Dynamics 365 CRM feature release Wave 2: October 2020 – March 2021

It’s July, and in the world of Dynamics 365, this means the release of the Wave 2 Roadmap and hours of people like me consuming updated features and scheduling diary dates for early release previews so we can try out the new cool features before letting them loose on our customers.

So, as always, we have had a look through the new features we can look forward to field testing and have combined a list of the top 5 I’m most excited about, and ones that we think will have a real impact on the business uses for our customer base.

Once we have managed to get our hands on the features, we will write about each one in a lot more detail, but we can give you an overview of what these could mean for your business, and when you can expect to see further details on the enhancements.

So here it is:

An improved and dedicated Sales Mobile App. – Preview in August 2020

• Microsoft have created a new mobile app for iOS and Android devices just for the ‘on the road’ sales teams, they have simplified the interface and made it easier to navigate whilst on the go.

Real-Time translation in live chat. – Preview August 2020

• We will now have the ability to configure a link, via an API, to a translation service that will take the text entered into the chat, by either the user or the agent, and translate it back into their native language. This means you no longer have to only offer services in just one language or have a staff of multi-lingual employees.

Business Q&A within search functionality – Preview in October 2020

• Those of you that are familiar with PowerBI dashboards will know, the ability for users to query data using natural language is a big thing, and now providing users that ability from within their dynamics apps will be a game changer. You will no longer have to create complex advanced finds to limit down the results of a search. You can simply ask the system “All account that are based in the UK with no website address” and it will pull up the list for you. You can also provide the system feedback on how useful these search results were, so overtime it will improve in its’ accuracy as the underlying AI learns to become more specific to your organisations users and habits.

More prominent search bar – (No public preview on this one, it will just be available from October through general release)

• This seems like such a simple thing, but the search bar will now be sat in the middle of the header of the Dynamics app and will offer features like recent searches and suggestions of records for users. In conjunction with the Q&A feature we already talked about, this will just generally improve your users experience of searching through the system.

Outbound Messaging via Omnichannel – August 2020

• This allows for your agents to send messages via the omnichannel connections such as Facebook and WhatsApp and not just receive them, so now you can communicate with your customer via the platform of their choosing, not just via SMS and email.

This is just a snippet of the features that were announced to be added and we will bring more details of these once we are able to get some hands on experience with how they work and what they do.

Watch this space!