AI + CX

Your guide to marketing, sales and

service transformation

EBook
Designed for accessibility
 2

Contents
Introduction / Chapter 5 /
The AI imperative 03 How AI helped simplify
Microsoft sellers’ work 14
Chapter 1 /
AI + marketing 05 Chapter 6 /
How to choose the right
Chapter 2 / AI solution 16
AI + sales 07
Conclusion /
Chapter 3 / Use AI to elevate
AI + service 09 customer experiences 19

Who is this for?

Chapter 4 /
Enterprise decision makers (including CEOs and chief revenue officers) looking
for strategic guidance on how new AI technology might help their marketing, How Microsoft used AI to
sales and service teams improve customer experiences. help support customers 12
Introduction 3

The AI imperative Definitions

People using AI for work isn’t some far-off experience (CX) is at the centre of that challenge. empowering you to streamline operations, AI
future state. Staying competitive today requires Meet it head-on by bringing AI capabilities into enhance customer engagement and achieve
Artificial intelligence – technology that
learning about and adopting AI-powered tools every customer interaction. sustainable growth.
gives computers the human-like abilities
that help make work easier and more effective
of hearing, seeing, reasoning and learning.
for people across your organisation. Large language models, powerful analytics, We hope this eBook gives you confidence
generative AI, automated workflows, on- to explore, evaluate and adopt AI-powered
Large language models
Plus, to remain relevant in your customers’ the-fly content creation – the transformative solutions and helps you understand how to
eyes – and foster deep loyalty – it’s up to you potential of AI technologies to reshape CX cultivate a culture of continuous innovation Models that mimic the way humans
to raise the bar on how you attract, sell to and is immeasurable. The newest AI features are within your CX systems. communicate by learning patterns
support them, day in and day out. Customer more accessible, intuitive and helpful than ever, and relationships in a language.

Generative AI

AI technology helps your entire AI that creates something new out

business engage customers of the patterns and structures that it’s
learned, including pictures, music, code
and product designs.
Sales teams can use AI to analyse Marketing teams can get help from AI Service teams can use AI – every
data, discover leads and proactively to tweak campaigns and create eye- chance they get – to deliver
engage customers with offers and catching content, based on customer personalised experiences that build
recommendations they didn’t realise data, that increases engagement. loyalty and drive revenue.
they needed.
 4

“By 2025, 70 of %

enterprises will have

operationalised AI
70
% architectures due to
the rapid maturity
of AI orchestration
platforms.”1

¹ Gartner®, Become an AI-First Organisation: 5 Critical AI Adoption Phases, Svetlana Sicular, Bern Elliot, 11 October 2023.
Graphic created by Microsoft basis Gartner stat. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc.
and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1

AI + marketing
Chapter 1 / AI + marketing 6

Marketing momentum Your marketing teams can use AI to:

• Personalise at scale. AI-powered analytics

starts with a big idea, Use AI-powered analytics to sort through
often sparked by a single huge datasets and help tailor messages that

30 %
redefine your brand experience and make
data point or insight. your customers feel seen and heard.
How it works:

Connects all your customer data

The result: A campaign • Optimise campaigns.
to identify real-time insights about
Spend your marketing dollars most
that builds your brand efficiently by deploying predictive analytics
marketing campaign performance.

and solidifies your to help analyse historical market trends and

suggest data-driven campaigns that lead to
How it helps marketing teams:

business’ position in measurable impact. Leads to stronger, more informed

“Outbound marketing messages decisions about where your marketing
customers’ minds. • Co-produce content. from large organisations will be budget will drive the most impact.
Get help from generative AI tools to develop personalised using generative AI tools
compelling, targeted copy that resonates by 2025, up from less than 2% in 2022.”2
Using AI-powered tools and platforms,
with your audiences.
marketers can get to thinking big faster
and meet measurable marketing goals more
efficiently. They can optimise resources, lean
into data-driven trends and engage customers
around the clock with content that turns heads
and drives sales.

2
Gartner®, Emerging Tech: Top Use Cases for Generative AI, Anushree Verma, Vibja Chitkara, 21 July 2023.
Graphic created by Microsoft basis Gartner stat. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc.
and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2

AI + sales
 Chapter 2 / AI + sales 8

Strong insights spur Your sales teams can use AI to:

Predictive stronger sales. When • Close the deal.

