When Microsoft invested a whopping $10 billion in OpenAI, the creators of the popular ChatGPT, they knew what they were doing with every penny. The first step they took on the AI path was to create their new chatbot for their Bing search engine, which allows them to solve queries on a variety of topics and with different conversational tones.
Now, Microsoft is reportedly focusing more on enterprises with Copilot, an AI powered by OpenAI technology and developed through Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft’s service that provides access to the OpenAI API tailored for enterprises.
TechCrunch was able to interview Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s vice president of enterprise applications and platforms, who described the integration of this new AI into Dynamics 365, its family of business applications, as the next logical step in Microsoft’s path to automation.
Depending on the application being used, Copilot will have different functions to suit the needs of the business. In Dynamics 365 Sales and Viva Sales, Copilot can help write email responses to customers and create an email summary of a Teams meeting in Outlook.
On the other hand, in Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Copilot can write “contextual responses” to customer inquiries via chat or email and provide an “interactive chat experience” to customer service agents based on information extracted from databases and case histories.
In the case of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Marketing, thanks to Copilot, marketers can receive suggestions on customer segments they might not have previously considered and create target segments by describing the segment in their own words. Similarly, Copilot will be able to suggest email campaign ideas from existing company emails or from various online sources.
In addition, Copilot in Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft’s business management system, will streamline the creation of e-commerce product listings. According to Lamanna, Copilot can generate product attributes such as color, material and size with descriptions that can be customized by adjusting aspects such as tone of voice, format and length.
Finally, Copilot in Microsoft Supply Chain Center can proactively flag issues that could affect supply chain processes, such as weather, financials and geography. In this way, supply chain planners can choose to have Copilot automatically compose an email to alert affected partners.
According to Lamanna, help with processes as simple as composing emails, automated thanks to Copilot, can lead to significant productivity gains. “According to our recent survey on business trends, 9 out of 10 workers expect to use AI to reduce repetitive tasks in their jobs. AI-powered assistants are now early bets for enterprise applications.”
Copilot will be included in Dynamic 365 licenses completely free of charge, according to Microsoft. The preview of its features will be available on March 6, although it is unknown when it will be generally released.
