Microsoft’s AI agents set a touchless-first standard for global treasury operations

Best use of AI in Corporate Treasury

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Microsoft

Photo of Davide Musillo and Neil Doyle, Microsoft.

Davide Musillo

Group Finance Manager

Neil Doyle

Finance Director

Italy

Microsoft is a global technology corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, specialising in software, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, its core products include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel), Azure, Xbox and the Copilot AI assistant.

The challenge

Prior to the implementation of Microsoft Integrated Collections Solution (MICS 2.0), Microsoft’s global treasury operations faced growing structural challenges driven by scale, complexity and manual dependency. Rapid business growth significantly increased transaction volumes, customer inquiries and payment complexity across regions, systems and customer types. Collections and customer service teams relied heavily on manual processes for cash application, dispute handling, invoice delivery, customer outreach and case resolution.

As a result, operational effort was high, resolution times were inconsistent and visibility across the end-to-end collections lifecycle was fragmented.

At the same time, treasury leadership had set ambitious efficiency and cash flow objectives, including faster collections, improved customer experience, reduced operational cost and scalable controls to support future growth. The catalyst for change was redesigning collections operations into an AI-enabled, automation-first model improving efficiency, control, cash and scalability enterprise wide.

The solution

Microsoft implemented MICS 2.0, an integrated, AI‑enabled collections, cash, credit, mastering and customer service platform embedded across treasury operations. The solution was designed to automate high-volume activities, intelligently route exceptions, and enable touchless processing wherever possible – while maintaining strong governance and controls.

MICS combines several automation capabilities through six AI agents. The Email Agent resolves non-actionable customer enquiries, responds automatically to selected frequent requests and extracts remittance data. The Cash Agent accelerates payment matching and automatic application. The Invoice Upload Agent removes manual document handling, while the Calling Agent automates outbound customer outreach. The Workflow Agent reduces manual case creation and approvals, and the Master Data Agent streamlines customer-data maintenance.

Together, these agents establish a touchless-first baseline across treasury operations. Implementation followed a phased roadmap aligned to fiscal priorities. Early releases focused on the highest impact efficiency levers, including cash auto-application and customer email resolution.

Over time, functionality expanded to include smart dunning, agentic cash matching, workflow approvals and customer master data modernisation. Change management was embedded throughout the programme, with close collaboration between process and innovation, global collections, business process outsourcing (BPO) provider and engineering teams, to ensure adoption, refine AI models and rebalance work from manual tasks to higher value activities. Adjustments were made throughout the programme to reflect operational realities, regulatory considerations, and customer behaviour. The result is a scalable, future ready solution that replaces fragmented processes with an integrated, intelligent collections ecosystem.

Best practice and innovation

Rather than automating individual tasks in isolation, Microsoft re-engineered the entire collections lifecycle – embedding intelligence, automation and controls directly into core treasury processes. Innovation is demonstrated through the deployment of six AI agents across key treasury areas.

These agents enable touchless processing for a majority of transactions, dynamically adapt to customer intent, and continuously improve through learning and feedback loops. Metrics such as service level agreement (SLA) compliance, cash velocity, automation rates and cost savings are tracked centrally, with clear accountability between business, treasury and service partners. Importantly, MICS complements – not replaces – human expertise by allowing teams to focus on complex exceptions and customer engagement.

Key benefits

The platform has increased automation and system connectivity while reducing manual intervention and errors. It has also improved process efficiency, visibility, risk management and key performance indicators, creating a future-ready foundation for measurable cost savings and return on investment.

MICS 2.0 has directly delivered against its original objectives of accelerating cash collections, improving efficiency, reducing cost and enhancing customer experience. Cash application automation exceeded 90%, achieving the FY26 aspirational target ahead of plan. Customer service efficiency improved significantly, with 55% of tickets now resolved touchlessly and case resolution SLA performance improved from 32% in July 2025 to 75% in February 2026, with continued progress toward FY27 targets.

MICS 2.0 is impactful because it translates automation and AI into measurable, repeatable outcomes for Microsoft treasury, the global collections operation and customers. Rather than improving one step at a time, the programme is reshaping how work is executed: high volume tasks that historically required manual processing are increasingly handled through coordinated automation and AI agents, freeing treasury capacity for higher value exceptions and cash strategy.

The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2026 awards attracted 635 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards

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