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!
Source: Read MoreÂ
