46 features included in release plans
Dynamics 365 Contact Center 2025 release wave 1
For previous release wave highlight videos:
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Business Value
This feature takes a customer-centric approach with the intent determination process being a key component in understanding and categorizing customer needs. The intent groups represent the customers' reasons for contact more accurately, leading to efficient assignment and potentially improving customer satisfaction. The user groups allow for efficient management and operational agility, addressing the challenges of balancing service requests and support representative's availability. The mapping of user groups to intent groups helps to streamline the routing process, reduce complexity, and enable quicker resolution of customer issues.
Feature Details
- Intent determination: Use generative AI to recognize customer intent, a natural language description of customer problem; and intent groups—logical clusters of similar intents that represent the broad customer pain points and business expertise needed to address these pain points.
- Customizable user groups mapped to intent groups: Manually curate user groups to create clusters of support representatives with similar capabilities and expertise and decorate groups based on attributes such as language, region, and other business criteria. Administrators can map user groups to intent groups and configure certain matching conditions if required.
- Intelligent assignment: Match customer inquiries to the most appropriate support representative in the user group based on real-time attributes like capacity and presence.
- Integration and flexibility: Easily integrate with existing customer service platform and provide flexibility to adjust routing parameters, adapting to changing business needs and customer demands.
- Supported channels: Live chat and persistent chat; case (Incident entity in record channel).
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Currently, intent promotion is a manual process, requiring human validation before an intent can be moved from assisted service to self-service mode. The enhanced approach will introduce automation to reduce operational overhead and accelerate intent use in self-serve modes by allowing admins to define when intents can be promoted. This feature will save time and resources by increasing automation or assisting admins in making faster decisions, increasing the efficiency of intent promotion. Using this approach, businesses can operate more smoothly and focus on higher-value tasks.
Feature Details
Administrators can enable auto-promotion of intents at the line of business or intent group level by selecting semi-autonomous or fully autonomous promotion mode. Some of the key highlights are as follows:
- Increase automation: Reduce the need for human intervention in intent promotion.
- Improve accuracy and trust: Make sure that only high-confidence, low-risk intents are promoted automatically using robust validation mechanisms to prevent erroneous promotions.
- Enhance administrator control and flexibility: Allow administrators to configure self-promotion settings at various levels and provide override mechanisms.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
By automating complex support interactions across voice, chat, and email, this feature cuts support staffing costs by increasing the number of interactions that can be resolved autonomously, boosts customer satisfaction scores, and reduces average handling time through faster, personalized resolutions without human interaction.
Feature Details
Enablement and scope
- Available in Dynamics 365 Contact Center. Customer Intent Agent is part of the autonomous service agents suite and is billed on a consumption-based model on top of your base license for Dynamics 365 Contact Center.
- After the administrator turns on the feature in the Copilot Service admin center, Customer Intent Agent analyzes your existing support conversations and cases to build an intent library automatically.
- After intents are discovered, you can create a Customer Intent Agent in Copilot Studio. It uses your intent library to ask follow‑up questions, provide knowledge articles, or take actions to resolve customer issues end to end.
Enhancements
- Intent discovery customization: Customize intent discovery by supplying sample utterances, specifying key entities, and defining inclusion criteria to make sure intents align with your business needs.
- Hierarchical playbooks and orchestration: Tailor agent behavior per intent using natural language playbooks with no coding required, supporting nested sub‑intents and conditional logic for complex workflows.
- Expanded channel and escalation support: Support both digital and voice channels via Azure Communication Services, with automatic escalation to the Case Management Agent for structured email follow‑up when needed.
- Action support via custom connectors: Run support actions, such as triggering refunds, updating order statuses, querying inventory systems, and automating non-Microsoft workflows through configurable connectors.
- Quality and monitoring enhancements: Real‑time dashboards highlight KPI deviations and provide intent‑level metrics, enabling targeted adjustments and continuous optimization of agent performance.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Dynamics 365 Contact Center messaging APIs offer support for service-to-service integrations, giving you full control over your customer experience. The APIs are particularly useful for solving business scenarios that cannot be addressed with traditional integration methods. By using messaging APIs, you can avoid the need for client-side libraries, SDKs, or connections from client-side devices. This is beneficial when you want to bring your own managed channel for communication.
Feature Details
Messaging APIs provide a set of RESTful interfaces that allow you to control and manage customer conversations programmatically. They enable actions such as starting and ending conversations and handling various customer interactions within a session.
A webhook subscription allows your services to receive real-time updates about conversation events. For example, you can be notified when an agent sends a message, when a system message is generated, or when an agent closes the conversation.
Key features of messaging APIs include:
- Starting a conversation with an authentication token and options for persistent conversations and context variables.
- Sending customer messages, including attachments and updates to context variables.
- Receiving agent or system messages through webhook subscriptions.
- Checking agent availability in a queue and retrieving queue position and estimated wait time.
Messaging APIs are ideal for scenarios where you require full control over the customer experience. They support extensive customization and are especially suited for environments with strict network and data policies, such as closed network deployments.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Change history | |
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Public preview date updated to May 2025 General availability date moved to Sep 2025 | Mar 19, 2025 |
Business Value
The ability to build and configure rules for a voice agent (IVR) within Power Apps allows business administrators to implement call flow changes dynamically, without modifying the Copilot logic. This in turn leads to drastic time savings, eliminating testing and deployment cycles within Microsoft Copilot Studio.
This feature is particularly beneficial for enterprises looking to make rapid adjustments in response to environmental factors such as natural disasters or power outages, as well as financial shifts like market fluctuations or policy amendments. It empowers administrators to act decisively in various scenarios, ensuring business continuity and customer satisfaction.
