Are you using your Microsoft 365 suite to its full potential? Many businesses invest in powerful technology but only scratch the surface of its capabilities. This article explores how to unlock the true value of Microsoft 365 with AI-driven tools like Copilot, leveraging the robust Microsoft ecosystem, and partnering with specialized vendors for tailored solutions that drive business growth and enhance customer experiences.
Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to find a brand-new high-quality car parked in your garage. Santa clearly had good intentions this year, but in the holiday rush, he forgot one crucial detail: there’s no gas in the tank. The car is a marvel of engineering and beauty—you can sit in the driver's seat, admire the exquisite craftsmanship of the interior, and feel the thrill of gripping the steering wheel. You can even press the pedals and dream of the power under the hood. But without fuel, the car won’t take you anywhere.
Now think about your business tools and you may find yourself in a similar predicament. Despite having access to powerful applications, you're probably only using a fraction of their full potential. This could be due to a lack of in-house expertise, limited resources or the constant demands of day-to-day operations that leave little room for technological optimization. The result? Like a car without fuel, your tools remain a dormant asset, unable to drive your business forward.
Microsoft – The Foundation
For most businesses, Microsoft is the natural starting point when it comes to business technology. Over a million companies rely on the Microsoft 365 suite to power their daily operations. The recent surge in AI, coupled with the introduction of Copilot, has solidified Microsoft’s market leadership. Over the past 12 months, 70% of AI software spending has been tied to the Microsoft ecosystem. With its powerful and integrated ecosystem, Microsoft is the ideal foundation for businesses looking to explore the transformative potential of AI and cutting-edge technology.
However, most companies lack the expertise and infrastructure to fully leverage these advancements. Recognizing this, Microsoft has positioned itself as a “platform- and partner-first company”. At Ignite 2024, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that Microsoft's core mission is to build platforms that empower partners. Instead of focusing on providing complete end-to-end business solutions themselves, Microsoft aims to equip companies with robust underlying technology while actively supporting its partner ecosystem in developing innovative solutions that address specific business needs and challenges.
Specifically, the focus for Microsoft in 2025 and beyond will be on building three areas: Copilot, Copilot devices, and the Copilot and AI stack.
- Copilot: With Copilot, Microsoft is creating a user interface for AI. Copilot allows businesses to create agents that streamline business processes.
- Copilot devices: Microsoft is building new PCs and devices that can unleash the power of AI.
- Copilot and AI stack: Microsoft is exposing it’s technology stack to allow partners and businesses to build powerful apps and solutions. With Azure it offers datacenters across 15 countries and provides access to the latest Open AI models.
Copilot devices and Copilot provide organizations with the foundation for their business operations. With the Copilot and AI stack, Microsoft is enabling partners to leverage advanced technology at every layer to build, customize, and manage the next generation of business applications. This approach enables Microsoft to concentrate on developing best-in-class technology while partners leverage their expertise to create solutions tailored to real-world use cases, such as contact center solutions for customer service. And by allowing everyone to focus on what they do best, value can be increased and waste reduced.
Third-Party Vendors – The Business Solution
By developing tailored solutions for specific business challenges, partners play a critical role in Microsoft's success. Their specialized expertise helps companies to fully leverage Microsoft’s technology for their needs, for example for customer service.
Microsoft boasts a vast partner network. The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MCPP) supports partners in every stage of maturity – from startup to independent software vendor (ISV) in creating, selling, and managing cloud services and solutions. Microsoft is also prioritizing AI with its partners as AI and cloud capabilities are becoming increasingly connected.
To differentiate the large numbers of partners based on their technical capabilities, different designations exist. There are:
- Training Services designation: Partners who provide training to their own teams as well as to other partners within the Microsoft ecosystem.
- ISV Designations: Partner solutions that are well integrated with the Microsoft Cloud and tailored to specific industries.
- Support Services Designation: Partners with strong support capabilities and a proven track record of successful customer outcomes across multiple Microsoft solutions.
ISVs are partners that offer solutions compatible with Microsoft’s technology stack. Through the ISV Program, Microsoft provides partners with tools, licensing options, and resources to increase scalability, as well as access to the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace.
The Microsoft Commercial Marketplace is the central hub where ISVs can sell their solutions through a simplified sales process. The platform offers a wide range of solutions that have been vetted by Microsoft to ensure they meet rigorous certification requirements and adhere to the company's comprehensive security standards.
The Contact Center – The Customer Service Solution
Companies that want to use Microsoft's powerful tools for both internal and external customer interactions can deploy a contact center solution. Companies looking for a customer service solution based on Microsoft technology will find that there are two options: a standalone contact center solution and solutions that integrate directly with Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft offers an official certification program for contact centers that integrate with Microsoft Teams and differentiates these by their level of integration: Connect, Extend, and Power. While the highest level of integration, Power, is not yet available, the Extend model already offers a robust integration possibility that ensures low latency, high-quality voice communication, and compliance by keeping all data within the Teams ecosystem.
Extended contact centers, such as Luware Nimbus, are seamlessly integrated into the Microsoft Teams client via the Graph APIs and Cloud Communications API and can fully leverage the Azure ecosystem. Such a contact center solution acts as a telephony carrier alongside Microsoft 365 as all calls and call controls are steered via the Teams phone system. It also allows you to leverage the wider Azure ecosystem and enables seamless integration with other business tools via Power Automate. This makes it possible to use automation and omnichannel capabilities across platforms such as CRM systems or social media channels.
The Extended Contact Center model used by Luware Nimbus provides employees with a unified interface. They can use Microsoft Teams for external customer interactions as well as for internal collaboration. Features like dynamic, contextual notes and data correlation from multiple systems reduce context switching and enhance productivity. It also supports advanced workflows, skill-based routing, and analytics to optimize operations. With an Extended contact center, companies can design tailored processes, measure interaction quality, and access real-time insights through native reporting tools like Power BI. By fully utilizing the Microsoft technology stack, they can focus on customer interactions, enhancing satisfaction scores.
Graphic showing how Luware Nimbus, an Extended Contact Center, integrates with the Azure ecosystem and other business tools.
Conclusion
Don’t let your high-quality and expensive car gather dust in the garage—fuel it up and take it for a drive. Likewise, if you’re going to invest in cutting-edge business technology, make sure to also invest in the appropriate ecosystem to use it.