Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Wave 2 Release 2020
This is the second in a series of articles giving an overview of the new features being introduced in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) and associated elements of the Dynamics platform as part of the Wave 2 release.
The release notes were published July 8th 2020 and the planned features will be rolled out between October 2020 and March 2021.
Early access to selected features is available from August 3rd 2020, for testing and validation purpose. Alternatively, general availability (GA) commences on October 2nd 2020, when regional deployments will begin.
The full Dynamics 365 and Power Platform product roadmap and full details of the Wave 2 release are available either online or in PDF format.
The Dynamics 365 CE areas covered by this article are:
- D365 Customer Service
- D365 Customer Service Insights
- D365 Field Service
- D365 Remote Assist
Dynamics 365 Service
D365 Service comprises four main areas: Customer Service, Customer Service Insights, Field Service and Remote Assist. The Wave 2 release features for each are outlined below.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service continues to evolve with new forms and dashboards, usability improvements around editing Knowledge articles, emails and email templates, and the ability to run multiple sessions. Other notable features include;
- Agent suggestions for similar cases and knowledge
- Historic topic clustering for all channels
- Rich text control with embedded images
- IoT alert measures and service history
- Activity monitoring for automatically created records
- Configuration and usability experiences for timeline
- Silent, seamless migration to unified service scheduling
A number of features will be added to the Omnichannel experience to reflect the new Customer Service features listed above. In addition to these, the following features will also be available:
- Embedding chat in mobile experiences
- Persistent messaging
- Outbound messaging
- Post-conversation surveys (via Customer Voice)
- Real-time translation of messages
- Agent personalisation (quick replies, sound notifications)
“Dynamics 365 Customer Service expands agent productivity capabilities, enabling agents to engage in multiple sessions simultaneously. Omnichannel for Customer Service is enhanced with additional extensibility options to enable integration with mobile applications, Microsoft bot framework, and outbound messaging channels.” Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Insights
The Customer Service Insight features in the Wave 2 release generally reflect the improvements being made in the Customer Service and the Omnichannel experiences. By integrating Insights into Customer Service and Omnichannel apps, it has been possible to include agent suggestions for Knowledge and case closure, and also include the ability to improve topic generation by excluding unnecessary phrases.
“Dynamics 365 Customer Service Insights adds new capabilities to help agents using similar case suggestions to resolve customer issues quickly and easily. A new analytical view for customer service managers helps them focus on key support areas that need their attention. These highlights will also be included directly in the core Customer Service Hub app, so that users can get insights in context without having to switch between applications.” Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Field Service
A number of usability enhancements will be released, providing direct integration with other elements of the platform such as Power Automate and Supply Chain, and improving visibility of assets. In addition, the following features have been added:
- Work order completion surveys (via Customer Voice)
- Work order metrics/dashboard for key metrics
- Embedded optimiser within schedule board
- Predictive work duration
- Enhanced skills-based matching in resource scheduling optimisation (RSO)
- Predictive technician travel time
- Travel outside of working hours
- Enhanced work hours calendar
- Field service inspections
- Improvements to booking form
- Calendar view for booking work orders
The Field Service mobile app has also seen some improvement, with Connected Field Service and Technician Time Tracking being made available.
“Dynamics 365 Field Service continues to add intelligence capabilities, including a new Field service dashboard for monitoring key KPIs and work order completion metrics. There are many user experience enhancements to enable proactive service delivery. The Field Service mobile app is enhanced with push notifications and realtime location sharing. This release also includes scheduling enhancements such as multiday manual scheduling and enhanced skill-based matching.” Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Remote Assist
Improvements to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist are focused on three key areas: service and repairs, surveys and walkthroughs, and knowledge and service insights. By using Microsoft HoloLens or iOS/Android devices, technicians are able to collaborate in real-time from any location to resolve issues. Features included in this release include:
- Remote Assist calls dashboard
- Spatial tracking and annotation improvements
- Greater mobile availability
- Integration with Power Automate to improve asset related processes
- Spatial mark-up for assets
- Access to service-related documentation
- Improvements to Remote Assist mobile calling, including group calls
More information...
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