The pace of AI development over the past two years has been staggering. There is no indication that this momentum will slow down this year. The focus in 2025 is on GenAI and assistants—or, in other words, AI agents in applications and services—that are set to revolutionize the way we work. What will this revolution entail? The range of capabilities for these agents is constantly expanding beyond mere support—AI agents will increasingly be able to autonomously perform tasks, actions, and make decisions.
What you’ll learn from this article:
- How is AI changing the way we work in 2025?
- How does AI impact ERP systems?
- What changes await the key Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications?
- Will Power Platform become a tool for everyone?
- Copilot in Microsoft 365 – a new era of productivity?
- How to prepare your company for the upcoming changes?
AI Operates Solo
AI’s reasoning capabilities are growing, enabling models to act autonomously and perform complex tasks—a significant leap forward. For example, in 2023 an AI bot supported call center employees by synthesizing and summarizing large amounts of data—including voice messages, text, and technical specifications—to suggest responses to customer inquiries. In 2025, an AI agent may engage in conversation with a customer and plan subsequent actions, such as processing a payment, checking for fraud, and initiating product shipment.
Microsoft aspires to be a leader in this transformation—it has been investing in AI for many years, integrating it into its products, services, and applications.
“Looking ahead, we believe that the next generation of artificial intelligence will unlock a new wave of productivity growth, with powerful Copilots designed to remove the drudgery from our daily tasks and work, freeing us to rediscover the joy of creation,” - Satya Nadella, The Future of Work with AI, March 2023
Since the beginning of that year, Microsoft has been steadily integrating AI into its products and enhancing Copilot, giving it an ever-widening scope of action. In 2025, Microsoft’s vision even includes granting AI agents near-complete autonomy. In a December 2024 conversation on the BG2 podcast with Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner, Satya Nadella discussed the transformation of entire ERP systems driven by AI agents.
Microsoft envisions ERP evolving into an organized database (a so-called CRUD database), with AI agents providing access and business logic. All the logic once embedded in ERP systems will shift to the AI layer, enabling process automation, integration with other systems, and intuitive, natural-language access to data. This approach will not only boost operational efficiency but also create new monetization models and allow for more intensive data utilization while maintaining higher security standards.
We see this vision realized in the 2025 Release Wave 1 - announced in January 2025 for the period from April to October this year. Users of products like Dynamics 365 and Power Platform can look forward to new capabilities and functionalities even more strongly supported by AI.
AI as the foundation of innovation in Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics 365, beyond serving as both a CRM and ERP, is evolving into a platform—a true business partner. Thanks to AI capabilities, Dynamics 365 tools can analyze data, predict trends, act in real time, and support business decision-making. In the upcoming Dynamics 365 update, Microsoft is placing a strong emphasis on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency and productivity. So, in which applications will GenAI play the most significant role?
Sales
Microsoft is introducing Copilot features and AI-based agents to support sales teams in achieving their goals while boosting productivity. These new tools will help automate market research, manage follow-ups, and prioritize tasks, streamline deal closures, and a refreshed interface will ensure maximum focus on work.
Customer Service
Customer support will gain enhanced agent capabilities for managing tickets and knowledge bases, AI-driven ticket queuing, and Copilot support for service representatives and their managers. These improvements aim to increase the productivity of customer service teams, enabling faster and more effective resolution of customer issues.
Contact Center
The 2025 Wave 1 introduces AI-driven automation to discern customer intent, enabling more intuitive self-service and intelligent knowledge management. Key enhancements include multimodal recognition of customer intent, improved unified ticket routing, and advanced tools for personnel and quality management.
Field Service
Microsoft is adopting a Copilot-first approach in Field Service to streamline the planning and execution of service operations and elevate customer service quality. AI will assist field technicians with automated inspections, provide real-time insights for dispatchers, offer immediate access to key information for frontline employees, and ensure seamless integration with Microsoft Teams and Outlook.
Finance
A Copilot-first environment will also be implemented in Finance. How will this work? Finance-specialized AI assistants will streamline financial management, regulatory compliance, and account reconciliation, with enhancements in bank account reconciliation and intelligent planning tools. Updates will also include improved business performance analytics for greater financial transparency.