Feature Details
Using Power Apps, enterprise customers can leverage Dataverse tables to configure dynamic key values for their Copilot applications. Such examples include store locations, transfer numbers, broadcast messages, and lines of business. Through management of these AI agent rules, business administrators can enhance operational agility and swiftly adapt the voice agents (IVR) flow to their imminent business needs. Using Power Apps circumvents the need for direct modifications to the agent’s logic, which in turn eliminates the time associated with standard testing and deployment procedures.
Customers can set up their Power Apps integration with Copilot Studio in a few simple steps:
- Create and configure your Dataverse table in Power Apps.
- Create an application in Power Apps to support administration of your data.
- Set up an action in Copilot Studio to connect your Dataverse table to your copilot.
Once the customer's application is established, business administrators can directly add, update, and delete key data values and seamlessly publish to the live Copilot environment. The data associated with the Copilot is cached to ensure there is no latency or disruptions to the users.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Voice agents should use selective hold periods when callers need time to retrieve information, similar to human agents. By playing music or promotional prompts during these pauses, the system prevents awkward silences that might suggest disconnection or audio problems caused by background noise. This involves gracefully pausing the conversation while playing music or promotional prompts. This approach ensures a smooth and professional caller experience, reduces escalations, and increases containment.
Feature Details
Administrators can perform the following steps to set up selective hold in Copilot Studio:
- Navigate to the question node's properties under the voice section when designing voice agents in Copilot Studio.
- Toggle the Selective Hold option in the properties section to activate this feature for the specific question node.
- Upload promotional prompts or music files that will play while the caller is in the selective hold state.
- Specify words or phrases such as "I got it" or "Got it" that callers can use to exit the hold state. Until the caller speaks one of these hold words, the music and prompts will continue uninterrupted.
- Configure a timeout limit for the selective hold state, after which the voice agent will automatically prompt the caller. If the caller doesn't respond within the specified timeframe, the voice agent will automatically prompt them.
- Set up multiple reprompts to engage with callers who remain in a hold state for extended periods.
- Combine selective hold with other Copilot Studio features and triggers to create comprehensive interaction flows.
During a call, callers experience continuous music or promotional messages until they indicate readiness with a predefined exit phrase, creating a professional waiting environment without awkward silences.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
SIP X header support extends in-call context transfer beyond the existing 128 character User-to-User (UUI) limit. Organizations can now pass up to five custom SIP X headers per call, each supporting up to 256 characters. This enables more detailed context such as call ID, language preference, or handling instructions to flow between external systems and voice agents (IVR). The result is faster resolutions, reduced repetition, and improved customer experiences.
Feature Details
This feature enhances contextual data exchange between voice agents and external systems in Dynamics 365 Contact Center environments using Direct Routing telephony. It is especially useful for voice agent makers and system integrators who require advanced data-sharing capabilities.
Previously, the SIP User-to-User (UUI) field—with its 128-character limit—was the only method available for passing call context. This update introduces SIP X-Header support, enabling more flexible and scalable context transfer.
The feature offers two key capabilities:
- Receiving SIP X-Headers: Voice agents can access incoming SIP X header values by defining variables that match the header names.
- Sending SIP X-Headers: During external phone number transfers, voice agents can select up to five variables to be passed as SIP X headers.
Technical limitations include:
- Maximum of five SIP X headers per call (for both incoming calls and external transfers).
- Header names limited to 64 characters.
- Header value limited to 256 characters.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Safeguarding sensitive data isn't just a necessity, but a mandate for contact centers. As the custodians of customer trust, contact centers are pioneering the use of innovative methods to protect customer data at every stage—acquisition, transmission, and storage.
- Enhanced customer trust: By employing state-of-the-art methods to protect customer data, we demonstrate our commitment to privacy, thereby enhancing customer trust and loyalty.
- Regulatory compliance: Our platform helps contact centers adhere to industry regulations related to data protection, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties in the voice channel.
- Secure environment: By deterring unauthorized access, we provide a secure environment for agents and supervisors, enabling them to focus on delivering excellent customer service.
Feature Details
Protection of sensitive customer information is a critical requirement for industries with strict compliance and data privacy needs. The sensitive data redaction capability in Copilot Studio enhances security and privacy by allowing AI agent makers to define sensitive variables and protect information assigned to these variables throughout the voice interaction lifecycle.
This feature is applicable to the voice channel and provides the following capabilities:
- Copilot Studio controls: AI agent makers can mark specific variables as "sensitive." Once designated, these variables are automatically excluded from:
- Transcriptions
- Logs
- Recordings
- Any other storage or visibility in the system
These protections apply across various AI Agent components including question nodes and message nodes.
- Service-wide application: The masking rules are enforced consistently across all services that interact with human-to-AI (agent) communication that includes:
- Real-time transcriptions
- Diagnostics logs and database entries
- Call recording services
By enabling automatic exclusion of sensitive data from visibility and storage, this feature strengthens compliance posture, reduces the risk of data leakage, and helps organizations build trust with their customers.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Voice agents today can only recognize one entity per question. Often, scenarios dictate flexibility in choice—for example, performing non-biometric validation whereby either account details (such as an account number) or personal details (last four digits of a Social Security number) will suffice.
Furthermore, additional controls may be required at a given question for a customer. For example, when requesting information, either providing that information, requesting that the system pause to locate that information, or stating that information is not available. This permits the agent designer to route the user accordingly for continued self-service, further disambiguation and/or validation, or escalation.
