New features for D365 Sales in 2023_670x450
Rebecca Annies
Mar 1, 2023
Insights | 6 min read

Content

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales is one of the most popular CRM solutions on the market, not least because it is constantly being developed with new features and improvements. In 2023, Microsoft has a number of exciting updates planned for the platform that will make it even easier for businesses to manage their customer relationships. In this article, we’ll go over what we think are the most relevant ones.

The most important updates for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales 

Microsoft has announced new features for Dynamics 365 Sales this year. With these, the company plans not only to expand the existing platform, but also to provide sales employees with important tools through AI functionss and other features to optimize process flows and work even more efficiently.

New features D365 Sales

This adds features such as Relationship Intelligence, Lead Scoring and Nurturing to the existing offering and makes Dynamics 365 Sales even more relevant to sales and marketing.

But what can the new features do, and how powerful are they really?

Conversation intelligence – getting the most out of customer communication 

The new conversation intelligence function helps to get more out of customer communication. It allows users to analyze conversations in real time and identify keyword trends, sentiments and more. 

This provides insight into the way customers think about products or services and enables sales teams to quickly adapt their approach to selling or customer support.

Forecasting and pipeline intelligence – better data understanding and more informed decisions

The forecasting and pipeline intelligence features provide insights into the sales pipeline and allow users to track results over time. This is especially beneficial for companies looking to optimize their sales strategies.

Furthermore, teams can view customer data in real time, providing accurate and up-to-date information to make informed decisions. 

The new Opportunity pipeline view, which will be available in April 2023, quickly shows sales reps which sales opportunities need their attention. The view can be customized and opportunities can be sorted as desired.

Opportunity-Ansicht in Dynamics 365 Sales
Opportunity view in Dynamics 365 Sales

In addition, Microsoft plans to allow users to configure forecasts separately for multiple business units starting in April 2023. This will help sales teams keep an eye on the progress of their business unit. A comparison with their own forecasts provides information about personal performance.

Previously, the sales team could make quarterly and monthly forecasts. Starting in September 2023, it will be possible to make long-term annual forecasts as well as short-term weekly forecasts.

Basically, in late 2023 updates, data integrity will be improved in general; it will no longer be possible, for example, to create duplicate data records in the future.

Reporting – comprehensive information on the use of sales records

Thanks to the reporting function, users can easily track the progress of their sales activities. Information can include customer acquisition, order history, quotes and invoices. This allows teams to immediately assess the efficiency of their work and identify areas for improvement. 

Not sure if you even need a customer relationship management system like Dynamics 365 Sales? This article will help you answer that question.

Sales accelerator and process automation

Many of the key new features Dynamics 365 Sales is getting this year are aimed at accelerating sales and automating processes.   
 
They include, for example, setting up different stages of the customer journey, automating communications and managing customer data. Microsoft is also adding intelligent work suggestions and a smart org chart to its sales solution to improve sales productivity, as well as automation capabilities for follow-up tasks.

Specifically, Microsoft announced the following updates and features: 

  • Improve efficiency with salesperson KPIs (available since late 2022)
  • Better lead interaction rates thanks to validated e-mails (available since the end of 2022)
  • Optimizing sales processes through sequential A/B testing (available March 2023)
  • Promoting customer contact and interactions via SMS (available from March 2023)
  • “Segment Priority” feature, to increase allocation accuracy (available from March 2023)
  • Better process efficiency through sequence knowledge (no public release scheduled yet)

Using the features saves sales teams valuable time that they can devote to more important and personal tasks, such as building relationships and increasing sales closing opportunities.

When will the new Dynamics 365 Sales features be available?

Microsoft has released a rough schedule for updates and new features in 2023. Some of the features mentioned above were already released at the end of last year. 

The outstanding features have been available for testing in a public preview since January 2023. Microsoft plans general availability by March 2023 at the latest for all features of the 2nd wave 2022.

Further release waves in 2023

But that’s not all. Further updates and features have already been planned and announced as part of the 1st wave 2023; including, in particular, improvements in sales intelligence and sales engagement as well as further functions for automation in sales processing in the field.    

Interested parties can view the schedule for these updates here. Many features are already available for use in Early Access.

Depending on the region, the public release of the wave will start at the end of March or in August. For Europe, the functions will be released between April 14 and 16. 

Will I automatically receive the new Dynamics 365 Sales features?

How exactly the implementation will ultimately look depends on each feature individually. Many simpler improvements will be activated for all users at the same time, without any additional steps being necessary.

In the case of more far-reaching changes, these must first be activated by administrators or analysts so that all users of the platform can access them. 

The third type of functions are reserved exclusively for administrators and analysts, and can be used by them directly upon release.

Conclusion: Dynamics 365 Sales in 2023

Dynamics 365 Sales 2023 will offer a number of new features and improvements that will make it easier for companies to manage and deepen their customer relationships.

Intelligent call analysis, predictive and pipeline intelligence, updated reporting, along with sales acceleration and process automation features will help companies improve their sales activities. Customer interactions can be tracked, analyzed and managed more efficiently. With these insights, teams can adjust their strategies to more accurately meet customer needs and increase the chances of successful sales. 

Answering