When choosing a corporate GenAI platform there is more to it than looking at model benchmarks and the direct AI capabilities. For organisations – particularly those using Microsoft 365 – the real issues sit elsewhere: data control, unmanaged AI usage, implementation, and adoption support, and the difficulty of governing AI behaviour across teams at scale.
Many platforms talk about productivity. Very few deal with the operational realities of enterprise deployment.
Theta Assist does. The decisions that underpin the platform prioritise management and control. This article outlines 9 factors that matter when selecting a corporate GenAI platform, and how Theta Assist maps directly to those requirements.
1. Implementation assistance
It’s great having a great product, but without hands-on help it can be difficult to get your organisation using it, and up to speed with the potential of GenAI. We at Theta have more than just a product – we are a full service consulting team that will:
- Help you deploy Theta Assist
- Train your team in AI from prompting to understanding the nuance of AI
- Help you set up advanced agentic assistants
2. Enterprise security and data control
Security claims are easy. Enforcing them is not. A corporate GenAI platform must give you confidence that:
- Employee prompts and files stay within your control
- Access to models and tools is deliberate, not accidental
- Shadow AI usage is actively removed, not just discouraged
Theta Assist addresses this by design. Theta Assist runs inside your Microsoft Azure tenant and authenticates via Microsoft SSO.
Prompts, conversations, files, and context are governed by the same identity, access, and compliance controls you already operate. There is no parallel AI system sitting outside your security boundary.
3. Microsoft 365 integration that actually fits enterprise reality
Many platforms claim Microsoft integration. Most stop at add-ins or connectors. Theta Assist is built for Microsoft environments from the start.
It deploys to your Microsoft Azure tenant, is billed via your Microsoft subscription or enterprise agreement, includes a Microsoft Teams app, and synchronises users and groups from Entra ID. It also uses Microsoft work accounts for login.
This matters because AI tools should:
- Follow existing provisioning rules
- Respect security groups
- Fit existing billing models
- Avoid creating new identity silos
On the user side, Theta Assist connects AI output directly into everyday workflows. It connects to SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive files and Outlook emails. You can export chats into Microsoft Word and PowerPoint templates.
AI becomes part of how work is done – beyond something staff copy and paste from.
4. Admin controls that scale beyond pilots
This is where most GenAI platforms fall over. End-user features are easy. Governance at scale is not. Theta Assist gives administrators control where it actually matters. It allows you to manage users’ AI model selections, set default assistant prompts, and control sharing.
This enables organisations to:
- Standardise approved models and assistants
- Avoid uncontrolled assistant sprawl
It goes further by letting you control branding, naming, approved domains, default prompts, preferred models, MCP tools, connectors, and providing built-in analytics.
These controls support real operational needs with:
- Consistent compliance language
- Shared prompt standards across teams
- Controlled access to internal systems
- Visibility into usage, adoption, and risk
Most platforms simply don’t offer this level of policy-driven control.
5. Governed Assistant sharing, not prompt chaos
Experimentation is great and should be encouraged. On the flipside unmanaged prompt/assistant sharing becomes a liability very quickly. Theta Assist treats assistants as managed assets. Admins can control how assistants are shared, and if approval is required, publish default assistants. They can also certify assistants – making it obvious to users which assistants can be trusted.
This supports:
- Organisation-wide and departmental assistants that can be trusted
- Controlled reuse of proven AI behaviour
- Reduced risk of inaccurate or non-compliant outputs spreading internally
Everyone can build their own prompts, and at the same time the best and most-proven assistants can be managed by the organisation – built once and scaled safely.
6. AI that uses your knowledge
Enterprise AI is more useful if it reflects how your organisation actually works. Theta Assist allows assistants to draw from SharePoint sites, websites, and other file sources like Teams and OneDrive, with files optionally added to conversations. You can also connect Theta Assist to your Outlook emails and calendar and Teams chats. In these cases, Theta Assist acts on behalf of the logged in user.
This ensures responses reflect:
- Internal policies
- Approved templates
- Organisation-specific frameworks
- Current documentation
- User’s personal information stored across the Microsoft ecosystem.
That difference is what turns AI from impressive into essential for business use.
7. Access to advanced models without losing control
Theta Assist supports the latest OpenAI capabilities and always uses the latest models. Whether that is for text generation, image generation, web search, or the OpenAI tools like code interpreter.
The difference is how those tools are exposed – through admin-controlled policies and authorised MCP connectors, rather than open access.
Advanced capability does not have to mean unmanaged risk.
8. Built for scale (not just pilots)
Theta Assist includes native enterprise components:
- Entra ID SSO
- APIs
- Web crawler
- Microsoft Office integration
This allows organisations to move quickly past experimentation and pilots and deploy AI consistently across teams, functions, and business units.
It also has built-in help and an intuitive UI so requests to your service desk stay in check.
9. Cost and clear ROI
Theta Assist is not priced per seat – so it is much more cost effective than competitors that charge on a per seat basis – no matter how much each user uses. If you have more than 50 users it is dramatically more cost effective to use Theta Assist.
And we help you deploy and get value quickly. Check out all the use cases you can use Theta Assist for here:
- Industry use cases: https://www.thetaassist.ai/industry-use-cases/all-industry-use-cases
- Role use cases: https://www.thetaassist.ai/role-use-cases/all-role-use-cases
Read more about ROI here https://www.thetaassist.ai/blog-posts/real-roi-from-generative-ai-across-business-use-cases-theta-assist
The punch line
Most GenAI platforms optimise for early excitement and then fall short when operations get involved. Enterprises find they need:
- Data control and security
- Alignment with Microsoft environments
- Strong admin and policy controls
- Governed assistant sharing
- Knowledge grounded in internal systems
- Real integrations that support scale
- And most importantly – help with implementation and training
Theta Assist is built for this reality. It is a governed, GenAI platform designed for organisations that intend to deploy AI properly, and want to learn and grow with this evolving technology.
If you want AI that can be adopted easily, controlled sensibly, and scaled across the business, Theta Assist fits where most platforms do not.
Follow ups
How hard is this to roll out in reality?
Theta Assist can be deployed in a few hours and your team can be up and running in mere days.
What happens in the first 30-90 days?
We assist you with training and identifying use cases that get the most out of this technology. Within 30 days you’ll be well set up and seeing the benefits. At 90 days, your teams' skills have increased and you are making advanced assistants and monitoring adoption – finding super users and areas that may need more coaching.
Why wouldn’t I just wait for Microsoft to solve this?
Microsoft’s Copilot offering is solid however the advanced capabilities have per-user fees. So you might find scaling up to lots of users is expensive. The products have a different philosophy with Theta Assist designed to make it easy for all staff to participate and use simple and more complex assistants. Theta Assist also includes extra governance tools with insights dashboards and management controls around sharing – plus the ability to take over ownership when people leave.
