In 2023, Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365 Copilot (also called Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365), the world’s first AI assistant natively built for CRM and ERP.
The tech giant says that since the release, over 130,000 organisations have been using Copilot for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft Power Platform, with a survey revealing that 70 per cent of Copilot users were more productive.
More recently, Microsoft has announced new and updated Copilot capabilities in Dynamics 365 applications. We’re going to dive into those in this article, as well as break down a few of the different variations of the new AI technology.
What is Dynamics 365 Copilot?
Dynamics 365 Copilot is Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant that provides real-time assistance to users of various Dynamics 365 applications such as Sales, Customer Service and Marketing.
It offers a chat interface for quick summaries of sales opportunities and leads, updates, meeting preparations, account-related news, and much more. You may have already had a taste of the initial introduction of Copilot if you’ve used Bing Chat Enterprise to ask questions in the Edge browser.
What is Copilot for Microsoft 365?
On the other hand, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered tool focused on assisting during the working day. It is integrated with all the core Office 365 apps such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and more. It is currently available as a paid add-on for Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Office 365 E3/E5, and Microsoft 365 Business Standard/Business Premium licences. Microsoft has recently announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available to all organisations having recently expanded its availability to businesses of all sizes. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is priced at £24.70 per user per month, but is only available via an annual commitment.
Copilot can be integrated with Outlook and Teams for better data management and allows users to make the most of its generative AI capabilities for record summarisation and email content generation.
What’s new with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot?
Microsoft has announced a range of updates to Dynamics 365 Copilot, referring to them as the “evolution of the existing Copilot capabilities in Dynamics 365 applications, which help users to perform tasks, find information, and learn new skills using natural language.”
The updates include new features for marketing, sales, and field service professionals, such as generating email campaigns, creating sales quotes, scheduling service visits, and more.
What is Microsoft Sales Copilot?
For the avoidance of confusion, Microsoft Sales Copilot, Copilot for Sales, Sales Copilot, and Viva Sales all refer to the same product at different stages of evolution.
Copilot for Sales has been announced as “a new experience that combines the power of Copilot for Microsoft 365 with role-specific insights and actions for sales professionals.”
Microsoft Sales Copilot will aid your sales team in finding relevant information, generating personalised proposals, following up with customers, and closing deals faster using natural language.
Copilot for Sales can integrate with existing CRM systems, including Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and others.
How do you get Microsoft Sales Copilot?
Microsoft Sales Copilot is included with Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise and Premium.. It is not included with Dynamics 365 Sales Professional, but it is available as an add on for £32.90 per user per month.
Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to enhance seller productivity, enabling sales teams to automate the sales processes and make informed decisions with AI-powered insights and actions. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales now has a new full-screen view where sellers can use natural language or prebuilt prompts to gain a quick understanding of customers, deals, meetings, forecasts, and more.
What is Microsoft Copilot for Service?
Microsoft Copilot for Service (also referred to as Copilot for Service) is a generative AI solution designed to serve and support customer service teams. A recent Microsoft survey indicated that customer service agents felt confident that AI could positively impact their performance, as well as provide analytical insights, including trend and sentiment analysis.
With that in mind, Microsoft has announced Microsoft Copilot for Service, which will draw from specified knowledge sources within company data (trusted websites, knowledgebase articles, files) and use the power of Copilot for Microsoft 365 to provide agents with AI-guided answers at their fingertips via the tools they already use every day, such as Outlook and Teams.
Microsoft Copilot for Service provides out-of-the-box integrations with Dynamics 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk, and can be extended to other systems through more than 1,100 prebuilt and custom connectors.
How do you access Microsoft Copilot for Service?
It is currently in public preview, but requires a US-based environment to access it. It is expected to be generally available in the first quarter of 2024, so we expect an announcement soon. Pricing will be $50 (around £39.30) per user per month (including a built-in Copilot for Microsoft 365 licence).
It is not yet clear if Microsoft Copilot for Service will be included with Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise, the way Microsoft Sales Copilot is included with Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise and Premium.
How has Microsoft been using Copilot for Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service?
Microsoft has been using Copilot capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service within its own Customer Service and Support (CSS) team. Due to newer agents being able to access information faster, the corporation saw a 12 per cent reduction in average handle time for low-severity chat cases.
The findings also showed that in one support business, 10 percent of cases that normally required collaboration with peers were resolved independently, meaning fewer customers had to be put on hold.
Microsoft also deployed Microsoft Sales Copilot to 10,000 sellers within its sales organisation, with early results showing that 85 per cent of surveyed sellers reported completing one or more tasks faster, and 70 percent claiming that Microsoft Sales Copilot helped them improve productivity.
Dynamics 365 Copilot: conclusion
We’ve seen so many Dynamics 365 Copilot announcements over the last 12 months, and we know there are plenty more on the horizon for 2024. AI isn’t going away any time soon, and the more updates and advances there are, the more accessible the technology will become.
To find out more about using Copilot in your business, speak to our knowledgeable sales team on +(44)1782 916920.
