In my first post on the basics of AI I identified Generative AI as being the first type of AI that I believe can and does have direct uses in the CRM & ERP areas today!
What is Generative AI in the context of CRM & ERP?
This is the term for a collection of AI algorithms that can create new outputs (documents/images/audio) based upon the datasets that the algorithms have been trained upon. The new content they can create can only be 'similar to' the dataset that its been trained upon.
What is a Generative AI Model?
These are often called the 'engines' of the AI system, really this is the coding that drives the actual work of the AI Model. The really clever part of of these GAI's as they are know is that they have been trained as 'Large Language Models' (such as ChatGPT). A good training course used the car analogy that described the AI Model as the engine and the 'AI Notebook' as the chassis. The consumer then uses the 'car' to get from point A to B. In Microsoft's CRM & ERP world generative AI has been delivered using the 'Copilot' chassis :)
Why will these help us in the CRM & ERP world?
Training these GAI Models on large datasets (such as your companies existing customer support knowledgebase or your existing product catalogues) then leveraging that learning to automate repetitive tasks will reduce the burden on repetitive or computations tasks. This changes the 'work' that humans will need to do, giving them more time to focus on customer relationship building.
If we take the example that a lot of presentations we do for stakeholders and key users during implementation projects are created in PowerPoint, one great things that Microsoft have done is to embed OpenAI’s image generator, DALL-E into it. So next time your working on that presentation and want to lighten up the mood during a Risk Review session ask Copilot to create incredible custom images to bring your presentations and stories to life.
When it comes to writing project reports, save yourself some time by using Copilot in Word to write, edit, summarize, and create. With only a brief prompt, Copilot in Word will create a first draft for you, bringing in information from across your organization as needed. Copilot can add content to existing documents, summarize text, and rewrite sections or the entire document to make it more concise .
How can I use Generative AI in my CRM or ERP system?
I thought it best here to just create a simple list of use cases that you can leverage this technology for today, things that are available from Microsoft across M365 and D365 (all versions) and you can leverage straight away:
Dynamics 365 Copilot is a game changer in saving time for ERP users. One example its use in D365 Supply Chain Management is to support a procurement set of AI-powered tools driving the new “Confirmed Purchase Orders with Changes” workspace. This simplifies the identification and reconfirmation of changes to existing, already approved Purchase Orders that Copilot identifies as having minimal downstream impact. Procurement managers can efficiently focus their attention on high-impact changes instead.
If we look at Dynamics 365 Supply Chain further we can see that using Copilot we can better predict and choose to act on disruptions that occur across suppliers, weather, and geographies. This is achieved through the AI using intelligence gleaned from the news module to proactively flag external issues such as weather, financial, and geo-political news that may impact key supply chain processes. Predictive insights can then surface any impacted purchase & transfer orders across materials, inventory, carrier, distribution network, and more
Using Copilot for Dynamics 365 Customer Service, your service agents can quickly construct a draft email or chat response to customers with a single click. Copilot has been monitoring the conversations and therefore understands the context of the email or the live chat. It then reaches out and identifies relevant information from trusted websites and internal documents, including knowledgebase articles and previously resolved cases; and crafts a response that the agent can review and send to the customer. This provides a super fast response time for your customer service needs.
Use web delivered Power Virtual Agents to drive your online chat services. By leveraging Microsoft Power Virtual Agents, now enhanced with generative AI capabilities we can provide practical self-service to our customers and get their needs more easily solved with highly intelligent conversational bots that use trusted websites and the company’s internal data to resolve customer issues.
Microsoft's Business Chat works across Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, Teams and your wider data—your calendars, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and contacts. You can use prompts like “tell my team how we updated the sales strategy” and Business Chat will generate a status update for you based on the morning’s meetings, emails, and chat threads. - now don't worry the AI behind the business chat does take into account any user security you may have in place so you wont expose your CEO's salary to the whole business (unless your security is already weak).
Microsoft's Copilot in Excel can analyse and explore your data. Then by asking Copilot questions in natural language it can highlight correlations, propose what-if scenarios, and suggest new formulas based on your questions. Its power extends to Identifying trends, creating powerful visualizations. I think the most interesting element is that you can ask Copilot to make recommendations on how to obtain a different outcome, based on the data available in the excel sheet.
One of the use cases for Copilot is in Dynamics 365 Field Service, where Copilot streamlines work order creation directly within Outlook by prepopulating relevant data including summaries of customer escalations into draft work orders for managers to review in their flow of work. Once saved, these work orders automatically sync to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service.
Copilot also has the ability to summarize support cases in D365 Customer Service and D365 Field Service, using generative AI to eliminate the need for agents to read lengthy case details, notes, and email threads, enabling them to deliver exceptional customer service in less time.