Gardens Alive streamlines customer service with unified data and AI automation

Gardens Alive is a major North American multi-channel gardening retailer serving millions of customers across the US and Canada. They faced challenges managing complex sales, service channels, and customer data while aiming to enhance customer service efficiency and unify operations. To address these challenges, Gardens Alive migrated from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics 365, integrating finance, CRM, and supply chain data onto a unified platform. This enabled more connected workflows across departments and real-time data access for better decision making. The adoption of Dynamics 365 Customer Service, together with a Bucher & Suter Cisco contact center integration, enabled omnichannel (voice, chat, email) support and AI-driven case classification and routing. Machine learning models now automate and prioritize incoming customer service requests. Power Virtual Agents was used to build responsive chatbots, providing customers with rapid self-service and reducing live agent escalations. The Digital Messaging Add-in for Dynamics 365 was deployed for chat transcription, sentiment analysis, and access to support materials, empowering agents to resolve inquiries quickly and knowledgeably with a unified data screen. Results included a 7% increase in customer email processing rates, bot escalations down from 50% to 31%, agent productivity improvements, unified customer profiles, and a 70% reduction in spam emails. Looking forward, Gardens Alive is planning enhancements with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Supply Chain Management to drive even greater efficiency and AI-powered automation throughout their retail operations.