This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Delivering timely, high-quality support requires more than skilled customer service representatives. It demands smart, real-time task assignment aligned with representatives’ availability. Shift-based routing in Dynamics 365 Contact Center introduces a powerful enhancement to unified routing by assigning customer interactions based on service representatives’ scheduled shifts. This ensures that tasks are only routed to representatives who are scheduled to work—based on their workforce management shift bookings—improving both responsiveness and operational efficiency.
Why availability matters
Service representatives often follow structured shift plans where different time slots in the day are allocated to handling customer conversations, attending training, or taking breaks. In such dynamic settings, it is critical to assign conversations and records to representatives based on their shift schedules and avoid routing to off-duty representatives or those on a break, thereby reducing conversation rejections or transfers and customer wait times
Shift-based routing directly addresses this challenge by integrating shift bookings into the assignment engine. This means work is routed only to representatives who are scheduled to work as per the defined shift activity type, and are eligible to handle it, based on clearly defined custom assignment rules..
How shift-based routing works
Supervisors and planners define shift plans in Workforce Management. Each plan includes:
Activities: These are predefined time intervals categorized as either Assignable (e.g., customer support, handling chats) or Non-Assignable (e.g., breaks, training sessions). Activities serve as building blocks for scheduling.
Shift bookings: These are personalized schedules generated for each service representative, containing assigned activities from the shift plan.
In short, activities are defined in the shift plan, and shift bookings are created for each service rep based on those activities.
Unified routing then references these bookings to make smart assignment decisions:
Representatives are eligible for work only if they have a committed, assignable shift booking during that time. Representatives without any shift booking will not receive work through automated assignment.
Non-assignable bookings temporarily exclude the representative from receiving new tasks for the defined duration.
If a representative has overlapping bookings, eligibility depends on the shift activity types:
If all overlapping bookings are assignable, the representative is eligible to receive work.
If there is even one non-assignable booking, the representative is not eligible to receive work. They will not be considered for automatic assignment for the duration of non-assignable booking.
Example Scenarios
Let’s say a representative has the following shift bookings:
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Handle conversations (Assignable)
12:30 PM –1:30 PM : Lunch (Non-Assignable)
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Training (Non-Assignable)
Conversations arriving between 9:00am and 12:30pm will be assigned to the representative if they meet the conditions defined in the custom assignment rules.Representative will not be considered for automatic assignment from 12:30pm to 1:00pm since they have overlapping bookings during this period, one of which is non-assignable (Lunch).
Conversations received between 1:00pm and 5:00pm, that overlap with the representative’s lunch or training period will not be assigned. This is because these timeslots are designated as non-assignable.
Key benefits of shift-based routing
Faster response times: Assign work only to representatives who are scheduled to work, reducing delays.
Better workload distribution: Avoid overloading eligible agents by accurately accounting for availability as per their defined shift bookings.
Enhanced service quality: Minimize conversation rejections or transfers due to routing misalignment.
Improved employee experience: Representatives receive work only during assigned support slots, promoting a healthier work rhythm.
Once configured, conversations and records are automatically assigned based on actual shift bookings instead of the work hour calendar schedule—providing a smarter, more accurate routing experience.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, providing exceptional customer service is more important than ever. One of the latest innovations in this field is intent-based routing, a capability that leverages generative AI to enhance customer interactions and streamline contact center operations.
What is intent-based routing?
Intent-based routing (IBR) is a generative AI-powered capability that routes customer queries based on real-time intent recognition and dynamic user group assignment. It is enabled by the Customer Intent Agent, which autonomously discovers and manages customer intents by analyzing past interactions and builds an evolving intent library.
Customer Intent Agent discovers and manages intents, while IBR uses those intents to route conversations, connecting customer needs to the right support resources with speed and precision.
Once an intent and its group are identified, IBR routes the conversation to the appropriate user group based on the mapped intent group. Next, IBR assigns it to the best-suited support representative within the group, based on their capacity, presence, and other routing attributes. This enables faster, more accurate resolutions. By turning intent from a passive insight into an active, intelligent routing decision, IBR becomes the operational backbone of an intent-driven contact center. Subsequently, this results in better assisted and self-service experiences.
Below is a simplified flow of IBR:
Example of intent-based routing
Let’s explore how Contoso Bank, a leading global financial institution, is leveraging IBR to transform its customer support operations. With services spanning 60 countries, Contoso Bank operates a massive contact center handling inquiries across various business lines and regions.
To maximize the benefits of IBR, Contoso Bank implemented the feature for its retail banking line of business (LOB).
Using intent discovery to generate intents such as “Open a new savings bank account” and “Report lost debit or credit card” and grouping them into manageable clusters like “Account Management” and “Card Services,” the bank has optimized its routing process.
