Today we launched 2023 release wave 1 for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, a rollout of new features and enhanced capabilities slated for release between April and September 2023.

The updates include Copilot for Dynamics 365 and Copilot for Microsoft Power Platform, bringing the power of next-generation AI capabilities and natural language processing to business processes. Release wave 1 also introduces hundreds of new and updated user experiences to collaboratively solve challenges, streamline workflows, and help individuals and teams focus on what matters most.

The 2023 Microsoft Business Applications Launch Event, available to view on demand, is a great way to get up to speed on the release wave and learn how organizations are already using these capabilities to transform end-to-end business processes today.

Some of the major themes that we’re excited to highlight include:

• Enhancing end-to-end customer experiences with AI and Dynamics 365 Copilot. 
• Modernizing every link across supply chain and operations.
• New ways to accelerate development with Microsoft Power Platform.

Enhancing end-to-end customer experiences with AI

Release wave 1 supercharges end-to-end customer experiences while improving collaboration and information sharing across the organization. New capabilities provide more insight into audiences’ needs, and more ways to engage customers with personalized content and conversations at scale. AI takes center stage in this release wave, with new Dynamics 365 Copilot capabilities that help to streamline processesfrom audience research to content development.

For example, automaker Lynk & Co. is attracting new customers to its innovative, membership-based approach to car ownership by using new AI capabilities in Dynamics 365, as well as enhancements to build relationships with the right audience. Learn more in this fireside chat with Lynk & Co by visiting the bonus content during the Microsoft Business Applications Launch Event.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights will enable marketers at organizations like Lynk & Co. to use natural language capabilities in Copilot to query, group, and measure their customer data, allowing them to discover hidden patterns. Marketers can quickly identify the best audience for upcoming events and create a segment directly from the results.

In addition, users can see all Customer Insights activities in the unified activity timeline in Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing. Valuable data from Customer Insights can be embedded directly within the Contact, Account, and Lead forms within Dynamics 365 Sales, giving sellers a more complete picture of their customer in the flow of work.

Explore the release plans for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.

Dynamics 365 Marketing delivers Copilot capabilities to help marketers learn more about their customers, create targeted customer segments, and generate personalized content. We’ve enhanced the query assist feature with generative AI capabilities, enabling marketers to accurately target customers using conversational, everyday language to quickly build targeted segments. Content ideas helps to find inspiration and provide a starting point for copy when composing emails for audiences.

We’ve also made it easier to add lead capture forms to a website. With the new intuitive forms experience in real-time marketing, you can easily create modern forms with advanced capabilities without depending on developers. Also, marketers can use out-of-the-box dashboards to track pipeline development and analyze the impact and contribution of journeys, marketing messages, and content at different stages of the business process.

Explore the release plans for Dynamics 365 Marketing.

Dynamics 365 Sales delivers enhancements to streamline seller tasks and improve effectiveness. Rather than manually tracking next steps, Dynamics 365 Sales helps sellers to automate the creation of follow-up tasks. This saves valuable time to focus on higher-priority items and avoid tasks from falling through the cracks. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales creates email content for faster customer replies and AI-generated meeting follow-ups that compile discussed topics.  

In addition, updates include a new manager insights dashboard for conversation intelligence, as well as extended support for conversation intelligence with calls made through third-party telephony providers. This gives sellers a seamless experience irrespective of the call provider they are using.

See the release plans for Dynamics 365 Sales and Microsoft Viva Sales.

Release wave 1 updates for Dynamics 365 Customer Service include enhanced case creation, channel-based swarming with Microsoft Teams, and robust real-time analytics with customization, in addition to availability of the voice channel in more regions.

Organizations like MVP Health Carea nationally-recognized regional not-for-profit health plan providerwill soon use Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service to provide agents with real-time AI-powered assistance, helping them to resolve issues faster, handle cases more efficiently, and automate time-consuming tasks so they can focus on delivering high-quality service to their customers.

Explore the release plans for Dynamics 365 Customer Service.

Modernize every link across supply chain and operations

Updates to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management deliver increased agility and resilience across the supply chain. By applying appropriate valuation methods and selected currencies, you can now account inventoriesinventory and work in progress (WIP)in multiple representations, to help comply with local generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), internal management accounting, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) principles.

