2023 Release Wave 1: D365 Customer Service | Part 1

It’s that time of year again! On January 25, 2023 the release notes for 2023 Release Wave 1 were made public, so I took the opportunity to thoroughly review the documentation to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the upcoming features. Please note that these notes are a constant work in progress, meaning that some of these features might be removed at some point in time, and others might get added so I would definitely recommend keeping your eyes on them and checking back every now and then. You can access the release notes here.

The Integrate and search external knowledge sources from Dynamics 365 feature (in the admin experiences category) is something that was already in the making. This feature allows for organizations to integrate external knowledge content from outside sources to Dynamics 365 Customer Service. The knowledge content will be ingested into dataverse which will allow for search capability across all sources. We were already able to do something similar to this with Sharepoint, where we could access sharepoint content in the search for knowledge articles, but this seems to be expanding on this. There is no mention of which external sources are begin supported for this, except the example of an enterprise website, so I am curious to find out.

Agent Experiences

Under the Agent Experiences category, there are numerous features, with AI being a recurring theme in Dynamics 365 Customer Service. The first feature, Accelerate time to resolution with AI-suggested replies, seems to be part of Omnichannel and Customer Service Workspace. This feature utilizes the advanced natural language processing technology used in Nuance Agent Coach (Nuance was recently acquired by Microsoft), and will show AI-generated suggested replies in the chat window during digital messaging interactions. Agents can quickly select any of the suggested responses during the conversation, which will make this a faster and hopefully better experience. Suggestions are based on historical support conversation data and can be further improved with on-demand training. This will elevate digital messaging support to a whole new level.

The recently added feature Keep track of conversations with AI-generated summaries addresses a frequently asked question by the community and our prospects and customer, which is the availability of a feature to summarize (digital messaging) conversations. This AI-powered feature not only displays a summary of the conversation, but also allows customer service users to copy it, create a case based on it, and provide feedback. My guess is that this feedback will assist the AI in continuously improving its future summaries. I would LOVE to get my hands on this one, but right now it shows that this feature will be in public preview starting April 2023.

This release also brings enhancements to the case form, which makes it easier for agents to manage cases. The new form allows them to upload attachments, take notes, and access customer information in one place, without the need to switch screens. There will also be an autofill feature of case fields (when a case is created from a conversation) which will save time and make the agents more productive. When looking at the screenshot Microsoft has posted on the learn site, you’ll notice a side panel that shows customer details and recent cases. I assume an agent clicks on the value in the customer lookup from within the case form, which opens the side pane. Side panes like this have been available for makers to create but it’s nice to see this functionality added out of the box! Below is the image from the Microsoft learn site.

The Find email templates faster with enhanced selection feature has a slight update to the selection of email templates when sending an email. Last year I reported on enhancements on this topic (which you can read here) and the only difference I found for this feature is the ability to select the record the email template is related to, which saves one click. Since we’re talking about email templates, I also wanted to mention the Create email templates with new template designer feature that is part of this wave. This is also a topic I wrote about last year (access the article here) when this feature was still in preview. The feature went GA on July 15, 2022 according to this Microsoft learn site. However, if you open an email template (or create a new one) you’ll notice that the designer looks exactly the same as the image shown on the Microsoft learn site. The designer tab still shows as ‘Preview’, so my guess is it will go GA as part of this release.

According to the release notes there will also be several Enhancements to simplify case management in this wave. Microsoft mentions a color-coded case statuses and priority icon. Also the process to add cases to queues will be improved, as agents will only see queues that allows for case records. The worked-by field on the case will show only members belonging to the queue, if the queue is private. Lastly there will be an improved case resolution dialog box (not sure if this also goes if you have quick create forms enabled for case resolution?) and an improved process for case resolutions. This translates to the ability for agents to quickly navigate to and close any open activities related to the case.

The next feature is related to the enhanced workspace layout in Customer Workspace and Omnichannel for Customer Service, which seems to have been part of 2022 Release Wave 2. (Access Microsoft Learn article here). If you take a look at the feature details on both pages (2022 RW 2 and 2023 RW 1) You’ll notice they are the exact same features…? It also shows that this feature went GA in Oct 2022 so I am a bit confused.. This new layout of the customer service workspace (and omnichannel for customer service) gives agents a lot more screen real estate. You’ll also notices that the sessions no longer open on the right side of the screen, all of them will open on the top of the screen.

1. Site Map: Access site map
2. Home button: Return to home screen
3. Inbox Tab: Access everything in the agent’s inbox
4. Tab Row: Each open session has a tab in the tab row. Agents can select a tab to navigate between sessions.
5. Rows: Users can open records/rows in a new session. The session will open as a tab in the workspace.
6. View chooser: Allows agents to navigate between different views.
7. Dashboard chooser: Allows agents to navigate between different dashboards.

It looks like the view past support interactions using recent cases control is a new control that shows details about cases from within the context of a customer. My guess is that this is a control that you can add to a case grid related to an account or contact form. You’ll notice the control shows color coded priority icons and status and admins will have the ability to configure which case details to show. Below is the image from the Microsoft learn site showing what this will look like.

Another feature on the list is the ability for agents to Mark knowledge articles as a favorite. Currently agents can ‘like’ an article by opening the article and clicking the thumbs up icon, but this new feature will take this one step further. By being able to mark articles as a favorite, agents will be able to pull up their list of favorite articles in the knowledge search control on a form or by using the knowledge base side-panel. The favorite list shows in the side pane shows as a tab next to the search bar on the top of the side pane. Users can add or remove articles from the list by marking or unmarking articles as a favorite. They can do this by clicking or unclicking the heart icon on the article, shown in the screenshot below.

The ability to forecast case and conversation volumes has been in public preview since April of 2022 and was part of 2022 Release wave 1. It looks like the Forecast agent demand to handle customer conversations feature in 2023 Release Wave 1 adds some functionality to the conversation forecasting feature, as it will allow to forecast the actual number of agents needed to handle those conversation volumes, allowing call centers to have the right amount of agents on staff. The forecasting for cases are also enhanced, where customer service managers can now forecasts case volumes in 15 min intervals. Both features are currently set for public preview in April of this year.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article! Part 2 of this article can be read here. Be sure to check in again next week for a new article subscribe below to never miss another post!

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