot workflows with named owners
- Monthly reporting on hours, cycle times and error rates
- Adoption tracked by team, not just licences issued
How it works
Connect through Microsoft Graph
Claude is linked to Microsoft 365 through Microsoft's own secure connection layer, using the sign-in controls your organisation already manages.
Set the scope
Administrators choose which services are connected, such as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word and Excel, and what each may access.
Respect permissions
Each person's Claude activity covers only what that person can already open. Sharing and sensitivity settings continue to apply.
Prepare the work
Claude summarises threads, drafts documents, checks figures and lists open actions from the sources a person is permitted to use.
Approve what matters
A named person reviews and accepts anything that goes to a customer, a regulator, a supplier or the board.
Review and improve
Usage, access and results are reviewed monthly, and workflows are refined or switched off as needed.
Before and after
Preparing the weekly leadership briefing
BeforeHalf a morning gathering numbers from several sources
AfterA reviewed draft ready within minutes, with open questions flagged
Finding the latest version of a contract
BeforeSearching multiple folders and inboxes
AfterThe current version located from permitted sources with its history
Capturing meeting decisions
BeforeNotes shared inconsistently and actions forgotten
AfterDecisions, owners and deadlines recorded and followed up
Drafting a proposal
BeforeRebuilding sections from old files each time
AfterA first draft in house style, with sources linked for checking
What leaders typically see
- 30–50%Typical reduction in time spent locating and assembling routine information
- 2–4 hoursTypical weekly time recovered per knowledge worker in early pilots
- 20–40%Typical shortening of recurring preparation cycles such as reporting or proposal turnaround
Typical ranges. Your free audit sets a baseline for your own organisation.
What it means for each leader
- Chief Executive Officer
- A clearer, faster view of what is happening across the organisation, with less reliance on manual status updates.
- Chief Financial Officer
- Reporting and commentary prepared from live sources, with a consistent audit trail and fewer last-minute corrections.
- Chief Operating Officer
- Fewer handoff delays between teams and clearer tracking of actions after every meeting.
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Access that continues to follow existing controls, with the connection governed and reviewable through familiar tools.
- General Counsel
- Clear approval rules and drafts that are reviewed before anything leaves the organisation, supporting defensible processes.
United States, United Kingdom, India and the Middle East
United States
Organisations may need to consider state privacy laws such as California's CCPA and CPRA, along with sector rules where relevant, such as HIPAA in healthcare, SOX for public companies or GLBA in financial services. US hosting is available for deployments that need it.
United Kingdom
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to personal data handled through these workflows, and sector regulators such as the FCA or NHS guidance may be relevant. UK hosting is available where residency matters to your governance.
India
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 governs personal data use, and sector regulators such as RBI, SEBI or IRDAI may apply to regulated firms. India hosting is available for deployments that require it.
Middle East
The UAE Personal Data Protection Law, Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law overseen by SDAIA, Qatar's data protection law and free-zone rules such as DIFC and ADGM may apply, along with Arabic-language needs. Data-residency requirements are assessed during the audit, and the deployment region is chosen to meet them.
Safeguards built in
- Administrators control which Microsoft 365 services and sites are connected
- Claude acts only with the signed-in user's existing permissions
- Humans approve every consequential external or board-level action
- Restricted and highly sensitive material can be excluded from scope
- Activity is reviewable through standard Microsoft 365 audit tools
- Access and usage are reviewed on a regular schedule
From audit to rollout
Free automation audit Weeks 1–2
Map time-consuming workflows, existing permissions, data locations and readiness by department, and agree success measures.
Executive office and pilot Weeks 3–6
Connect Outlook, Teams and SharePoint for a small group of leaders, run two or three pilot workflows and capture the baseline comparison.
Finance, sales and HR Weeks 7–10
Extend to Excel-based reporting, proposal and pipeline work, and HR policy and onboarding tasks, with owners named in each department.
Legal, operations, IT and scale-up Weeks 11–13
Add contract review, operational reporting and IT requests, review governance results and agree the ongoing operating rhythm.
The Claude products behind it
Claude working with Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and SharePoint.
Claude for large organisations.
Secure links between Claude and business tools.
Company know-how packaged so Claude follows it every time.
Security and compliance information.
Frequently asked questions
What does doing nothing cost us?
The cost is mostly hidden in time. Senior and specialist staff repeatedly search for information, rebuild documents and chase updates. Competitors who remove this friction can respond to customers and decisions faster. The free audit puts a realistic figure on your own organisation's losses.
Is our data secure?
Claude connects through Microsoft Graph and your Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, and it only sees what each user is already permitted to access. Security and compliance information is available in the Anthropic Trust Center for your assurance reviews.
Where is our data stored and processed?
Deployments can be hosted in India, the United States, the United Kingdom or the European Union, depending on your requirements. Where and how data is handled is confirmed during the audit so that it matches your governance and regulatory needs.
How accurate are Claude's outputs?
Claude's drafts and summaries are prepared for review, not published automatically. Figures are linked to their sources so people can check them, and named owners approve anything consequential. Accuracy is measured during the pilot.
Will this change people's roles?
It changes how time is spent. Routine assembly and searching shrink, while review, judgement and client work grow. We recommend involving staff early, explaining the approval rules and recognising the skills the change creates.
Which Microsoft 365 licences or tools do we need?
You need Microsoft 365 services that hold your current work, such as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word and Excel, along with Microsoft Entra ID for sign-in. The audit confirms exactly which licences and settings your organisation requires.
How long before we see results?
Most organisations see early results within the first pilot cycle, typically within six weeks, with broader gains building across the 90-day rollout. Results depend on the workflows chosen and how consistently teams adopt them.
Can we extend this to our offices in other regions?
Yes. Regional requirements in the United States, the United Kingdom, India and the Middle East are assessed in the audit, and the deployment is designed around the rules that apply in each location.