Welcome to this Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute. In these discussions, I’ll be analyzing opportunities, impact, and outcomes possible with AI; today’s focus is the significance of Microsoft’s new retail AI products.
Highlights
00:21 — In a recent episode, I spoke about the ‘zero-wait enterprise’ where work doesn’t pause for handoffs, approvals or follow ups. This week, Microsoft is showing how that idea is starting to move from concept to reality with agentic AI capabilities for retail.
0:51 — With Copilot Checkout, Microsoft is embedding checkout directly into the AI experience. Customers can discover products, categories, compare options and complete a purchase without moving through traditional websites or long checkout flows. There’s fewer steps, less friction and less waiting. That’s zero-wait thinking applied directly to commerce.
01:20 — The new Brand Agents — trained on a retailer’s products, policies and tone of voice — guide customers like digital store assistants. Customer questions don’t sit in queues, interactions don’t stall, and work keeps moving behind the scenes. New Store Operation Agents can answer inventory questions, track performance and KPIs, and respond to a demand as it happens.
02:05 — If AI agents can reduce waiting and manual effort in retail, the same pattern will show up in healthcare, finance and other industries anywhere, work still waits for someone to notice it. Agents can change the flow, and retail is a proving ground.
More of my AI Insights:
- Microsoft and the ‘Zero Wait’ Enterprise
- Agent 365 Is Microsoft ‘HR for AI Agents’
- Dragon Copilot Turns Speech into Clinical Execution
- How Task Agents Make Horizontal and Vertical Use Cases More Efficient
AI Agent & Copilot Summit is an AI-first event to define opportunities, impact, and outcomes with Microsoft Copilot and agents. Building on its 2025 success, the 2026 event takes place March 17-19 in San Diego. Get more details.
Ronak Mathur
AI Architect
Mater Hospital
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