Aston University is first Midlands University to provide all staff with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Birmingham's Aston University is one of the first universities in the UK to offer Microsoft 365 Copilot to all staff with training and support, as well as providing access to Copilot Chat for all students.

The strategic partnership with the company which is the first announced by a Midlands university, will equip students with future-ready skills and will strengthen teaching and research. 

All staff will benefit from the full Microsoft 365 Copilot suite, including specialist agents such as Researcher and Analyst, and productivity apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that have Copilot built in.

The full roll out will be completed by July 2026 and will give students the skills they need to flourish in an AI-driven economy. The initiative will also help the University’s staff to benefit from tools to become more innovative and operationally efficient, giving them more time for higher-value, strategic activity.

Professor Aleks Subic, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University, told That's Technology: “Our collaboration with Microsoft illustrates Aston’s strategy to be a transformational university, embracing digital innovation and equipping our students and researchers with emerging AI technologies.

“Having access to this AI platform from a sector-leading company will help students and staff thrive. We are preparing our students for the work environment of the future which will enhance their careers and create significant benefits across our research and innovation ecosystem.”

Jen Wyatt, director of education, Microsoft UK, said: “By embedding AI across the University, Aston is strengthening the student experience and accelerating the University’s research and innovation. It will help staff reduce routine workloads, move faster on high-value priorities, and equip students with the future-ready skills they will need in an AI-enabled economy.”

The University will be working with Microsoft to ensure transparency around environmental and wider impacts. Microsoft has stated it is committed to be classed as carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.

The AI roll-out will enable researchers to accelerate interdisciplinary discovery and analysis at scale, while reducing time spent on routine tasks. Last year Aston University offered new AI fellowships to lead projects that will deliver real-world impact across society, business, and industry. The interdisciplinary positions are based within its business school, The Sir Peter Rigby Digital Futures Institute and its School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies.

aston.ac.uk

Insight guides its clients through latest price increase announcement from Microsoft

Insight, Microsoft’s largest UK and global reseller, has been advising its clients in the wake of the recent announcement by Microsoft regarding forthcoming changes in pricing policy that will effect all volume licensing customers within the EU and EFTA countries.

From 1st July 2012, Microsoft will now be aligning its pricing to the Euro at the prevailing exchange rate. Commented Ashley Gatehouse, EMEA VP of Marketing at Insight UK, “Clearly Microsoft is seeking to establish consistent pricing across Europe and obviously this has implications for our clients depending on the prevailing currency rates.”

Continued Gatehouse, “Insight sees its role as a trusted advisor to its customers. We sell more Microsoft Volume licensing products than any other Microsoft partner and as such we are well placed to guide our clients through these changes and bring clarity in a potentially complicated process. We urge any organisation that has concerns to contact us immediately and we will be able to assist and advise them.”

The exact extent of any price changes in July will be determined by future exchange rates between the British Pound and Euro. Said Gatehouse, “Insight will be advised by Microsoft on 1st May of exact changes, however analysis of current European and UK pricing indicates a potential uplift on existing Microsoft UK pricing of 20% on some products is possible.”

As Gatehouse confirmed, “Insight is focused on always providing our clients with the best independent guidance and advice and we are happy to assist with any queries and concerns they might have.”


(EDITOR: So Microsoft are attaching their European sales to a currency that is seen by many to be on its last legs? Good luck with that idea, Microsoft...)

Trustmarque help the police

Trustmarque Solutions has announced that its Commercial Benchmarking service has saved Durham Constabulary police force a very useful £190,000 per annum on licensing costs, plus also ensuring it was eligible for future support and benefits from Microsoft.

Durham Constabulary needed to review its licensing agreements as it had cut the number of computers it used.

During the review period they realised they should move its licence renewal forward in order to ensure it could support its desktop operating system for the next six years and to enable a programmeof work to match its ICT Strategy.

Durham police also had a good deal of future development work planned because it was moving towards a SharePoint strategy, plus a new Microsoft Office environment with Office 2010, and exploring the deployment of Microsoft Lync.

As it was working to tight deadlines, it realised it needed outside, specialist assistance, so brought Trustmarque Solutions in to help it to find cost-effective solutions.

Steve Wright, Head of ICT Service Operations and Support for Durham Constabulary, explains: “Our key aim was getting value for money on procurement. We were using a Microsoft Select agreement, where you basically buy from the catalogue, the most expensive way of licensing.

“We talked to Trustmarque about their benchmarking service and it sounded ideal. We had worked with Trustmarque before and had a good relationship with them, and trusted them to point us in the right direction.”

Trustmarque worked with Durham Constabulary to identify a 'strategy roadmap' for the next six years, around various products it was looking to invest in, providing information on all the products that would be available to it under various Microsoft agreements, what the benefits would be and how this fitted in with their future vision.

The process was completed within five months, and in February 2011 Durham Constabulary signed a new agreement which should help it make savings of £190,000 over the course of the next three years.

But there are other benefits, too. Steve Wright adds: “The Trustmarque Commercial Benchmarking team was great. They spoke to us about what we were planning to do with the organisation, helped us to do an inventory of what licences we had and which could be redeployed within the organisation.

“Trustmarque outputs helped us to outline the life time of the products and how these fit in with our future strategy. Trustmarque came back with pricing for the various different licensing models available from Microsoft, and provided guidance on what would suit our needs best.

“Working with Trustmarque has given us a much richer understanding of Microsoft licensing. Using the Commercial Benchmarking service helped us to decide our procurement route, and saved us a lot of money.”

“The work conducted at Durham Constabulary shows how Trustmarque’s services are continuing to drive down the cost of IT in the public sector,” Simon Rutt, services and solutions director comments.

“Through this service alone we have seen organisations save, on average, 36 percent on a new or renewed Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. This is a fantastic achievement and the benefits of the cost savings can be realised immediately, and aside from this many of our customers come away with a more comprehensive view of their ICT estate, enabling them to ensure compliance and plan ahead.”

For more information about Trustmarque visit www.trustmarque.com, call them on 0845 2101 500 or email info@trustmarque.com.