AI Agents: Automate Decisions, Not Just Tasks

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A practical discussion with Mary Pantelopoulou on quantifying and realising business value from AI and low code, using the Business Value Assessment to tie Power Platform, M365 Copilot, and autonomous agents to top‑line growth, cost reduction, risk mitigation, and redesigned processes that free people to focus on higher‑value work.

👉️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/787

🎙️ What you’ll learn  

• Frame AI investments with a clear business value model tied to strategic objectives 
• Identify and quantify use cases using benchmarks and customer scenarios 
• Move beyond time savings to decisions on how freed time is used 
• Rethink processes for AI, not just automate existing steps 
• Apply autonomous agents to transform CRM/ERP into intelligent platforms 

 ✅ Highlights  

• “It feels like when the internet was introduced… a big disruptive thing.” 
• “Our focus is business applications, Power Platform, and recently M365 Copilot.” 
• “We help customers quantify: if I’m spending $1, how much am I getting in return?” 
• “We use our own technology—customer zero—to benchmark and quantify value.” 
• “What do you actually do with this time… that’s the most interesting.” 
• “Think about your processes, but rethink them.” 
• “AI is becoming the backbone of our modern business applications.” 
• “We’ve brought modern work and business applications together in a team called ABS.” 
• “Pre‑built autonomous agents in sales, service, finance, supply chain, and customer insights.” 
• “Traditional CRM and ERP are transformed into intelligent platforms.” 

 🧰 Mentioned 

• Business Value Assessment (BVA) tool - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/business-value-toolkit 
• Power Platform - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform 
• M365 Copilot - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot 
• Agents / autonomous agents - https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2024/10/21/new-autonomous-agents-scale-your-team-like-never-before/ 
• Customer zero - https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/inside-microsoft-being-customer-zero-in-an-ai-powered-world/ 
• Contact center productivity - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/contact-center 

✅Keywords 
ai, power platform, business value assessment, m365 copilot, autonomous agents, crm, erp, productivity, one microsoft, finance, contact center, low‑code 

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith