Across industries, businesses are experiencing a tectonic shift in how, when, and where people work. In today’s decentralized workplace, everyone needs simple ways to connect, share ideas, and collaborate wherever they are located. At Microsoft Ignite, we are announcing Context IQ, a set of capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 that integrate collaboration into the flow of work, surfacing the right information, people and insights in the moment, in context with the task at hand.
These capabilities help you build a hyperconnected business that empowers people to collaborate as one business, everywhere—so people can thrive wherever, and however, they work. Be sure to attend the Ignite session, “Accelerate cross-organization collaboration with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365” to see some of the capabilities below in action.
Collaborate in the flow of work
Upcoming capabilities will bring Microsoft Teams experiences to Dynamics 365, so people can stay productive in the flow of work.
Teams chat embedded within Dynamics 365. You can collaborate with stakeholders directly from within Dynamics 365. This allows you to use Dynamics 365 data as an organizing layer for your Teams collaboration activity and link chats to Dynamics 365 records, such as sales opportunities and service cases, for convenient access for all participants.
Additionally, Context IQ suggests colleagues relevant to Dynamics 365 records to promote people discovery for faster deal or case resolution. You can see who is available and start a Teams chat without switching apps, keeping you focused on the task at hand.
Now available in preview for Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Dynamics 365 Field Service.
A unified meetings experience for sellers. During a Teams meeting, sellers can quickly access and share key sales information from Dynamics 365, reducing the need to switch between apps during the conversation. Meeting attendees can capture notes that automatically save to the timeline of the record, and sellers can leverage Conversation Intelligence to uncover and act on meeting highlights and follow-up.
Available for preview in early 2022.
Digital voice and conversation intelligence for Dynamics 365 Sales. Sales professionals spend a lot of time engaging with customers, either on digital calls or in online meetings. Now, sellers can conduct and answer calls, join online meetings, and receive and answer emails from Dynamics 365 with one click.
Sellers can leverage an integrated Teams dialer for outbound and inbound calling for Dynamics 365 Sales, using either the integrated Teams dialer or third-party telephony vendors from a desktop, laptop, or mobile device. In addition, conversation intelligence transcribes the call and provides meaningful insights and analyzes content, sentiment, and behavioral style—such as competitors and keywords that the prospect mentions. AI-guided live feedback and suggestions can help sellers adjust their sales pitch, as well as provide managers with a way to track team performance and provide valuable coaching to help boost customer satisfaction.
Available in preview for Dynamics 365 Sales.
Live copresence throughout Dynamics 365 applications. See who is actively working on a Dynamics 365 record and available to chat and collaborate—making it easier to work together on service cases, orders, or opportunities.
Hover over a profile name to view a Live Profile Card with contact details and live presence, and easily initiate an embedded Teams chat session with an individual or group that automatically links the chat with the record, all in one click.
Now available for preview in Dynamics 365 Marketing, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Dynamics 365 Field Service.
More accessible and sharable business data
Switching apps to search for and share data, documents and records can impede the flow of work, slowing progress on activities ranging from sales deals to customer support cases. Context IQ more closely integrates Microsoft Search, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 capabilities, accelerating access to the people and information needed to spur innovation and solve problems.
These capabilities extend the ability for anyone in an organization to view and collaborate on Dynamics 365 records from within the flow of work with Teams, as announced at Microsoft Inspire earlier this year (available in preview in early 2022).
Find what you need faster. We’ve made it easier to surface results from your files, documents, customer records, and people across Microsoft Search. In fact, all of your data in Microsoft Dataverse can be searched and surfaced. For example, you can search for a Dynamics 365 customer record from Bing and the search bar in Teams, SharePoint, and Office. Dynamics 365 settings for roles and permissions ensure users only see records for which they are granted access.
In preview now for SharePoint, Bing, and Office. Preview for Microsoft Teams to follow in 2022.
Use @mention to quickly find and share a Dynamics 365 record. We’re making it simple to share and collaborate on a Dynamics 365 record in the flow of work, without switching apps. You can currently @mention specific people in an Outlook or Teams message to tag someone for feedback. Soon, you will be able to @mention a Dynamics 365 record to quickly share it inline.
Available in preview for Teams, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 applications in 2022.
When you share a link to any Dynamics 365 record, you can choose to unfurl an information card that displays a preview of the shared Dynamics 365 record. Recipients can view and act on information in the flow of work, such as from a chat, email, or document.
For example, when a seller shares a Dynamics 365 opportunity record in a Teams or Outlook message, recipients can see and edit the details that matter—such as the opportunity score, estimated close date and revenue, and status—right from within the message.
This new capability is called a Loop component, an element of Microsoft Loop, introduced today at Microsoft Ignite. Learn more about Microsoft Loop on the Microsoft 365 blog. We will share more about the availability of the Microsoft Loop component in the upcoming months.
Learn more about cross-organization collaboration with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365
These capabilities are just the start. Context IQ is inspiring many future updates across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365—especially those that further integrate collaboration, sharing, and communication capabilities in the flow of work.
Blog posted by Emily He, Corporate Vice President Microsoft
