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Unified Service Desk, long valued for its ability to consolidate multiple applications into a single agent interface, is being phased out as Microsoft shifts focus to more modern, AI-driven solutions.  

USD provided contact center agents with a unified view of customer data, streamlining operations and reducing the need for multiple desktop programs. However, with fewer updates and no major enhancements planned, Microsoft is steering its customers toward CSW. This new platform not only offers faster load times and customizable dashboards but also integrates AI-powered tools to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction. 

As the sunset plan unfolds, key dates include: 

So, what’s Next?  

Organizations using USD are encouraged to start planning their transition to CSW. Microsoft is positioning CSW as the central hub for customer service operations, promising ongoing updates, including Copilot integration and advanced autonomous agent capabilities. 

The company will discontinue support for Smart Assist on June 2, 2025, warning that businesses still relying on the tool may face service disruptions and limited functionality. Microsoft states that Copilot offers enhanced case resolution, intelligent recommendations, and automation capabilities, making it the preferred alternative. 

The deprecation process will begin on February 10, 2025, when Smart Assist will no longer receive updates and will be hidden from new environments. By the end-of-life date in December 2025, the feature will be removed entirely from Dynamics 365 Customer Service.  

Microsoft advises organizations to activate Copilot’s features immediately, leveraging generative AI for case management, knowledge recommendations, and workflow automation to maintain productivity. 

To facilitate the transition, Microsoft has outlined best practices for replacing Smart Assist, including using Copilot Studio extensibility for case suggestions and deploying the Customer Knowledge Management Agent for auto-generated insights. 

The retirement of Smart Assist marks another step in Microsoft’s broader AI integration strategy, reinforcing its commitment to advancing customer service automation. Organizations are expected to adapt quickly as the shift towards AI-driven support tools becomes a priority for maintaining efficient customer service operations. Get in touch with our Dynamics 365 experts to know more 

The update, rolling out from April to September 2025, brings intelligent sales agents, personalized engagement tools, and enhanced analytics to help organizations refine their sales strategies and close deals more efficiently. 

A major focus of this release is lead management automation, with AI-powered insights helping sales teams identify, qualify, and engage high-potential leads while filtering out low-intent prospects.  

The platform will also introduce autonomous sales agents to assist in pipeline generation, automated follow-ups, and customer research, ensuring no lead is overlooked.  

Additionally, AI-driven email personalization and predictive analytics will enable sales reps to craft more effective outreach campaigns that align with individual customer needs. 

For sales managers and operations leaders, Dynamics 365 Sales will now offer real-time quota management, forecasting tools, and guided coaching insights, allowing teams to track seller performance and optimize sales activities. Power BI integration will further enhance data-driven decision-making, providing deeper visibility into sales performance. Administrators will have access to new extensibility options, enabling them to customize the platform using Microsoft Power Platform and streamline sales processes with predefined action sequences. 

For more details on the upcoming enhancements, licensing, and product trials, businesses can visit the official release page.

The latest enhancements will enable service teams to leverage generative AI for real-time issue resolution, automated case summaries, and contextual knowledge retrieval from internal and external sources.  

Moreover, Microsoft aims to elevate agent efficiency with an improved service desktop, built-in collaboration tools, and AI-infused guidance that simplifies complex case handling across multiple channels. 

Additionally, administrators will need to review new user-impacting features, ensuring seamless onboarding of these capabilities. Microsoft encourages organizations to explore the full release plan for details on licensing, upcoming trials, and configuration requirements to maximize adoption and optimize customer service workflows. 

Read more: All you need to know Dynamics 365 Customer Service module 

Among the key highlights, Copilot-powered summaries (currently in preview for US-based environments) now enable users to quickly understand desktop flows by summarizing selected actions and subflows.  

Additionally, Microsoft has introduced a new parallel execution capability, allowing child desktop flows to run concurrently with parent flows, which helps mitigate unexpected popups that may otherwise disrupt automation. 

Other notable improvements include dedicated Access actions for direct database operations, expanded support for Excel, Word, and Outlook instance variables as input/output variables, and a new retry policy for the “On block error” action, ensuring greater stability in automated workflows. 

Microsoft encourages users to explore these new capabilities and share feedback through the Power Automate Community. To learn more about these updates and how they can enhance your automation workflows, get in touch with our experts