Microsoft release two major biannual updates for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online. The first is in April and the second, Release Wave 2; reached General Availability in October 2020 meaning it is now being rolled out to Dynamics 365 Organisations between October 2020 and March 2021.
The release guide is a massive 546 pages! This covers the entire Microsoft Dynamics platform which Includes modules for Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Finance and Operations, Customer Voice, Industry Specific Accelerators, the Power Platform and much more. In this blog we’ll highlight some of our favourite changes but you can download the full guide here: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2134895
Sales
New Email Editor
The recently introduced rich email composing experience, which was previously only supported
while composing emails has been expanded to support actions like view, update, and reply from the
timeline section. This also includes a new interface for attaching files inline and the ability to select multiple files
PDF Generation
In previous versions, users had to generate a Word document and then convert to a PDF. In the latest release these can now be created, previewed, exported and emailed direct from Dynamics with minimal clicks. It is also now possible to automatically generate and send documents via workflow and APIs which is a commonly requested feature.
Improved Duplicate Detection
A new user interface that shows more information about why a record has been flagged as a duplicate and more options for how to merge the record and its subordinates.
Customer Service
As with the Sales Module, Improvements have been made to the email experience in Dynamics. There have also been enhancements made to Omnichannel for Customer Service. Agents can now engage in multiple sessions simultaneously. Additional options for integration with Microsoft Bot Framework and mobile applications.
Finance and Operations
Process Automation for Common Processes such as Credit and Collections. For example, automatically send an email or letter to chase payment after due date.
Intelligent Cashflow Forecasting which allow you to schedule the calculation of cash flow forecasts to help ensure that cash forecasts are generated at the most optimum time.
Industry Accelerators
Not for Profit
New Humanitarian logistics module which enables organisations to better manage and understand inventory levels, manage goods and services procurement, warehousing, distribution, inventory reconciliation, and donor and funder reporting.
Enhancements to Volunteer Management and Disaster relief, disaster preparedness, and field services features.
Financial Services
New functionality for Loans and Mortgages to enable Loan Officers and Mortgage Consultants to collaborate with the bank throughout the loan process.
Wealth Management – New experience and customisations to support Wealth Advisors engage with their clients and make recommendations on investments and financial planning.
Power Platform
New features for the Power Platform. Examples are Microsoft Teams Integration for Power Virtual Agents. New AI capabilities for Power Automate and Power Apps including Receipt Scanning, AI Templates and the ability to add text translations for over 70 languages in the AI Builder.