Feature Details
Multi Entity Identification allows agent designers within Microsoft Copilot Studio to attach more than one entity for recognition onto a question node, providing additional flexibility for customer self-service and leading to higher containment rates. This capability improves customer self-service by recognizing one of several valid inputs provided by a user, such as an account number or partial Social Security number. It also allows designers to offer alternatives when users do not have specific information, avoiding immediate escalation and enabling fallback options like additional questions or logic branches.
During runtime, if multiple entities are attached to a question node, the agent attempts to match the user's input to one of them, whether by voice or text. If multiple entities are detected, the agent matches only the first entity in the list. Designers should ensure prompt wording and follow-up logic account for this behavior. If no match is found, the agent follows the configured reprompt treatment in the question node.
On the Microsoft Copilot Studio authoring canvas, designers must perform the following steps:
- Define and create the entities to capture.
- Create a question node and craft the prompt to the user.
- On the question node:
- Under Identify, select One of Multiple Entities.
- Select + New Entity and then select from the Entity picker.
- Repeat for all applicable entities.
All responses are saved in a variable of type “record” that can be renamed by the author.
This recognition method identifies only one entity per user utterance. If a user input contains more than one valid entity, only the first entity listed in the configuration will be recognized. For example, say a question node uses Multi Entity Identification, where the entities to be recognized are a Tracking Number and Delivery Address. Suppose a user says, “My package to be delivered to 1 Microsoft Way under tracking number 7658641290753147.” The result would be 7658641290753147, the tracking number as it was first in the list.
To access specific information from the record object, subvariables are automatically created based on the possible entities captured by the question node and displayed in dot notation: {recordName}.{entityName}. This is particularly useful in creating conditional branches following the Multi Entity Identification step to route the information captured. We recommend using the Is (not) Blank triage options in the conditional nodes to proceed logically based on what information is received by the user at question time.
The following is a list of known limitations for Multi Entity Identification:
- Dual-tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) input for entity identification is not supported in this modality; however, it may exist for the entity on non-Multi Entity Identification-based question nodes based on the type of entity created.
- Currently, a maximum of five entities can be within the recognition pool on any given question.
- No external entity support.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
High containment within self-service channels is essential for organizations, with recognition accuracy being paramount for voice agents. Constraining speech recognition through defined rules and parameters can achieve higher accuracy, particularly when handling alphanumeric input, lists, and predefined option sets. Historically, voice agents have relied heavily on constrained speech. Providing this capability in Copilot Studio will allow customers to preserve their investment in the authoring, tuning, and use of speech grammars while maintaining the high level of accuracy gained through their implementation.
Feature Details
For voice agents (IVR) and voice applications, constrained grammar-based recognition outperforms traditional semantic-based speech-to-text (STT) AI engines in accuracy, performance, and cost. Grammars following the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification (SRGS) standard are typically written in an XML-based format, GrXML, and processed by the engine, which converts spoken audio (utterances) into text constrained by the grammar's parameters.
Constrained speech recognition is ideal for:
- Recognizing constrained lists such as addresses, stock tickers, zip codes, and department names.
- Alphanumeric string recognition such as tracking numbers, account numbers, confirmation codes, with positional constraints. For example, the first two characters of a member ID start with "AN", "FD", or "NT". Another example of positional constraints is vehicle identification number.
- Alphanumeric or digit recognition with checksums or similar constraints. For example, credit card numbers with Luhn checksums.
- Directed dialog applications requiring specific words or phrases.
Voice Agent Makers must perform the following steps:
- Author GrXML grammar files within a rich text editor of choice that adhere to the [Speech Recognition Grammar Specification] (https://www.w3.org/TR/speech-grammar/) standard.
- After development, upload the grammar into an Azure Storage account.
- In Microsoft Copilot Studio, create an external entity and use the URL of the grammar as the entity title.
During runtime, the voice agent loads the grammar, performs the recognition, and returns the desired result.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Reach your customers through your branded mobile application with our easy-to-integrate mobile messaging experience.
Feature Details
The Native SDKs are a native iOS and Android SDK that enable applications to start, manage, and retrieve customer communications for Dynamics 365 Contact Center. Both SDKs contain two main components:
- A ready-to-brand, fully featured, messaging user interface that developers can integrate into their existing application. The included interface is based on the live chat widget so brands can use the same features and customizations as their web program.
- An optional communication layer, containing all the messaging functions necessary to host a conversation that developers can use directly to support a new or existing fully custom messaging interface. Brands that opt to use the included interface don't need to interact with this layer.
The SDKs are distributed through public repositories similar to the existing Chat SDK for web. To enable communications through the mobile SDK, an admin creates a new chat workstream in the admin center and references the workstream's ID in the code for the mobile application. We recommend push notifications, for which the admin can also configure Google Firebase and Apple Push Notification accounts in the admin center.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
The basic method for deploying the live chat widget uses unique script tags for each workstream, supported by customizations defined in JavaScript. While this gives your site full control over your web engagements, this can be difficult to update and deploy at scale across multiple lines of business, as modification to the program requires web development effort.
Web engagement orchestration addresses this need, enabling a business to deploy a single script tag to all of its pages and then control when and how to engage its customers through business rules configured in the admin center. For a large organization, this can potentially save millions in development costs and allows you to expand your messaging program faster and with confidence.
Feature Details
The web engagement orchestration has two main components:
Single script tag for live chat widget: Use the new script tag that's not tied to any workstream but is instead tied to your organization and line of business. You can use this tag on any portal where you want to support messaging.
Web engagement rules: Use the new page in the admin center to configure the chat widget according to your organization's business rules.
- Take actions:
- Engage customers, either by displaying a chat button or proactively opening the widget.
