CRM systems have come a long way since their inception in the 1990s. What began as digital rolodexes evolved over the decades to accommodate cloud hosting, mobile access, and integrations across an organization’s tech stack. But for many businesses, the core experience of using a CRM system hasn’t kept pace with the evolving expectations of modern customers, or the realities of the people managing those relationships.

Legacy CRM systems often rely heavily on manual data entry. They’re difficult to adapt as businesses grow and are frequently designed more for reporting than for allowing sellers, marketers, and service teams to succeed in real time. While this might have sufficed when field reps had hours between customer visits or when service agents had time to type up detailed call notes, those conditions no longer exist.

Today’s customers do their homework. They research independently, engage across multiple digital channels, and expect seamless, personalized experiences. Meanwhile, customer-facing teams need tools that work in the flow of their day, not ones that add friction. Companies trying to meet these demands with yesterday’s systems are feeling the strain.

With Microsoft Dynamics 365, organizations are embracing a modern, AI-first approach that redefines productivity and customer engagement. Embedded Microsoft Copilot capabilities help sellers and customer service agents work smarter by generating content, surfacing insights, and summarizing customer interactions.

AI agents take this a step further, automating repetitive tasks and allowing teams to focus on what truly matters—building relationships and closing deals. In the near future, legacy CRM systems will become background systems, while AI-powered workflows will take center stage.

Together, copilots and agents can accelerate your business outcomes. For example, imagine a sales rep preparing for a big client meeting. Copilot can pull together a summary of recent customer interactions, generate a tailored pitch based on account details, and suggest case studies that may be relevant to the customer. Meanwhile, an AI agent is working in the background, logging customer inquiries, triggering follow-up tasks, and updating the sales pipeline based on real-time interactions.

Common CRM system challenges, and how an AI-first approach solves them

Microsoft has worked with hundreds of companies navigating CRM system modernization, and while each journey is unique, several pain points come up time and again. Here’s a look at the most common challenges, and how organizations are overcoming them with Dynamics 365.

The challenge: Disparate systems and data silos

Legacy CRM systems often sit apart from the tools employees use every day. Sales leaders have to jump between systems to get a full view of the customer, resulting in time lost, inconsistent data, and disconnected experiences for both employees and customers.

The solution: A unified platform

Dynamics 365 provides a unified platform across sales, marketing, and service. It brings together internal and external data in one place through Microsoft Dataverse and connects with the Microsoft tools people already rely on, like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and Microsoft Power BI. That means relevant insights are available in the flow of work and updates happen in real time, which can reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.

The challenge: Lack of innovation

Many organizations are trying to retrofit AI into systems that weren’t built for it. As a result, they miss out on the true potential of AI to personalize engagement, suggest next steps, and automate time-consuming work.

The solution: AI integration

Dynamics 365 is built with AI at its core. With embedded Copilot capabilities, sellers can draft emails, generate proposals, and summarize meetings based on real-time customer data. AI agents go even further by handling complete workflows, like qualifying leads or following up on customer inquiries. With tools like Sales Agent, Sales Chat, and Sales Qualification Agent, sales teams can scale their impact and focus on high-value interactions.

The challenge: High total cost of ownership

Legacy CRM systems often require costly add-ons, third-party integrations, and ongoing maintenance. The systems that once seemed quick to deploy become difficult to scale or adapt and drain resources instead of delivering value.

The solution: Business value through consolidation

Dynamics 365 consolidates capabilities on a single platform, reducing redundancy and unlocking efficiencies. Since it uses tools that many companies already use—like Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, and Power BI—organizations can get more from their existing investments.

ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, embraced Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and has lowered total cost of ownership for its customer engagement platform by up to 40%.

Real-world results: What an AI-first CRM system looks like in action

Companies that have made the leap to Dynamics 365 are already seeing measurable impact, including shortened sales cycles, improved responsiveness, and greater customer satisfaction.

For instance, Lenovo, a global leader in technology solutions, used Dynamics 365 to build a unified global view of customer activity and power its digital sales transformation.

“We’re seeing the benefit of having one standardized system and a global view to all geographies’ activities. This is the foundation for Lenovo’s sales digital transformation—enabling better connections and an increase in sales productivity and actionable insights.”

Wei Bi, Business Strategy Senior Manager, Lenovo

Lexmark, a global innovator in cloud-supported printing and internet of things (IoT) solutions, migrated from Salesforce to Dynamics 365 to streamline and modernize its sales operations.

“We’ve been on the journey with Microsoft after moving from Salesforce to Dynamics 365 Sales. We’re excited to be one of the first customers to use Sales Qualification Agent and look forward to the ability to scale our sales team with agents and provide an exceptional experience to our customers.”

