City of London Staff Save Thousands of Hours Through AI and Automation Adoption
The City of London Corporation has seen significant time savings across its departments due to the expanded use of artificial intelligence and automation tools, a recent committee meeting heard. This adoption is part of a broader digital, data, and technology strategy aimed at improving efficiency and service delivery.
AI Adoption Yields Major Time Savings
Microsoft Copilot, which began as a small proof of concept with 15 licences in July 2024, has now been rolled out to 2,270 licensed users. These users have collectively taken over 128,176 actions, submitting 73,950 Copilot Chat prompts, resulting in an estimated 10,693 hours saved. The AI has been used for tasks such as summarising papers and testing thinking. The expansion of Copilot is supported by a three-year commitment to purchase licences, which includes significant training and adoption support from Microsoft's partner, Phoenix Solutions.
Phoenix Solutions, in partnership with Microsoft, is providing an extensive program of webinars, discovery sessions, and specialist training to support Copilot adoption. This includes sessions on expanding beyond basic Copilot Chat usage to the fuller Microsoft 365 Copilot experience, covering topics like prompting, content creation, communications in Teams and Outlook, meeting support, use in OneDrive and Notebooks, accessibility, brand-aligned content creation, agent adoption, and administrator enablement.
AI Week 2026, a series of events designed to introduce staff and members to AI tools, attracted 846 attendees across eight live events, a substantial increase from the previous year. This initiative aims to build confidence and practical skills in using AI responsibly. The week covered practical sessions on Microsoft Copilot, accessibility, productivity, AI agents, case studies, and responsible AI adoption, with a focus on helping attendees learn from real-life success stories in a safe and engaging environment.
Broader Digital Solutions Drive Efficiency
Beyond Copilot, the Digital Solutions team has delivered numerous automation and digital improvement projects across Microsoft 365, Power Platform, SharePoint, and Granicus. These projects have replaced manual processes with digital forms, workflows, approvals, and payment-enabled services. Specific examples include:
- Delivery of a process for appealing Fixed Penalty Notice tickets for covert City of London Police vehicles.
- Creation of a City of London Police laptop kiosk solution for checking laptops in, out, and on loan.
- Development of a Tenancy Audit application for iPads to gather tenancy and property data.
- Creation of the PIEE Action Tracker using SharePoint and Power Automate.
- Implementation of a digital night shift worker questionnaire, replacing manual PDF processes.
- Delivery of training request forms for non-SAP users.
- Development of Digital Declarations functionality for Members and Chief Officers.
- Improvements to the Systems Audit SharePoint site and Business Interests App.
- Creation of a Chamberlain's Department audit reports review solution to replace email-based approval processes.
- Delivery of a DITS server request form with approval workflow.
- Implementation of a TLA box order form, replacing manual email, spreadsheet, cheque, and telephone payment processes with an online payment route.
- Updates to the in-year and school eligibility checker.
- Remapping and redevelopment of workflows linked to contact centre SRT category changes.
- Delivery of TLA school bookings forms using calendar functionality and online payments.
- Creation of a payment form for digital copies of TLA documents.
- Development of a Delegation of Authority user process, replacing a paper-based workflow.
- Support for Christmas Lunch 2025 ticketing, including automated flows to issue tickets.
These efforts have resulted in an estimated 1,577 staff hours saved between January 2025 and September 2026, valued at approximately £42,000. Furthermore, £3.085 million has been processed through Granicus forms during the same period, highlighting the financial benefits of digital transformation.
Councillor James Tumbridge, Chair of the committee, emphasised the importance of internal communication to ensure that staff and members are aware of the digital services available and the positive work being undertaken. He also raised concerns about the governance and cybersecurity implications of AI, noting that while licences were secured, decisions on member access were being managed by another part of the organisation. To address these concerns, a formal AI Policy is being developed for Member consideration, focusing on information security, data protection, access controls, and responsible handling of corporate information. This policy is scheduled to be presented to the Digital Services Committee for decision.
Digital Strategy Progress
The Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT) strategy update highlighted strong progress in areas such as improving connectivity, providing face-to-face technical support, and refreshing hardware and systems. The strategy also focuses on establishing a new data platform, implementing a new CRM system, and enhancing digital skills across the organisation. The City of London is measuring digital skills enhancement through initiatives like AI Week, Microsoft's Enterprise Skills Initiative, a Cyber Security Training Platform, and a Digital Skills Academy offering online and offline courses. Performance measures include the number of collaborative initiatives, staff participation in training, feedback on digital solutions, and improvements in service delivery due to enhanced digital skills.