IT Prerequisites for M365 Copilot Deployment in GCC

Overview

Before deploying M365 Copilot in your GCC environment, IT teams need to complete several critical prerequisites. This video walks through the technical checklist to ensure your environment is ready, your licensing is configured correctly, and your network and security policies are in place.

Whether you’re leading the deployment or part of the implementation team, this guide will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure a smooth rollout.

What You’ll Learn

• Licensing Requirements: E3/E5 prerequisites and Copilot license assignment
• Network Configuration: Required endpoints, firewall rules, and proxy settings
• Identity & Access: Azure AD configuration and authentication requirements
• Security Policies: Conditional access, DLP, and baseline policy recommendations
• Readiness Validation: Tools and tests to verify your environment is ready

Transcript

[00:00 - Introduction]

Hey everyone, I’m Michael Chen, and today we’re going to walk through the technical prerequisites you need to have in place before deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot in your GCC environment.

[00:45 - Licensing Foundation]

First and most fundamental: licensing. Copilot requires a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license as the base entitlement. You cannot assign Copilot licenses without this foundation. Once users have E3 or E5, you can then assign the Copilot for Microsoft 365 add-on license.

In GCC, these licenses are available through your volume licensing agreement or CSP partner. Make sure you’ve procured enough licenses for your pilot cohort before starting deployment planning.

[02:30 - Network Endpoints]

Copilot introduces several new service endpoints that must be reachable from your users’ devices. The primary endpoints include the Copilot orchestration service, Azure OpenAI inference endpoints in GCC, and Microsoft Graph API endpoints.

Your firewall and proxy configurations need to allow outbound HTTPS traffic to these endpoints. I’ll show you the complete list in the description, but the key domains include copilot.microsoft.com, *.openai.azure.us for GCC, and the standard Microsoft 365 endpoints.

[04:45 - Azure Active Directory Configuration]

Copilot relies on Azure AD for authentication and authorization. Ensure your hybrid identity synchronization is healthy if you’re using on-premises Active Directory. Verify that your conditional access policies won’t inadvertently block Copilot access.

You’ll also want to review your multi-factor authentication configuration. While MFA isn’t specifically required by Copilot, it’s a security best practice for any AI-enabled productivity tool.

[07:00 - Security and Compliance Policies]

Before enabling Copilot, establish your baseline security policies. This includes configuring sensitivity labels if you’re using information protection, setting up DLP policies to prevent sensitive data leakage through Copilot prompts, and establishing your organizational acceptable use policies.

Copilot respects existing Microsoft 365 security boundaries, but you should explicitly test that your DLP rules trigger correctly when users attempt to share sensitive content through Copilot.

[09:15 - Pre-Deployment Validation]

Microsoft provides several tools to validate your environment readiness. The Microsoft 365 admin center has a Copilot readiness check that verifies licensing, service health, and basic connectivity. Run this check before proceeding to pilot deployment.

You can also use PowerShell to query license assignments and verify that your target users have both the base M365 license and the Copilot add-on assigned.

[11:00 - Testing and Pilot Preparation]

Before rolling out to your pilot group, test Copilot functionality with a small set of IT staff. Verify that Copilot works across different applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Check that data permissions are respected and users only see suggestions based on their authorized access.

[11:45 - Conclusion]

With these prerequisites in place, you’re ready to begin pilot deployment. Download our deployment checklist linked below for a complete step-by-step guide. In our next video, we’ll cover pilot group selection and phased rollout strategies.