Microsoft announced on Tuesday the launch of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools aimed at enhancing customer service call centers. Microsoft’s Copilot technology is used in Office software to summarize emails and create PowerPoint slides, and it is now being introduced in call centers. Microsoft aims to compete with leading companies like Salesforce.com and Zoom in this competitive market.
Also Read: Azure AI Emerges as Star Performer, Boosting Microsoft’s Cloud Growth
The new AI tools are intended to enhance the quality and productivity of customer support operations. They will allow them to learn the company’s help manuals and resources to train chatbots to respond more appropriately and effectively to customers’ questions. This improvement extends current automated systems, with the objective of improving their efficiency.
Microsoft says the new AI software will launch in July
Jeff Comstock, the corporate vice president of Dynamics 365 Customer Service at Microsoft, said the impact on human agents is positive. These agents usually deal with several outdated and slow applications while attending to the customers.
Microsoft’s new tools will integrate this information, which will enable agents to use natural language to access required applications, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process. The tech giant stated that this new contact center software is expected to be released on July 1.
“The service space is, unfortunately, just rife with toil and drudgery. There are tons of tools, and they have to use lots of processes just to do the most basic sort of tasks. It’s a brutal experience, and so, our goal is to help them in the flow of work to reduce that toil and drudgery.”
Jeff Comstock
AI advancements drive job cuts at Azure Cloud Unit
This announcement comes at a time when Microsoft has reportedly laid off numerous employees in its Azure cloud division. Business Insider revealed that Microsoft has been issuing pink slips to hundreds of employees, with up to 1,500 roles in the Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering teams. These are part of company-wide measures to reorganize the workforce.
“Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.”
Microsoft spokesperson
These recent cuts come after 1,900 jobs were cut at Activision Blizzard and Xbox at the beginning of January. Other tech companies such as Amazon and Salesforce have also made significant reductions in their workforce this year.
Azure’s AI-driven growth surges despite layoffs
However, Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing business is growing and has been boosted by large spending on Artificial Intelligence. The company’s collaboration with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has had the most impact.
Also Read: Microsoft Unveils New Azure AI Safety Features to Shield Against AI Hallucinations
Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering, the divisions that have been impacted by the recent layoffs, fall under the Strategic Missions and Technologies department. In 2021, Microsoft established the Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering division to handle “moonshots,” such as the Azure Space unit. Over a year has passed since Microsoft laid off over 10,000 employees, and Satya Nadella, the CEO, announced that the business was altering its hardware lineup.
Cryptopolitan reporting by Brenda Kanana
