The company required a more efficient, accurate customer communication channel, with enhanced language support.
PeopleCert leveraged Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI to build an AI chatbot.
The company achieved a 142% increase in customer satisfaction and 61% increase in first contact resolution.
PeopleCert is a leading accreditation body, developing best practice frameworks and certifications that support career development for millions of people worldwide. Its product portfolio includes PRINCE2®, ITIL® and DEVOPS®–business process methodologies used by 82% of Fortune 500 companies and 800 government organisations, delivered through PeopleCert’s network of accredited training organisations and award-winning online proctoring solution.
PeopleCert’s mission has always been underpinned by modern technology. The company has a long-standing strategic partnership with Microsoft, having built its infrastructure on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.
“For over a decade, Microsoft has supported our global success,” says Giorgos Sofronas, Vice President of Technology and Project Management Office at PeopleCert. “We trust the scalability and agility of Microsoft solutions, which drive our in-house development capabilities and enable us to build applications for the entire certification journey.”
On a quest to deliver a first-rate customer experience, PeopleCert is now leveraging Generative AI to handle its online enquiries and provide more efficient language support. This customer-focused transformation is being driven by Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI.
“For over a decade, Microsoft has supported our global success. We trust the scalability and agility of Microsoft solutions, which drive our in-house development capabilities and enable us to build applications for the entire certification journey.”
Giorgos Sofronas, Vice President of Technology and Project Management Office, PeopleCert
PeopleCert’s AI journey started with an online chat solution built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform. Using a logic-tree architecture to guide customers through questions, this solution was helpful for people preferring online support but could be a burden for those needing instant advice.
Seeking to elevate its customer experience, PeopleCert decided to build an AI chatbot–named CertyPal–which responds to enquiries instantly without requiring customers to answer multiple questions.
To bring this next-generation chatbot to life, PeopleCert turned to Microsoft Copilot Studio–a powerful platform for building Copilot Agents–and Azure OpenAI, a suite of advanced services built on OpenAI’s language models, capable of learning from and acting on data. With a skilled in-house team deeply experienced in the Power Platform and Dynamics 365 ecosystem, choosing Microsoft technologies was a natural and strategic decision–ensuring a fast, seamless development process aligned with the company’s digital vision.
“Having to answer questions to find information was very taxing on our customers,” says Frantzeska Kalogiri, Customer Service Team Leader at PeopleCert. “So, to improve customer experience, we embraced Microsoft AI solutions and built CertyPal, which can answer questions directly. Thanks to this, our customers are having a much smoother journey, and our customer satisfaction scores have improved significantly."
“Having to answer questions to find information was very taxing on our customers. So, to improve customer experience, we embraced Microsoft AI solutions and built CertyPal, which can answer questions directly. Thanks to this, our customers are having a much smoother journey, and our customer satisfaction scores have improved significantly.”
Frantzeska Kalogiri, Customer Service Team Leader, PeopleCert
CertyPal is revolutionising customer support at PeopleCert. On average, the chatbot handles 200+ enquiries daily–including weekends–without human intervention, leading to higher first contact resolution and customer satisfaction scores. Support is more streamlined, efficient and delivering real value for customers.
“CertyPal is making support effortless,” highlights Frantzeska Kalogiri. “Our customers can now navigate and get answers much easier, leading to a 142% increase in customer satisfaction. It has also boosted first contact resolution by 61%, so we now encourage people to contact the chatbot first before escalation to our team. It has truly transformed how we deliver customer service–and we couldn’t have achieved this without Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI.”
Since CertyPal was introduced, PeopleCert has also reported a 36.48% reduction in conversation wait time, meaning customers now wait significantly less before being connected to a human agent. The company’s customers are delighted with the AI chatbot, praising the speed and quality of its responses, as well as the stress-free experience.
“The most common feedback I receive from our customers is around CertyPal’s natural, conversational responses and ease of navigation. Some people have even called it perfect–and that's very rewarding,” says Frantzeska Kalogiri.
“CertyPal is making support effortless. Our customers can now navigate and get answers much easier, leading to a 142% increase in customer satisfaction. It has also boosted first contact resolution by 61%, so we now encourage people to contact the chatbot first before escalation to our team. It has truly transformed how we deliver customer service.”
Frantzeska Kalogiri, Customer Service Team Leader, PeopleCert
142% increase in customer satisfaction
Building CertyPal on Microsoft technologies gave PeopleCert a strong foundation for innovation. These cutting-edge solutions enabled the company to add features such as sentiment analysis and a conversational feel, supporting an exceptional customer experience.
For example, both Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI support Microsoft Adaptive Cards–a JSON-based exchange format enabling developers to add UI elements to agents and bots. Using these cards gave PeopleCert complete control over the message format, enabling the company to remove citations, add an AI disclaimer and support a more authentic, conversational approach.
In addition, as Azure OpenAI sits within Microsoft Azure, PeopleCert has been able to leverage quantitative monitoring, enabling the company to measure customer engagement and identify, for example, which products people are interested in. This delivers benefits for PeopleCert outside of customer service, enhancing sales and marketing and enabling it to put customers at the heart of the business.
The CertyPal chatbot is also driving value for PeopleCert’s customer service team, eliminating the burden of handling routine enquiries and freeing them up to deal with more complex cases. Since CertyPal’s initial rollout, even with its original logic-tree design, it has contributed to a 5.5% reduction in attrition within the customer service department, leading to a stable attrition rate of 4.7%.
Giorgos Sofronas illustrates this, “Our AI chatbot also benefits people working in customer support, helping them to handle more complicated, complex enquiries and driving job satisfaction. The team is feeling more confident and there is a buzz around this new technology, fostering a collaborative effort around continuous improvement. People feel happier in their roles because of this.
Riding the wave of CertyPal’s success, PeopleCert is taking customer experience to the next level with agentic AI. By harnessing the power of Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI, the company is creating intelligent, proactive digital agents delivering seamless, personalised interactions that redefine convenience and elevate the entire customer journey.
Giorgos Sofronas highlights this, “The next stage of the journey will be developing CertyPal so it can perform transactions and schedule exams for our customers. We also want to explore AI for sales and marketing purposes. Ultimately, we want CertyPal to do everything the customer asks for.”
Walking alongside PeopleCert on this journey will be Microsoft. Having collaborated for many years, the two companies are enhancing customer experience, supporting career development and delivering positive outcomes for millions of PeopleCert customers around the world.
“Microsoft is the strategic enabler for us,” explains Giorgos Sofronas. “These technologies have been a big part of our success, so we want to continue our partnership as we evolve and improve our services using the power of AI.”
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“Microsoft is the strategic enabler for us. These technologies have been a big part of our success, so we want to continue our partnership as we evolve and improve our services using the power of AI.”
Giorgos Sofronas, Vice President of Technology and Project Management Office, PeopleCert
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