Dynamics365CC – Wave 2, with a bit of surf…
Disclosure: All information is accurate at the time of writing this article, things change, we change,
vendors change (and we all love them for it)… take everything with a pinch of salt, if you like salt…
You also might spot some AI generated images using Copilot, it’s so fun to use, how can I not do that….
I usually hold off with my own write-ups on the release versions; they constantly change, and the GAs are often pushed back due to being overambitious in the wave itself. Additionally, I’ve been knee-deep in deployments for the past few months.
I’ve picked out some of the highlights below, which I think are worthy, along with my own thoughts on what’s to come. Also offering a realistic view from a tech who’s on the ground in all of this. But first, a bit of a ramble with…
“Ben’s post thought of the day…” (subject to change)
Dynamics has been around for a long time, and the whole Unified Routing has really stepped up its game in the past year or so. Overall, the system is solid. One thing I’ve noticed is the split in the market regarding skillsets. I’ve been discussing this with a few colleagues and friends in the industry, and it is a common one.
On one side, the embedded Dynamics skillset is broad and tailored to workflows, as well as raw manual CRM entry and the technical backend of the CRM itself. These professionals really know their stuff. On the other side, there’s a separate market focused on Unified Communications (now often referred to as Modern Work, or whatever the next branding trend will be). These individuals are well-versed in backend voice systems and contact centres.
It’s nice to see these two groups coming together to form a new approach to working within the ecosystem. I’ve been joining and meeting others who are experiencing similar shifts, which is pretty cool (as an ’80s child, I’m showing my age).
Onto the next batch of stuff that’s coming down the line then, it’s all going fast and the issue we as architects don’t like is the core changes during initial designs and sessions, it’s a PITA, not only do you sit on the fence as to what to do for the next design, but some of the features that get in, should be GA ready, which they are usuallly not, in my eyes you can only hit GA, when it’s in the GA for 6 – 8 months and tested, not just a beta / pre-GA / preview or *insert 2025 word here meaning testing*
When you can dig your way around three sub links to find it, they are pretty much laid out here for a read:
Some of my snippts for good, and change…
Use enhanced real-time translation.
I am a huge fan of allowing many inbound modalities to come in and be answered, in any shape or form and this resonates with me, I am seeing much more diversity when it comes to languages coming in and detection of these with the ability to respond the same way is a game changer – albeit expensive to start so always ensure cost is factored in for the output requirement!
Enable SIP X header support for context transfer.
Please, more of this – one big let down is what we can get into the system from the voice side of things, like I said above it’s new market for MS combining the superior voice technnical working into their new contact center world, most of us who have been in this for a long time usually end up doing this SBC side to give us extra information on the endpoint – more data the better.
Understand outcomes of proactive engagements.
Data is key, and data science is one of my side passions (yes, I’m that much of a geek), having that engagement data is excellent for making the following monthly decisions on agent placement, conversational data, historic or live, is so valuble in these systems, knowing what happened inbound or outbound as a metric will help focus the next logic design choice.
Secure consult, transfer for PSTN numbers, and IVR
Movement in PCI-compliant systems is increasing. Working with a few vendors on the side, I am seeing their keen requirement working with Microsoft directly. We are seeing some impressive stuff, one of my vendors is KeyIVR who are ahead of the game here, not only with embedding the flows inside of Dynamics itself, but the offerings they can give, now with this coming in being able to secure up parts of the call automatically or defined for transfers and DTMF tones (HUGE WIN!) will change the landscape.
Use data masking to protect customer data.
I bought this one in for a discussion point. Data masking is becoming increasingly required in the market, but many end users do not understand why, which is the problem. It’s usually company-specific, primarily, down to an accreditation or ISO requirement, but at least we’re gaining more control.
Enable deep noise suppression.
If anyone knows the problem with voice IVRs and like me, have been working with them for a long time is the background noise, early days in solutions, Skype usually was a winner here, if anything in the IVR flow that detected the slighest pitch away from your own voice (car drivers calling in etc) it would either stop the flow or just blank out, let alone throwing you down option three because someone in the background said “fancy a cup of tea?’’
Frustrating, so having the noise more controlled will be better. In COP Studio, be careful with the “allow barge” feature, as it can excite your IVRs into a love-hate relationship. Use your channel greetings where you can first!
Place a consulting representative on hold in a call.
This one has already had some feedback when talking with clients, being able to dance around internally without the need to hang up and call back is a huge step forward, not many systems I can see do this, whether it’s cost limitation or technical requirement due to the voice side, having the ability to keep even internal people on hold alongside customers will get answers quicker, agents are then off the queue to focus, not chow down.
These are my thoughts worth noting. As you can see, we have many hitting GA/Preview soon with Wave 2. Remember, as mentioned above… GA doesn’t always mean ‘ready’; it means it has been seen, silo tested, and used in base use case environments, not in the real world.
Sometimes, we need to slow down and start at the bottom to get it right!
Cheers!
Ben