How live customer intelligence helped Sage reshape AI product development

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.

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:

1. Focus the product on commercially viable use cases
2. Prioritize workflows that delivered immediate value
3. 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.

The Impact: From product feature to brand proof point

The work reshaped:

1. Sage's product roadmap
2. Feature prioritisation and workflow design
3. AI messaging and value proposition
4. 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:

1. Core workflows saving customers up to 30 minutes per day
2. Payment workflows reducing time-to-payment by over a week
3. AI positioned as a trusted business assistant, not just automation