Supply Chain Management
The Supply Chain Management application uses AI to predict disruptions in supply chains and suggest alternative solutions. In 2025, Microsoft plans to introduce new features—such as Predictive Demand Forecasting—that will leverage advanced machine learning models to forecast demand with even greater accuracy, as well as automate supplier communications and integrate AI into manufacturing processes.
Project Operations
Key improvements in Project Operations will include enhanced project planning, contract management, invoicing, time tracking, and expense management. AI-driven features will support “what-if” analyses, proposal generation, and automated processes. This release also introduces a mobile app for time management and improved capabilities for handling larger projects and invoice volumes.
Human Resources
For HR departments, Microsoft has developed AI-driven recruitment assessments, integrations with external job portals such as LinkedIn, and enhanced tools for managing benefits and employee relations. With these updates, HR teams will be able to create a more flexible and engaging workplace.
Commerce
The Commerce application will feature a new mobile-friendly POS system that reduces reliance on traditional hardware and increases conversion rates. Microsoft will also enhance payment connectors to facilitate modern payment methods and introduce more flexible pricing models.
Microsoft Power Platform – evolution in app development and automation
Power Platform is a suite of tools that enables app creation, process automation, and data analysis without requiring advanced programming skills. In the 2025 Release Wave 1, Microsoft plans to introduce a series of innovations designed to simplify app development and automate business processes.
Power Apps
A new AI-based design tool will help build custom applications. Microsoft will introduce the ability to integrate intelligent agents that support daily tasks such as data entry, exploration, and summarization. Users will be able to automate routine processes by deploying agents from existing applications, allowing them to operate autonomously.
Power Pages
AI in Microsoft Power Pages will help companies build secure, data-driven web portals. Key updates include support for WhatsApp, Teams, and email; assistance with form completion; new data visualizations; and enhanced management policies to boost security and streamline site administration.
Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is introducing a new “human-in-the-loop” environment. Under this new model, it will offer AI-based approvals and generative actions. Intelligent document processing will further enhance workflow efficiency, while a comprehensive suite of tools in the Automation Center and Power Platform Admin Center will help companies seamlessly manage large-scale automations.
Microsoft Copilot Studio
Microsoft Copilot Studio expands the capabilities of autonomous agents by enriching the platform with a custom agent creator. New features include support for custom actions, extended enterprise knowledge bases, and the ability to upgrade declarative agents to full custom Copilot Studio agents. Companies will also be able to deploy custom agents across new channels, including WhatsApp and SharePoint.
AI Builder
AI Builder in Copilot Studio introduces advanced automation for everyday tasks such as email processing, document management, and image handling. The latest update brings multimodal content processing, enabling organizations to manage text, documents, and images using a single natural language command. The enhanced Prompt Builder will allow users to customize AI actions to their specific needs, integrate various data sources with Microsoft Dataverse, and generate multiple types of content.
Copilot in Microsoft 365
Microsoft will also roll out several updates to its role-based Microsoft 365 Copilot offerings.
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales
Generative AI in Copilot for Sales will enhance sales forecasting and automate recommendations based on CRM data. Microsoft will also introduce a new SalesChat™ and personalized process customization.
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service
In Copilot for Service, AI integration with any CRM system will simplify customer service teams’ access to customer data and ticket management. AI will further assist in drafting and summarizing emails.
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance
For Finance, Microsoft has developed features for automatic variance analysis in financial data, integration with external data sources, the ability to manage collections directly within Microsoft Teams, and the use of AI to summarize macroeconomic conditions for a comprehensive view of enterprise finances.
Access to new features and how to prepare
Starting February 3, 2025, Microsoft customers and partners will be able to test new features in a preview environment before they are rolled out in April 2025. This is an excellent opportunity to familiarize yourself with the updates and prepare an implementation plan for these new functionalities before they go live in production environments.
The new features in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform will enable organizations to operate more efficiently, faster, and more intelligently.
If you’d like to learn more about these new functionalities and how to implement them in your company, please contact us.
Sources:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2025/01/23/2025-release-wave-1-plans-for-microsoft-dynamics-365-microsoft-power-platform-and-role-based-copilot-offerings/
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/superagency-in-the-workplace-empowering-people-to-unlock-ais-full-potential-at-work
https://news.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2023/04/Satya-Nadella-The-Future-of-Work-with-AI.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NtsnzRFJ_o
