Microsoft Dynamics 365: Wave Plan Release 1 of 2020

Neha Mashruwala
5 min readOct 27, 2020

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Helping businesses with digital transformation, Microsoft Dynamics 365 has been an important tool since its inception. To define, it is a set of intelligent enterprise applications allowing business organizations to modify and level up their day to day activities. Dynamics 365 houses an array of tools, each of which is designed to simplify business operations.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

From CRM software to ERP tools, HCM applications, and other enterprise solutions, Dynamics 365 encompasses all. Microsoft has recently released wave 1 for Dynamics 365. It is expected that the updated version of the cloud-based solution would be rich in features, adding more flexibility to the business operations, improving productivity.

Read more: An all-inclusive View of Dynamics 365 and how it helps in Boosting Digital Selling

This article is primarily designed to highlight what’s new in the release and how will change the way businesses operate using Dynamics 365.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Wave 1 Overview

With the 2020 Release Wave 1 for Dynamics 365, business leaders can expect a lot more features in the existing 365 tools. The release uncovers innovation in each segment, boosting the transformation process while easing the migration. Here is the list of things you can expect from the release.

Dynamics 365 Marketing

True that Dynamics 365 Marketing Solution has been an important tool in the family of Dynamics 365, the recent release aims at improving the end to end operability and functionality.

1. Direct integration for Microsoft Teams live events and Teams meetings

With the recent release, Dynamics 365 Marketing would allow the users to directly integrate with the Teams platform to conduct events and host meetings. To put it this way, Microsoft Teams can be used to host live events and direct them to marketing strategies without any delay. Webinars can be set as a team live event or simply a team meeting.

2. Improved customer journey experience

Set an expiration date of the email to prevent outdated messages from being sent to the contacts. Specifically, the update would restrict sending outdated messages, keep track of the contacts who did not receive the mail, and receive warnings before a live event is paused. All of this contributes to better customer experience.

3. Surveys integration and automated response

Gathering customer feedback is always an excellent way to improve the services and meet their expectations. The wave release allows the marketers to conduct surveys using Dynamic Customer Voice which is automatically integrated into the Dynamics Marketing tool. Also, the update adds a new feature where automated responses could be triggered saving customer time.

4. Event Management

Microsoft Dynamics 365 now empowers the event managers with the ease to gather information using Microsoft forms. Custom-fit forms can be built using the drag and drop interface which further allows them to register people for the event in an organized manner. Also, the forms can be integrated with CMS platforms to track information and reach out to the attendees as and when needed.

Dynamics 365 Sales

The next module is that of Dynamics 365 Sales. The existing one has allowed the sales team to keep track of sales and make sound decisions for improving ROI. But that’s not enough and so the Release Wave 1 is now adding a whole new list of features to the sales space.

1. Advanced Forecasting

Predicting the best case and worst-case scenario has been the get to go for many organizations when it comes to targeting customers to make sales. While the idea is the same, there lie variations in the approach. To deal with this, the release wave 1 sets a standard model to be used to make predictions and forecast sales.

2. Improve Accuracy of Forecasting

Often it so happens that sales managers do not possess the expertise needed to make predictions or judge a forecast. This leads them to hide the deal until the same is closed. In the updated version, managers can expect to have a significant solution to the above. They can adjust forecasts based on several factors and then gain in-depth insights on the same to make sound decisions.

3. Understand Forecast with pipeline management

To understand what contributes to a particular forecast, both the seller and the sales manager must modify changes in the deal to get to the root of the forecast. The update allows sales managers to have a visual representation of the forecast, make inline changes to the records, update forecast data, manage pipeline, and benefit from the automatic recalculation of the forecast data.

Read more: The Power of Personalisation — Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

Dynamics 365 Customer Service

Dynamics 365 Customer Service is another tool controlled by Dynamics 365. This takes into account the addition and creation of customer records to use them as and when needed.

1. Automated Creation of Records

Extracting data from the emails submitted by the user, the Dynamics 365 Customer Service tool can now automatically create customer records. The feature extends to updating or modifying an existing record eliminating the need for manual intervention.

2. Connected Customer Service

Integrating IoT devices along with the customer service portal, the release aims at introducing IoT sensors in customer devices. These generate alerts or signals as and when the device is out of order, accelerating the pace of services offered. An IoT alert is converted to a case and commands are sent to the customer device to fix them at the earliest.

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Dynamics Field Service

Post-release, the Microsoft Dynamics Field Service module would have improved insights AI-based suggestions and IoT-driven alerts. In addition to this, the field service workers can benefit from the Integration of the platform with the supply chain management system. Power Automate would trigger the different activities accounting for proactive service delivery.

1. Incident Type AI Based Suggestions: Assessing and analyzing already completed work, Incident types provides suggestions on how to improve the incident types.

2. IoT Alerts: IoT sensors and devices scan the field environment to notify and send alerts as and when an action needs to be taken.

3. Leverage Power Automate: Leverage flows by drafting a connection between field service and Power Automate to digitize tasks and improve end to end efficiency.

Conclusion

This is just the beginning and the things that we expect the release to follow. Dynamics 365 has a lot to offer and with this wave release 1 for 2020, it is prominent that the solution is more than what meets the eye. Stay tuned for the next update on the Wave Release for 2020.

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Neha Mashruwala
Neha Mashruwala

Written by Neha Mashruwala

A dynamic and result-driven Vice President of Marketing with close to 18 years of experience leading comprehensive marketing strategies & driving brand growth.

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