A new Asset Management mobile app helps ensure smooth operation of production equipment. From one app, your team can create new maintenance requests, track and update work orders, and access key information. Updates to the Warehouse Management mobile app include a new version for iOS devices and features to speed the packing process, such as optimized screen layouts with more prominent product images to help workers more quickly identify items.

Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is officially included in Microsoft Supply Chain Center, helping to provide faster, more reliable delivery times. Updates include the ability to create a purchase order from a sales order and check order status updates without switching to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, as well as new purchase orders for business-to-business (B2B) capabilities. At the launch event, we demonstrate new capabilities that help organizations like Northern Tool + Equipmenta manufacturing and omnichannel retail business with 130 stores across the United Statesto experience faster, more reliable delivery times, so their customers get the tools and supplies they need exactly when they expect.

See the release plans for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Intelligent Order Management, and the Microsoft Supply Chain Center.  

Dynamics 365 Finance and Project Operations

In this wave of updates, we’re helping finance organizations adapt faster, work smarter, and drive business performance with features and enhancements focused on the three As of rapid finance-first innovation.

Organizations like The Robert Walters Group, a specialist recruitment agency operating in 31 countries, can now use our newly generally available Expense mobile app. The release wave 1 updates also include expense itemization and the ability to capture receipts using optical character recognition (OCR), enter per diems, and log mileage.

Enhancements for Dynamics 365 Finance include further automation of complex tax scenarios and full end-to-end automation of accounts payable and ledger settlements, helping finance professionals to expedite the close and spend more time focusing on value-added activities.

See the release plans for Dynamics 365 Finance, Project Operations, and Human Resources.

Accelerate development with Power Platform

Microsoft Power Platformour comprehensive and intelligent low-code platformenables users and organizations to create innovative apps, bots, and automations seamlessly. In our launch event, we explore how customers like Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) use Microsoft Power Platform to automate and eliminate redundant and manual processes throughout their organization.

This release wave builds on our commitment to create tools and experiences that add value to every role by breaking down silos between data, insights, and people. The union of AI and low-code will revolutionize the way solutions are built and fundamentally transform the way people work, collaborate, and create.

With Power Apps, we continue to support the scaling of organizations by empowering makers and developers of all skill levels to be more productive and to build apps, and manage data and logic. We are helping organizations reduce risk with advanced governance capabilities, such as automated tests for custom pages and model-driven apps, enabling customers to further benefit from modernization of web and mobile experiences ensuring modern and fast experiences across apps.

See the release plans for Power Apps.

Power Pages supports low-code and no-code makers, as well as professional developers, with more out-of-the-box capabilities, like new solution-based application life cycle management and migration of website configurations from one environment to another. With virtual tables and cloud flow integration, Power Pages can now connect seamlessly to your external data and service and enable both low-code makers and pro developers to build amazing user experiences.

Explore what’s new for Power Pages.

Power Automate is reimagining the process of creating flows with natural language authoring capabilities that allow you to simply describe the flow you want to create. It has never been easier for new users to start creating and authoring flows. Other improvements include introducing work queues where automatable tasks can be viewed and managed together, as well as providing streamlined connectivity to a machine for desktop flows, which eliminates the need for additional installs and password management. Lastly, we’re making it easier for organizations to contextualize the impact of their technical investments with ROI performance tracking capabilities in Power Automate desktop flows, which helps organizations invest in the most valuable automation efforts.

Explore what’s new for Power Automate.

Power Virtual Agents is the Microsoft single conversational AI studio and unified authoring canvas for all bot-building needs. We’re making it easier for developers and makers to build bots with Copilot in Power Virtual Agents, greatly accelerating bot development via natural language authoring. Developers can then extend their bots to handle more complex workloads with Microsoft Bot Framework and Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services capabilities in Power Virtual Agents.

Explore what’s new for Power Virtual Agents.

Power BI infuses AI-driven insights into everywhere that people get work done. For Teams, we’re bringing enhancements to meetings and multitasking to help users work with their data wherever they may be. And, for individuals, we’re enhancing the creation experience, bringing more parity on the web, and adding the Power Query diagram view into Power BI.

