Dayshape teams with Microsoft on AI staffing tools

Dayshape is working with Microsoft to bring AI-driven staffing tools to professional services firms, centred on integration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The company has been selected for Microsoft's Agentic Launchpad programme, which it is using to develop tools that let firms query staffing availability, schedules, skills, project financials and capacity through natural language prompts inside Microsoft's software.

Edinburgh-based Dayshape sells resource management software to professional services groups, including large accounting and advisory firms. Its system is built around an AI combinatorial optimisation engine that can assess billions of staffing schedule permutations to match work demand with available staff.

The collaboration reflects a broader push by software suppliers and enterprise customers to move AI tools beyond analysis and recommendation into direct task execution. Here, the focus is on turning data held in ERP, HRM and CRM platforms into operational staffing and resource allocation decisions.

Microsoft tie-Up

Users will be able to access Dayshape inside Teams or Microsoft 365 Copilot to ask questions about schedules and staffing, as well as review skills, capacity and project financial information. More autonomous functions aimed at risk mitigation and broader resource optimisation across firms are due later.

Dayshape is also available on Microsoft Marketplace, which may ease procurement for larger professional services organisations standardising on Microsoft's cloud and AI tools.

The software is already used by some of the world's largest professional services firms, including Big Four organisations. According to Dayshape, those clients use the technology to improve utilisation, margins and delivery predictability, particularly during periods of peak demand.

Professional services firms have been under pressure to improve staff deployment as labour costs rise and client demand becomes harder to forecast. Resource management systems have become a key target for automation because they sit at the intersection of sales pipelines, project delivery, workforce skills data and financial performance.

Natural language

The move puts Dayshape among a growing group of enterprise software providers embedding AI assistants directly into widely used workplace products rather than requiring users to switch to separate systems. For firms already relying on Microsoft tools, that approach could make staffing and capacity information easier for partners, managers and operations teams to access.

Matt Cockett, Chief Executive Officer of Dayshape, said: "Firms need AI that drives real outcomes, not just analysis. Our optimization engine has been doing this for years. With Microsoft, we can now deliver agentic staffing through natural language, turning data into action and helping firms deploy the right people at the right time, every time."

Microsoft described the arrangement as part of a broader effort to improve resource allocation for professional services businesses. Its sales leadership said the combination connects Microsoft's data and AI products with Dayshape's execution layer for staffing decisions.

"Professional services firms need forward-looking, confident resource allocation capabilities. Dayshape brings the advanced execution layer to make that possible. Combined with Microsoft's data and AI stack, Dayshape handles the entire process from demand to staffing as one connected, intelligent process," said Brant Hollenkamp, Professional Services Sales Leader at Microsoft.