The pace of digital transformation continues to accelerate, and AI is becoming more deeply integrated into everyday business processes.
Microsoft’s latest 2024 Wave 2 release for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform focuses on making these tools even more powerful with enhancements to Microsoft Copilot, a feature designed to bring AI-driven insights and automation directly into your workflows. The wave 2 release announces the latest updates and new features for Dynamics 365 and Copilot for Business releasing from October 2024 through to March 2025.
For leaders in IT, this announcement is more than just a product update—it’s a glimpse into how AI will continue to reshape business operations, enhance decision-making, and drive efficiency. Let’s break down the most exciting updates to Microsoft Copilot in the 2024 Wave 2 release.
1. Deeper Integration Across Dynamics 365
One of the key enhancements in this release is the deeper integration of Copilot across the entire Dynamics 365 suite. From Sales to Customer Service and Field Service, Copilot is being fine-tuned to provide more relevant, actionable insights exactly where users need them.
For example, Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales is now even better at generating predictive insights for sales teams, helping them focus on the most promising leads. It analyses historical data and behavioural patterns, making suggestions on how to approach deals or which customers to prioritise. For IT leaders, this means that your sales teams can work smarter, not harder, using AI to improve their performance without the need for constant manual intervention.
In Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Copilot is stepping up to automate routine tasks even more effectively. It can draft responses, suggest next steps, and guide customer service agents through complex interactions, ensuring that support staff spend less time on repetitive work and more time on high-value tasks.
These integrations help IT leaders streamline their tech ecosystems, making sure different teams across the business are equipped with the best tools to increase productivity and drive success.
2. AI-Driven Decision Making: Enhanced Predictive Analytics
Microsoft Copilot’s capabilities around predictive analytics have been significantly enhanced in Wave 2, providing IT leaders with even deeper insights into business data. Whether you're analysing sales trends, customer behaviours, or operational metrics, Copilot is designed to surface insights that help predict future outcomes and suggest actions.
One standout feature is the ability to generate predictive insights from natural language queries. Business users can simply ask questions in plain language—like "What are the top five customer issues this month?"—and Copilot will deliver an answer derived from your data. This makes AI-driven insights more accessible to non-technical users, removing barriers and empowering your teams to make data-driven decisions quickly and confidently.
For IT departments, this presents an opportunity to further democratize data within the business, allowing more employees to engage with analytics tools without needing specialised skills. The more your teams can harness predictive analytics, the faster they can respond to challenges and seize opportunities.
3. Automating Repetitive Tasks with Generative AI
Routine tasks, from data entry to responding to customer inquiries, take up a significant portion of many employees' time. One of the most exciting features of the Microsoft Copilot updates is the enhancement of automated workflows with generative AI.
In this latest release, Copilot is leveraging its AI capabilities to handle repetitive tasks more efficiently. For instance, it can automatically generate email responses based on previous customer interactions, ensuring consistency and accuracy without human input. In Dynamics 365 Marketing, it can also help draft personalised email campaigns by analysing customer data and generating content tailored to specific audiences.
This automation isn’t just about saving time—it’s about reducing human error and ensuring that teams can focus on more strategic, high-impact activities. IT leaders will benefit from the opportunity to simplify and automate many day-to-day processes, improving operational efficiency across departments.
4. Enhanced Security and Compliance in AI Operations
As AI becomes more deeply integrated into business processes, ensuring security and compliance is critical—especially for IT leaders responsible for safeguarding sensitive data. Microsoft is responding to these concerns with enhanced security features in Copilot as part of the Wave 2 release.
One of the major updates includes AI-driven security protocols that help monitor and control how data is being used in AI workflows. Copilot is designed to work within your existing security and compliance frameworks, ensuring that data used in AI operations is handled in accordance with both internal policies and regulatory requirements.
With the rise of AI in automating tasks and making decisions, this focus on security is essential. IT leaders can confidently integrate AI tools like Copilot into their operations knowing that Microsoft is providing robust security features to safeguard their data.
5. Future-Ready with Power Platform Integration
Finally, one of the most exciting aspects of the Wave 2 release is how Copilot is further embedded into the Power Platform, making it even easier to build and automate custom workflows.
For IT teams looking to develop bespoke solutions, Power Automate now includes deeper Copilot functionality, allowing users to build automated workflows through simple natural language inputs. This no-code/low-code approach means that even non-developers can create powerful automation solutions, reducing the burden on IT departments and enabling faster innovation.
Additionally, the Power Apps integration allows Copilot to assist in app-building processes, suggesting components or providing insights on how to improve app performance. For IT leaders focused on enabling innovation across the business, this level of accessibility in app development is a game-changer.
Summary
The 2024 Wave 2 updates for Microsoft Copilot represent a significant leap forward in AI’s role in business operations. These enhancements offer the opportunity to not only streamline workflows, but to drive strategic growth through better decision-making, automation, and innovation.
As AI continues to evolve, the companies that succeed will be the ones that integrate it thoughtfully and effectively into their processes. Microsoft Copilot’s new features offer exactly that—a way to empower your teams, reduce operational friction, and ensure your organisation is future-ready.
If you haven’t already explored the full potential of Microsoft Copilot, now is the time. These updates make it easier than ever to unlock the power of AI for your business. Learn more about how we can help your team unlock the power of Copilot at: https://www.core.co.uk/copilot