Azure Application Insights is now our comprehensive solution for end-to-end conversation diagnostics. As part of this advancement, we are phasing out unified routing diagnostics and integrating its capabilities into Application Insights. 

Key dates

• Disclosure date: May 9, 2024
  We sent communications to affected customers that we are deprecating unified routing diagnostics in Dynamics 365 Customer Service.
• End of support: July 1, 2024
  After this date, no new diagnostics records will be generated for conversations/records routed.
• End of life: July 15, 2024
  After this date, unified routing diagnostics will be taken out of service.

Next steps

We strongly encourage customers to leverage Azure Application Insights, which will be enriched with all the conversation and routing diagnostics related events. Application Insights offers a flexible and cost-effective alternative with the added advantage of customization to meet business needs. We aim to iteratively improve diagnostic capabilities of conversation lifecycle events. This ensures reliability and alignment with our commitment to cost-efficiency and user-centric innovation. Learn more about conversation diagnostics in Azure Application Insights. 

Please contact your Success Manager, FastTrack representative, or Microsoft Support if you have any additional questions. 

The post Transition from unified routing diagnostics to Azure Application Insights appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Today we are thrilled to announce the latest milestone in our journey towards modernizing customer service: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, a Copilot-first contact center solution that delivers generative AI to every customer engagement channel. With general availability on July 1, this standalone Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution enables customers to maximize their current investments by connecting to preferred customer relationship management systems (CRMs) or custom apps.

Modernizing service experiences with generative AI

Customer service expectations are higher than ever. It’s not only frustrating for customers to deal with long wait times, being transferred to the wrong agent or having to repeat themselves multiple times — it’s detrimental to business. When people have poor customer service experiences, over half of them end up spending less or decide to take their business elsewhere (Qualtrics).

Generative AI is transforming customer service and revolutionizing the way contact centers operate — from delivering rich experiences across digital and voice channels that enable customers to resolve their own needs, to equipping agents with relevant context within the flow of work, and ultimately unifying operations to drive efficiency and reduce costs.

We have experienced the transformational impact of generative AI firsthand with Microsoft’s Customer Service and Support (CSS) team, one of the largest customer service organizations in the world. Before the support team migrated to Microsoft’s own tools, CSS was previously using 16 different systems and over 500 individual tools — slowing down service, hindering collaboration and producing inefficient workflows. With Copilot as part of the solution, the CSS team achieved a 12 percent decrease in average handle time for chat engagements and 13 percent decrease in agents requiring peer assistance to resolve an incident. And more broadly, CSS has seen a 31 percent increase in first call resolution and a 20 percent reduction in missed routes.

Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Applying learnings and insights from our own Copilot usage, coupled with multi-year investments in voice and digital channels, Dynamics 365 Contact Center infuses generative AI throughout the contact center workflow — spanning the channels of communication, self-service, intelligent routing, agent-assisted service and operations to help contact centers solve problems faster, empower agents and reduce costs.

Additionally, Dynamics 365 Contact Center is built natively on the Microsoft cloud to deliver extensive scalability and reliability across voice, digital channels and routing while at the same time allowing organizations to retain their existing investments in CRM or custom apps.

Key Dynamics 365 Contact Center capabilities include:

• Next-generation self-service: With sophisticated pre-integrated Copilots for digital and voice channels that drive context-aware, personalized conversations, contact centers can deploy rich self-service experiences. Combining the best of interactive voice response (IVR) technology from Nuance and Microsoft Copilot Studio’s no-code/low-code designer, contact centers can provide customers with engaging, individualized experiences powered by generative AI.
• Accelerated human-assisted service: Across every channel, intelligent unified routing steers incoming requests that require a human touch to the agent best suited to help, enhancing service quality and efficiency. When a customer reaches an agent, Dynamics 365 Contact Center gives the agent a 360-degree view of the customer with generative AI — for example, real-time conversation tools like sentiment analysis, translation, conversation summary, transcription and more are included to help improve service, along with others that automate repetitive tasks for agents such as case summary, draft an email, suggested response and the ability for Copilot to answer agent questions grounded on your trusted knowledge sources.
• Operational efficiency: Contact center efficiency depends just as much on what happens behind the scenes as it does on customer and agent experiences. We’ve built a solution that helps service teams detect issues early, improve critical KPIs and adapt quickly. With generative AI-based, real-time reporting, Dynamics 365 Contact Center allows service leaders to optimize contact center operations across all support channels, including their workforce.

