Microsoft Release Wave 1 in 2024: what's new for Microsoft Dynamics Sales?

It’s that time of year again…the first Microsoft Release Wave of the year! (April - September 2024). And we have some exciting updates to share with you: from improved lead qualification opportunities to various Copilot updates and Al innovations to make your workday even better.

Improvements in the lead process: from analysis to qualification

First of all, there are several updates to improve the lead process in your organisation.

Last year Dynamics introduced a pipeline view for opportunities with limited capabilities. This year Dynamics upgrades this pipeline view with the possibility to group the opportunities with KPI’s of your organization such as account, closing month, stakeholders, etc. With this change, you can target and prioritise a specific group of opportunities e.g. for a specific customer across the whole pipeline view.

Besides that, Dynamics now offers more configuration options by enabling various lead qualification functionalities:

• When qualifying a lead you can decide if you want to create an account, contact or opportunity.
• Possibility to create multiple opportunities from qualified leads.
• Being able to dive straight into the opportunity, by reading the summary that is automatically generated by Copilot.

We know your sales time is crucial - and you don't want to spend it with unnecessary switching between records, views and tabs. The enhanced focus mode allows you as a user to easily switch between leads. On the left side you have their leads records and most important information. On the right side, you have all the lead information in detail.

Communication & planning

You can now plan and perform assigned tasks, with a preview of the next steps in the process. Not only does this save time, but you can also plan your schedule more effectively and work towards the common goals of securing the deal.

To improve seamless communication with customers, it is now possible to send SMS messages to your customers. This extra communication channel can improve the relationship with customers, when it’s their preferred communication channel.

Copilot updates in Release Wave 1

Many of the updates involve improvements of Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics:

• With the help of product content recommendations Copilot guides you on the search for related documents. This is a great tool when you are, for example, preparing for a meeting.
• When you allow Copilot access to the SharePoint of your organisation, you can ask specific questions in the chat. This way, you don't have to search for answers yourself, which is a great timesaver.
• You can now experience Copilot in an immerservice widescreen mode. You can get accurate information, insights from the whole organisation by just chatting as you always do - or would ask a colleague. From the follow-up of appointments to receiving a summary of leads and opportunities: it's all possible in a more efficient way with Copilot.
• Spending less time on creating and writing emails. That sounds great right? With this new Copilot functionality, you can elevate your sales pitch. This helps you with challenges such as structuring your email, which information to include or exclude, or how to strike the right tone. Copilot can generate personalised, high-quality emails that are tailored to meet the specific needs of each customer. You can adjust the tone and length, and customise all suggested content before you send it.

Copilot & Al innovations

Besides these updates that help you with research, more efficient ways of working and offering better quality content, Copilot also comes with various Al innovations. First of all, it can give you a summary of leads and opportunities. When multiple people are working on the same opportunity, there can be a lot of new information present. With the help of Al, Copilot generates a comprehensive summary, including highlights of the changes since you logged in the last time. 

Secondly, this Al generated summary is not only available for leads and opportunities, but also for accounts. Al will support you with the latest news of the account, summaries of related opportunities/leads and general information.

And last but not least: Copilot can help you to close deals more effectively. It can give you suggestions on current opportunities, based on previous successful deals. What worked for customers before, and what did not? As a result, you can make better informed based decisions, adapt your strategy per industry - and maximise sales success with Al. 

Do you want to learn more about the updates in this Release Wave for Dynamics Sales? 

Contact our experts to find out more about the opportunities these updates can bring to your business.