Explore the release plans for Power BI.

Watch the virtual Microsoft Business Applications Launch Event

We encourage you to watch the launch event on demand for more details and demos of new capabilities across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform. In addition, you can explore several special topic presentations covering Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Physical Operations, and our AI transformation journey in business applications.

Be sure to explore the detailed release plans for Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, and keep track of what’s new and upcoming, as well as create a personalized release plan, in the release planner.

Release planner

Explore Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform features coming soon or available to try now.

View the release planner

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We are excited to announce the launch of the Dynamics 365 Implementation Portal. The implementation portal is a self-serve tool that helps Dynamics 365 customers and partners manage their project data, users, and reviews. It also provides access to tailored implementation guidance to help ensure a successful cloud deployment.

• Manage project data: Manage project data and users, profile projects by selecting the relevant Dynamics 365 products and features, and define other project characteristics.
• Execute project reviews: Identify potential risks, mitigation recommendations, and other best practices based on the Success by Design framework to support a successful go-live.
• Access tailored guidance: Access tailored implementation guidance, including feature and product documentation, TechTalks, training materials, and case studies.

The implementation portal is based on Success by Design, a systematic approach for successful cloud deployment that was developed by Microsoft. Success by Design provides prescriptive guidance for designing, building, and deploying your new Dynamics 365 solution.

Eligible customers may also collaborate with Microsoft FastTrack solution architects. The FastTrack team of product experts can help you validate the architecture of your solution, mitigate risks, and overcome deployment blockers.

The Dynamics 365 Implementation Portal represents a significant step in equipping all Dynamics 365 customers with the necessary resources to go live with confidence.

Next steps

Sign up for the Dynamics 365 Implementation Portal: https://aka.ms/D365ImplementationPortal

Learn more about the implementation portal: https://aka.ms/D365ImplementationPortal-Docs

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

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Converting leads and opportunities directly contributes to the company’s revenue. To increase conversion rate companies often need a number of factors to align. First, it’s about matching the right seller to take the deal forward.  As a business owner or sales manager, finding the best seller to work on the new lead can really make or break a customer relationship. We need to look carefully not just at the seller with the highest close rate, but also balance that with their availability and expertise to attend to the customer’s needs and requirements.  

Applying the right business tactic to close a deal at the right moment is the second key to success. We must recognize where the buyer is in their sales journey and employ the right action to engage. If we can use technology to help provide some guidance on the next actions, it could help all sellers do their best to secure the deal.  

With the new Dynamics 365 Sales segments and rules, we can help you achieve those goals! 

3 easy steps to supercharge sales conversion:

Organizations that run outreach programs to generate interest want to see a positive return on that investment and get it into sellers’ hands fast. To auto-assign sellers to the right leads and guide them with the right tactics, follow this simple 3-step automation process:  

1. Segment leads based on business strategy. A segment is a collection of records that are grouped together based on certain conditions. For example, location, deal value, language, or product.  

2. Auto-assign sellers using assignment rules. Assignment rules enable new leads and opportunities to be automatically assigned to sellers or sales teams. 

3. Auto-connect the relevant sequence to guide the seller.Sequences help provide best practice engagement steps, by introducing a set of suggested actions for sellers to follow while managing their deals. Sequences can adapt to the way the engagement flows, to ensure they remain relevant and insightful. 

Increase assignment productivity by removing repetitive tasks 

We see that distribution of leads is often in one of two ways:

• Via a sales manager or representative who assigns the leads. This could be manual or using some basic pre-set criteria.
• First come first serve basis, where sellers pick up leads for action, from a general ‘pool’.

These options open the door for a potential misbalance of assignment and lack of optimization to customer needs, which without tracking could lead to sellers missing leads. 

Let’s explore how using segments can reduce missed opportunities to follow up, remove the repetitiveness, and help boost productivity. 

Create Segments

To start with, create segments to classify incoming records based on your business needs. For example, you want to segment all leads coming through your website originating from the USA. In this case, you could create a segment for ‘Leads from US website’. 

