Microsoft Unveils Digital Contact Center Platform in INSPIRE 2022

Microsoft executives say partners will play a critical role in the newly introduced Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform offering, which combines technology from Teams, Azure and other portfolio products with newly acquired voice-to-text company Nuance.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft introduced the offering during its Inspire partner event, which occurs from Tuesday to Wednesday online.

Unlike other tech conferences, which have returned in person or done a mix of live and online events, Microsoft held Inspire entirely online as the world continues to grapple with COVID-19.

Partners are “absolutely essential” to bridging the contact center platform to market, Charles Lamanna, Microsoft corporate vice president of business applications and platform.

Some of the earliest partners to work with Microsoft on the contact center platform, he said, include PwC and Accenture – No. 1 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500.

The platform –which pulls in technology from Teams, Nuance, Azure, Power Platform and Dynamics 365 – integrates with other contact center and customer relationship management software, including Genesys, HCL, Nice and TTEC.

Microsoft closed on its $19 billion acquisition of Nuance in March. Microsoft will also roll out training and certification for the new offering, Lamanna said.

New Microsoft Platform Features

The platform brings in artificial intelligence (AI) to power self-service and live customer engagements, collaborative experiences with live and virtual agents, business process automation, fraud prevention and advanced telephony, according to Microsoft.

Technology from Nuance improves the conversational AI, security and automation capabilities with the goal of resolving customers’ issues faster and with more personalized service. Contact centers can also offer targeted incentives to improve customer loyalty and upsell opportunities for more revenue, according to Microsoft.

The platform uses AI and Microsoft’s Context IQ feature to anticipate customer requests and predict intent, according to Microsoft. Customers are protected with integrated biometric identification, authentication and fraud prevention. Users also receive customer journey analytics to improve experiences.

The contact center platform should please smaller and midsize businesses as well, he said. Companies of all sizes need help talking to customers with more than just customer support over the phone.

Partners well-versed in Teams and Teams Phone might want to consider adding the contact center platform to their practice as the next step in using Teams to interact with customers.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had hinted at an upcoming contact center service back in April during the company’s quarterly earnings call. When updating analysts on Microsoft’s Nuance acquisition, Nadella said that “Nuance is a platform layer for these AI-driven applications that are getting deployed, whether it’s in health care or even in the enterprise contact center.”