Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM continues to evolve with each update, bringing a wealth of enhancements that redefine how businesses engage with customers, manage workflows, and optimise resources.
The 2024 Release Wave 2, Microsoft’s latest bi-annual update, introduces hundreds of features across multiple Dynamics 365 applications.
From Sales and Customer Service to Field Service and Customer Insights, each application is gaining innovative functionalities that help organisations operate with greater agility, insight, and efficiency.
Below, we’ll explore the key enhancements for each application, highlighting how these new capabilities are set to improve operations, support strategic decision-making, and drive growth.
Whether you’re a long-time Dynamics 365 user or exploring these tools for the first time, this release is packed with powerful features and enhancements that can transform your CRM capabilities.
Dynamics 365 Sales: Leveraging AI for Enhanced Sales Intelligence
Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to help sales teams build strong relationships with prospects, understand customer needs, and close deals faster.
The 2024 Release Wave 2 update enhances these capabilities with an emphasis on using data and AI to generate actionable insights.
Microsoft Copilot plays a central role in this release, empowering sales professionals to work more efficiently and strategically.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Sales
- Enhanced Copilot for Sellers: Sellers can now summarise information across various entities and focus on impactful work using natural language prompts. This helps sales teams quickly access the most critical information and make data-driven decisions.
- Full-Screen Copilot Home: The new home page offers curated insights and actions, tailored to the user’s role, whether they’re a seller or a sales manager. This focus allows users to start their day with the most relevant data and action items.
- AI-Powered Lead Insights: Sellers benefit from AI-driven insights to identify high-quality leads, allowing for more targeted outreach and improving the chances of closing deals.
- Pipeline Insights for Managers: Sales managers gain a better overview of their teams’ pipelines, enabling them to identify opportunities for growth and coach their team more effectively.
By providing sellers and managers with actionable insights, Dynamics 365 Sales helps businesses focus on high-impact tasks, streamline workflows, and ultimately enhance customer engagement.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Sales: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/sales/dynamics365-sales/planned-features
Microsoft Copilot for Sales: Enhancing Seller Efficiency and Engagement
Microsoft Copilot for Sales is an AI-driven assistant that integrates with Microsoft 365, offering seller-specific insights and workflows to improve productivity. Key new features include:
- Pipeline Analysis for Sales Managers: Managers can analyse sales pipelines more effectively, pinpointing areas for growth or potential challenges.
- AI-Enhanced Lead Identification: Copilot uses AI to help sellers identify leads with the highest conversion potential, enabling teams to focus on the most promising opportunities.
- Integrated End-to-End Meeting Experience: During customer and lead engagements, Copilot assists with meeting insights, helping sellers make real-time adjustments and capture key points.
- Suggested Actions in Outlook and Teams: Deepening integration with Outlook and Teams, Copilot now offers suggested next steps based on customer interactions, enabling sellers to stay on top of follow-ups.
- Natural Language Data Queries: Sellers can now ask Copilot questions directly about their CRM data, streamlining the process of accessing valuable information.
Microsoft Copilot for Sales empowers sellers to optimise their time, stay focused on important activities, and build stronger customer relationships.
View the full list of changes for Copilot for Sales: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/sales/microsoft-copilot-sales/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys: Enhancing Personalised Customer Experiences
In a digital-first world, personalising each customer journey is crucial. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys empowers marketers to create tailored interactions with customers, helping to foster loyalty and boost engagement.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys
- Generative AI for Campaign Creation: Copilot can create campaign drafts that align with brand identity and layout preferences, significantly speeding up campaign generation.
- Real-Time Customer Engagement: New features enable businesses to connect with customers at the moments that matter most, with enhanced content customisation and analytics.
- Unified Sales and Marketing Data: The integration of sales and marketing data strengthens lead scoring, allowing teams to act on high-potential leads promptly.
With these updates, Customer Insights – Journeys helps businesses create meaningful, engaging customer experiences across all touchpoints
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/customer-insights/dynamics365-customer-insights-journeys/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data: Unifying Customer Data for Better Decision Making
Understanding and engaging with customers on a deeper level is a priority for most businesses. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data is a powerful tool that enables organisations to unify customer data from multiple sources, creating a 360-degree view of each customer.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data
- Generative AI and Copilot Integration: AI-driven predictions and segmentation enhance the power of other Dynamics 365 Copilot applications, improving customer interactions.
- Real-Time Profile Updates: The system keeps customer profiles up to date, ensuring personalised experiences at critical moments.
- Sales and Marketing Unification: By streamlining data ingestion and transforming it into actionable insights, this release supports a unified approach to sales and marketing.
Customer Insights – Data empowers teams to drive loyalty and growth by delivering tailored customer experiences.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/customer-insights/dynamics365-customer-insights-data/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Customer Service: Empowering Agents with Proactive Tools
Customer service is the backbone of any business, and the latest update to Dynamics 365 Customer Service enhances agents’ ability to resolve queries efficiently and improve customer satisfaction.
This release focuses on AI-driven functionalities, with new tools that streamline workflows, improve access to information, and enable proactive issue resolution.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Customer Service
- Generative AI Across Service Stages: By infusing AI throughout the customer service journey, Dynamics 365 Customer Service helps businesses deliver quick, tailored, and consistent support.
- Enhanced Agent Productivity: With Copilot and embedded Microsoft Teams features, agents can manage cases, find solutions quickly, and collaborate effortlessly, boosting efficiency.
