How live customer intelligence helped Sage reshape AI product development
When Sage launched its AI assistant, Sage Copilot, the pressure was not about being first. It was about getting it right at speed. The team needed to understand, in real time, what customers would trust, use, and pay for.
Once Sage Copilot was live, the company partnered with Basis Global to evolve the product in real time. Not in theory. Not in hindsight. In-market, with real users, real pressure, and real commercial stakes.
This work now underpins Sage’s AI roadmap and forms part of a partnership that has achieved two consecutive MRS B2B industry awards.
The challenge: Building trust in a live AI product
AI adoption in B2B comes with risk. Customers want speed, but they also demand control, trust, transparency, and confidence in the outcome. Sage had launched Copilot quickly to secure market advantage. The challenge was turning that early release into something that customers genuinely trusted and relied on.
They needed to move fast without guessing. And they needed insight that could shape decisions as the product evolved, not after.
Services used
The solution: Building with customers, not after them
Basis designed a live research program that put customers directly inside product development. Engineers worked face-to-face with users through structured co-creation sessions to pressure-test use cases, surface friction, and define what “useful AI” actually meant in day-to-day workflows.
That co-creation was supported by rapid-turn quantitative testing to size demand, prioritize features, and refine the proposition at speed.
This hybrid approach allowed Sage to:
- Focus the product on commercially viable use cases
- Prioritize workflows that delivered immediate value
- Ground AI innovation in real customer behavior, not assumptions
Copilot shifted from a broad AI concept into a focused, trusted assistant built around profitability, payments, and decision support.
This research was a game-changer. It helped us move beyond the hype of AI and ground Sage Copilot in what really matters to customers. We weren’t interested in ‘AI for AI’s sake’ – we wanted to build something useful, usable, and uniquely Sage.
The impact: From product feature to brand proof point
The work reshaped:
- Sage’s product roadmap
- Feature prioritization and workflow design
- AI messaging and value proposition
- Pricing, packaging, and go-to-market strategy
Copilot is now a halo product for the Sage brand. It signals leadership in practical, usable AI and has become a platform for future innovation.
Results include:
- Core workflows saving customers up to 30 minutes per day
- Payment workflows reducing time-to-payment by over a week
- AI positioned as a trusted business assistant, not just automation
Oliver Rozic VP Product Management at SageThe Sage Copilot research has fundamentally reshaped how we approach product development. It wasn’t just about validating features—it was about embedding a new mindset.
The research gave us a real-time, unfiltered view into how customers think, feel, and behave when interacting with AI. That insight directly influenced our roadmap: from prioritising workflows like Profitability and VAT Assistant, to refining how we deliver insights, moving away from chat-based interfaces to proactive nudges embedded in the UI.
What’s been most powerful is how this work has set a new benchmark for customer-led development. We didn’t just test ideas—we co-created them. We launched early, listened hard, and pivoted fast. That agility meant we could respond to feedback in weeks, not quarters. It’s changed how we think about success: not just shipping features but solving real problems in ways that feel intuitive and valuable to our users.
The research also helped us build internal alignment. It gave our teams—from engineering to marketing—a shared language and a clear North Star. We now have a model for building with customers, not just for them. And that’s something we’re carrying forward into every product we touch.”
Award recognition
This work was recognised with the MRS B2B Network Award for Business-to-Business Research, the second year in a row that Basis and Sage have been honoured in this category.
Here’s what the judges had to say:
The judges at the 2025 MRS awardsThe entry’s bold methodology really stood out. The project was efficient, the insights robust and the outcomes transformative to the bottom line. Basis & Sage has set the standard for B2B studies with fresh perspectives and techniques.”
Why it matters
This project reflects how modern B2B innovation actually happens. Live products. Live risk. Customers inside the build. Strategy shaped in real time, not retrospect.
This is the model behind Basis Global’s B2B practice.
