In March 2023, Microsoft announced M365 Copilot – a suite of copilots which infused their popular office applications with generative AI. For e.g.
- Within Outlook – users would be able to summarise emails and also use generative AI to create new emails.
- Within Teams – users would be able to summarise meetings, generate actions from the meetings and even find information which could otherwise take significant time to locate.
However, M365 Copilot seemed to be targeting the office worker with a dependence on these apps. In November 2023, Microsoft announced a new suite of products dedicated to service workers – Copilot for Service. Copilot in Service (The latest name as it has changed and may change again) already being announcement earlier that year.
Copilot for Service provides generative AI to third party CRM systems – with primary focus on Salesforce, ServiceNow and Zendesk.
Copilot in Service allows users with a Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise license to utilise generative AI features natively within the Customer Service Workspace or Customer Service Hub app.
There are key differences between the two copilots.
- Extending copilot: currently, it is not possible to extend copilot in service
- Context Awareness: Copilot in Service is aware of the context of the conversation and uses this in the drafting of responses. However, Copilot for Service currently responds without this context.
- Agent Experience: The experience of copilot in service works natively within the Dynamics 365 interface. However, the agent assist experience in Copilot for Service can be embedded in multiple CRM systems. Copilot for Service also relies on other Microsoft 365 products – eg Teams and Outlook to deliver the agent experience. It does not provide an embedded experience.
It should be noted, some of these differences may disappear in time with the maturity of the product.
One question often asked is, Can I use both Copilot for Service and Copilot in Service at the same time?
Although it is possible to use Copilot for Service in environments that already have Copilot in Service. I’m not convinced that’s a worthwhile use case. However there are instances where you may in an organisation use both:
- Multiple CRM systems : Many large organisations have different departments or regions who use different CRM systems for various reasons. Copilot for Service would allow agents to have a unified way of accessing data across numerous platforms whilst allowing automation in a seamless way. This would be a challenge if utilising either Salesforce’s Einstein Copilot or Copilot in Service as both are native to their CRM systems and therefore would only be accessible to those companies using the applicable platform.
- Extending the capabilities of back office agents. Back office agents also need support with their roles. These agents often need to quickly get up to speed with a case and resolve the issue or complete the necessary actions to resolve the case. Copilot for Service would allow these agents to be able to get up to speed quickly within the context of the traditional office suite (outlook and teams).
Many of the capabilities enabled out of the box with Copilot for Service are born via M365 Copilot and therefore relies on the use of Outlook or Teams. With this in mind, the licensing requirements are different than if companies chose to utilise the out of the box capabilities of Copilot in Service.
While Copilot for Service does not require a d365 customer service licence, it does require a M365 licence. In addition to the M365 license, there would be a cost of 50 dollars per agent per month that enables the organisation to take advantage of both M365 copilot as well as copilot for service. Copilot Studio – formally known as Power Virtual Agent – would also be available to extend or create additional copilots as part of the copilot for service licensing.
On the other hand, Dynamics 365 Customer Service Copilot or Copilot in Service is included in the Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise licensing. This does not allow the use of Copilot Studio for the creation of new copilots. However, voice bots/IVR and chat bots can be created within the copilot studio UI and are included in the Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise licenses.
In summary, the introduction of Copilot for Service does not remove capabilities already available in Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Instead, it offers a way to leverage Generative AI in other third party systems and also unify the customer experience where multiple systems may exist.
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