- Extended Copilot Capabilities: Enhanced Copilot features allow agents to access and utilise organisational knowledge, facilitating faster case resolution.
With these updates, Dynamics 365 Customer Service supports businesses in providing a seamless and efficient customer service experience across multiple channels.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Customer Service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/service/dynamics365-customer-service/planned-features
Microsoft Copilot for Service: Empowering Agents with AI-Assisted Workflows
Microsoft Copilot for Service enhances customer support through AI-driven insights and automation, enabling agents to work smarter. Key updates in this release include:
- Faster Case Resolution and Onboarding: Generative AI now assists with onboarding and case handling, allowing agents to leverage organisational knowledge for rapid responses.
- Support Across Agent Desktops: Copilot for Service extends beyond Dynamics 365, integrating with popular tools like Salesforce, Outlook, and Teams, enhancing flexibility.
- Automated Task Management: Routine tasks are automated, allowing agents to focus on customer-centric activities and complex cases, which improves productivity.
With Copilot for Service, organisations can deliver efficient, customer-focused experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
View the full list of changes for Copilot for Service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/service/microsoft-copilot-service/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Contact Centre: A Unified Experience Across Channels
Dynamics 365 Contact Centre brings a Copilot-first approach to customer interactions across various engagement channels. Highlights of the 2024 release include:
- Agent Assistance with Knowledge Harvesting: Agents can use AI to extract valuable information from conversation data, providing dynamic self-service options for customers.
- Proactive Outbound Engagement: With Copilot’s assistance, contact centres can offer proactive support and communicate with customers through preferred channels.
- Out-of-the-Box Integrations: New integrations with platforms like ServiceNow and Zendesk expand functionality, allowing organisations to provide seamless customer support.
These updates enable businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences, improving engagement and operational efficiency.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Contact Centre: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/service/dynamics365-contact-center/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Field Service: Moving Towards Predictive and Proactive Service
The field service sector is evolving, with businesses shifting from reactive to proactive and predictive service models.
Dynamics 365 Field Service empowers frontline workers with tools that enable them to deliver efficient and innovative service to customers, wherever they may be.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Field Service
- Copilot-Enabled Frontline Worker Support: Field workers can access critical information on the go, retrieve documents, and initiate remote support calls using mixed reality directly within Teams.
- Managerial Task Management via Copilot: Managers can manage work orders and updates through Copilot in Outlook, Teams, and the web interface, streamlining administrative tasks.
- AI-Powered Scheduling for Dispatchers: Dispatchers can allocate frontline workers quickly using AI-powered scheduling, ensuring optimal resource management.
With these updates, Dynamics 365 Field Service helps organisations deliver proactive, predictive service, fostering customer satisfaction.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Field Service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/service/dynamics365-field-service/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Project Operations: Optimising Project Management and Scalability
For organisations involved in large-scale project management, Dynamics 365 Project Operations offers a suite of tools to plan, execute, and monitor projects effectively.
This release brings significant improvements in usability, performance, and scalability, enabling businesses to handle larger projects with ease.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Project Operations
- Enhanced Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Larger projects with complex tasks can now be managed more effectively with increased task support and dependencies.
- Improved Invoicing and Approval Processes: Copilot enhances the invoicing process, making it smoother and more efficient for project-based organisations.
- Generative AI for Proposal Generation: Copilot helps teams generate project proposals faster, ensuring that projects start on the right track.
These updates allow project-focused organisations to optimise workflows, deliver projects on time, and enhance overall profitability.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Project Operations: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/finance-supply-chain/dynamics365-project-operations/planned-features
Dynamics 365 Human Resources: Enhancing Employee Experience and Operational Agility
The Human Resources (HR) function is central to a business’s success, supporting employee engagement and operational efficiency.
The 2024 Release Wave 2 introduces tools that automate HR processes, increase productivity, and improve planning capabilities.
Key updates to Dynamics 365 Human Resources
- Automated HR Processes: Copilot simplifies and automates common HR tasks like benefits management, talent acquisition, and engagement tracking, reducing administrative workloads.
- Personalised Guidance for HR Teams: With role-based insights, Copilot offers actionable guidance, helping HR teams make data-driven decisions quickly.
- Enhanced Workforce Analytics: New analytic tools provide a comprehensive view of workforce trends, allowing organisations to align HR strategies with business goals.
These updates enable HR professionals to focus on strategic initiatives, enhancing workforce engagement and productivity.
View the full list of changes for Dynamics 365 Human Resources: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2024wave2/
The 2024 Release Wave 2 for Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM applications brings significant updates across key areas, from sales and customer insights to field service, HR, and project operations.
These updates demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to creating a unified, intelligent, and adaptable suite of tools that help businesses succeed in a competitive environment.
Join Our Webinar to Explore the 2024 Release Wave 2 in Depth
We invite you to join us for an insightful webinar on Tuesday, 19th November at 11:00 AM, where we’ll dive deeper into the latest Dynamics 365 CRM updates.
This session will highlight key new features, provide actionable tips, and offer a platform to ask questions about how these enhancements can benefit your business.
Get started with Dynamics 365 CRM
If you’re interested in getting started with Dynamics 365 CRM or learning how these new updates can support your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Contact us through the form below to schedule a demo or discuss how Mercurius IT can support your CRM transformation journey.
Let’s explore how Mercurius IT can help you leverage Dynamics 365 to transform your operations and drive growth.