Here’s what customers are saying:

• “At 1-800-Flowers.com, we pride ourselves on exceptional service and continually raising the bar. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, we’re creating a best-in-class solution that furthers our mission and helps inspire people to give more, connect more, and build more and better relationships.” — Arnie Leap, CIO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
• “MSC has always been known for the personal service that we give to our customers; Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center helps us elevate that customer-centric approach.”— Fabio Catassi, CIO, Mediterranean Shipping Company
• “For our support teams, efficient problem-solving and smooth customer interactions are key to delivering exceptional service. With Dynamics 365 Contact Center and by leveraging its AI capabilities, we see a future where our support teams will deliver that level of service every day.”— Stephen Currie, Vice President Support Operations, Synoptek

If you’re attending Customer Contact Week in Las Vegas, join me for my main stage panel on Thursday, June 6. Be sure to also stop by the Microsoft booth (#151) during the event to see Dynamics 365 Contact Center in action.

Stay tuned for the general availability of Dynamics 365 Contact Center on July 1.

The post Announcing Dynamics 365 Contact Center – a Copilot-first cloud contact center to transform service experiences appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

In the dynamic world of service management, every action counts. From frontline workers in the field to back-office functions, the complexity of service delivery impacts the bottom line. Whether it’s a physical product consumed from inventory, or a service provided, both have financial implications, especially when external customers are involved, pricing and profitability come into play.

When a field service organization’s frontline operations run in isolation, consequences can be far-reaching: inaccurate costing, delayed invoicing, dissatisfied customers, and supply chain bottlenecks. To succeed in this complicated environment, organizations must integrate their systems to coordinate their services, finances, and supply chain processes. 

Recognizing this critical need, we recently announced the integration between Dynamics 365 Field Service and Business Central, and today we’re thrilled to announce the general availability of the integration between Dynamics 365 Field Service and Dynamics 365 Finance as well as Supply Chain Management. This powerful integration ensures that the work of frontline workers, service managers, and dispatchers are seamlessly synced with the financial and supply chain heart of your business. Let’s explore some of the details of this native integration.  

Bridging the gap: Dynamics 365 integration 

The challenges 

Even with robust systems like Dynamics 365 Field Service and a strong ERP system like Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management, gaps can emerge when these systems aren’t fully integrated: 

1. Limited financial insight: Without smooth integration, determining job costs and profitability requires switching between windows and consuming or updated data in multiple systems, which obscures their financial status. 
2. Supply-driven delays: Separate fieldwork and supply chain processes lead to inventory shortages and service delays. 
3. Invoicing bottlenecks: Disparate systems and manual processes cause invoicing and payment delays, disrupting cash flow. 
4. Inconsistent data: Discrepancies across systems create confusion, affecting accuracy of inventory, decision-making, pricing, and costing data. 

The solution

Our native integration addresses these challenges head-on: 

1. Operational visibility: Real-time insights into finances and inventory empower informed decision-making across your organization. 
2. Field-informed supply chain: Field Service work orders can drive estimated inventory demand, ensuring seamless supply chain coordination. 
3. Interconnected financial operations: Automated and powerful billing and invoicing capabilities of Finance informed directly by the services provided speed up payment cycles, improve cash flow, minimize errors, boost profitability, and turn every work order into a growth opportunity. 
4. Cost-effective integration: Our pre-built solution reduces implementation expenses and accelerates value realization. 
5. Reduced risk, faster implementation: The native integration minimizes risk while improving implementation timelines. 

Essential features 

Organizations can create new opportunities to improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, and growth by integrating their Dynamics 365 Field Service and finance and operations applications. Key features of this native integration include:  

• Data alignment: Dual-write and virtual entities ensure all applications operate from a cohesive set of primary tables. 
  • Primary tables alignment: Basic concepts such as currency, units of measure, products and their attributes (like styles, configurations, colors) are synced between applications to ensure a consistent source of truth. 
  • Legal entity alignment: The company concept, native to Finance and Supply Chain, is used to filter critical lookups to put guard-rails in the system, helping drive transactions along company lines. 
  • Projects and accounts: Work orders are seamlessly synced with projects and customer accounts from the finance and operations applications, allowing for precise project tracking and customer billing.  
  • Inventory: Virtual tables expose inventory from Supply Chain directly in Field Service while work order inventory transactions align with item journals, directly impacting inventory levels in the system of record. 
  • Resources: Using dual-write, resources can be aligned directly with workers ensuring field service work order transactions are automatically associated with the right workers and recorded in their respective hours journal and expense journal lines. 
• Automated and precise invoicing: The integration automates the syncing of transactions, reducing manual work and mistakes. Organizations can decide when to sync the information and post project journals either as they use them or automatically when they finish the work order. 
• Full insight and management: No financial system can afford to lose transactional data. Our integration gives organizations complete insight and management of data moving between the systems, making sure they can fix issues that stop data from flowing between applications and re-sync the transaction. 

Get started now 

Dynamics 365 Field Service and the Dynamics 365 finance and operations applications work together to unlock efficiencies. Organizations that use these solutions together can boost their productivity, revenue, and customer satisfaction. Grow your business with Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Finance, and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain.  

Be on the lookout for future post in June for more ways to take advantage of this powerful integration that make it work for any organization.

