The Dynamics 365 July 2017 Update has loads of exciting new features and enhancements for CRM, which makes it difficult to pick a top ten. We’ve done our best to highlight the best new features and enhancements. As we see more previews, we’re preparing blogs and webinars with all that we know so that you and your company are prepared for the upcoming release. Be sure to click here to enroll in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 July 2017 Update webinar series, which focuses on the CRM-related workloads of sales, marketing, and customer service.
We are becoming a blended, Dynamics 365 family and this new Office 365 portal-esque client reflects that. Clean navigation, crisp layout of fields, grids, and former white-space. We’ll also see a responsive UI for other platforms and devices -- including Mobile and Tablets, Customer Service Hub, and Business Edition apps.
If you have used the Interactive Service Hub this enhancement will feel familiar: Timeline. This feature will combine Posts, Activities, and notes into a single feed. We will also be able to filter specific activity types [applause] and quickly see unread items. For now, this will only be on the Unified Client, but check out the web client refresh.
With the LinkedIn navigator solutions for Sales and Campaign, we can leverage existing LinkedIn functionality by viewing and synchronizing data for our Leads, Accounts, and Contacts. In addition to quick access to Company and Contact profile data, inMail and messages can be tracked in Dynamics 365 along with tasks, appointments, and other activities.
Virtual Entities are similar to our traditional entities. However, external data is read at run-time and not stored in the Dynamics 365 database. This is a great new feature for heavy, custom integrations. As you create an organization-owned entity, check a metadata box to indicate that it is virtual.
The new Unified Client Interface looks awesome, but the web-client will get a significant refresh as well. Some highlights include: borders around containers and uniform spacing, more color theming, field controls styling, font standardization, and...drum roll...text wrapping fix!
The Interactive Service Hub is evolving with many improvements: a refreshed look and feel, available as an App, as well as many new features. A significant feature to note: no wait for metadata download!
Wow – this is one we’ve wanted for a long time! Simply create an option set as multi-select – or change an existing set – and it will render on forms as an intuitive multi-select control. Advanced find has new operators specifically designed for these, plus filtering in views. Long list of values? No problem, on the form the list is searchable as well!
Leveraging the Office 365 Security and Compliance Centre, Activity Logging captures actions and interactions with your data, administrative operations, logins from any device, workflows and plugins, and more. The near real-time big data is searchable and will integrate with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) vendors such as Microsoft OMS and Splunk.
We’re excited about a couple significant, new capabilities in Business Process Flows. Earlier this year, along with the new designer and BPF entities, we could now call workflows and Business rules. The July 2017 update provides the capability to custom actions with user input and initiate Microsoft Flows. The Flow functionality significantly extends integrations with other services and databases.
Where to start? This could be big. If you’ve tried out the Relationship Insights, that was a baby step. Dynamics Customer Insights (DCI) mines and ingests big data, analyzes, predicts, and provides a broader view of our customers and potential customers.
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 July Update is definitely something to get excited about! Don’t get lost in the past – keep your business on the cutting edge with more in depth knowledge via our webinar series, Microsoft Dynamics 365 July Update Series! Register today!