Kyle Farmer, Vice President, Global Sales and Strategy, Lexmark

Gardens Alive replaced its legacy CRM system with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, integrating voice, chat, and email channels through third-party connectors and unified routing. The result was a more than 7% improvement in customer service delivery.

And the momentum continues. In our Fiscal Year 2025 Third Quarter Earnings, Satya Nadella stated: “When it comes to business applications, Dynamics 365 again took share as companies like Avaya, Brunswick, SoftCat, switched to (Dynamics 365) from legacy providers. Verizon, for example, chose Dynamics 365 Sales to improve the efficiency of its sellers”.

More than a CRM system, Microsoft is a strategic resource in your transformation journey

For CROs and CSOs, the decision to modernize CRM systems is about more than upgrading technology. It’s about unlocking new potential. Companies want more than just a vendor; they’re looking for a strategic partner to help them navigate change, scale intelligently, and lead with data and empathy.

With Dynamics 365, Microsoft brings not only a powerful AI-first platform, but also a global ecosystem of expertise in sales, engineering, and business transformation. The result? A CRM system that’s intuitive, connected, and future-ready, so companies can deliver standout customer experiences and drive sustainable growth. 

Ready to explore your own AI-first CRM system journey?

Take a guided tour, see a demo, or start a free trial.

The post AI-first CRM systems: Learnings from organizations making the switch appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Retail is constantly evolving, shaped by changing consumer behaviors, new technologies, and unpredictable macroeconomic shifts. While digital channels continue to grow, physical retail remains a cornerstone of the shopping experience. As Gartner® puts it, “Despite the growth in the popularity of digital channels, the physical store remains the most powerful, competitively differentiating touchpoint in unified retail commerce execution.”ⁱ 

“The retail store is here to stay…”

Despite assumptions that digital-native shoppers would abandon brick-and-mortar stores, reality tells a different story. According to Gartner®, “Sixty-four percent of Gen Z, the first generation of ‘digital natives,’ prefer the physical retail experience versus shopping online, signaling that the retail store is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”ⁱ  This is not just a generational quirk, it reflects a broader industry reality. The National Retail Federation reports that nearly 70% of total retail sales still happen in brick-and-mortar locationsⁱⁱ. These spaces are far more than transaction points; they are where consumers connect with products, experience brands firsthand, and engage in ways digital channels cannot match.  

Retailers looking for growth can’t afford to treat stores as legacy infrastructure. They need to make targeted, future-ready investments that unlock the full potential of in-store experiences. That means going beyond maintaining a physical presence—today consumers expect consistency, convenience, and personalization across every channel. In-store experiences must match the intelligence and adaptability of their digital counterparts. Seamless transitions between online, in-store, and hybrid journeys are now table stakes. 

Modernizing Dynamics 365 Commerce Point-of-Sale

At Microsoft, we’re modernizing Dynamics 365 Commerce to reflect this shift. The Point-of-Sale (POS) is evolving from a checkout tool into an intelligent platform that supports agentic, AI-driven retail experiences. With built-in Copilot capabilities, Dynamics 365 Commerce POS now offers actionable insights that help store associates tailor interactions in real time. From understanding customer preferences and shopping behavior to accessing inventory and pricing insights, store associates can respond faster and more effectively. 

The impact of copilot and agentic capabilities goes beyond customer engagement. These AI tools also reduce friction for employees, streamlining decision-making and boosting productivity. As Gartner® notes, “By 2027, over 50% of Tier 1 retailers will pivot from general to role-specific GenAI for store associates or risk increased labor churn.”ⁱ Empowering associates with smarter, context-aware tools isn’t optional; it’s a strategic move to retain talent and deliver next-generation service. 

Take a look at how AI-driven product discovery in a POS can increase purchase conversion while driving customer satisfaction in this video.

Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

Dynamics 365 Commerce POS offers Copilot driven insights for products and customers that will help a store associate provide a personalized shopping experience tailored to the customer’s needs. These insights surface quick actions to the store associate on customer behavior, preferred price ranges, lifetime value, suitable products, product discounts, inventory levels etc. 

In addition, Store report insights by Copilot provide precise and succinct overview of critical metrics such as sales, revenue, profit, margin, and overall store performance—all in a single workspace for optimal visibility. Copilot’s near real-time analysis keeps you ahead, updating summaries as new data arrives, empowering your store associates to communicate effectively, accurately, and instantly.  