- Set the look and features for the widget.
- Add custom context to the conversation.
- Run rules conditionally:
- According to where the customer is in your website.
- Based on your operating hours.
- Based on the customer attributes that you provide.
- Publish with confidence: Rules that support versioning and publishing.
- Take actions:
Enabled for:
Business Value
Business Value
Customers require real-time monitoring of system health to investigate issues proactively and ensure operational continuity. By integrating Dynamics 365 Contact Center with Application Insights, organizations can access self-serve information to monitor operational telemetry, troubleshoot issues, and understand the root cause to guide their mitigation plan.
Feature Details
Work item lifecycles will now be available to organizations through Application Insights to monitor and take corrective actions in the event of any runtime issues that might arise. This lifecycle data will help diagnose issues, potentially enabling organizations to quickly put mitigations in place and ensure smooth operations of their contact centers.
Enabled for:
Business Value
Change history | |
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General availability date moved to Feb 2025 | Oct 30, 2024 |
Business Value
Businesses can provide an expanded channel choice to customers by offering WhatsApp through Azure Communication Services as a support channel for customers who prefer to communicate using WhatsApp.
Feature Details
Messaging platforms such as WhatsApp give businesses an opportunity to engage with customers in their own context to provide them with a seamless and personalized customer service experience. The following capabilities are available:
- Administrators can configure the WhatsApp channel powered by Azure Communication Services.
- Customers can reach out to the business through WhatsApp and seek support in an asynchronous manner.
- Agents can use one unified, contextual, and productive interface to engage with customers and resolve their issues.
- Supervisors and managers can access rich reports to run the support center efficiently and effectively.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Change history | |
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General availability date updated to Apr 2025 | Feb 05, 2025 |
Business Value
You can streamline the onboarding process by importing your numbers in bulk, reducing administrative onboarding time, and minimizing the risk of human errors. You can avoid manually entering one phone number at a time.
Feature Details
When integrating existing telephony infrastructure with Dynamics 365 Contact Center through Azure Communication Services direct routing, customers can bulk import their existing phone numbers. A template is generated in the Copilot Service admin center based on the data entered by administrators such as carrier, country, and number type. They can then input their numbers in the template and upload them in bulk.
Once the upload is complete, administrators can view the status of their updated file. After the file is successfully processed, the numbers are ready to use and listed on the Phone Number page.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Service representatives can use AI summaries of closed voice conversations and voicemails to make conversation reviews more efficient.
Feature Details
Key capabilities of this feature include:
- Administrators can enable the application to generate a summary of closed conversations and voicemails.
- On the enhanced Closed conversation page, customer service representatives see an AI-powered conversation summary and insights for closed voice conversations and voicemails.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
This solution enhances compliance by preventing the inadvertent recording of sensitive customer information, addressing regulatory concerns for industries handling payments and Protected Health Information (PHI). By providing an intuitive mechanism for pausing and resuming recordings, it minimizes operational risks and improves customer trust. The web link integration ensures ease of adoption with minimal workflow disruption, empowering agents to securely process transactions while maintaining compliance. Ultimately, this feature strengthens customer relationships and mitigates legal and regulatory risks.
Feature Details
Many industries, including healthcare and finance, require strict compliance with regulations that protect sensitive customer information, such as payment details and Protected Health Information. Contact centers and customer service operations must ensure that this data is neither recorded nor transcribed—while still maintaining seamless customer interactions.
The Pause and Resume Recording and Transcription API enables businesses to temporarily stop and restart call recordings and transcriptions, providing a compliant and secure way to manage sensitive interactions. This ensures adherence to industry regulations while preserving customer trust and operational efficiency.
The Pause and Resume Recording and Transcription API provides the following key capabilities:
- API-based controls: Programmatically pause and resume call recordings and transcriptions.
- Web link integration: Allow agents to manage recording and transcription settings directly within their workflows.
- Visual notifications: Provide real-time visual alerts to agents when recording or transcription is paused or resumed.
- Regulatory compliance: Support legal and industry requirements for handling sensitive data.
- Operational efficiency: Minimize compliance risks without disrupting customer service operations.
By leveraging this API, businesses can ensure secure and compliant interactions, enhance customer trust, and streamline agent workflows, all while mitigating legal and regulatory risks.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Enhance containment through accurate intent prediction and information extraction, customized Natural Language Understanding (NLU) models tailored to the organization’s language, and faster deployment with minimal training time. It offers cost savings by providing NLU customs support at no additional cost for Dynamics 365 customers. Additionally, seamless integration with Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Copilot Studio allows businesses to easily train Copilot agents with custom data, improving customer interactions for a conversational experience.
Feature Details
With Copilot Studio, administrators can now create custom Natural Language Understanding models to predict the intent for incoming calls and extract critical information. This integration allows developers to upload complex, organization-specific NLU models to make sure the caller's intent is interpreted accurately, reflecting the unique jargon and vocabulary of the business.
The solution enables developers to design a tailored ontology for their domain, defining intents, entities, and the relationships between them by adding annotated data. They can then build training sets with annotated samples based on this ontology and use them to train and test their language models.
Import of large volumes of training data is streamlined to minimize training time, accelerating the development process. Custom NLU support is included at no extra cost for customers with a Dynamics 365 license.
After your Copilot agent is linked with Dynamics 365 Contact Center, you can select Microsoft Custom NLU Plus from the Language Understanding tab under Settings in Copilot Studio. You can then train your Copilot agent using the data you provide to the custom NLU.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
Customer service representatives can use the enhanced sessions management and live conversation details in Dynamics 365 Contact Center—an embedded experience to view their conversations more comprehensively and pick the conversations they would like to work on. It also helps service representatives be fully informed with live details that are attached to the conversation, enabling them to provide better customer assistance.
