"Microsoft AI Copilot for Sales and Service: Now Available for All Users"

Microsoft's Copilot, the AI assistant powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, is making significant strides across the tech giant's product lines. CEO Satya Nadella stated in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter) that the integration of Copilot will continue until it reaches "every role and function."

This week, Microsoft announced the general availability of two sector-specific versions of Copilot:

Copilot for Sales

First revealed at Microsoft’s Ignite event in November 2023, Copilot for Sales connects the AI assistant to two leading customer relationship management (CRM) systems: Salesforce’s Sales Cloud and Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Sales. This tool is designed to enhance productivity by automating tasks such as updating records from Outlook, summarizing email threads, generating email drafts, and leveraging conversation intelligence to summarize meetings.

Copilot for Service

Also previewed at Ignite and launched in December, Copilot for Service supports call centers and customer service personnel. It aids agents by integrating information from various sources without the need to switch between apps, databases, or knowledge articles, thereby streamlining their workflow.

Both products were previously available only in preview to select customers like Avanade, a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft. Feedback indicates that the preview versions have already improved productivity significantly.

In a company blog, Emily He, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of business applications marketing, highlighted how Avanade utilizes Copilot for Sales, estimating that it saves employees between 30 minutes to one hour each week by summarizing lengthy email threads. The tool is also noted for its accessibility features, which benefit neurodiverse employees.

Pricing

Copilot for Sales is priced at $50 per user per month when billed annually. Existing Copilot for Microsoft 365 users can upgrade for an additional $20 per user per month, while Dynamics 365 Sales Premium users will pay an extra $30 per user per month for access.

Copilot for Service: A New Approach to Customer Support

Despite some challenges experienced by enterprises using generative AI for customer interactions, Microsoft aims to provide a more robust solution with Copilot for Service. This tool helps customer service agents quickly access crucial information distributed across various systems, improving response efficiency.

Emily He elaborates, “Often, an organization’s knowledge is distributed across disparate systems—customer records and case histories in multiple CRM systems, alongside information in knowledge articles, public websites, and more. This can overwhelm agents as they balance accessing insights with managing customer interactions.”

Copilot for Service enhances this process by seamlessly integrating with common customer support tools like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk, enabling agents to pull relevant data pertinent to specific customer inquiries.

Additionally, Microsoft plans to roll out new features in Microsoft 365 apps that will allow for integrations with CRM systems like Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Salesforce Service Cloud. These enhancements will include capabilities for email summarization, meeting scheduling, and customer case summaries.

Selected customers, such as tax service firm RSM, are already piloting Copilot for Service. One employee stated, “We launched a pilot focused on leveraging Microsoft Copilot for Service and Microsoft Copilot Studio to enhance our business processes. We're eager to introduce this productivity-enhancing technology to our clients.”

Like Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Service will be available for $50 per user per month when billed annually or $20 per user for existing Microsoft 365 Copilot users.