What Is an Agent in Microsoft Copilot?
- Charlotte A.Y.
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
In the world of AI, the term agent is becoming central to how organizations think about productivity and customer engagement. But what exactly is an agent, and why does it matter?
At its core, an agent is a powerful AI companion or a digital partner designed to handle a wide range of interactions and tasks.
Think of agents as intelligent assistants that can handle everything from answering routine questions to managing complex conversations and even making decisions on their own. These agents are the behind-the-scenes companions that help organizations do more with less effort.
Unlike a simple, traditional chatbot, an agent brings together language models, context, knowledge sources, instructions, actions and triggers to achieve a specific outcome. In other words, it’s responding while planning the steps needed to solve a problem or complete a task. Additionally, they don’t rely on scripted responses alone.
Where Agents Work
Agents aren’t limited to a single platform. They can interact with both employees and customers across multiple touchpoints, including:
Websites and mobile apps
Microsoft Teams
Facebook and other social channels
Any environment supported by Azure Bot Service
This flexibility makes them equally valuable for customer service and internal support, ensuring consistent and multilingual engagement wherever it’s needed.
What Is an Agent Flow?
Agent flows are the automation side of Microsoft Copilot. They streamline repetitive tasks, connect apps and services, which can be triggered either manually, automatically or on a schedule.
In simple words, you can build flows using natural language or a visual editor with Copilot Studio. No coding required.
Agent flows can run independently or act as tools within an agent, feeding results back into the conversation. For example, an agent helping with HR queries might trigger a flow that checks vacation balances and confirms approval instantly.
By combining agents (for conversation and decision-making) with agent flows (for automation, integration and action), organizations move from answering questions to delivering real outcomes.
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