Feature Details
The embedded contact center experience will now include conversation details, sign-out, sessions management, pick mode, and voicemail capabilities. Service representatives can perform the following actions in the embedded experience:
- Assign conversations to themselves using the pick mode, adding more work items to their workload, along with sessions management.
- See customer and conversation details when conversing with customers, enabling them to view the holistic picture in real time.
- See voicemail and other async channels.
- Sign out of the embedded app.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
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Business Value
Businesses can set up automatic actions on messaging conversations with time-based SLAs to improve CSAT and boost representatives' productivity.
Feature Details
To boost agent productivity, administrators can configure the following capabilities for conversations that come through the asynchronous messaging channels. In the Dynamics 365 Contact Center admin center, under Productivity, the Timeout rules option can be used to enable the following actions based on business service-level agreements:
- Send an automatic reply to a customer to engage them again if they're unresponsive after a certain period.
- Close conversations automatically after the configured idle time that's indicated by no customer responses, so the representative's capacity is released to help other customers in the queue.
- Send follow-up messages to customers to remind them to connect back to make progress on their support conversations.
- Reduce average handling time for service representatives.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Change history | |
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General availability date moved to Jan 2025 | Oct 30, 2024 |
Business Value
The intent-based consult capability powered by Copilot streamlines customer service workflows by intelligently recommending the most appropriate workgroup or queue. This enhancement delivers significant business value by minimizing customer consultations between departments and decreasing average handling time. Service representatives benefit from AI-assisted routing recommendations that leverage the intent knowledge base to make accurate consult decisions. This intelligent routing capability drives operational efficiency while ensuring that customers receive timely assistance from the most qualified lines of business.
Feature Details
This feature is available when administrators turn on Customer Intent Agent and configure intent-based routing in Copilot Service admin center.
Customer service representatives can then use Copilot-powered intent suggestions to consult with the correct workgroup or queue. By using intent's knowledge base, Copilot can effectively use consult for conversations in the line of business that's most appropriate and makes the most sense.
Enabled for:
Business Value
Business Value
By introducing the search capability, admins are saved from the cumbersome activity of scrolling through thousands of numbers in an organization.
Feature Details
The search functionality will be made available at the upper right of the phone number configuration page. Administrators no longer need to use the Ctrl+F combination of shortcut keys that previously allowed them to search on the displayed numbers only. Now, with the search functionality, administrators can search through the entire database of phone numbers enabled for their organization.
Enabled for:
Business Value
Business Value
The intent-based transfer capability powered by Copilot streamlines customer service workflows by intelligently recommending the most appropriate workgroup or queue for conversation transfers. This enhancement delivers significant business value by reducing misrouted conversations, minimizing customer transfers between departments, and decreasing average handle time. Service representatives benefit from AI-assisted routing recommendations that leverage the intent knowledge base to make accurate transfer decisions while maintaining full control through manual override options. This intelligent routing capability ultimately drives operational efficiency while ensuring customers receive timely assistance from the most qualified representatives.
Feature Details
Customer service representatives can now use Copilot-powered intent suggestions to transfer conversations to the appropriate workgroup or queue. Leveraging the intent’s knowledge base, Copilot effectively routes conversations to the correct line of business. If the suggested intent or user group is incorrect, representatives can override the selection and manually transfer the conversation to a workgroup or queue of their choice.
Enabled for:
Business Value
Business Value
Traditional customer feedback management can take a long time, sometimes weeks, to close the loop with action on feedback provided. Different tools are used to capture customer feedback across different channels within your contact center. With AI, you have an opportunity to enable real-time feedback, with automated and personalized feedback loops to help unlock immense business values. This feature unifies the process of configuring the surveys across channels while using the generative AI capabilities of Copilot Studio agents.
Feature Details
In Copilot Service admin center, administrators can configure feedback surveys using Copilot agents with the following capabilities:
- Use Copilot agents to gather customer feedback and configure contextual actions, depending on the feedback.
- Unify and centralize the process of configuring surveys across voice, messaging, email, and custom channels.
- Use predefined templates like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Survey and Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey to create surveys.
- Allow supervisors to view and review feedback summarized into actionable insights.
Enabled for:
Business Value
Business Value
Desktop companion application for Dynamics 365 Contact Center delivers enhanced reliability for voice conversations by maintaining call connections even when the browser app refreshes or crashes. This standalone solution significantly reduces connection latency while providing valuable visibility into client-side resource consumption and device troubleshooting capabilities.
By ensuring uninterrupted communication between customers and service representatives regardless of browser performance issues, organizations benefit from improved call completion rates, higher customer satisfaction, and increased agent productivity. The application eliminates the frustration of dropped calls during critical service interactions, protects against audio loss during technical disruptions, and helps contact centers maintain consistent service quality even under challenging technical conditions.
Feature Details
Administrators can download and install the Desktop companion application on a customer service representative's desktop.
Customer service representatives can use this application to do the following:
- Provide increased latency and reliability to connect and maintain voice conversations respectively.
- Keep a call ongoing even when the browser app refreshes or crashes, ensuring customer and representatives are always connected and engaged.
- Mute and end calls, switch their speaker settings. The conversation continues to be recorded and transcribed (if the feature is turned on for the web version) to ensure continuity.
The client application can be minimized on the representative's screen when the web browser experience works optimally to ensure no distraction.
Enabled for:
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Business Value
The disposition codes help service representatives to quickly jot down the outcome of calls and live chats and help in reporting and tracking interactions. These codes are customizable by the administrators to suit the business needs.
