Microsoft named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Sales teams have access to more information in the flow of work than ever before. Customer conversations, customer relationship management (CRM) data, meetings, emails, service interactions, and market signals can all provide valuable context—but only if sellers can quickly turn that information into meaningful next steps.

For many organizations, that is becoming the real challenge. The issue isn’t a lack of data or activity. It’s helping sellers understand what matters most, prioritize effectively, and confidently take the next step with customers.

That’s why the sales force automation market is evolving. Organizations are increasingly looking beyond traditional CRM capabilities and evaluating how AI can help transform research, decision-making, and execution across the sales process. They’re looking for a system of action, not just a system of record.

We’re excited to share that Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms, marking the sixteenth consecutive year in the Leaders quadrant.

Microsoft is named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms

Read the report

Dynamics 365 Sales continues to evolve with AI-powered capabilities designed to help sellers work more efficiently and focus on customer engagement. Organizations can use these capabilities to streamline everyday sales activities, surface relevant information, reduce manual work, and support more informed customer interactions while maintaining control over how AI is applied within their sales processes.

Why this matters for sales teams

Sales organizations are under growing pressure to do more with less.

Buyers expect more personalized engagement, faster responses, and better experiences across every interaction. At the same time, sellers must navigate increasing amounts of information spread across multiple systems and touchpoints.

As a result, many teams are spending valuable time researching accounts, gathering context, updating records, and coordinating next steps rather than focusing on customer engagement.

This is where AI is beginning to play a meaningful role.

Rather than simply surfacing information, AI can help sellers synthesize insights from multiple sources, identify possible priorities, recommend actions, and support decision-making throughout the sales cycle. The goal is not to replace sellers; it is to help them move faster with better context and greater confidence—through a system of action that helps guide the next best step.

For sales leaders, these same capabilities can provide improved visibility into pipeline health, potential risks, and areas that require attention, helping organizations make more informed decisions and improve execution across teams.

How Microsoft is helping modernize sales execution with AI

Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to help organizations bring together CRM data, productivity tools, collaboration experiences, and AI-powered assistance into a unified sales experience. Gartner notes that Microsoft helps sales teams improve pipeline visibility and seller productivity through AI-driven research, analytics, and workflow automation. By combining CRM, productivity, and collaboration data with extensible AI agents, organizations can make more informed sales decisions while reducing manual effort.

For example, capabilities such as Sales Research Agent, Data Enrichment Agent, and Sales Agent help keep customer and opportunity data current, while Sales Qualification Agent can help sellers research, engage, and qualify leads more efficiently. Together, these tools help shift CRM from a system for recording sales activity to one that can actively support sellers throughout the sales process.

Microsoft also brings AI directly into the flow of work through Sales Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling context-aware meeting preparation, record summaries, follow-up assistance, and sales insights across Dynamics 365, Outlook, and Teams.

For organizations with unique business requirements, Copilot Studio and Microsoft Power Platform enable the creation of customized AI agents that connect systems, automate workflows, and support specialized sales processes subject to customer configuration, governance, and applicable product capabilities.

Together, these capabilities create a more connected selling experience—helping teams turn insights into action, collaborate more effectively, and execute with greater consistency across the sales cycle.

Hear from our customers

Sales Research Agent helps our sales leaders get from idea to business insight and action much faster. They can ask complex business questions in natural language and get clear, decision-ready insights in minutes. It simplifies disparate data sources into a centralized experience where we can make better planning and performance decisions with far less manual effort.

Karl Phenix VP, Global Microsoft Strategy & GTM at TTEC Digital

Sellers want more control and less manual work. Sales Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot prompts them to update records, assign tasks, and keep data current—without ever opening the CRM.

Keith Mescha, Executive Director, Tech Consulting, EY

AI‑driven data enrichment will improve the quality, consistency, and completeness of customer data in Dynamics, reducing administration for every person on the sales teams while improving our ability to action, analyst, and improve customer outcomes.

Nick Segger, Head of Sales & Agency Transformation, NFU Mutual

As selling continues to evolve, Microsoft remains focused on helping organizations apply AI in practical ways that drive business outcomes while empowering sellers to focus on building customer relationships and moving opportunities forward.

1 Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CRM Sales Platforms, Adnan Zijadic, Guy Wood, Wendy Butler-Mafuz, August 6, 2026 

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All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

*This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.  

**Microsoft Dynamic CRM has been recognized as a Leader since 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CMR Online has been recognized in the report since 2011. In 2017, Gartner combined all feedback for both products into a single Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales evaluation. 

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