Help your sellers stay focused and primed
intelligence your sellers have an AI for productivity using AI-powered pipeline
prioritisation, content generation and
assistant to help drive automated data capture.
How it works: their productivity, elevate • Personalise customer relationships.
Set up sellers to tailor interactions using
Uses AI to analyse sales and market
trends that pinpoint approaches to
key customer intelligence AI-generated insights and recommendations
engaging a specific customer or set and offer next steps, their to engage customers and improve their
experiences.
of customers proactively.
next win always feels a bit • Guide sales teams.
How it helps sales teams:
closer at hand. Empower sellers to improve their
Drives customer satisfaction by performance and scale best practices
anticipating their needs so sellers using manager insights, sales sequence
The latest AI features in sales solutions reshape
stay ahead. automation and predictive forecasting.
processes and empower sellers to be more
proactive and effective, leading to better Expected reduction in time spent
leads, more engaged customers and more prospecting and customer-meeting prep
efficient sellers. by B2B sales organisations by 2026, using
generative AI-embedded sales technologies.3

3
Gartner®, Multidimensional CRM: How GenAI Will Revolutionise Sales Force Automation Platforms, Adnan Zijadic, 13 July 2023.
Graphic created by Microsoft basis Gartner stat. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 3

AI + service
 Chapter 3 / AI + service 10

The number of ways customers with automated self-service options While AI helps create endless opportunities
AI-powered that seamlessly transition into assisted service to keep customers satisfied, your field service
customer loyalty can be from agents and field technicians. team can also use it to:
self-service
won (and lost) is growing Your service teams can use AI to: • Boost frontline productivity.
exponentially. AI can help • Deliver more empathetic
Enable technicians to quickly create
summaries of key work order information
service experiences.
How it works:
service teams deliver Reduce training time while helping agents
while using natural language to update
Monitors, routes and resolves less- progress and complete tasks.
complex cases on your digital channels exceptional experiences in understand customers and their issues
faster, enabling your service teams to focus • Streamline work order management.
around the clock.
person, online, on mobile on personalising interactions and building Create and schedule work orders in

How it helps service teams: devices, alongside agents relationships with customers. Outlook and get scheduling suggestions
in Microsoft Teams.
• Resolve issues quicker.
Handles the most repetitive cases, which and frontline workers, Gather relevant information across • Save steps to enhance efficiency.
guards against burnout and lets them
focus on taking care of customers that through contact centres your organisation’s knowledge sources
faster to quickly respond and resolve
Get intelligent recaps of important details
about status, priority and booked resources
need their skills most.
and across digital channels. customers’ inquiries. from a work order – without pulling up the
work order.
• Find productivity improvements.
By giving your customer service teams access to Identify how AI affects key support metrics,
AI, you’re setting them up to serve customers and then convert those findings into
wherever they are, identify the best agent actionable strategies that enhance your
or technician for each request and empower service teams’ performance.
 11

38 % Surveyed leaders who see improving

customer experience and retention as the
primary purpose of initiatives to deploy
applications trained on language models.4

79 % Surveyed leaders who believe knowledge

management and insight are extremely
or very important to achieving their
organisation’s goals for 2023.5

4
Gartner®, How Generative AI Can Help Meet Customer Experience Expectations, Leah Leachman, 3 August 2023.
Graphic created by Microsoft basis Gartner stat. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in
the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

5
Gartner®, How Generative AI Impacts Knowledge Management, Haritha Khandabattu, Stephen Emmott, Darin Stewart, 29 November 2023.
Graphic created by Microsoft basis Gartner stat. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in
the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 4

How Microsoft
used AI to help
support customers
 Chapter 4 / How Microsoft used AI to help support customers 13

“Copilot provides Microsoft has one of Now, the support team uses the generative
AI capabilities of Microsoft Copilot to better
the largest customer understand and engage customers while

us the support to
avoiding redundancies and working faster.
support teams in the
world, comprising tens Using a single solution simplifies customer
support for service agents, enabling them

offer the customer

of thousands of service to quickly access information without
repeatedly switching between multiple
agents. To help them windows and tools. Plus, Copilot helps them

speed up resolutions and

understanding while
troubleshoot customer issues by suggesting
next steps and important information that
increase collaboration, keeps every conversation flowing. And it
didn’t take long to see the impact that has
Microsoft replaced
also sorting out their
on the team’s performance – Microsoft

16 different case subsequently reported a 31% increase in

first-call resolution. Although generative
management systems AI can’t replace human agents, Copilot offers

technical problems.”
guidance that empowers the Microsoft
and over 500 individual customer support team to connect with

tools with Dynamics 365 customers on a deeper level.

Customer Service.

