For Puerto Rican executive Luis Montalvo, Copilot has become a daily essential tool. Recently, he leveraged the AI assistant for a key contract review.
Faced with multiple proposals for an image and content capture platform, Montalvo uploaded the proposals into Microsoft 365 Copilot and requested a summary and comparison. Within minutes, he got a clear, actionable analysis that helped him build a strong recommendation, turning a time-consuming task into a swift process.
“Copilot has become like my right hand… it’s like having a digital teammate available 24/7, always ready to answer questions without stopping and never getting tired,” says Montalvo, assistant vice president and digital workplace manager at Popular Inc., the bank holding company of Puerto Rico’s largest bank and a U.S. presence through Popular Bank with branches in New York, New Jersey, and Florida.
Montalvo leads the bank’s digital workplace strategy for more than 9,000 employees across Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland, with a focus on productivity gains through technology, process automation and enterprise content management.
Since adopting Copilot in late 2023, Montalvo starts each day with Copilot–even before checking Outlook. Beyond reviewing business proposals, he uses the AI assistant to draft and respond to emails, recap meetings, and analyze data.
He describes his personal experience as transformative: reducing stress, improving team interactions and allowing him to focus more on strategic initiatives.
“For me, there’s a clear before and after Copilot,” Montalvo says. “It has radically transformed how agile we are in moving forward and operating.”
The proposal’s review, which could have taken a couple of days, including additional research and required external consultation, was completed in just a few hours. For that evaluation, he used Copilot Notebook technique to create a workspace and upload the documents, then engaged Copilot in a series of follow-up questions, refining his prompts along the way.
“In a day filled with constant urgency and competing priorities, Copilot makes things feel a little more manageable,” adds Montalvo with relief. The executive is championing the use of Copilot across the organization, which has more than 1,000 active users.
He has led Copilot events including Copilot-thon and prompt-a-thon: company-wide hackathons designed to train both employees and interns in the effective use of AI. effectively. The efforts have not only boosted internal capabilities but also positively impacted internship programs, helping retain students.
Project managers at the bank now use Copilot for meeting recaps and proposal generation, while marketing teams rely on it for content updates and idea development, he points out. Across the bank, Copilot has become the tool for drafting emails, summarizing documents and brainstorming. According to Montalvo, it’s become a cornerstone of daily productivity.
For leaders like him, Copilot offers the flexibility to focus on long-term strategies–such as exploring new technologies to enhance digital banking for clients–while spending less time on routine tasks.
And it has another perk: it delivers consistently.
“You can keep giving it ideas, and it keeps responding just as cheerfully and just as quickly,” Montalvo says. “That’s wonderful!”