Feature Details
Disposition codes allow customer service representatives to assign codes to conversations to indicate the outcome of calls or chats. Administrators can enable the feature and enter disposition codes that are quickly searchable by the representatives. The service representative will be able to add disposition codes to an active conversation or a conversation that's being wrapped up. After the conversations end, the disposition codes can be viewed for the closed conversation available through the Inbox.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
The enhancements of disposition codes help service representatives save time and resources in indicating how the call ended. Service representatives don't need to take their own notes to indicate the outcome of the call but can choose from a predetermined list while supervisors can view these codes in the closed conversation summary form to aggregate data on how calls are going for their representatives.
Feature Details
Disposition code enhancements are administrator-enabled at both global and workstream levels. The global level settings:
- Enable disposition codes for the entire organization.
- Add, edit, and delete disposition codes and associate disposition codes with categories and workstreams.
- Allow disposition codes to be required before closing the conversation.
- Enable a maximum number of disposition codes allowed per conversation.
At a workstream level, admins can add workstream-specific codes and configure the need for a disposition code to close the conversation.
Service representatives will have the ability to choose a category that will then filter the available disposition codes. Further, if the administrator has enabled a maximum number of disposition codes allowed, service representatives will see the number displayed in the disposition code area.
Enabled for:
- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
Business Value
Business Value
The enhancements in outbound dialing significantly reduce latency as representatives can now place and connect an outbound call more quickly than before. Adherence to the latest UI standards ensures our product has smooth and intuitive user flow so that customer service representatives can focus their energy on helping customers.
Feature Details
This feature release will significantly reduce latency as service representatives no longer will need to wait for a session to be created before they can place an outbound call. You'll see marked improvements in how quickly your service representatives get connected to a customer. The latest UI updates make sure that representatives have all the information about the customer in one easy-to-find place that lends itself to an intuitive user flow.
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Business Value
The intent-based consult capability powered by Copilot streamlines customer service workflows by intelligently recommending the most appropriate user for conversation consults. This enhancement delivers significant business value by reducing customer consults to the wrong user and decreasing average handling time. Service representatives benefit from AI-assisted routing recommendations that leverage the intent knowledge base to make accurate consult decisions. This intelligent routing capability drives operational efficiency while ensuring customers receive timely assistance from the most qualified representatives.
Feature Details
This feature is available when administrators turn on Customer Intent Agent and configure intent-based routing in Copilot Service admin center.
After an administrator enables it, customer service representatives can use Copilot-powered intent suggestions to consult with another representative. Users can now select from both queues and user groups when they start the consultation process. Using intent's knowledge base, Copilot can effectively help the service representative choose the right user to consult with.
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The intent-based transfer capability powered by Copilot streamlines customer service workflows by intelligently recommending the most appropriate user for conversation transfers. This enhancement delivers significant business value by reducing misrouted conversations and decreasing average handling time. Service representatives benefit from AI-assisted routing recommendations that leverage the intent knowledge base to make accurate transfer decisions. This intelligent routing capability drives operational efficiency while ensuring customers receive timely assistance from the most qualified representatives.
Feature Details
This feature is available when administrators turn on Customer Intent Agent and configure intent-based routing in Copilot Service admin center.
Customer service representatives can then use Copilot-powered intent suggestions to transfer conversations to the most appropriate representative. Service representatives can select from both queues and user groups when they start the transfer process. Using intent's knowledge base, Copilot can effectively route conversations to the right user.
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With this feature release, we expect an increase in performance and saved time when service representatives change their presence status with a less cumbersome process.
Feature Details
Service representatives can now update their presence with one click as opposed to the more than four-clicks process they had to go through previously. Service representatives will spend less time doing a basic task, thereby allowing them to help customers more easily and efficiently. Furthermore, the presence icon loads faster upon update, allowing for a faster rendition of an accurate representation of the service representative's presence status.
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Business Value
Currently, analytics aren't available to track direct callback activity, and the out-of-the-box analytics categorizes voicemails as abandoned conversations. Supervisors lack insights into conversations that go through overflows leading up to voicemails or callbacks. Now, analytics for voicemails and direct callback actions for overflows will give supervisors insights into these overflow actions via custom reporting and help them plan efficiently.
Feature Details
The new metrics supported via improved data model for overflow actions reporting help in the following ways:
Voicemails:
- Voicemail left during business hours vs. outside-of-business hours.
- Voicemail left for individual or group.
- Filter out empty voicemails and count them as abandoned calls.
Direct callback and general overflow actions:
- List conversations with overflow action of any type that triggered direct callback.
- Identify the overflow condition that's triggered, before work items are queued, when work items are queued, or out of operation hours.
- Identify the time the overflow action was triggered.
- Identify whether the customer accepted the callback option and the time it was accepted.
- Identify when callback was initiated by the system.
- Identify if and when the callback notification was accepted by a service representative.
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Business Value
Allow routing of calls from Teams phone numbers to Dynamics 365 Contact Center and help businesses integrate their existing solutions for cost efficiency.
Feature Details
Some of the key features that aim to simplify solution deployment:
- Eliminating the need to configure a new phone system for customers who already have a Teams phone system or plan to use it.
- Taking advantage of the wide geographic availability of Teams phone numbers, like calling plans, direct routing, and operator connect. The Teams calling plans are available in 36 countries and regions, operator connect is available in 96 countries and regions, and Teams direct routing is available globally.
- Removing the need for customers to bring their own Azure Communication Services resource and simplifying onboarding and pricing.
