Microsoft Announces Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016

This article covers the details of Microsoft’s announcement of Dynamics CRM 2016.

This week Microsoft announced that they will be releasing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 in Q4 of 2015.

Microsoft designed Dynamics CRM 2016 to allow customer-facing employees to manage their daily activities in a single experience – eliminating the distractions people encounter when switching between applications while doing their jobs.  This reduces the time it takes users to get things done and allows people to really focus on the customer.

CRM 2016 New Features

Microsoft enables this renewed focus with the following new capabilities:

An enhanced Excel experience within CRM, including new Excel templates to automate core tasks.  This allows sales to get analysis and insights, such as commission calculations and sales forecasting, directly in their sales process without exporting or switching applications.

The next generation of the Dynamics CRM app for Outlook, enabling people to track emails, add contacts from within an email or create new records to track emails through a PC, Mac or mobile browser.

Delve functionality that can surface relevant trending content like popular presentations or proposals that can help users with their opportunities and accounts.

Contextual documents across SharePoint, OneDrive for Business and Office 365 Groups for any CRM record.  Microsoft is making it easier to open a document in the CRM app using different applications on various devices.  After reviewing a document, users can return to CRM by simply tapping ‘back’.

Personalised sales documents are now easier to build with Document Generation.  Automation of this core sales task is another way Microsoft helps users save time.

Next generation Cortana integration.  Microsoft is embedding sales activities, accounts and opportunities into Cortana to surface what’s relevant to salespeople at any time – both personally and professionally.

Other Changes

Beyond productivity, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 will be improving in other areas as well:

  • Intelligence:  Microsoft is delivering intelligent processes for sales, service and marketing with the power of the Cortana Analytics Suite.  They’re introducing capabilities like intelligent product suggestions (for cross-sell) and recommended cases to resolve customer service issues.  They’re also harnessing the power of Azure Machine Learning for sentiment analysis in Microsoft Social Engagement and baking intelligent and contextual guidance into CRM throughout the entire customer journey.
  • Mobility: There will be a continued investment in mobile for tablets and phones with full offline mobile capabilities, the ability to create task-based mobile apps, Mobile Application Management with Microsoft Intune and next-generation Cortana integration that surfaces CRM data to drive proactive interaction and voice-driven CRM.
  • Service:  Microsoft has expanded the native CRM capabilities for case management with knowledge management and self-service capabilities when they acquired Parature in 2014. FieldOne will add field service capabilities to our customer service portfolio.

Read the full announcement from Bob Stutz at Microsoft here.

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