Ric Todd
Director of Support Strategy, Microsoft
Chapter 5

How AI helped
simplify Microsoft
sellers’ work
Chapter 5 / How AI helped simplify Microsoft sellers’ work 15

Like most other sales

“[Microsoft Copilot
and increasing the amount of tech that IT
was managing.
organisations, Microsoft

for Sales] saves

Microsoft turned to its own next-generation
sales teams have many AI and automation technology and rolled

responsibilities. To help out Microsoft Copilot for Sales to 35,000

employees. Now, Copilot helps Microsoft

time, cuts down on

reach more than 119,000 sellers prepare for meetings, write emails
and update their customer and account
accounts worldwide, information without switching between

redundant work
sellers needed to spend different solutions – focusing their efforts
and helping them close more deals.
less time on tedious tasks
The sellers dove in, most often using Copilot
and more time focusing
and lets our team
to generate email summaries and adjust

on their customers. CRM records within Outlook. And the results

were immediate. Among Microsoft sellers
using Copilot for Sales surveyed, 83% said it

work to their fullest”

But they were often stalled by admin duties makes them more productive6 and 67% spent
like switching between as many as 40 tools more time with customers thanks to Copilot
per day to capture and update account for Sales.6
information – wasting time, causing stress

Judson Althoff
6
Microsoft-conducted study, November 2023. Study based on sellers who use Microsoft Copilot for Sales at least weekly.
Deployed solution does not include Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft
Chapter 6

How to choose the

right AI solution
 Chapter 6 / How to choose the right AI solution 17

Selecting which AI-powered • Easy to learn. prospects are most likely to convert and
Definitions People are more likely to embrace new get recommendations on how to best move
CX solution to use is just as technology if they can figure it out quickly. each deal forward.
AI is no different. For example, features that
important as deciding to use let call centre agents quickly access customer
• Designed to make life easier.
AI is a tool to amplify human ingenuity and
Responsible AI
one in the first place. Here data using conversational language minimise
onboarding time and boost satisfaction.
lighten people’s workloads. It should always
A human-centred approach achieved be viewed as a tool to support CX – not
through research-driven best practices. are some key considerations • Easy to access. provide the complete experience – and any
The goal is to create trustworthy
artificial intelligence systems that
when selecting a solution, Nothing seeds frustration quite like
disjointed tools and processes. Look for
solution promising otherwise should be
viewed with scepticism.
benefit people while mitigating harm. along with how to prepare a CX solution that provides AI-powered
• Continually enhanced with new
experiences embedded within everyday
Learn more about responsible your organisation to get the workflows, connects to customer data across
AI capabilities.
The provider should have a roadmap
AI standards >
most out of it. the organisation and is tailored to specific
for integrating ongoing breakthrough AI
marketing, sales and service roles.
advancements in areas such as vision and
Look for an AI-powered CX solution that’s: speech recognition and machine reading
Beyond being suited to your business and easy
and translation.
• Aligned with your business needs. to use, it’s important that the AI-powered CX
Do you want to increase seller productivity solution you choose to implement is: • Governed by clear, responsible standards.
with tools that automate workflows and Make sure the provider is transparent about
• Fuel for creativity and success.
generate emails, summaries and other ways its AI systems are rooted in fairness
The best ideas come from clear minds,
content? Or is your immediate focus on (how they make decisions), privacy (how
unburdened by busy work that can be
helping marketers surface insights to they help keep my data secure), safety (how
automated. You want AI tools to help
improve customer engagement? Determine they function in new conditions or contexts)
ease your teams’ duties and help people
your priorities for making an impact with AI, and inclusiveness (how accessible their
think more strategically. For example,
and then shop accordingly. systems are).
sellers can use AI to quickly identify which
63,000+
Organisations that used Microsoft
Copilot in its first six months of
availability, including 3M, Prada
Group and Campari. 7
Copilot

7
Microsoft survey of Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform users, April-September 2023.
 19

Conclusion
Opportunities for your employees to forge And we see an even brighter future for AI-
deeper customer relationships have never powered CX solutions. Our vision for innovation
been greater. With AI-powered CX solutions, includes combining predictive analytics and

Use AI to elevate
your marketing, sales and service teams can content generation with customer and market
anticipate customer needs, personalise customer insights to usher in a new standard in customer
journeys and focus on what matters most to experience excellence.
your business.

customer
The cornerstone of this vision is accessibility.
Although it may seem like the convergence of Automating tasks, generating ideas and forming
AI and CX occurred quickly, Microsoft has been strategic insights shouldn’t be aspirations; they
working to elevate customer experiences for should be achievable goals for all. Everyone
decades and pioneering AI technologies such can use Copilot and its next-generation AI

experiences
as Microsoft Copilot – most recently advancing capabilities as an essential companion in
Copilot features across more lines of business to maintaining competitiveness and strengthening
help people do their very best work. customer relationships.

Learn more about Microsoft AI

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