This blog is inspired by our recent "AI in Action" webinar, featuring Microsoft's Apay Obang-Oyway and Tollring experts Greg Easton and Ian Bevington. It explores how organizations are using AI to unlock intelligence from Microsoft Teams conversations — and what that means for your contact center strategy. 

👉 Watch the webinar on demand to hear the full discussion. 

We are now in the AI era, and no sector is immune. "Every single aspect…will be impacted by this particular innovation," Apay Obang-Oyway of Microsoft stresses. For customer-facing teams, the implications are massive. 

Your organization's daily Microsoft Teams calls and chats with customers, partners, and colleagues are generating enormous amounts of useful data – far more than any manager or analyst team could manually sift through. As Greg Easton of Tollring (the developer of Analytics 365) points out, unless those conversations are "captured and then analyzed," their insights are essentially "lost in the ether." 

In an age where hybrid and remote work have reduced managers' visibility into frontline interactions, leveraging this data is no longer optional – it's mission-critical. 

Microsoft's strategic view on AI-driven transformation provides a clear framework that resonates for contact center leaders. Apay describes four pillars for translating AI into real business outcomes: empowering employees, reinventing customer engagement, reshaping business processes, and bending the innovation curve. 

In practice, this means using AI to help your people excel, to serve customers better, to streamline operations, and to speed up innovation. And this isn't just theory – Microsoft's own results are telling. For example, when they deployed an AI Copilot to 65,000 employees, the top adopters closed deals 23% faster and generated 9% more revenue per head. In customer support, AI agents triaging and resolving inquiries saved the company over $500 million in one year. 

These kinds of outcomes – productivity gains, cost savings, and improved performance – are directly relevant to contact centers. Every call center or customer service team stands to benefit by infusing AI into their workflows, provided it's done thoughtfully. 

Why Act Now? 

Simply put, the competitive stakes are high. Your employees are likely already experimenting with AI tools in their day-to-day work – Microsoft research found that 75% of workers are using some form of AI (46% of them starting in just the last six months). Meanwhile, organizations that fully invest in AI are seeing nearly 3.7× returns and faster growth than those that don't. 

As Apay warns, "We're not using it, but your competition are… eventually you will be disintermediated" if you fail to keep up. In other words, those who harness AI in their customer interactions will lead, and those who hesitate will watch their customers slip away. 

The good news is that you already have a goldmine of customer intelligence in your Microsoft Teams conversations – and solutions like Analytics 365 are making it easier than ever to tap into that intelligence and turn it into real outcomes. 

 

Unlocking Insights Hidden in Teams Conversations 

The first step is to capture and analyze the rich data flowing through your Teams calls and meetings. Every customer inquiry, complaint, or piece of feedback that your team handles on Teams is valuable – if you can extract it. 

AI-powered platforms such as Analytics 365 are designed to do exactly this. "Out-of-the-box, we can capture and store every conversation… transcribe every conversation, rate every conversation for sentiment, and match [it] against preconfigured topics like abusive language and complaints," explains Ian Bevington, Product Marketing Manager at Tollring. 

In addition to built-in categories, you can configure custom keywords and phrases relevant to your business – whether that's product names, competitor mentions, or specific issues – so that AI will flag those conversations for you. 

This capability enables managers to automatically pinpoint high-risk calls and intervene sooner. In industries like local government, social housing, or healthcare – where conversations can get highly charged – this is a game-changer. 

Compliance, Quality, and Coaching at Scale 

AI-driven topic and transcript analysis also supports compliance and quality assurance. In sectors such as insurance or financial services, agents must follow specific language or disclosures. AI can scan every conversation for compliance, rather than relying on manual sampling. 

For example, one Analytics 365 user created a topic to find all calls where GDPR permission was discussed and pulled those recordings as proof of compliance. This level of oversight helps prevent issues before they become fines or lost trust. 

AI also makes coaching scalable. Rather than randomly reviewing a few calls, managers can define quality standards and let the AI score 100% of interactions. Consistent auto-scoring leads to fairer evaluations and faster feedback for agents. 

You can even analyze what your top performers do right and scale those behaviors across your team. "You're not guessing anymore," Ian says. "You're using real data from your best people." 

Seeing the Bigger Picture with Trend Analysis 

Beyond individual calls, conversation analytics reveals macro trends across customer interactions. Which topics are rising? Which agents are struggling? Which teams are handling calls more efficiently? 

Visual dashboards let you track sentiment, topics, and outcomes over time. A dip in sentiment around a product launch? A spike in complaints by region? You'll catch it early and act proactively. 

An example from the webinar: a telecom provider tracked competitor mentions and cancellation reasons using AI topics. The insights helped identify where rival offers were winning, guiding better counter-strategies. 

Real-Time Responsiveness and Retention 

AI can also flag churn risks and escalate urgent issues. When a call includes certain red-flag terms or dips into negative sentiment, Analytics 365 can alert a supervisor instantly. You're no longer blind to issues unfolding in real time. 

It also helps prevent missed opportunities. If a call goes unanswered, the system flags it for follow-up – a huge win in sectors like hospitality, where one missed call can equal a lost customer. 

Security and simplicity are key. Analytics 365 stores and processes data in secure environments, without passing conversations to third-party AI engines. The solution is fully integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem and available through AppSource, with minimal setup. 

No heavy IT lift. No need for data science teams. Just fast, actionable insight from day one. 

The AI Advantage Is Real — And Ready 

You don't have to wait. If your customer-facing teams are already using Microsoft Teams, you have everything you need to start turning conversations into intelligence. 

AI is already reshaping how customer experience works — and with tools like Analytics 365, your team can be ahead of the curve. 

The question is no longer if AI will impact your contact center — but when and how quickly you adapt. The leaders are already acting. Will you?