July 25, 2024 - Effectively engaging audiences to guarantee their happiness and satisfaction is essential for businesses striving for growth and development. Key updates from Microsoft’s 2024 release wave 1 for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Sales assist businesses in achieving this goal.

These new features, designed to help service teams work faster and more efficiently, along with a few tips for sales teams include:

1. Copilot and artificial intelligence (AI) advancements in customer service

Since Microsoft introduced Copilot capabilities last year, companies have been basking in the advantages of generative AI within contact centers. Copilot assists agents by answering questions, drafting emails, providing account and discussion summaries, and removing the need for manual intervention on tasks that would otherwise require unnecessary time. Microsoft has further enriched the email assistance feature with a contextual email editor built directly into the platform, making it even more straightforward for representatives to provide tailored service.

In the latest release, Microsoft also enables agents to create AI-driven timeline highlights to glance at critical touchpoints, such as notes, emails, conversations, appointments, tasks, and phone calls. This reduces the need for excessive scrolling and clicking, allowing agents to get up to speed on account information quickly.

Companies can now expand Copilot functionality with prompt plug-ins. These plug-ins allow agents to generate summaries of cases, customers, accounts, products, or any other applicable units in Microsoft Dataverse, removing the need to toggle to a new tab or log into a different app.

2. The omnichannel experience

The omnichannel components in Dynamics 365 Customer Service allow organizations to instantly engage with consumers through voice, live chat, text message, Microsoft Teams, and social media. By offering an uninterrupted agent experience and valuable conversation insights across these various channels, the omnichannel features empower businesses to deliver a comprehensive, all-in-one customer service solution.

3. Unified knowledge management

Knowledge is fundamental to effective customer service. Microsoft's investment in unified knowledge management gives agents a centralized repository of accurate and up-to-date information, allowing them to resolve inquiries efficiently across all touchpoints.

4. Multiple sequences in the sales space

The latest release of Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to boost sales productivity through integrated data, enrichment, workflows, insights, and advanced AI capabilities.

Collaborative selling is encouraged by the ability to assign multiple sellers to different sequences simultaneously within a single record in Dynamics 365. This upgrade enables sales team members to work together efficiently, with each individual following specific actions.

Sales leaders and operations team members will be able to:

• Have oversight into the team’s coordinated efforts;
• View which team members are using sequences;
• Attach additional sequences to records; and
• Access specific data on completed and future activities within each sequence.

This feature boosts team collaboration and streamlines sales activities in Dynamics 365.

5. Lead qualification customization

Lead qualification requires precision to target the right prospects at the right time. Copilot’s auto-generated lead summaries provide a clear understanding of each lead’s needs without necessitating time-consuming back-and-forth research and conversations. This deeper insight into lead intent allows sales teams to review multiple leads simultaneously and create numerous opportunities in minutes.

6. Voice channel enhancements

As noted above, Dynamics 365 Customer Service's omnichannel components enable organizations to provide support across a variety of channels. This release includes several enhancements for the voice component of the omnichannel experience.

With improved outbound dialing, sales representatives can quickly look for customers within the outbound dialer, accessing customer records directly from the call logs. Agents can now check their microphones and speakers before getting on calls and while they are on calls. They can also rate call quality thanks to an easy rate-and-review system with options to elaborate on issues for lower-rated calls. Additionally, consumer trust, operational compliance, and overall security have been enhanced through data masking in agent sessions, interactive voice response (IVR) exchanges, and data storage.

Embrace the future of customer service and sales with Citrin Cooperman

The Microsoft 2024 release wave 1 for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Sales introduces powerful AI enhancements that streamline operations, improve customer interactions, and boost agent productivity. These advancements, from sophisticated voice channel capabilities to seamless omnichannel support and robust security measures, position organizations to deliver exceptional service in an increasingly digital world.

Ready to transform your customer service experience? Citrin Cooperman’s Digital Services Practice helps companies of all sizes connect their data, processes, and teams through implementing or optimizing Microsoft Dynamics 365. Contact us today and learn how Dynamics 365 can elevate your business to new heights!