Using intuitive mappings of intent groups to user groups, Contoso ensures that queries pertaining to a certain intent group such as “Account Management” go to the correct user group, e.g., “Account Management America”, who are adept at handling the account related issues.
Within these user groups, the assignment engine allocates the work to representatives with the right expertise, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction while streamlining operations.
Below is a sample of AI-generated intents, intent groups for Contoso’s Retail banking LOB, and the mapped user groups for each intent group:
LOB
Retail banking
Intent group
Account management
Card services
Loan management
Intents
– Open a new savings account – Update nominee details – Enquire about minimum balance penalty – Request account statement – Close bank account – Update KYC information – Unable to login to net banking
– Report lost debit or credit card – Dispute credit card charge – Activate new card – Increase credit card limit – Reset debit card PIN – Enquire about credit card add-on services – Available credit card milestone benefits
– Apply for personal loan – Get loan interest certificate – Check loan eligibility – Check home loan interest – Request foreclosure letter – Track education loan status – Get EMI schedule
User groups
1. Account Management America Group 2. Account Management Europe Group 3. General Retail Banking Services Group (default)
1. Specialized Customers Group 2. Card Services Group 3. Comprehensive Support Group (default)
1. Specialized Customers Group 2. Loan Management Group 3. Comprehensive Support Group (default)
Benefits of intent-based routing
As we can see from Contoso’s example, implementing intent-based routing in your contact center can offer numerous benefits:
Enhanced precision and personalization
The Customer Intent Agent continuously learns from historical data and emerging trends to identify and categorize intents. Hence, this ensures that customer queries go to the support representatives with the right expertise to handle them efficiently. The result? Fewer misroutes, faster resolutions, and happier customers.
Dynamic intent discovery
By analyzing conversations daily, the system dynamically generates new intents and organizes them into manageable intent groups. Therefore, this evolving library helps teams stay aligned with changing customer behavior and simplifies management.
Streamlined routing configuration
There’s no need for complex machine learning models or training data sets. IBR also reduces reliance on complex rule-based systems. Instead, admins simply map AI-generated intent groups to user groups—making configuration intuitive and maintenance light.
Smarter workforce management and load handling
User groups in IBR help organize support representatives by expertise, tasks, and business lines—streamlining scheduling, training, and performance tracking. This structure ensures the correct matching of customer intents with the right agents. Additionally, it enables supervisors to dynamically reassign or scale user groups in response to demand. As a result, contact centers experience better workload distribution, faster response times, and improved service quality.
Scalable and adaptable
You can configure IBR gradually, starting with specific workstreams. For this reason, its flexible design allows organizations to scale usage without disrupting existing operations.
Flexible and future-ready
Unlike static rule-based systems, IBR uses generative AI to continuously adapt to evolving customer and business needs. Consequently, this ensures that routing logic stays aligned with organizational changes—without requiring extensive reconfiguration. Its adaptability helps contact centers respond quickly to shifting priorities, while keeping operations agile and competitive.
Learn more
Now available in preview for chat and case channels, IBR is easy to adopt and scale whether you’re starting small or planning a broader rollout.
Ready to transform your contact center? Explore the implementation guide for step-by-step setup instructions.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
We are introducing an important update to streamline and modernize how email templates are created and edited. As of May 23, 2025, we are deprecating the legacy email template rich text editor and enhanced email template editor and moving to a single, modern email template editor for all users.
Change management can be challenging—especially when it involves tools you use every day. This update aims to simplify the experience by consolidating two editors into one, eliminating inconsistencies, and delivering a more streamlined and feature-rich email template editing experience.
What’s new?
Unified editing experience: All templates will now be created and managed using a single, modern rich text email template editor, eliminating the need to switch between different editors.
HTML support for customization: The new editor supports HTML editing, giving you the flexibility to design custom layouts, apply consistent branding, and style content exactly the way you need.
Improved reliability: This unified modern rich text editor removes formatting issues. Additionally, it provides smoother previews and a more reliable experience at both creation and runtime.
What’s going away?
We are phasing out the drag-and-drop layout editor from the legacy tool. Existing templates will remain valid, but admins must review them after the change goes live to ensure the formatting displays correctly in the new rich text editor.
Will my existing email templates still work?
While there’s no change to how emails render when sent, you may need to adjust some formatting at the reviewing and editing stages.
What’s different about the new editor?
The new rich text editor offers a more modern and consistent experience. It now supports HTML editing, which means you can still use custom layouts and styles—just with better reliability.
Can I still use drag-and-drop to design my emails?
We are phasing out the drag-and-drop layout feature from the legacy rich text editor.
Do I need to recreate my templates in the new editor?
No. You can continue using your existing templates. When you open them for editing, they’ll now open in the modern editor automatically.
What changes should I make to existing email templates?
