How a national trade promotion organization brought supplier intelligence, market data and governed AI directly into Dynamics 365

A national trade promotion organization needed to help its team understand suppliers faster, improve export-readiness guidance and apply external market intelligence without adding another application to employees’ daily work. ESW built an AI-enabled supplier intelligence solution inside the organization’s existing Microsoft environment, using Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure AI and Power BI.

The result was a governed AI layer that reduced supplier research and preparation time by 60%, cut initial readiness-workbook review effort by 55% and gave employees cited answers from the records they already use.

Client Overview: Supporting U.S. Export Growth

The organization helps U.S. businesses identify international opportunities, prepare for export markets and take advantage of programs, funding, education and market intelligence that support export growth.

Its team works with suppliers at every stage of export readiness. Staff draw on company history, program participation, funding activity, market interests, regulatory information and advisor expertise to determine the right next step for each organization.

Industry: Trade promotion and program administration
Solution: AI-powered supplier intelligence and export assistance
Technology: Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI, Azure Document Intelligence, Power BI and Azure DevOps

The Challenge: Valuable Supplier Information Spread Across Multiple Sources

The organization had valuable information across Dynamics 365, program records, worksheets, market reports and external data sources. Staff frequently had to assemble that information manually before they could act on it.

Preparing for one supplier conversation could require reviewing participation history, market interests, open activities, available funding, readiness information and market conditions across multiple records and systems. Program advisors faced a similar challenge: submitted readiness worksheets required manual review to identify incomplete or weak responses and prepare useful feedback.

Frequently used market and regulatory information lived outside the CRM, requiring employees to search external sources and interpret the results before applying them to an individual supplier.

The organization wanted to use AI to reduce that administrative burden while keeping employees in control of business decisions and connected to the underlying source information.

The Solution: Governed AI Inside Dynamics 365

ESW designed and implemented an AI-enabled supplier intelligence solution inside the organization’s existing Microsoft environment. The solution combined Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Microsoft AI capabilities, Power BI and automated external data connections.

Delivery took place across seven two-week sprints, establishing a governed production architecture that supports the immediate use cases and future expansion.

• 18 liaison scenarios included in the acceptance suite
• 7 two-week sprints from kickoff through production
• 3 automated external data connections
• 0 new applications for employees to learn

AI Where Employees Already Work

The most important design decision was also the least visible: employees did not receive a separate AI application. They received AI inside the Dynamics records, views and forms they already use every day.

Summaries appear at the top of the organization record. The assistant answers from a pane beside it. Readiness scores, funding utilization and market interests appear as fields on the form, not as exports into another tool.

This approach reduced the adoption burden. There is no separate login, no second place to check and less risk of the AI layer drifting out of sync with the record it describes.

A Unified Supplier Intelligence Layer

Supplier information was brought together directly within Dynamics 365, giving employees a more complete view of each organization. Records surface export readiness, program participation, market interests, funding utilization, open actions and engagement history alongside AI-generated summaries of the most relevant information.

Instead of reconstructing a supplier’s story from individual records, employees can quickly see where the supplier stands and what may require attention next.

The AI summary separates essential supplier information, key insights and open items at the top of the organization record.

AI Assistance Built Around 18 Liaison Scenarios

ESW built a liaison-facing AI assistant around 18 specific questions supplied by the organization. Those questions became the acceptance suite against which the solution was tested.

Employees can ask about a supplier in natural language and receive answers grounded in live CRM information and approved content, with citations to the underlying records. The assistant supports:

• Supplier meeting preparation
• Program recommendations
• Export-readiness questions
• Market comparisons and event preparation
• Identification of outstanding items
• Recommended next steps
• First drafts of follow-up emails, meeting agendas and recruitment communications

AI-Assisted Export-Readiness Review

The solution also applies AI assistance to the organization’s export-readiness process. Submitted worksheets are evaluated against advisor-defined criteria to identify gaps and weaker responses. Structured findings are retained on the record, and AI prepares draft feedback for an advisor to review.

This preserves advisor judgment while eliminating much of the repetitive first-pass review and drafting previously required for each worksheet.

Integrated Market, Trade and Regulatory Data

The organization also reduced the need for employees to move between disconnected research sources. ESW established automated connections for federal registration information, international trade data and product-classification reference data.

Approved market and regulatory reports brought into the solution are summarized with citations and used alongside supplier information to provide relevant context. Trade-show exhibitor workbooks can also be matched to CRM organizations, with a person confirming each match before prospects are tagged.

The value is not simply more data. It is relevant information presented in the context of the supplier and the decision the employee is trying to make.

Export Readiness as Structured, Reportable Data

Export-readiness scoring and tiering were built in Dataverse using the organization’s scoring parameters and tiering criteria, applied to activity already captured in Dynamics 365. The score is a transparent calculation traceable to the activities behind it. AI explains the score but does not produce it.

Because readiness exists as structured data rather than narrative, employees can filter, sort and report on it across the supplier portfolio.

 

Power BI reporting built on the same Dynamics data gives leadership visibility into readiness-tier distribution, program participation, funding utilization and readiness-program progress.

Supplier-Facing AI Guidance with Clear Security Boundaries

A separate public-facing FAQ assistant gives suppliers 24/7 access to general program and export guidance drawn exclusively from approved public content.

The public assistant is intentionally separated from Dynamics 365 and has no access to supplier-specific or protected CRM information. Personal answers, such as application status, remain within the authenticated portal.

How AI Is Used and Where It Stops

The operating model is consistent throughout the solution: structured data and business rules determine the facts. AI explains, summarizes and drafts on top of those facts using cited sources. An employee reviews the information and makes the decision.

• Readiness scores are deterministic calculations. AI explains them in plain language.
• Business rules identify recommended next actions. AI explains why each action is suggested.
• Worksheet gaps are saved as structured data. AI drafts the advisor feedback.
• AI proposes potential record matches. A person confirms every match before anything is tagged.

AI assists employees. It does not make business decisions.

Business Impact

• 35% reduction in routine liaison administrative effort across research, preparation and follow-up
• 60% reduction in supplier preparation and account-research time by consolidating history, readiness, funding and market interests
• 55% reduction in initial readiness-workbook review and feedback-preparation effort through structured gap identification and AI-assisted drafting
• Faster access to trade, classification and regulatory intelligence alongside supplier context
• More consistent engagement across 18 liaison scenarios, grounded in common data and cited sources
• Improved management visibility through Power BI reporting across readiness, participation, funding and program progress

“The solution gives our team the information they need in the moment, without spending time pulling it together from multiple places. Nobody had to learn a new system to get it. It is simply there in the record they were already looking at.”

IT Manager, Confidential National Trade Promotion Organization

A Scalable Foundation for Future AI Use Cases

ESW established the Dataverse data model, Development, Test and Production environments, managed deployment pipelines, security model, and AI grounding and governance framework.

That foundation can support dynamic supplier roadmaps, recruitment intelligence, task prioritization, expanded data integration and cross-system reporting without rebuilding the solution from the ground up.

How ESW Company Can Help

ESW helps organizations bring governed AI into the Microsoft systems their employees already use. Our U.S.-based specialists design solutions that connect AI to trusted business data while preserving security, source transparency and human decision-making.

• Microsoft Copilot and AI agent consulting for assistants grounded in your organization’s data and processes
• Power Apps consulting for custom applications built on Dataverse and the Microsoft Power Platform
• Power Automate consulting for workflow automation and system integration
• Power BI consulting for operational reporting and management dashboards

Ready to bring AI into Dynamics 365 without adding another disconnected tool?

Contact ESW Company to schedule a consultation and discuss your highest-value Microsoft AI use cases.