Microsoft makes significant improvements to Dynamics CRM

Dynamics CRM 2015 and the 2015 Update of Dynamics Marketing have brought 'significant' enhancements across marketing, sales and service says Microsoft's Keir Garrett. She outlines some of the changes and what they mean for business.

As part of Microsoft's mission to reinvent productivity, we've been making some significant improvements to Dynamics to help businesses achieve more and deliver amazing experiences to their customers.

Microsoft's approach has been to look at productivity not as a software category, but rather as the engine of human progress. The idea is that we are most productive when we are innovative; bringing ideas to life and making things happen.

With this in mind, late in 2014 Microsoft announced the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 and the 2015 Update of Microsoft Dynamics Marketing.

These new versions bring significant advancements in Dynamics CRM 2015 across marketing, sales and service that aim to make collaboration between roles natural and easy.

Breaking it down

New capabilities for marketing have been added, such as the new interactive marketing calendar, integrated Lync webinars, new graphical marketing workflow and email editing, as well as A/B testing and integrated offers.

For sales, the focus has been on the needs of high-tech sellers, with the introduction of product families for product bundling and recommended products, visual sales hierarchies and roll ups, as well as more tailored dashboards and analytics on mobile.

Additionally, the introduction of the sales collaboration panel helps break down the silos between sales and marketing to deliver personalised customer experiences.

Microsoft has also made advancements in natural language user interface. CRM 2015 introduces the latest voice-enabled experiences through Cortana – part of Microsoft's broader commitment to reinvent productivity. Early market feedback on this has been very positive.

With these advancements, the future of Dynamics CRM is bright. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is already available in 130 markets and 44 languages, and there is now a firm path for continuous and consistent innovation with a six month release cycle.

By providing the broadest set of deployment options for organisations to help drive sales productivity and marketing effectiveness through social insights, business intelligence, and campaign management in the cloud, on-premises, or with a hybrid combination, Microsoft is demonstrating its commitment to making CRM widely accessible for businesses around the world.

Keir Garrett is Dynamics Lead - Microsoft Business Solutions.