Tag: dynamics-365-contact-centre

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2025 Release Wave 1: The Era of Autonomous Agents in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform

Goloknath

The core focus of this release is the transition of organizations into “AI-first companies” through the integration of Autonomous Agents that work alongside humans to automate complex business processes.

Real-time User Journey: The Sales Qualification Agent

The blog highlights the Sales Qualification Agent as a flagship example of this wave’s innovation. Here is the user journey for a seller using this feature:

  1. Inbound Capture: A new lead is automatically ingested from a marketing campaign or web form.
  2. Autonomous Research: The AI Agent instantly researches the lead’s company profile, LinkedIn data, and past interactions within Dynamics 365 without human prompting.
  3. Lead Scoring & Prioritization: Based on the research, the agent categorizes the lead’s “readiness” and moves high-value targets to the top of the seller’s dashboard.
  4. Proactive Outreach: The agent drafts a personalized engagement email tailored to the lead’s specific pain points discovered during research.
  5. Seamless Handoff: When the lead replies, the human seller receives a notification along with a “Copilot Summary” of all previous AI-driven research and outreach, enabling them to jump straight into a high-context closing conversation.

Step-by-Step: How to Enable These Features

To access the 2025 Release Wave 1 features, administrators must follow the standard Microsoft Power Platform deployment cycle:

  1. Access Admin Center: Sign in to the Power Platform Admin Center.
  2. Select Environment: Go to Environments and select the specific instance (e.g., Production or Sandbox) where you want to enable the features.
  3. Opt-in to Wave 1 Updates:
    • Locate the Updates section.
    • If the “2025 Release Wave 1” is listed as available, click Manage and select Update now. (Note: Early access typically begins in February, with general availability starting in April).
  4. Activate Specific Agents:
    • Open your specific app (e.g., Sales Hub or Customer Service Hub).
    • Navigate to App Settings > General Settings > Copilot.
    • Toggle on the specific agents you wish to deploy (e.g., Sales Qualification Agent or Account Reconciliation Agent).

Permissions: Ensure users are assigned the Copilot User security role to interact with the new AI capabilities.

References

2025 release wave 1 brings hundreds of updates to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform
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What’s new in unified routing: April 2025 feature update in Dynamics 365 Contact Centre

Goloknath

What’s new in unified routing: April 2025 feature update (Key updates include Least Active Routing for messaging, Presence Sync APIs, Shift-based routing, and Template rulesets).

Real-time User Journey

This update optimizes how a customer moves from initial contact to the most qualified, available agent:

  1. Customer Re-entry: A customer returns to a persistent chat. Instead of a generic route, the system identifies the previous agent.
  2. Continuity Check: A Customized Notification pops up for the original agent, allowing them to instantly resume the conversation for a seamless experience.
  3. Shift-Aware Routing: If the original agent is unavailable, the system checks Shift Plans. It only considers agents currently on their scheduled shift, preventing “ghost” assignments to agents who have logged off.
  4. Workload Balancing: From the pool of available agents, the Least Active Routing method selects the representative who has been idle the longest since their last conversation ended.
  5. Agent Resolution: The agent receives the work item, benefiting from a balanced workload and clear context, leading to faster resolution.

Step-by-Step: How to Enable These Features

Since this is a suite of updates, here is how to enable the core components:

A. Enable Least Active Routing (for Messaging)

  1. Go to the Customer Service admin center.
  2. Navigate to Queues > Advanced Queues.
  3. Select a messaging queue (Chat/SMS/Digital Messaging) and go to the Assignment method section.
  4. Select Create New and choose Least active as the assignment strategy.
  5. Save and apply to the queue.

B. Configure Shift-Based Routing

  1. Navigate to Routing > User management.
  2. Select Shift schedules (Preview).
  3. Create a Workforce Management Shift Plan and define the working hours.
  4. Assign the plan to specific agents or teams.
  5. In your Assignment Rules, ensure the toggle for “Check agent availability based on shifts” is set to On.

C. Set Up Template Rulesets (Bulk Management)

  1. Go to Routing > Template rulesets.
  2. Select Create Template for either Prioritization or Assignment rules.
  3. Define your logic once (e.g., “Always prioritize VIP customers”).
  4. Select Apply to Queues and choose all the queues/workstreams that should follow this logic. Any future update to this template will sync to all linked queues instantly.
FeaturePrimary BenefitWho it’s for
Least Active RoutingPrevents agent burnout & ensures fair work distribution.Messaging Agents (Chat, SMS)
Shift-Based RoutingReduces wait times by ignoring agents who aren’t on clock.Global/24-7 Support Teams
Presence Sync APIsSyncs status across D365, Teams, and 3rd party tools.Multi-platform Organizations
Returning Chat AlertsEnsures customer-agent continuity.Persistent Chat Workflows
Bulk Rule TemplatesUpdate 100+ queues with a single click.Large-scale Administrators

References

What’s new in unified routing: April 2025 feature update 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/administer/assignment-methods#least-active

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/contact-center/extend/presence-status-sync?tabs=modifyagentpresence

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/administer/configure-routing-on-agent-calendar?branch=nn-first-party#how-shift-based-routing-works

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/administer/manage-routing-rules-templates

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2025wave1/service/dynamics365-customer-service/unified-routing

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2025wave1/service/dynamics365-contact-center/unified-routing

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Enhance Customer Service with Advanced Prioritization

Goloknath

Enhance Customer Service with Advanced Prioritization (Focusing on cross-queue and in-queue prioritization within Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Customer Service).

Real-time User Journey

The user journey for this feature involves a multi-layered evaluation to ensure the most critical issues reach an agent first:

  • Trigger: A customer initiates contact (e.g., starts a voice call or submits an urgent billing case).
  • Channel Prioritization: The system recognizes the channel type. In a “Voice-First” configuration, the system prioritizes the live call over an existing chat or email.
  • Cross-Queue Evaluation: The system looks at organizational priorities. For example, a Refund queue might be prioritized over a Sales Inquiry queue to improve customer retention.
  • In-Queue Refinement: Once the item is in a queue, the system applies “In-queue” rules. If two customers are in the VIP queue, the system evaluates secondary factors like Sentiment (prioritizing an angry customer) or SLA (prioritizing a case near its deadline).
  • Agent Assignment: The agent is automatically presented with the highest-priority work item from their combined pool of queues, ensuring they are always working on the most valuable task for the business.

Step-by-Step: How to Enable This Feature

To enable and configure advanced prioritization, follow these steps in the Dynamics 365 Customer Service admin center:

  1. Define Attributes: Identify the data points you want to prioritize by (e.g., Customer Value, Sentiment, or Case Severity). Ensure these fields are populated via Unified Routing rules.
  2. Configure Cross-Queue Prioritization:
    • Navigate to Routing > Workstream.
    • Define a “Global Priority” for queues (e.g., assign Priority 1 to “VIP Support” and Priority 2 to “General”).
  3. Set Up In-Queue Prioritization Rules:
    • Go to the specific Queue settings.
    • Under Assignment Methods, choose New or edit an existing one.
    • Go to the Prioritization tab and create rules (e.g., “Priority = Case Severity * SLA Timer”).
  4. Enable Sentiment Analysis (Optional but Recommended): Ensure AI-driven sentiment is enabled so it can be used as a dynamic priority factor in your rules.
  5. Assign to Workstreams: Apply these assignment methods to your active workstreams to begin routing live traffic according to the new logic.

Reference

Enhance customer service with advanced prioritization

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/administer/assignment-methods#how-unified-routing-prioritizes-work-items