Learn about Microsoft’s plans for advanced integration of Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365.
Microsoft Teams had approximately 20 million users in 2019. The current figure is 145 million, and it is rising.
Microsoft has recognized that Microsoft Teams is the “new front end” for many people’s working lives. It is where they frequently collaborate with colleagues and communicate with customers, partners, and other stakeholders.
It also means that many people are constantly switching from Microsoft Teams to the source of their data and back to communicate effectively. However, this is inefficient because the workflow is interrupted.
During the initial day of Microsoft’s Inspire conference, it was announced that there would be a new focus on improving efficient collaboration with Microsoft Teams, with integration with Dynamics 365 playing a significant role. This includes accessing Dynamics 365 data in Microsoft Teams as well as Dynamics 365 chats in Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft has also announced that Teams users who do not own a Dynamics 365 licence will be able to access Dynamics data within Microsoft Teams for free!
For those who do not operate with Dynamics data on a daily basis and do not require full functionality, this may make a negligible difference.
The new features will be available in October as part of Release Wave 2.
Paid Users of Microsoft Teams will have “Team Member” level access to Dynamics, but only through the Team UI. They will not be able to access the regular D365 Team Members apps.
The Teams experiences will initially be available for Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Service, but Microsoft is exploring the possibility of expanding this across the Dynamics 365 portfolio.
The 2021 Release Wave 2 plans, which include a roadmap of planned innovations and functionality to be published between October 2021 and March 2022, reflect this focus on building on current Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams integration.
Let’s go over these features and functions!
Integration of Dynamics 365 Sales Teams Meetings
Increase seller productivity by allowing sales teams to directly access and update records during Microsoft Teams meetings and take notes during the meeting that are automatically saved to the timeline in the Dynamics 365 record.
Users can create Microsoft Teams meetings in Dynamics when scheduling an appointment and then join these meetings with the click of a button in Dynamics.
You will have access to real-time call summary and insights during MicrosoftTeams Meetings if you have the Premium Conversation Intelligence as part of Sales Insights.
Send Chat Notifications Automatically
By configuring notifications to be sent in Microsoft Teams, you can ensure that sales teams are always updated on key sales activity changes. This includes receiving alerts when they are @mentioned in the timeline of a record (via the Dynamics 365 Sales bot), you will have notifications with AI-driven insights such as email follow-up alerts (via Dynamics 365 Sales Assistant as part of Sales Insights), and periodic automatic signals when records they follow are updated.
These notifications can be configured to determine which alerts are received and how frequently they are received.
Integrate The Relationship safely Between Dynamics and Microsoft Teams
Administrators will be able to configure and handle integration errors using the intuitive user experience that has been created. To maintain security, Dynamics Team Meetings can be set to be public or private.
Seamlessly Collaborate
Increase seller efficiency by allowing sales teams to send quick records summaries as interactable cards in Microsoft Teams Chats/Channels. Participants in the conversation can then communicate with these cards by attaching activities or notes to the record, editing and refreshing the record, and modifying the record’s status.
Dynamics 365 records will be organised and accessible in Microsoft Teams, where they can be filtered and distributed in conversations. Users can also attach a note or task to a record’s timeline from within a Teams message. Only those with the necessary security permissions, however, can view and update the records.
This integration supports customised forms and business-specific rules.
Contact Suggestions in Embedded MicrosoftTeams Collaboration can be customised.
The recommended contacts feature in the embedded Teams collaboration experience assists users in discovering valuable contacts that are contextually relevant to the Dynamics record they are working with.
Administrators can tailor suggestions based on Dynamics 365 app, entity, and custom fields.
Team Collaboration in Context
Allow users to install Dynamics 365 record-related text in messages, create Adaptive Cards that can be forwarded to others who can then view and edit the record in Microsoft Teams, and begin a Teams chat window from user names in a record to increase efficiency and productivity.
Customer Service in Dynamics 365
Permit Customer Service Agents to engage in contextual collaboration by integrating Microsoft Teams into Dynamics 365 and increase their productivity by making it simple to communicate with anyone in the organisation.
Chatting with contacts within Dynamics 365 is one of the features, as is accessing AI-driven recommendations for key contacts that are based on logic such as agents who have previously settled related cases, connecting and unlinking chats to case records, obtaining current and linked chats, and viewing a user profile photo and availability status within Dynamics.
Marketing with Dynamics 365
In Microsoft Teams, you can create webinars and branded registration pages and manage participant registrations before moving on to Dynamics Marketing to design personalised and automated participant journeys. Triggers such as registration, participation, and other user response in Microsoft Teams can be used to direct their journey. New registration functionality includes the ability to approve, decline, and waitlist applicants.
Field Service in Dynamics 365
Field Service organisations, by definition, have a dispersed workforce, with certain members of the team constantly on the move. However, effective collaboration is still essential for ensuring positive customer experiences.
Users will be able to chat with co-workers within a work order record using embedded Microsoft Teams functionality, saving them from switching between apps when viewing existing chats or initiating a new chat.
Work orders can also be linked to chats. This gives any new team members who join a clear picture of the work order to see the status and history. To help keep the focus on the work order in question, any previous conversation with the chat participants will be hidden when starting a new linked chat. If a chat is connected to a case and that case is converted to a work order, the chat will be linked to the new work order.
Do you have any questions?
We’re very excited about removing licencing barriers for non-Dynamics 365 users within organisations, which will increase their access to Dynamics data from Microsoft Teams and improve cross-departmental collaboration! Furthermore, by eliminating app switching, these features will increase productivity and enhance the flow of work for Dynamics 365 crm users.
Please contact Digital Cloud if you want further information about Microsoft Teams’ integrations with Dynamics 365 or Microsoft’s 2021 Release Wave 2 plans.