{"id":20977,"date":"2025-11-13T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=20977"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:19:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:19:56","slug":"reimagining-campus-support-at-microsoft-with-the-employee-self-service-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/reimagining-campus-support-at-microsoft-with-the-employee-self-service-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Reimagining campus support at Microsoft with the Employee Self-Service Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Julie is a typical Microsoft employee, one who commutes to her office, parks in a garage, orders meals from the cafeteria, finds her way to and around different buildings, hosts visitors, and occasionally must deal with a facilities-related service request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, Julie might have interacted with different apps and websites to get help with each of those tasks. Today, thanks to the power of agentic AI and Microsoft Copilot Studio, Julie can turn to a single portal to handle all of it: the Employee Self-Service Agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This agentic tool, which will soon be released publicly as a free add-on for the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, has already made a big impact on the lives of our employees, saving them time, effort, and frustration. We call it the \u201cone-stop shop\u201d experience of employee self-service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore we had the Employee Self-Service Agent, the employee-assistance experience was fragmented across mobile, websites, and physical kiosks,” says Becky West, a principal group product manager in Microsoft Digital, the company\u2019s IT organization. \u201cThe new agent unifies all of these experiences and puts them in the same place.\u201d Now our employees can ask questions in natural language, and it guides them through whatever campus experience they need to do\u2014invite a guest, find dining options, create a help ticket, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"West<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Our employees rely on AI tools like Copilot to help get their work done. And the same is now true for resolving an issue related to facilities.”<\/p>\nBecky West, principal group product manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, employees like Julie also need assistance with other common job-related tasks, like getting their human resources (HR) questions answered or fixing a technical issue with their device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are also important categories included in the Employee Self-Service Agent, something the flexibility and extensibility of Copilot Studio makes possible<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur employees rely on AI tools like Copilot to help get their work done,\u201d West says. \u201cAnd the same is now true for resolving an issue related to facilities, HR, or IT support. We live in an AI-powered world, and this agent meets the moment for our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this story we share how we’re using the Employee Self-Service Agent in the real estate and facilities space, but it does much more than that. Our employees also use it to get help with IT problems and answers to their HR queries, and we expect to add other key areas soon, such as finance and legal. Available to all Microsoft employees worldwide<\/a>, the full agent is already delivering a significant boost in productivity, cost savings, and user satisfaction across the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyday use cases for agentic assistance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julie might not need IT support or help with an HR issue every day. But she\u2019s always on the hunt for her favorite foods for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our existing dining app, employees could look up that day\u2019s menu for a specific building cafeteria, but they couldn\u2019t just ask, \u201cHey, where can I get some good teriyaki on campus today?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Employee Self-Service Agent, now they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSearching on type of cuisine or dish is one of the top requests we were getting,\u201d says Balaji Radhakrishnan, principal software engineering manager for the dining team. \u201cIt was an important feature missing from our existing apps, and we solved that with the employee-assistance agent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employee Self-Service Agent screenshot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A
The AI-driven power of natural-language querying means that employees can simply ask the Employee Self-Service Agent where their favorite food is being served on campus, rather than spending valuable time perusing different caf\u00e9 menus in the unending quest for the best teriyaki.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not only can the agent help Julie locate the perfect lunch, it also connects her to the tool where she can order and pay for it. This streamlines the process for her\u2014she doesn\u2019t have to remember which website or app to call up to procure her teriyaki treat. (In the future, we plan to extend the functionality so the agent remembers your previous food choices, and you can order right from the agent.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dining is just one of the facilities-related experiences we targeted when developing the Employee Self-Service Agent. Other tasks include:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n