FAQ for collections with Finance agents (preview)

[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

These frequently asked questions (FAQ) describe the AI impact of Finance agents features in Outlook.

What are Finance agents in Outlook?

Copilot provides a copilot sidecar experience for collections coordinators in Outlook. This experience transforms the way that these users perform their core tasks. They can complete business processes without having to sign in to the financial system. Instead, they can stay in the context of Microsoft 365 productivity tools such as Outlook. Thanks to recommended actions, summarization, and AI-powered content creation, users can complete tasks more efficiently and accurately. Therefore, they can respond more quickly to changing conditions.

What can Finance agents in Outlook do?

Finance agents optimize the collections experience for accounts receivable (AR) personnel. It improves their customer communications in Outlook through the following capabilities:

• Customer context/information summarization of customer AR details from the source enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
• Outlook inbound email summarization and persistence in a common data source
• Customer communication email composition that's powered by generative AI
• In-context single-source-of-truth storage in the linked ERP system for critical transaction updates, contact updates, action item updates, and relevant customer communications

What are the system's intended uses?

As an AI assistant to collections coordinators, the system provides a set of intended uses:

• Content summarization – Collections coordinators use the system to summarize inbound email communication from customers.
• Content generation – Collections coordinators use the system to compose email content to customers about collections matters.
• Customer contact update – Collections coordinators use the system to summarize customer demographic and financial data without having to switch context to their finance system.
• Collections status and correspondence updates – Collections coordinators (C1) use the system to create or update contact information that's related to employees who work for the customer (C2) that they're seeking payments from.
• ERP financial updates – Collections coordinators use the system to update promise-to-pay dates together with action items and email conversations.

Currently, the Copilot generative AI capabilities are intended specifically for two narrow use cases. Anything outside the following two use cases is considered an unsupported use case.

• Email summarization
• Generative content for business email replies that are specific to the collections coordinator persona

How were Finance agents in Outlook evaluated? What metrics are used to measure performance?

We evaluate features both qualitatively and quantitatively. To assess the quality of the feature, we are conducting user studies with finance professionals to gather their feedback about their experiences, thoughts about the feature's quality, and suggestions for improvement. Additionally, we are monitoring telemetry data to track the number of collections coordinators who tried the feature, the success rate of the feature, and the ratio of positive to negative feedback. Before we released the Copilot feature in preview, we conducted extensive testing to ensure its functionality. If you encounter any issues with the content that's generated, or with any of the listed use cases, provide feedback. Your feedback is used to enhance Microsoft's products and services. Your organization's IT admins might have access to your feedback data for management purposes. For more information, read the Privacy Statement.

What are the limitations of Finance agents in Outlook? How can users minimize the impact of Finance agents in Outlook's limitations when they use the system?

To use this capability, your environment must be in the US region. Preview features aren't meant for production use and might have restricted functionality. These features are available before an official release, so that customers can get early access and provide feedback. This capability might be subject to usage limits or capacity throttling. In terms of functionality, misleading results that the AI model generates might yield inaccurate summarization or irrelevant email drafts. Additionally, management of currencies as part of summarization might be vulnerable to inaccuracies.