Auto-assign sellers to the right lead/opportunity 

To increase conversion chances, you want the right seller to work on the right lead/opportunity. This assignment is based on their skill, capacity, availability, location, etc. For example, you may want to assign an opportunity to a specialized seller who works in the same location as the lead. To do that, you can define a rule to find a seller based on their location and specialization.

Connect a sequence to guide the seller with the next best action 

A sequence will guide the seller with best practices to qualify a lead or take the opportunity forward. Auto-connect a sequence to any record that belongs to a segment via rules and you’re good to go!

Quick adjustments to suit a market shift

Changes in the market or the business drivers can often prompt a shift in business tactics. A company may adjust their strategy by giving more importance to certain groups of customers and making sure the right salesperson deals with the most important leads. This is achieved by simply changing the priority order of segments or creating new segments with appropriate priority.

Leverage the benefits of a faster response and guided activities 

• Auto-assign sellers to act quickly and help increase the chances of success. It is important for a seller to contact a lead early. Theearlier they reach out, the greater their chance of making a connection with that lead and converting them into a customer.^* The more time that passes after a lead expresses interest, the likelier they are to lose interest. Segments and assignment rules help assign the sellers as soon as leads are created, enabling them to respond faster. 
• Enable seller productivity with sequences and segments. Sellers may work on multiple leads and/or opportunities. Switching from one opportunity to another can impact seller productivity. With sequences that are auto-connected to segments, sellers get a clear next best action for each lead or opportunity. This clarity helps them stay focused and be successful. 
• Enable agility and adaptability to change tactics with changing data. As sellers nurture leads, new information that becomes available may require a change in tactic. For example, an engaged seller started with no knowledge of the lead’s budget. Later, they found out that the lead has $2M to spend. The seller is also met with specialist questions on a product not within their expertise. With this new information, it becomes a priority lead. As such, it must move into a higher priority segment and be assigned to an experienced seller who can maximize the chances of conversion. Allowing leads/opportunities to change segments following changes in data enables your sales team to act accordingly and win deals. 

Next Steps

Learn more about segments and start using them to implement your sales strategy: Manage segments in the sales accelerator | Microsoft Learn 

Understand the power of assignment rules and apply to your sales organization: Manage assignment rules for lead and opportunity routing | Microsoft Learn 

Learn about connecting sequences to records using segments: View details of sequence and its connected records | Microsoft Learn 

* Oldroyd, James B., McElheran, Kristina, Elkington, David. The Short Life of Online Sales Leads. Harvard Business Review, 2011.

The post Supercharge sales conversion in 3 easy steps to drive revenue and customer wins!  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Since the November 2021 launch in select geographic regions of the native voice channel in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, we have been expanding worldwide to satisfy growing customer demand. We are proud to announce that we now support local country regions as well. As of April 1, 2023, the voice support channel is live in India and Switzerland. 

Native voice support channel capabilities 

The integrated voice channel allows customer service representatives to communicate with customers on the phone to resolve issues. The India and Switzerland launches include all the features that the voice channel in Customer Service omnichannel environments supports today. 

Self-serve voice support channel with Power Virtual Agents 

The general availability launch in India and Switzerland also integrates Power Virtual Agents. Subject matter experts can build conversational interactive voice response (IVR) bots in just a few clicks to help customers quickly self-serve, reducing contact center operation costs. Learn how to configure Power Virtual Agents bots for voice.

Azure Communication Services direct routing 

The launch of the voice channel in the India and Switzerland is made possible through direct routing from Azure Communication Services, in preview. Direct routing enables you to connect your existing telephony infrastructure to Azure. Learn how you can use the telephony carrier of your choice. 

As the native voice channel in Dynamics 365 Customer Service continues to expand in regions, languages, and capabilities, subscribe to this blog for the latest updates. Set up your Dynamics 365 Customer Service environment and install the voice channel today.

Learn more

Read the documentation to learn about the features the voice channel now supports in India and Switzerland: Introduction to the voice channel | Microsoft Learn

Learn about other supported locations and languages here: Supported cloud locations, languages, and locale codes for voice channel | Microsoft Learn

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