Summary Bullets:

• Microsoft is capitalizing on two key contact center trends: the pivot from a multi-channel orientation to an omni-channel orientation and the emergence of AI.

• Microsoft must rationalize its contact center portfolio and establish integration with Teams.

This month Microsoft launched a limited preview of ‘Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot’. The offer features Microsoft’s new Copilot generative AI and natural language processing (NLP) engine built natively into various Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM and ERP apps. Employees in functions such as sales, customer service, marketing, operations, and supply chain leverage the Copilot capabilities in the apps to create content faster, complete complex tasks, and gain insights into their work.

A module within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot named ‘Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service’ helps contact center agents resolve customer issues more quickly and efficiently. Copilot helps agents craft responses to customer inquiries by understanding the context of a live conversation and identifying relevant information. Responses are composed in seconds; agents can review and modify the response before sending to the customer. In addition, task automation allows agents to focus attention on whatever action items they wish. Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service also enables the swift construction of conversational chatbot agents.

Through the new features, Microsoft is capitalizing on two key contact center trends: the pivot from a multi-channel orientation to an omni-channel orientation and the emergence of AI.

Both multi-channel and omnichannel support a variety of contact channels (such as voice, chat, SMS, email, video, and social media). However, a multi-channel approach suffers from the potential to perpetuate silos, whereas an omnichannel approach is marked by a standardized customer experience. Thus, omnichannel has supplanted multi-channel. Microsoft is providing the ability to quickly build chatbots and conversation flows and replicate them across any channel, thus allowing for a true omnichannel environment.

Since the onset of the pandemic, AI technology has become an integral component of contact centers, which are now central to providing an optimum customer experience. Microsoft’s launch is well timed. Due to today’s uncertain economic climate, businesses are feeling intense pressure to maximize the value of every customer interaction while reducing costs. As a result, heavy reliance on contact center capabilities delivered via AI (especially self-service) has become popular.

The launch marks a big step forward for Microsoft’s contact center AI capabilities. AI is leveraged to provide a customer experience marked by the provision of self-service capabilities and the proactive recognition of customer needs to resolve issues within their preferred channels of engagement. AI also feeds the agent experience, reserving agents’ time for addressing complex customer inquiries and equipping them with the knowledge required to fulfill those inquiries.

Looking ahead, AI will be foundational to digital-first customer experience (DFCX) approaches. The core tenet of ‘digital-first’ is centering the customer journey on a data-centric model cutting across all customer interactions regardless of location or channel. This allows for faster, more informed, and more personalized responses to customer issues. In this way, DFCX adds a layer of intelligence onto omnichannel experiences.

Microsoft needs to take the next step and clarify how ‘Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform’ (its AI-driven, omnichannel offer) plays with ‘Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service’. Microsoft also must create integration between its contact center capabilities and Teams to fulfill the growing need for integrated UCaaS and CCaaS that allows all customer facing employees (inside and outside the contact center) to better serve customers.