“Instant value of Copilot experiences in Store commerce app at Vera Bradley which helps as conversation starter for their store employees and helps with upsell and cross-sell” – Aaron Feagler, Director, Vera Bradley 

For more information on the Customer insights by Copilot, see here. 

Customer insights by Copilot in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

Modern foundation for smarter retail experiences 

To power the next generation of omnichannel retail, we have modernized the Dynamics 365 Commerce POS with a new framework built on React and Fluent 2 Design. This modern framework goes beyond a visual refresh – it supports agentic experiences, extensibility, and accessibility compliance. 

React provides faster load times, smoother screen transitions, and a more responsive interface, especially on mobile and touch devices, making the experience more intuitive for store associates. The React-based framework sets the foundation for mobile experiences, which translates to a faster checkout resulting in sales conversion and better customer satisfaction. 

Here are some of the new capabilities this foundation has helped us deliver:

1. Faster checkout with new transaction page workflows  

The redesigned transaction page, now built with React-based controls and Fluent 2 Design, brings a faster, cleaner, and more intuitive checkout experience.  

Store Commerce Transaction Page with React-based controls and Fluent 2 Design 

With the new inline actions feature, store associates can now perform common actions like voiding a product, applying line discounts, or overriding prices directly within the transaction grid. Inline actions surface the most frequently used operations at the top, so there’s no need to scroll through long lists or dig through nested button grids. On mobile and touch devices, these actions are even easier to access with a simple long press. This makes the experience more intuitive and efficient. 

Inline actions in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

Updating item quantities is now just one click away. Store associates can tap the quantity directly within the grid. This removes the need to find a separate “Set Quantity” button and reducing steps during checkout. 

With these improvements, the transaction page has fewer buttons and clearer calls to action. It fully supports existing extensibility features, so custom columns, fields, and controls will work seamlessly without extra development. 

2. Optimized Payment Capture Workflow for Faster, lower friction Transactions 

The new payment experience simplifies checkout by consolidating payment actions into a single-pane window, reducing clicks and prompts. This streamlined design speeds up processes for customers and associates, allowing configuration to skip unnecessary screens. Additionally, configuration options allow users to bypass specific screens and proceed directly to the actions required for common scenarios. 

For cash transactions, Smart Denominations intelligently suggest the most logical bill and coin combinations based on configured increments. Associates can then quickly provide the correct change. When customers pay the exact amount, the Pay Exact payment method skips the “Enter Amount” screen, applying the full balance due immediately. This completes payment capture with just one click.  

“The ability to easily navigate a payment is important, for both our company and the customer. We see a lot of potential in this style of payment flow, streamlining the process and reducing unnecessary button grids” – Chad Davidson, Senior Engineer, Memory Express 

Optimized Payment Capture Workflows in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

3. Loyalty Upsell Prompt for higher sales conversion 

Loyalty Upsell Prompt in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

The loyalty upsell prompt helps store associates inform customers about their progress towards the next loyalty tier, timely and accurately. This can nudge continued customer engagement to unlock new benefits leading to increased average order value through strategic upselling. 

4. Toast Notification Framework 

The new toast notification framework brings flexible, real-time alerts to Store Commerce, helping retailers modernize the POS experience. With full extensibility support, this framework can be extended to build your own store notifications meeting your unique business needs. Use it to share policy updates, flag low-stock items, and alert staff to customer assistance requests.

Toast Notification in Dynamics 365 Commerce 

Visit Modern workflows in POS – Commerce | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn for more about these improvements and how to enable them. 

Watch this video to see some of these capabilities in-action. 

What’s next? 

Looking ahead, agentic experiences are poised to play a central role in retail transformation. The modern Point of Sale (POS) is no longer just a transactional endpoint. It now has the potential to serve as a platform for intelligent, AI-supported engagement. It can enhance customer satisfaction and improving sales conversion. 

Imagine a retail environment where associates have timely access to real-time data and actionable insights. This enables more personalized and context-aware interactions. Whether guiding a customer toward discovering relevant products or helping bridge online and in-store experiences, these AI-assisted workflows support more cohesive and engaging shopping journeys. Features like personalized follow-ups, product tips, and feedback prompts can help reinforce customer value and ongoing connection. Over time, these interactions may support repeat business and help build long-term customer trust. 

Dynamics 365 Commerce is continually evolving to meet the demands of this new landscape. It supports innovation and delivers capabilities that help retailers offer connected, adaptive experiences. Stay up to date on what’s new and what is coming by visiting our release planner. 

ⁱ Predicts 2025: Transform Retail Stores’ Profitability With Private Label, Role-Specific GenAI and Computer Vision, Gartner®, 4 February 2025 

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. 

