With the increasing use of AI chatbots, businesses often face one key challenge: when and how to seamlessly hand over the conversation from a bot to a human agent.
In this two-part series, I’ll walk you through how we used Microsoft Copilot Studio and Dynamics 365 Omnichannel to build a live agent escalation feature. Part 1 will focus on the why, what, and architecture, and Part 2 will deep dive into the actual implementation.
Problem Statement
Chatbots are great for handling FAQs and basic support, but they fall short when:
-
A customer is frustrated or confused
-
Complex or sensitive issues arise
-
Immediate human empathy or decision-making is needed
In such cases, a real-time live agent transfer becomes essential.
High-Level Use Case
We built a chatbot for a customer portal using Copilot Studio. While it handles common queries, we also needed to:
-
Escalate conversations to live agents if the user asks for it
-
Preserve chat context during handoff
-
Route to the correct agent or queue based on rules
-
Provide agents with complete chat history and customer info
Architecture Overview
Here’s how the components interact:
[User] ⟶ [Copilot Studio Bot] ⟶ [Transfer to Agent Node] ⟶ [Omnichannel Workstream] ⟶ [Queue with Available Agents] ⟶ [Agent in Customer Service Workspace]
Tools Involved
-
Copilot Studio: Low-code chatbot builder
-
D365 Omnichannel for Customer Service: Real-time chat and routing
-
Customer Service Workspace: Where agents receive and respond to chats
-
Web Page: To host the bot on a public-facing portal
Benefits of This Integration
-
Bot handles everyday tasks, reducing agent load
-
Smooth escalation without losing chat context
-
Intelligent routing via workstreams and queues
-
Agent productivity improves with transcript visibility and customer profile.
Conclusion
In this first part of our blog series, we explored the high-level architecture and components involved in enabling a seamless live agent transfer from Copilot Studio to a real support agent via D365 Omnichannel.
By combining the conversational power of Copilot Studio with the robust routing and session management capabilities of Omnichannel for Customer Service, organizations can elevate their customer support experience by offering the best of both automation and human interaction.
What’s Next in Part 2?
In Part 2, I’ll walk you through:
-
Setting up Omnichannel in D365
-
Creating the bot in Copilot Studio
-
Configuring escalation logic
-
Testing the live agent transfer end-to-end
Stay tuned!
