Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement is worth the investment

At Columbus, it’s no secret that we’re huge fans of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) and for good reason. It’s one of the most powerful, intuitive platforms that can unify data, deliver predictive insights and help businesses offer the best customer experience they can.

At this point, you’re probably sighing and rolling your eyes in exasperation because every software provider says that, right? But hear us out. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing why Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE is worth your investment.

• An overview of the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps
• The benefits of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE
• A summary of why the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps are worth investing in

An overview of the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps

Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Field Service are the four key apps that make up D365 Customer Engagement.

• Sales - D365 Sales helps sales teams stay ahead of fast-moving consumer preferences, market trends and competitors by proactively monitoring the landscape and focusing them into actionable insights
• Marketing - deeper insights into buyer behaviours helps your teams better nurture leads, improve marketing messaging and build long-lasting customer relationships
• Customer Service - centralised customer data and AI-driven analytics allow you to spend less time searching and more time connecting with customers
• Field Service - empowered with access to real-time data, you can quickly dispatch the right resource to the right place at the right time and have the tools to succeed the first time

The benefits of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE

1. Enhanced productivity

The D365 CE suite of apps boosts productivity by bringing everything your teams need into a single workspace. For example, data is centralised so:

• The sales cycle is streamlined and shortened
• It’s easier to gain a single view of prospects and when D365 Sales and Marketing are unified, marketers can track, prioritise and nurture leads before passing them to sales
• Customer service agents can easily switch between multiple open cases without losing context of any in-progress work
• Customer cases can be automatically assigned to the agent best equipped to solve them which reduces the time it takes to resolve and boosts customer satisfaction
• All teams gain a 360-degree view of customer assets so they’re better placed to meet and exceed customer expectations

2. Cross-team collaboration

When your teams from different departments can collaborate on tasks, you’re not only removing culture siloes; you’re also boosting efficiency and the quality of work. D365 CE integrates with core Microsoft 365 tools, such as Teams and Office 365, so your employees can easily connect with subject-matter experts, no matter their location, and resolve complex cases more swiftly.

For example, access to Microsoft Teams allows your employees to speak to their colleagues regardless of their department or location. And an integration with Office 365 allows teams to collaborate on one version of the same document and review changes in real-time - much more productive than sharing multiple versions.

3. Empowered with the information required to build and improve customer relationships

When your teams have fast and easy access to the information they need to complete tasks, they can benefit from boosted productivity and more time back to focus on other priorities - such as building relationships. For example:

• AI-based suggestions use real-time context cues to offer recommendations to your teams. These recommendations could be relevant knowledge articles, case information, conversation intelligence and more - all of which can help your teams find what they need, communicate with empathy and resolve customer issues more quickly
• The LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration allows you to view the profiles of related leads, plus recommended ways to make a warmly received introduction, so you can build and manage successful, authentic relationships
• Signals from Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 reveal at-risk relationships so you know which relationships to prioritise
• Survey insights from Dynamics 365 Customer Voice combined with customer data help you to build a more complete picture of your customers and understand their needs to offer better customer experience
• A D365 Field Service feature, Dynamics 365 Guides offers your field technicians access to step-by-step guidance while conducting maintenance to ensure a first-time fix

4. Make better informed decisions

Something we’ve mentioned throughout this blog post is D365 CE’s ability to centralise information and create a single workspace for your teams. When combined with AI insights, not only does this boost productivity and efficiency, it also empowers you to make better informed decisions.

For instance:

• Automatic signals that identify relationships that are at risk so you know which customers to focus on
• Dynamics 365 Customer Voice which provides you with the customer’s point of view so you take swift action
• Multiple lead scoring models can help you prioritise leads
• The option to build custom reporting dashboards or use prebuilt ones and gain a better view of how your sales and marketing campaigns are performing. You can use that knowledge to improve future performance
• Conversation intelligence based on AI detects customer emotions and priorities. Your customer-facing teams can use that insight to tailor their tone and steer conversations towards a more positive outcome

5. Offer more personalised customer experiences

Because D365 CE centralises data, your teams can gain a complete view of customers. That gives them the knowledge and power to provide personalised customer experiences. Here’s how:

• Insight into customer buying behaviours help your teams provide the right message at the right time via the right channel
• Centralised customer data means every customer can receive a unified, consistent experience, even if their case ends up being passed across multiple service representatives and channels
• It’s easier for your sales, marketing and customer and field service teams to anticipate customer needs when they have a 360-degree view of each customer profile

A summary of why the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps are worth investing in

We know, it’s a bit of a lengthy blog post and a lot of the reasons overlap. So, here’s a quick summary…the benefits of D365 CE originate from its ability to centralise customer data so any person from any team can easily access it.

When the data you need, such as the customer’s profile, preferences and case history, is in one place, it’s easier to find. Less searching means more time freed up to spend on other important tasks - like providing a great customer experience.

Speaking of customer experience, D365 CE gives you a 360-degree view of your customers so it’s easier for you to anticipate their needs and take appropriate actions, like offering a personalised experience and delivering the right message.

Then, there are also AI-driven insights that finetune what you already know about your customers and help keep those key relationships on track.

For example, conversation insights give you an idea of how they’re feeling so you can react appropriately and steer the conversation in the right direction. And relationship health notifications help you manage your customer relationships, ensuring everyone is receiving the attention they need.

If you’re interested in reading more about the features and functionalities of the D365 CE suite, click the button below.