Microsoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Service Solutions, Q1 2026

Microsoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Service Solutions, Q1 2026

(Recognition of Microsoft’s “Agentic” service vision, highlighting the strength of Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Customer Service in modernizing the support experience through autonomous AI.)

Real-time User Journey: The Integrated Agentic Experience

The Forrester report emphasized “horizontal” integration—where AI works across the entire company. This journey reflects that capability:

1. Smart Recognition: A customer with a “Premium” status calls support. The Unified Routing engine identifies their high-value status and their previous interaction in Microsoft Fabric regarding a delayed order.
2. Contextual Handoff: Instead of asking the customer to repeat themselves, the AI agent greets them with: “I see you’re calling about your pending order from yesterday. I’ve already checked the shipping status.”
3. Collaborative Resolution: The issue requires a back-office warehouse update. The agent uses the Microsoft Teams Swarming feature. A warehouse expert is pulled into a sidebar chat automatically, provides the update, and leaves.
4. Copilot Sidekick: While the agent talks, Copilot generates a “Resolution Draft” based on the warehouse update.
5. Autonomous Post-Call: Once the call ends, the Case Management Agent autonomously updates the CRM, sends a confirmation email, and triggers a refund in the finance system.
6. Quality Oversight: The Quality Evaluation Agent scores the call for “Empathy” and “Efficiency” within seconds, feeding the data into the supervisor’s leadership dashboard.

Step-by-Step: How to Enable the “Leader” Capabilities

To implement the specific features cited by Forrester as market-leading, follow these steps:

• Step 1: Unify Data via Dataverse & Fabric

Ensure your customer data is not siloed. In the Power Platform Admin Center, enable the Microsoft Fabric Link for your Dataverse environment to give AI a 360-degree view of the customer.

• Step 2: Activate the Agentic Suite

Navigate to the Agent Hub in Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Enable the Case Management Agent and Knowledge Management Agent to move from “assisted” to “autonomous” service.

• Step 3: Set Up Unified Routing

Go to Customer Support > Routing. Configure “Intents” so the AI can predict why a customer is calling and route them to the best-fit agent or digital bot.

• Step 4: Enable Copilot for Service

In the Admin Center, go to Agent Experience > Productivity. Toggle on “Copilot Summaries” and “Generative Answers” (connecting it to your internal SharePoint/Knowledge Base).

• Step 5: Integrate Teams Collaboration

Enable “Embedded Chat using Microsoft Teams” in the settings. This allows agents to “swarm” complex cases with experts from across the organization without leaving the CRM.

• Step 6: Monitor via AI Evaluation

Deploy the AI Performance Dashboard to monitor the “Three Pillars” (Understand, Reason, Respond) that Forrester highlighted as key to Microsoft’s high score in technical strategy.

Infographic: Why Microsoft was Named a Leader

Forrester Evaluation Criteria	Microsoft’s Strategic Advantage
Agentic Innovation	Moving from chatbots to autonomous Case & Quality Agents.
Platform Synergy	Deep integration with Teams, Outlook, and Azure.
Data Strategy	Real-time insights via Microsoft Fabric and Dataverse.
Developer Tools	Empowering IT and “Citizen Developers” via Copilot Studio.
Security & Trust	Built-in Sensitive Data Redaction and enterprise-grade privacy.

References

Microsoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Service Solutions, Q1 2026