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Business Value
By enabling direct transfer to service representatives, businesses can streamline conversation handling processes and improve overall efficiency. This feature allows service representatives to directly transfer conversations to the appropriate representative when they know the right person to handle the conversation. This leads to faster resolution times, reduced wait times for customers, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Also, resource allocation is optimized by directing conversations to the most suitable representative without delays.
Feature Details
The key capabilities of direct transfer of conversations are as follows:
- Administrators can enable direct transfer of conversations.
- Service representatives can transfer conversations to other representatives within their queue or other queues without the need to consult first.
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Often, businesses require common rules across various lines of business queues and workstreams. To configure these common rules, administrators must go through each queue and manually create a ruleset and add rules. A repeat of this step for each queue, which can be in the hundreds, takes long hours to complete. A template for the ruleset simplifies the process by allowing administrators to create templates for common routing rulesets and apply them in queues and workstreams, thus saving hours of work.
Feature Details
Create templated rulesets for routing configurations like prioritization, assignment, and work classification rulesets. Apply these ruleset templates when you create prioritization, assignment, and work classification rulesets in a queue or workstream. In one go, administrators can manage templated ruleset configurations globally from one place and publish updates to all queues and workstreams where the ruleset is applied.
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Organizations can route messaging conversations by first prioritizing agents with the fewest active conversations. Among agents with the same conversation count, routing further considers those who have been least active for the longest duration. This two-level ordering ensures better utilization of representatives, improved customer satisfaction, and higher agent engagement by allowing sufficient gap between conversations.
Feature Details
With this feature, administrators will be able to:
- Configure their messaging queues to use ‘least active’ assignment method that'll assign work items to the customer support representative who has been least active for the longest period.
- Configure their custom assignment methods to sort the matching Customer support representative in the order of their ‘least active’ times on the messaging channel.
For representatives working on both voice and messaging queues, "least active" time calculation will be across voice and messaging conversations.
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By using dynamic bookings that can change frequently, unified routing ensures that tasks such as calls and chats can be assigned to service representatives only when they're available. With this, the routing system makes sure that it adheres to the workforce management schedules. This boosts productivity and satisfaction because representatives don't miss breaks or aren't interrupted during training, and SLAs are honored, which leads to higher customer satisfaction.
Feature Details
The key capabilities of this feature are as follows:
- Administrators can enable unified routing to support assignment of conversations based on shift bookings created in Dynamics 365 or imported from non-Microsoft workforce management solutions.
- Service representatives will be assigned conversations for the time periods only when they are scheduled for "working" type bookings. They won't receive assignments during breaks and training sessions and won't need to manually reset their presence to avoid assignments.
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Change history | |
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General availability date moved to May 2025 | May 02, 2025 |
Business Value
Accurate forecasting can help your business ensure the right staffing levels and optimize service operations. With forecast scenarios, you can explore different possibilities based on historical data and trends. Whether you’re planning weeks or months ahead, this feature can help you make data-driven decisions, reduce staffing inefficiencies, and maintain service level targets.
Feature Details
Accurate forecasting is essential for efficient workforce planning. This feature enables you to predict case and conversation volumes and service representative demand based on historical trends.
- Long term forecast: Predict conversation and case volumes at a daily level for up to six months.
- Short term forecast: Generate 15-minute interval forecasts for up to six weeks to manage real-time demand fluctuations.
- Scenario forecasting: Model different business scenarios to assess their impact on workload and staffing.
- Data slicing: Break down forecasted data by channels and queues for more granular insights.
- Import external data: Incorporate historical data from external systems via file import to enhance forecast accuracy.
- Export forecasts: Download forecast data into spreadsheets for further analysis.
- Visualize trends: View daily, weekly, and monthly forecast trends using interactive charts.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app. Then, you can create forecast scenarios based on your operational needs.
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Business Value
Effective shift planning is key to maintaining efficient support operations. With a structured shift plan, you can ensure that the service representatives with the necessary skills are available at the right time to meet forecasted demand. By defining activities like work, breaks, and training, businesses can improve workforce productivity while maintaining operational efficiency.
Feature Details
A shift plan can help businesses define shift hours, required activities, and staffing needs to ensure that the right service representatives are available at the right times. With a structured shift plan, you can align workforce availability with forecasted demand, which helps improve operational efficiency and service quality.
Key features include:
- Required staff: Align shift staffing with the capacity plan to ensure that the right number of service representatives are scheduled based on forecasted demand.
- Assign skills: Ensure that the right service representatives with the necessary skills are scheduled for each shift.
- Queue coverage: Define the queues that the shift plan supports to maintain service consistency.
- Shift activities: Specify activities such as work, training, breaks, and lunch to structure shifts effectively.
- Calendar: Set operational parameters, including shift days, times, and time zones, for better organization.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app. Then, you can configure shift plans based on your operational needs.
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The Time-Off Request feature helps streamline the leave management process for service representatives and supervisors. Representatives can submit their leave requests directly from the My Schedule view or Request Management, providing an easy and intuitive experience. Managers and schedulers benefit from efficient workflows, as they are notified when new requests are submitted and when requests are approved. This ensures proper staffing while accommodating representatives' time-off needs, which helps improve operational efficiency and representative satisfaction.
Feature Details
The Time-Off Request feature helps service representatives, supervisors, and schedulers handle leave requests in a more efficient and organized manner.
Key features include:
For service representatives:
- Submit time-off requests directly from the My Schedule view or Request Management.
- View approved time-off visually on the My Schedule calendar.
For supervisors:
- Receive notifications of new time-off requests via email or in-app alerts.
- Review and manage time-off requests in the Request Management view.
