Conclusion
One reason given for keeping Microsoft 365 Copilot goes like this. Not because the AI is smarter, but because Microsoft reduced the very work of handing the AI the context of the job. Picking up the Teams thread, passing the mail, finding the SharePoint file and pasting it in — a layer called Work IQ absorbs that labor. The official price is ¥4,497 per user per month (ex-tax, annual, as of October 2026).
The observation is correct. The labor of handing over context is real, and demanding context engineering of every employee is harsh. But the answer is not to buy a layer that gathers context. It is to have a place where the context lives. Make a folder for the task, set Claude Code's working directory to it, and start a new session. The same problem disappears.
Who created the problem Work IQ solves
Context is scattered across chat logs, mail, and attachments, so a layer is needed to gather it. What scatters it is the structure of Microsoft 365 itself. In Microsoft 365, documents live in shared folders, so making one folder per task the working directory is hard to do. A problem of one's own making, with a solution sold at ¥4,497 a month.
What Copilot sells is not having to change how you work. Because nothing has to change, nothing changes. The folder asks one person to move where the work lives, from shared folders and chat to one folder per task. So it does not spread across a company; it starts with one person.
One more thing. Work IQ "runs as the user" and reads everything the user can read. If SharePoint sharing is sloppy, that sloppy state becomes searchable at high speed. It is a product that touches everything in order to see everything — the fourth form in Structural Analysis 3-10. And the gathered context stays on Microsoft's side. A company that has entrusted its context to chat logs cannot change its AI.
What to do
Make a folder for the task, set Claude Code's working directory to it, and start a new session. That is all. When a related mail arrives, copy and paste its text into the chat. The AI reads the folder and holds the past chat history, so there is no work of pasting context.
What changes
- Any AI can read it. The model becomes a replaceable part (Structural Analysis 3-09).
- The context is on your side. Change company, let a contract lapse — the folder remains.
- What you hand the AI is work, not root. The AI reads only that folder, never your mail or SharePoint.
- It starts with one person, not with seat counts. Do not distribute it to every employee. One person is enough, and that person is the builder (1-04).
The point that you cannot make every employee use a CLI is also correct. So do not. One person starts with one folder, and what works spreads from there. The one machine of 2-02 is where that folder sits.
Related
- AI-Native Software Development 1-02 — The Structural Shift Is in Maintenance — the unit of maintenance moves to context
- 2-02 — Give the AI a PC — the machine where the folder sits
- Structural Analysis 3-10 — Defense Cannot Be Bought — AI from above as the fourth form