OPAP invests in AI to simplify digital workstreams and boost employee efficiency with Microsoft Copilot

Founded in 1958, OPAP is the leading gaming company in Greece and one of the most renowned in the industry worldwide. It operates and manages numerical lotteries, sports betting games, horseracing mutual betting, lotteries, instant win games, and video lottery terminals (VLTs). Furthermore, it holds a prominent position in the areas of Responsible Gaming and Corporate Responsibility.

"The gaming industry, like most, is heavily driven by technological advancements and rising customer expectations," explains Costis Paikos, Director of Digital at OPAP. OPAP's digital transformation program centers on three pillars: Digital Customer, which aims to re-invent value propositions through digital innovation and enhanced customer experience; Digital Core, which is geared to achieve cost-efficient digital operations; and Digital Work, which focuses on enhancing employee productivity, fostering digital engagement and facilitating efficient hybrid interactions. “Through the early introduction of Microsoft Copilot, we are giving our people the opportunity to familiarize with the capabilities of generative AI (GenAI) firsthand, as we strongly believe that it will play a pivotal role in the future of work,” adds Costis Paikos.

Making things simple

OPAP has been using AI in its customer-facing projects, aiming to create more engaging and personalized experiences. With the latest developments in GenAI and the productivity boost it promises, the company started investigating how this can also benefit its employees. "OPAP recently introduced an initiative to simplify the everyday life of its people. Through this, we identified that our people sometimes face challenges when it comes to efficiency in meetings and with finding and collecting information,” explains Alexia Mantou, Digital Business Specialist at OPAP. “We wanted to empower our people to utilize technologies that would allow them to become more efficient, save time, and focus on things that are much more valuable and more enjoyable than repetitive work. Copilot for Microsoft 365 emerged as a solution.”

Change ambassadors

OPAP deployed Copilot for Microsoft 365 through a change management process, with a team of Digital Change Ambassadors at its core. This team, established before Copilot, was responsible for driving digital change and bridging the gap between new technology and daily operations. These ambassadors are instrumental in cascading knowledge, addressing employee inquiries, and providing support to ensure smooth adoption of new digital technologies, including Copilot.

First, the ambassadors identified potential candidates within the company’s departments for early Copilot adoption. Next, OPAP held general training sessions to help its people build confidence in using Copilot. The company also established the Copilot Center of Excellence in Microsoft Teams to serve as a centralized hub for all information related to Copilot. “We created an ‘Ask Us Anything’ channel, encouraging team members to pose questions and seek clarification, fostering two-way communication and open dialogue,” recalls Alexia Mantou.

Finally, OPAP created a channel for discussing use cases and feedback. “Knowing that Copilot can summarize emails is great, but understanding how to incorporate it into daily tasks and workflows is crucial,” shares Alexia Mantou. “Thus, discussing these aspects, finding practical use cases, and sharing feedback are essential for maintaining momentum and expanding usage.”

Less time and more productivity with AI

OPAP’s staff is gradually starting to utilize Copilot for a wide range of tasks—everything from summarizing emails to gathering data. As the adoption increases, the anticipated outcome is an enhancement in operational efficiency. "One of the main benefits of Copilot is time savings," Alexia Mantou reflects. “Via Copilot Chat, we have a centralized access point for looking for information that exists in our emails, chats, and files. This makes it much easier and faster to find what we need quickly and efficiently.”

OPAP’s people can also enjoy more fruitful, productive, and actionable meetings when using Copilot. “Copilot takes meeting notes for us and highlights any follow-up tasks. That means our teams can wrap up meetings with clear next steps,” shares Alexia Mantou.

Furthermore, the team at OPAP can use Copilot as a handy companion to organize their day. "Copilot helps make sure nothing falls through the cracks,” Alexia Mantou notes. “I use it to organize my thoughts and tasks for the day and plan the next."

Cultivating an innovative future

With the implementation of Copilot, OPAP has opened new doors to innovation. "Now that we have hands-on experience on what generative AI can do in our daily work, we can come up with new use cases to simplify workflows so that we can focus on things that truly matter," Alexia Mantou adds. This shift enables OPAP to continue leveraging advanced technology for more role-specific applications. “We want to explore using Copilot in specific domains. For example, we could explore creating a custom Copilot for legal matters, equipped with specialized knowledge.”

Looking towards the future, Costis Paikos concludes, “With AI spreading around most business functions across industries, we are just at the beginning of a new era where technology is about to transform our everyday lives once again. I feel that Copilot is going to be just as a standard tool in the future as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint is today.”