For schedulers:
- Stay informed with notifications when time-off is approved.
- View agents' time-off within the schedule view, allowing for informed scheduling decisions.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app.
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The Real-Time Adherence Tracker enables supervisors to continuously monitor service representatives' adherence to their schedules, ensuring that representatives are on track to meet performance targets. By providing immediate visibility into deviations from scheduled activities, supervisors can take timely corrective actions, resulting in enhanced productivity, better resource management, and improved compliance.
Feature Details
The Real-Time Adherence Tracker offers comprehensive monitoring and tracking of service representatives' adherence to their scheduled activities.
Key features include:
- Metrics: Track adherence percentage, total scheduled time, time in current state, and time out of adherence.
- Visual Charts: Display adherence trends, compare scheduled versus actual activity, and show time spent in different channels.
To enable this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app.
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- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
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Business Value
Shift bidding empowers service representatives to choose shifts that align with their preferences and availability, leading to improved satisfaction and retention. By participating in bidding, service representatives gain more flexibility and control over their work schedules. Schedulers can easily manage and release shifts for bidding, which helps streamline the process while ensuring adequate coverage based on your business needs.
Feature Details
Shift bidding allows your service representatives to participate in selecting their shifts through a bidding process.
Key features include:
- Bid for shifts: Service representatives can view available shifts and submit bids directly from the My Schedule view or Request Management.
- Select preferred shifts: Representatives can place bids based on their preferred working hours, choosing shifts that fit their personal schedules.
- Shift release for bidding: Schedulers can release shift plans for bidding, which gives service representatives the opportunity to select the shifts they prefer.
- Bidding management: Schedulers can review and manage shift bidding requests within the shift plan or Request Management view to ensure coverage is maintained.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app.
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Shift swapping allows service representatives to take control of their schedules while maintaining the necessary staffing levels. It enhances flexibility by enabling representatives to trade shifts directly with colleagues or open the request to the broader team. Supervisors retain oversight, ensuring smooth operations with minimal disruption to team schedules.
Feature Details
Shift swapping simplifies shift adjustments by allowing service representatives to exchange shifts directly within the system.
Key features include the following:
- Submit swap requests: Service representatives can submit shift swap requests from the My Schedule view or via Request Management.
- 1:1 swap or public request: Representatives can swap shifts with a colleague on a 1:1 basis or post their swap request publicly for any team member to pick up.
- Notifications: Both service representatives and supervisors are notified via email or in-app alerts when a swap request is either accepted or rejected.
- Supervisor oversight: Supervisors are notified when swap requests are made and can review and approve or decline them to ensure appropriate coverage and scheduling alignment.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app.
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Scheduling helps ensure that service representatives are efficiently assigned to shifts based on demand and availability. With both manual and automatic scheduling options, you can easily manage staffing for different shifts and ensure that your contact center is always properly staffed. This flexibility helps you meet the forecasted demand, reduce gaps in coverage, and enhance the overall operational efficiency. You can also ensure continuous service by strategically distributing breaks, and avoiding staffing shortages during peak times.
Feature Details
Scheduling allows businesses to assign service representatives to shift plans efficiently and helps ensure proper coverage to meet operational requirements. With both manual and automated options, you can streamline scheduling while maintaining flexibility.
Key features include:
- Manual scheduling: Assign service representatives to shifts individually based on operational needs.
- Automatic scheduling: Generate schedules automatically with a single click, based on scheduling constraints.
- Break distribution: Schedule breaks across service representatives to help ensure continuous coverage during shifts.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app. Then, you can configure scheduling based on your workforce requirements.
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- The author created this article with assistance from AI. Learn more
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Business Value
Ensuring you have the right number of representatives available at the right time is critical for delivering exceptional customer service while optimizing costs. With capacity planning, you can forecast staffing requirements based on historical and expected demand. This feature helps you maintain service levels without over- or under-staffing.
You can model different demand scenarios based on forecasted volumes and break down staffing needs by channel and queue. Whether you're planning for the next few weeks or months ahead, capacity planning provides the visibility and flexibility needed to help you make informed staffing decisions.
Feature Details
Capacity planning enables you to forecast staffing needs at different levels of granularity, helping you align workforce capacity with service demand.
Short-term planning: Forecast staffing needs in 15-minute intervals for up to six weeks, allowing real-time adjustments. Long-term planning: Plan daily staffing requirements for up to six months to support strategic workforce decisions. Scenario analysis: Model different workload scenarios to assess the impact of changes in demand. Data slicing: View staffing projections by specific channels and queues for deeper insights.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app, and then enable the feature in the Customer Service admin center. Then, your business can create capacity plans based on your operational needs.
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The My Schedule calendar gives customer service representatives a clear and accessible view of their shifts, time off, and other schedule-related details. The tool empowers service representatives to manage their time efficiently, whether they're reviewing upcoming shifts, requesting time off, or viewing their schedule in different formats. The flexibility of day, week, month, and agenda views ensures that representatives can access their schedules in the format that works best for them. Having a calendar view can help reduce scheduling conflicts.
Feature Details
The My Schedule calendar provides service representatives with a variety of views to help them better manage their shifts and time off.
Key features include:
- Day view: Allows service representatives to see their shifts and activities scheduled for the current day.
- Week view: Displays the entire week’s shifts, which can help representatives plan and manage their time effectively.
- Month view: Provides a high-level overview of the month's schedule, including shifts and time-off requests.
- Agenda view: Displays a list of scheduled shifts and activities for easy viewing of upcoming tasks.
To activate this feature, your administrator must first install the Workforce Management for Customer Service package in the Power Platform admin center app.