ⁱⁱ NRF Forecasts 2023 Retail Sales to Grow Between 4% and 6%, NRF

The post Under the Hood: Building an AI-Driven Storefront with Dynamics 365 Commerce  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Customers don’t just want fast service—they expect businesses to stay one step ahead. Today’s customers want companies to anticipate their needs before they even ask, for example: sending a reminder before a payment is late; giving a heads-up when a delivery is delayed, or following up after a dropped call. These aren’t just nice-to-haves—we believe that they’re the new standard for customer experience.

That’s why we’re announcing proactive engagement and conversational journeys with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys, now available in public preview. With this solution, organizations can use custom-built AI agents and service representatives to proactively reach out across channels—like informing a customer about a canceled flight and guiding them to a resolution in the same conversation. Businesses can benefit from lower call volumes and support costs, while customers can get faster, more personalized experiences that drive satisfaction and brand loyalty. General availability is expected later this summer.

Of course, delivering proactive service at scale isn’t easy. Organizations can be under pressure to do more with less—fewer resources, tighter budgets, and higher customer expectations. Reaching out at the right time, with the right message, on the right channel takes orchestration, insight, and intelligent automation. That’s exactly what these new capabilities are designed to deliver: smarter, highly personalized engagement.

Proactive engagement

Create AI-driven proactive outbound experiences.

Learn more

The impact of AI on customer service

Looking ahead, the influence of AI on customer experience will only deepen. According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index, 82% of leaders expect to expand their use of digital labor to boost workforce capacity in the next 12 to 18 months.

Our customers are already reaping the benefits of AI-powered digital teammates. Tourism and travel segments, for example, are using proactive engagement and conversational journeys to assist customers with travel planning—from bookings to itinerary guidance—with human reps available to further assist as needed.

Apollo Travel, a travel agency that fields more than 350,000 reservations annually across Scandinavia, is using proactive engagement to reduce inbound reservation calls.

“We’re always looking for ways to better serve our customers, and these new capabilities open up exciting opportunities to engage with them more proactively. We see clear potential for benefits on both sides—improving the experience for our customers while driving efficiency for our business.”

—Johnny Nilsson, Head of Group Power Platform Center of Excellence at Apollo Travel (part of DERTOUR Group)

Conversational journeys

Use AI to deliver customer experiences at scale.

Learn more

Other use cases demonstrate the broader value of this approach: shipping and delivery delays, appointment reminders, system outages, prescription refills, loyalty reward notifications, and service updates are all possible through AI agent-based outreach. The interactions feel natural and helpful, and if needed, seamlessly transition to a service representative for personalized support—turning a potential issue into a moment of brand loyalty. Customers can communicate naturally with the AI agent, which, based on that dialogue, will offer resolutions like transferring to a different flight or issuing a refund. Depending on your requirements, proactive engagement can then follow up with additional actions like a confirmation email or text message.

Because these repetitive, time-consuming tasks are now automated, reps can focus on more critical problems and delivering meaningful engagements to each customer. This helps build trust and ensure customers feel valued, while allowing service teams to focus on more complex, high-value interactions—helping to reduce operational costs and improve overall efficiency.

A typical scenario has three parts. The first part is a customer journey that tells the AI agent who to call, when to call, and how to process choices that the customer makes during the call. The second part is the AI agent, which can communicate with customers using natural language. The final part brings it all together, with authors managing the agent’s customer queues, phone numbers, and the like. If a customer asks, this is also where an agent would transfer the call to a service rep and then manage that call until resolution. The entire solution can be authored with no code (including the ability to design the AI agent using natural language), making it accessible to non-technical business users to define their customer experiences with ease. With integrated consent management and designated quiet times/days, compliance with customer preferences and regulatory requirements can be effortlessly maintained. Additionally, it offers the flexibility to respond to real-time events or schedule an outreach in advance.

Enabling proactive engagement

To enable the solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights-Journeys and Microsoft Copilot Studio are required. As you use the solution, please send your feedback to pefeedback@microsoft.com, and continue checking this blog for updates about this and other upcoming releases.

The post AI-powered proactive engagement and conversational journeys with Microsoft Dynamics 365 in public preview appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

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. 

Learn more 

To learn more, read the documentation: Configure routing based on external schedules (preview) | Microsoft Learn 

The post Improve contact center operations with shift-based routing appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

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:  

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. 

The post Intent-based routing transforms customer support with AI appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

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.

Learn more

To learn more, read the documentation: How to create an email template in model-driven apps – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

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