Ready to get started today? Learn more about the integration, set up your organization, and create your first integrated work order.  

The post Unlocking efficiency: Dynamics 365 Field Service integration for seamless operations  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

In today’s rapidly evolving sales environment, staying ahead of the curve is more crucial than ever. The latest updates to Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales, particularly its enhanced integration with Outlook, are transforming how sales professionals gear up for their meetings. Let’s dive into how these new functionalities not only streamline preparation but also enrich customer interactions. 

Streamlined Outlook integration for comprehensive sales meeting preparation

Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales expands its integration capabilities with Outlook, specifically accommodating users who have not enabled server-side sync. This pivotal update accelerates adoption, providing a unified platform where sales professionals can access and prepare for their Outlook-scheduled sales appointments directly within Dynamics 365. This coherence not only simplifies the logistical aspects of sales preparation but also enhances the overall efficiency and effectiveness of sales operations. 

Proactive meeting preparation

Copilot now allows sales teams to fetch Outlook meetings for the upcoming week, enabling them to prepare proactively. The ability to view detailed agendas and prepare in advance transforms how sales teams interact with clients, paving the way for more successful outcomes.

Refined meeting summaries for enhanced client interactions

The upgraded meeting preparation tool in Copilot for Dynamics 365 Sales now offers richer, more detailed summaries. This enhancement provides sales teams with critical insights and key talking points, tailored to each meeting’s context. Such targeted preparation boosts confidence and competence, enabling sales professionals to tailor their approaches to meet the specific needs and interests of each client, enhancing the effectiveness of their pitches. 

Harnessing innovations for sales excellence 

The recent updates to Copilot in D365 Sales are a testament to our commitment to enhance the user experience and functionality of our sales management tools. By leveraging these new features, sales teams can enhance their productivity, improve client interactions, and ultimately drive more successful outcomes. As the digital landscape evolves, tools like Copilot in D365 Sales are invaluable for staying competitive in the fast-paced world of sales. 

Next steps

Learn more on leveraging Copilot in D365 Sales to prepare for meetings: 
Stay ahead with Copilot | Microsoft Learn 

Not a Dynamics 365 Sales customer yet? Take a guided tour and sign up for a free trial at Dynamics 365 Sales overview.    

The post Leveraging Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales to prepare for sales meeting appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

A well-defined data maintenance strategy improves the quality and performance of your database and reduces storage costs. In part one of this series, we covered the roles and responsibilities of your data strategy team, tools for reviewing storage usage, and data management features in Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps that your strategy should include. We recommended that you start your planning by decommissioning unneeded sandbox environments in your tenant. In this post, we focus on creating a data retention strategy for tables as part of your overall storage maintenance strategy.

Create a data retention strategy for tables

After sandbox environments, tables have the greatest impact on total storage volume. Your data maintenance strategy should include a plan for how long to retain the data in specific tables, especially the largest ones—but don’t overlook smaller, easily manageable tables.

Review table storage by data category

In the Power Platform admin center capacity report for the production environment, drill down to the table details.

Identify the largest tables in your production environment. For each one, determine the members of your data strategy team who should be involved and an action based on the table’s data category. The following table provides an example analysis.

Consider whether table data needs to be stored

For each large table, continue your analysis with the following considerations:

• Current business use: Is the data used at all? For instance, was database logging turned on by accident or for a test that’s been completed?
• Retention per environment: Evaluate how long data should be in Dynamics 365 per environment. For instance, your admin might use 30 days of batch history in the production environment to look for trends but would be content with 7 days in a sandbox.
• Data life cycle after Dynamics 365: Can the data be purged? Should it be archived or moved to long-term storage?

With the results of your analysis, your data strategy team can determine a retention strategy for each table.

Implement your data retention strategy

With your data retention strategy in place, you can start implementing the actions you decided on—running standard cleanups, updating retention settings, configuring archive functions, or reaching out to your ISV or customization partner.

Keep in mind that implementing an effective strategy takes time. You need to test the effect of each action in a sandbox environment and coordinate with multiple stakeholders.

As you implement your strategy, here are some best practices to follow:

• Delete or archive data only after all stakeholders have confirmed that it’s no longer required.
• Consider the impact of the data life cycle on customizations, integrations, and reports.
• Choose the date range or the amount of data to target in each cleanup or archive iteration based on the expected duration and performance of the cleanup or archiving routine, as determined by testing in a sandbox.

Need more help?

Creating a data maintenance strategy for Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps is a complex and ongoing task. It requires a thorough analysis and collaboration among different roles and departments. For help or guidance, contact your Microsoft representative for a Dynamics 365 finance and operations storage capacity assessment.

Learn more

Not yet a Dynamics 365 customer? Take a tour and start a free trial.

The post Create a data maintenance strategy for Dynamics 365 finance and operations data (part two) appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.