Microsoft Ignite 2021 announcements about Dynamics 365

During Microsoft Ignite 2021 held from 3-5 Nov 2021, Microsoft announced about emerging technology trends and innovations happening across the Microsoft Cloud covering Azure, Business Applications, Industry cloud, Microsoft 365 & Windows, Microsoft Edge, Power platform, Security & Identity management.

In this post I’ll highlight 6 key announcements related to Dynamics 365 business applications space and provide references so that you can dive deeper into your area of interest.

Collaborative apps released across Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Office and Teams
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights now in preview
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service voice channel now available
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces coming to preview soon
Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds key capabilities for Supply Chain Management
Microsoft Customer Experience Platform puts organizations in control of customer data

Collaborative apps released across Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Office and Teams

To allow organizations to to operate as one business, everywhere. New capabilities and features in preview have been release released across Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Office 365 and Teams include:

Accessible business data: A. Dynamics 365 and Teams are getting closer to each other to allow Organizations quickly find results from business data across Microsoft Search, unfurl that data into actionable cards (Loops) across Outlook and Teams and search valuable business data inline while writing. This new capability is called a Loop component, an element of Microsoft Loop, introduced today at Microsoft Ignite. Learn more about Microsoft Loop on the Microsoft 365 blog

While writing a message in Outlook or Teams, or when creating a document in Microsoft Office, type “@” followed by a keyword, document title, or person’s name for suggested contact cards, documents, or Dynamics 365 records

Increased collaboration: Teams can invite anyone across the company to collaborate on Dynamics 365 sales records within the flow of a Teams chat or channel. Other collaborative updates include the ability to have a “chat now” pop out from anywhere in Dynamics 365 and inbound/outbound digital voice with Teams, featuring conversational intelligence.

ontext IQ suggests colleagues relevant to Dynamics 365 records to promote people discovery for faster deal or case resolution.

Real-time engagement: Organizations can see who is working with them in the flow of work with live co-presence throughout Dynamics 365 apps. In addition, users can have all the information available on people they are collaborating with and how to engage with them via calls, chats or meetings.

During a Teams meeting, sellers can quickly access and share key sales information from Dynamics 365, reducing the need to switch between apps during the conversation.

For more details https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/bdm/2021/11/02/meet-context-iq-a-new-way-to-collaborate-in-a-hyperconnected-business/

Watch the ignite session https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/f5e561b9-f946-4ba5-b931-7416b0a52c0b?source=sessions

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights now in preview

Supply Chain Insights enables organizations to predict and mitigate disruptions and ensure positive customer experiences through fulfilling demand. With this solution, organizations can:

Collaborate and unify data in near real-time from third-party data providers, logistics partners, customers and multi-tier suppliers.
Enhance visibility by creating a digital twin of the supply chain and then generate actionable insights powered by AI.
Further predict and mitigate risk by enriching supply chain signals with external constraints like environmental disasters or geopolitical events that could affect the supply chain.

Watch below ignite sessions

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/234a4148-509a-4021-9caa-645f6d74503e?source=sessions

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/29c6536e-45f1-454f-93ec-a6637d8e4549?source=sessions

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service voice channel now available

Organizations can transform their contact center operations with the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service voice channel, now generally available. This addition to the existing omnichannel capabilities leverages the power of Microsoft Teams to bring traditional Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Customer Engagement Center (CEC) under a single, integrated customer service Software as a Service (SaaS) solution with Dynamics 365 Customer Service.

Now, the automation, intelligence and data insights that were previously only available for digital channels are available in a voice option. Organizations can get up and running quickly, deliver an all-in-one contact center, improve knowledge authoring and management, and transform contract center routing to deliver improved service experiences for customers in both digital and voice channels.

Figure 1: Agents can view a real-time call transcript, see the customer’s details, recent cases, and suggested knowledge articles and similar cases to help resolve customer issues more quickly.

Figure 2: View actionable insights and key performance metrics across channels and drill in for deeper analysis.

Watch session recording here https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/e6954ac3-801c-4e3f-9466-ab80a8ce3674

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces coming to preview soon

In today’s environment of both digital and physical spaces, organizations have less visibility into their physical footprint than their digital channels, limiting their potential to optimize operations and improve employee and customer experiences. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces lets organizations harness observational data, use low-code capabilities to control observations and then produce real-time, predictive insights. Connected Spaces, coming to preview next month, is built to be extensible and works with existing hardware.

Connected Spaces product’s user interface that shows camera set-up.

Connected Spaces product’s user interface that shows drawing skills.

Connected Spaces lets organizations gain a new perspective in the way people move and interact in nearly any space, from the retail store to the

Product user interface that shows drawing queue management skill.

factory floor. Maximize safety in high-risk areas, observe queue management and seamlessly manage the connected factory, all in the name of understanding spaces in new and intelligent ways.

Learn more about this at https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/bdm/2021/11/02/gain-a-new-perspective-with-dynamics-365-connected-spaces/

Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds key capabilities for Supply Chain Management

As manufacturers seek to create an agile and connected factory, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can now help customers predict demand shifts, supply constraints and equipment downtime by eliminating siloed Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to improve visibility of the production floor. Manufacturers can now work seamlessly with any MES system to unify data and generate predictive insights that can improve quality and optimize production processes.

Additionally, a priority-based enhancement to the planning optimization engine in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps eliminate zero-stock events. The solution automatically prioritizes replenishment of high-demand items in near real-time based on order priorities, current stock levels and projected inventory, leading to improved supply chain management. These updates are in preview.

Learn more about it https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/industry-blog/digital-transformation/2021/11/02/build-a-hyperconnected-business/

Microsoft Customer Experience Platform puts organizations in control of customer data

The Microsoft Customer Experience Platform is a complete marketing solution that puts organizations in control of their customer data to personalize, automate and orchestrate customer journeys. It’s designed to deliver personalized and connected experiences from awareness to purchase. With a deep understanding of customers and rich, out-of-the-box insights, organizations can now understand and predict intent to deliver the right content on the right channel and in the right moment.

Microsoft Customer Experience Platform utilizes assets from across the company to create a cohesive Service as a Solution (SaaS) product while also delivering capabilities from Microsoft Customer Insights and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing. Features in this new solution include:

Consent-enabled Consumer Data Platform (CDP): This feature, in preview, enables the chief data officer (CDO) to use consent data directly in the CDP as an integrated, first-class capability. Organizations can utilize consent enablement to build complete customer profiles, manage known and pseudonymous aliases, ensure consumer data practices are compliant and protect that data with robust privacy and security controls, all in real-time.
Expanded business-to-business (B2B) tools: A business-to-business CDP combines customer data from all sources – CRM, email, websites, point-of-sales, partner systems, social networks and more – and performs identity resolution at the contract and account level to generate unified profiles for individuals and accounts. This feature is now generally available.