Next Best Actions

Analyses case context and recommends next steps to a service representative in the Copilot pane, such as reviewing a generated email response, following up with the customer, reusing content or resolving the case.

Recorded characteristics

Function

Extends intent-based suggestions into the case workflow. After a case is created or updated, the agent analyses the case context, maps the issue to available intents and recommends next steps in the Copilot pane. Documented recommendations include reviewing a draft email response generated for the customer and refining it before sending, following up with the customer to gather or confirm details, copying the generated response, and resolving the case. Microsoft describes the service representative viewing and selecting these actions.

Data access

Microsoft documents the agent analysing case data such as emails and notes, together with case context and the organisation's intent library derived from historical support interactions. Related intent-based suggestions analyse live chat and call conversation content, and knowledge sources are queried when a solution is requested. No wider data access is documented for this capability.

Actions

Can take actions

External actions

Unknown

Human confirmation

Required

Permission basis

Not established

Administrative control

An administrator turns on intent-based suggestions in the Copilot Service admin center (Support experience > Productivity > Intent-based suggestions), selects the Actions option to enable next best actions for cases such as drafting emails or resolving the case, and enables it in selected representative experience profiles. Prerequisites include intent or knowledge management configuration and the Ask a question feature in the Copilot help pane. Customer Intent Agent is separately turned on in the admin center.

Default state

Disabled

Availability

Documented in current Microsoft Learn documentation for Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Dynamics 365 Customer Service (enablement article last updated 31 August 2026). The current documentation applies no preview or prerelease label to next best actions, but it also does not affirmatively state general availability, so the release status is recorded as documented-and-live rather than confirmed GA.

Licensing

Microsoft documents a pay-as-you-go plan as a prerequisite for Customer Intent Agent, and the Intent Manager and CSR Manager roles for managing intents. Administrator setup requires the System Administrator role. No further licensing detail for next best actions is established in the reviewed documentation.

External model or provider

Not established. Microsoft describes generative AI and Copilot in Customer Service being powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot, but no specific model or provider is documented for this capability.

Limitations and uncertainty

The runtime permission basis for the recommended actions is not established: Microsoft's reviewed documentation does not map next best actions to specific Dataverse privileges, and no Customer Service Copilot tool privilege reference page could be located. Whether any action can affect systems outside Dynamics 365 is not established. The documented action set is limited to the examples listed by Microsoft; behaviour of other Dynamics 365 agents is not attributed to this capability.

Evidence

• Enable intent-based suggestions for service representatives

  Supports: Function · Data access · Actions · Human confirmation · External actions · Permission basis · Admin controls · Default state · Availability · Limitations · Primary source

  Next best actions extend intent-based suggestions into the case workflow; after a case is created or updated the agent analyses case context and recommends appropriate next steps.

  For a case, the agent analyses case data such as emails and notes and maps the customer's issue to the available intents.

  Recommended actions help representatives review generated responses, follow up with customers, reuse content or resolve the case.

  Actions help service representatives review generated responses rather than executing autonomously.

  Documented actions concern Dynamics 365 case, email and knowledge workflows; no execution against a separate external system is documented.

  Enablement is scoped to selected representative experience profiles; no runtime privilege mapping is documented.

  Administrators enable intent-based suggestions and the Actions option in Copilot Service admin center and select experience profiles.

  Intent-based suggestions must be enabled in experience profiles for representatives to use them.

  Current Microsoft documentation describes the feature without a preview label; article last updated 31 August 2026.

  Turning off intent-based suggestions or removing it from an experience profile does not revert Copilot or other shared settings.

• Use intent-based suggestions

  Supports: Function · Actions · Human confirmation · Default state · Limitations · Primary source

  When you create or update a case, the agent analyses the case and suggests next best actions in the Copilot pane.

  Representatives can view and select next actions: review the generated email response and refine it before sending, follow up with the customer, or copy the generated response.

  The representative views and selects the suggested next action, and reviews and refines a generated response before sending.

  Prerequisite: intent-based suggestions is enabled, and the Ask a question feature in the Copilot help pane is enabled.

  If the agent cannot map the context to a known intent it shows nothing; representatives can thumbs-down an incorrect issue to stop suggestions.

• Manage Customer Intent Agent

  Supports: Data access · Actions · Permission basis · Admin controls · Licensing · Primary source

  Customer Intent Agent analyses past interactions to build an intent library used for suggestions.

  The agent presents a curated list of questions and suggested solutions that the representative can use.

  Intent Manager and CSR Manager roles are documented for managing intents, not for runtime action execution.

  Administrators turn on the Customer Intent Agent toggle and manage lines of business and intent discovery.

  Prerequisites include a pay-as-you-go plan and the Intent Manager and CSR Manager roles.

• Manage Copilot features in Customer Service

  Supports: Data access · Admin controls · Availability · Licensing · External model · Primary source

  Copilot features use customer service data such as cases, customer records and interactions.

  Administrators must enable AI-powered Copilot features for the environment in the Power Platform admin center.

  Copilot feature availability varies by region, with some features generally available only in North America and in preview elsewhere.

  Specific licensing requirements apply when using the feature with product environments; System Administrator role required to enable.

  Copilot features in Customer Service are powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot; no specific model is named for this capability.