We strongly suggest incorporating these changes to email templates to prevent errors in formatting:
Validate that appropriate width units have been added to the HTML format to help email templates render well at runtime
Avoid nested table structures, which can lead to formatting errors.
What if I need help adjusting to the new editor?
We’ve updated our documentation and support resources to guide you through the transition. You can also reach out to your support contact for personalized help.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Today at Microsoft Build 2025, we’re excited to announce the new Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM business applications. These MCP servers will help remove the tedious work of connecting systems together to build agents and accelerate the ability for our customers and partners to build AI-powered agents to drive business processes quicker, accelerating their journey to the Frontier Firm in the era of the autonomous enterprise.
To provide some context, generative AI is fundamentally reshaping the way organizations work, introducing a new way of interacting with technology—using natural language to simplify and accelerate tasks. This innovation is driving unprecedented productivity gains, streamlining complex processes that once required manual effort and specialized tools. As this technology matures, we’re entering the next phase: the autonomous enterprise, where organizations and people use technology, particularly AI and automation, to operate and adapt in an age of rapid transformation and innovation. Where there once was “an app for that,” there will now be “an agent for that”.
This transformation isn’t just about automation—it’s about people. By putting intelligent agents in the hands of every employee, organizations are empowering individuals to focus on higher-value work, make decisions faster, and drive innovation. Sales teams can deepen customer relationships without being bogged down by administrative tasks. Finance professionals can move from manual reconciliation to strategic forecasting. Marketers can go from idea to execution, and product managers can orchestrate complex workflows with clarity and speed.
The autonomous enterprise is the future of business. Business applications will work with agents built by Microsoft and our partners. In this new era, organizations aren’t just streamlining operations, they’re amplifying human potential and accelerating their journey to the autonomous enterprise.
This is why we’re so excited about the Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM MCPservers. These servers help eliminate data and application silos, allowing agents to work seamlessly across processes and help enable new autonomous scenarios for improved business functionality and productivity.
Dynamics 365: Agent-ready business applications
Agentic AI is an AI system that can take actions generated by the system, with very limited or even no direct human intervention. Autonomous actions built into agents operating across various business processes, industries, and segments, can make businesses more efficient and responsive. Designed not just to support tasks, but to operate autonomously, AI agents can intelligently orchestrate workflows and make context-aware selections. But how do you create a context-aware agent when data, information, and processes are ever-changing?
MCP standardizes how applications provide context to language models, helping enable seamless integration with different data sources and tools. This open standard connects AI assistants and agents to various systems where data resides, such as content repositories, business tools, and development environments. An MCP-compliant agent uses rich contextual information to act efficiently, unlike a non-MCP-compliant agent, which lacks necessary context.
Using the MCP server, makers can easily connect agents to existing knowledge sources and APIs, helping enable them to interface directly with Dynamics 365 applications. Actions and knowledge synchronize automatically, facilitating real-time updates and the evolution of functionality. This model significantly simplifies agent development and minimizes ongoing maintenance efforts.
Central to this innovation is Microsoft Copilot Studio, which provides a standardized protocol for agents to seamlessly interact with Dynamics 365 applications, helping to ensure consistency, reliability, and scalability. Security and governance are also prioritized from the start as Dynamics 365 MCP servers require authentication and enforce authorization. Agents that access Dynamics 365 through the MCP server must authenticate as a valid Dynamics 365 user, helping to ensure the benefits of Entra ID identity protection. This also prevents escalation of privileges, meaning the agent will only be able to perform the MCP actions that they’re authorized to do. The MCP servers are also made available to Microsoft Copilot Studio using connector infrastructure. This means they can employ enterprise security and governance controls such as data loss prevention controls and multiple authentication methods.
For partners and customers, MCP standardization dramatically reduces complexity, accelerates development, and increases time to value.
MCP-compliant agentic AI
At Microsoft, we bring a deep understanding of critical business processes for small and medium business (SMB) as well as large enterprise organizations through our market-leading Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM business solutions—combined with our industry-specific expertise delivered through our Microsoft Cloud for Industry solutions. This combination of experience and expertise uniquely positions us to deliver on the needs of customers across size, business process, industry, or region.
Our newly introduced set of MCP servers help enable multiple scenarios across business processes. Below are a few examples of what’s possible with Dynamics 365, Microsoft Cloud for Industry, and our broad ecosystem of partners.
Sales and service
Custom agents and AI assistants can now be connected to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central applications through MCP servers. Agents can retrieve and update CRM data, create quotes, and complete orders. They can also get order/case summaries and email drafts. These MCP servers open endless possibilities in automating tedious jobs in sales and service functions, irrespective of company size or industry.
