The News: Microsoft has introduced Copilot for Service, a solution that aims to support agents with easily accessible answers as well as suggestions for next steps. More information on the solution can be found in two blog posts on the Microsoft website: one written by Jeff Comstock, corporate VP, Dynamics 365 Customer Service and a post authored by Emily He, corporate VP, Business Applications Marketing.
Copilot for Service Introduced by Microsoft
Analyst Take: Microsoft continues to launch Copilot solutions, and in its latest round of announcements, a few stood out as having implications for the customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) segments.
Copilot for Service Helps Agents Get Needed Information and Insights Faster
According to Microsoft, since Copilot for Dynamics 365 was launched earlier in 2023, over 130,000 organizations have used Copilot capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform. Microsoft research found that 70% of the Copilot users were more productive, 73% could complete tasks faster, and 68% of users improved the quality of their work. Microsoft is now extending the benefits of Copilot into a new area – service, which takes aim at customer service use cases.
The solution offers the benefit of tying Copilot for Microsoft 365 and an organization’s knowledge base neatly together to give agents AI-powered answers and tools that can be customized based on a specific customer issue and conversation. This knowledge base can consist of data coming from email threads, cases, Teams chats, and other information.
Agents can query the Copilot in their natural language and have the information and recommendations needed quickly in front of them, saving time and leveraging a more holistic view of the customer and their interactions. Companies can leverage their own customer relationship management (CRM) and contact centers as the solution can be integrated out of the box with Dynamics 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk, as well as other systems via more than1,100 prebuilt and custom connectors.
Like many of the announcements coming out regarding the use of generative AI for service and support, this solution aims to alleviate some of the burden off customer service agents, freeing them to do higher level tasks and provide improved CX. However, tools like these are most useful if they are embedded right into the flow of work, which Copilot for Service is. It has the capability to be in the agent’s desktop of choice or deployed in Teams.
Future plans for Copilot for Service include email drafting, summarization, and meeting recaps using CRM data. The automation of CRM tasks such as wrapping up cases, scheduling meetings, adding new contacts, and following up on tasks are also coming. The solution will be available in public preview in early December with general availability slated for first quarter (Q1) 2024. Pricing was announced at $50 per user/per month.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service Enhancements
Microsoft also introduced enhancements to its Microsoft Dynamics Field Service solution. Similar to the use cases outlined for Copilot for Service, these improvements focus on getting the information field service workers need in the moment by using Copilot with conversational language. Queries could include topics such as status updates, parts needed, or instructions. This functionality can be accomplished from within Teams and is expected to be available for preview in December. Additionally, the Dynamics 365 Field Service app in Teams will be generally available in December 2023 and will allow frontline workers to view and edit work orders directly within teams. Other improvements are outlined in this blog posting.
These Copilot enhancements focus on solving important issues for both customer service agents and field service workers. These challenges include disparate information sources that result in an incomplete view of a situation and a customer, time-consuming searches for knowledge, and too much time spent on mundane tasks. All of these issues can result in what turns out to be poor CX and a frustrating interaction for employees to support. Solutions that can help agents and field service workers get information from all needed sources and act within the tool that they are using means less navigation, less room for error, and more opportunity to deliver good CX.
Generative AI Assistants Have Become Table Stakes for SaaS Providers
Microsoft is far from the only vendor to roll out generative AI-powered assistants; ServiceNow, Salesforce, Zendesk, Google, and many others have also announced or deployed these tools that are leveraging the power of generative AI to improve productivity, drive efficiency, and let workers focus on higher value tasks.
As with the other vendors, Microsoft will continue to refine the functionality of Copilot, but the company is particularly well positioned in the marketplace thanks to the company’s platform-based approach to Copilot. In addition to Copilot for Service, Microsoft Sales Copilot has been available for nearly 6 months, garnering strong feedback around its AI insights and context-aware summarization and recommendation tools.
As sales and service functions increasingly overlap, blend, and become somewhat indistinguishable from one another, particularly within the digital world, the availability of a single platform that can be used across multiple functions will become a significant advantage. Agent training time, familiarity, and efficiency can be further enhanced, and particularly for large organizations, consolidation of the application tech stack can result in lower maintenance, support, and administrative costs. Perhaps most important, data privacy and security issues can be more easily managed when utilizing a consolidated platform and set of tools.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
Microsoft Ignites Teams with a Shift in Digital Collaboration
Microsoft Ignite Showcases AI Advancements with Copilot in Teams
Siemens and Microsoft Introduce Siemens Industrial Copilot
Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
