Microsoft announces new AI agents, accelerator program for sellers

Microsoft has announced a new program to encourage customers to use the company’s primary AI copilot and agent-building tools for sales scenarios. They are also planning to launch two new pre-built AI agents, Sales Agent and Sales Chat, which will reach preview in May, according to the company.

The new agent building program, Microsoft AI Accelerator for Sales, aims to help sales organizations “transform…and migrate off legacy CRM vendors,” wrote Bryan Goode, CVP for Business Applications and Platform in a new blog post. Starting on April 1, the “white glove” program encourages organizations to use Microsoft 365 Copilot, custom agents built in Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365 for Sales, and Microsoft’s own pre-built agents like the D365 sales qualification agent (entering preview this month) in their sales scenarios. 

Microsoft also plans to launch two new AI agents, Sales Agent and Sales Chat. Both will integrate with various CRM systems and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. They will reach public preview in March, according to the company.

Sales Agent can “research and prioritize leads, set up meetings, and reach out to customers.” It uses internal company data and third party information to personalize communications with contacts with the aim of turning them into qualified leads. Jared Spataro, CMO for AI at Work at Microsoft, noted that “for some low-impact leads, it can even complete a sale.”

Sales Chat “provides actionable takeaways from CRM data, pitch decks, meetings, emails, and the web” to ...