For example, telesales representatives can use intelligent assistants, such as Claude, connected to Dynamics 365 MCP servers to prioritize leads, qualify them, generate quotes, and send personalized emails—without needing to switch contexts or rely on complex integrations. And when customers encounter an order issue, service representatives can resolve it quickly by using Dynamics 365 Customer Service data to retrieve/update case information and create replacement orders in real time.
Supply chain and finance
The AI procurement agent illustrated below efficiently validates purchase requisitions against company policies, existing inventory, and delivery records to identify a suitable supplier that meets the criteria for cost, speed, sustainability, and reliability. It further consolidates multiple items from the same supplier into one purchase order and sends it for purchase. The agent can significantly enhance efficiency in procurement processes, where timely and budget-conscious supply delivery is critical.
Business Central
For small and medium size businesses, for example, looking to optimize sourcing information and vendor compliance, the custom agent demonstrated here can quickly identify shipments containing materials that require compliance checks. The agent provides guidance on recycling requirements and updated sourcing standards, reads supplier contracts, and suggests next steps like confirming vendor certifications and updating shipment checklists. A solution like this could streamline the compliance process, which can help customers gain a competitive advantage.
Partners using the Dynamics 365 MCP server
Our partners play a crucial role in driving innovation and delivering value to customers. We’re dedicated to making Dynamics 365 MCP servers accessible, helping enable our customers and partners to develop diverse agent scenarios across industries and business processes, regardless of their business application vendor.
With MCP server becoming the standard of the future for agents, partners can use it to more quickly and efficiently orchestrate headless business services in ERP and external systems. It turns simple intent into action, automating procurement for faster, efficient, and resilient supply chain operations. Our ecosystem of partners has started using MCP server for Dynamics 365 to create a host of industry-specific agents.
Avanade, an early adopter of Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales and a leading Microsoft partner, is excited to use MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to enrich their AI-powered request for proposal (RFP) Insights agent. This agent helps sellers summarize, evaluate, and respond to RFPs using historical Dynamics 365 data, further streamlining proposal generation. While initially for internal use, Avanade is exploring deployment for clients in engineering, construction, and professional services.
Emission AI agent by Fellowmindwill use AI and MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to automatically classify and organize purchase transactions to prepare it for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission accounting purposes by categorizing spend-types (such as office supplies, raw materials, and travel expenses) through data extraction, classification, algorithms, taxonomy mapping, and real-time feedback and learning. The agent provides support to procurement and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) professionals, helping them streamline their processes and achieve more accurate results.
HSO’s PayFlow Agent improves invoice payment efficiency in accounts payable. Streamlining timely payments and reducing inquiries that require manual intervention leads to faster resolutions and enhanced supplier relationships. Using MCP server for Dynamics ERP MCP, PayFlow processes seller payment inquiries, identifies invoice statuses, matches them against buyer receipts, and retrieves tracking information to notify responsible parties to either remit payment promptly or set an expectation of when payment can be received.
JourneyTeam is enriching its Strategic Account Manager agent that accesses MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to optimize lead engagement. The agent summarizes historical services and projects, compares lead summaries and interests, compiles recommendations, then, after manual reviews, will initiate next steps by utilizing MCP servers, Microsoft Azure AI Search, and Document Intelligence.
MCA Connect is building a smart sourcing agent that accesses MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to automate requisition processing, supplier assignment, and workflow submission. The MCP servers give the agent access to actions like getting open requisitions, approving vendors, and assigning suppliers based on supplier performance metrics without the need to create new APIs and integrate with Dynamics 365.
Publicis SapientHummingbird is building an agent to improve lead management using MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to access data that will streamline the process of managing business-to-business leads. This agent automates lead qualification, scoring, and personalized engagement, accelerating hot leads to quotes faster and nurturing warm leads through a series of targeted emails. This innovative approach enhances efficiency, improves customer experience, and drives higher conversion rates and revenue growth.
RSM is building intelligent, secure, and context-aware agents that accelerate workflows, improve decisions, and expand capabilities by embedding them directly into real-world business processes. These agents, developed using Microsoft Copilot Studio, will access MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to support humanitarian logistics by coordinating critical supply chains, helping to ensure timely delivery of life-saving equipment, and automating procurement tasks.
TTEC Digital is building a post-service upselling agent that accesses MCP servers for Dynamics 365 to prospect for warranty plans after a purchase, turning each sale into an upsell opportunity. The agent will help drive personalized sales and service conversations at scale by using the knowledge, tools, and actions from the MCP server.
As we look ahead, the convergence of intelligent agents, standardized platforms, and deep domain expertise will define the next frontier of business transformation. The ability to harness autonomous capabilities will define tomorrow’s market leaders. Businesses that act now will gain a decisive competitive edge and chart a course toward sustained success. The autonomous enterprise is no longer a vision of the future—it’s here, built with Microsoft and its partner ecosystem.
Recent Comments