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Enriched profiles in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights help you understand your customers’ brand and interest affinities so that you can provide the hyper-personalized experiences across touchpoints that today’s customers seek.
Brand and interest affinity insights are based on first- and third-party signals and data from people like your customers in age, gender, and location. This month we are announcing two enhancements to the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights enrichment feature:
Affinity level. Every enriched customer profile now includes an affinity level, from low to very high. Levels are in addition to the existing affinity score, which is calculated on a 100-point scale. Either can be used to measure affinity and to aid easy segmentation.
Share of voice. This information can be used to identify which brand or interest is highest for a given demographic segment. Share of voice is a comparison across brands and interests that you select.
Introducing affinity levels
We added the affinity levels enhancement to simplify the process of identifying a demographic segment’s affinity for a brand or interest. Previously, affinities were assigned a numerical score with no fixed scale. Affinity levels map directly to affinity scores and are designed to make the affinity scores more accessible. There are four levels:
Low
Medium
High
Very High
With this enhancement we also fixed the scale of the affinity score. It’s now calculated on a 100-point scale.
The setup experience for affinity enrichments hasn’t changed. Users will see the updated experience automatically.
The following image shows how the new affinity levels appear on the My enrichments > BrandAffinity and My enrichments > InterestAffinity views:
Introducing share of voice
Share of voice identifies which brand or interest has the highest proportion of popularity. It’s an important measure because it helps you understand whether your customer is more likely to engage with you or focus on your competition. The affinity for a brand or interest is calculated as a ratio of its popularity for a given demographic segment (age, gender, location) as compared to other brands or interests.
Previously, affinities and interests appeared next to each other in the My enrichments dashboard. While there’s a natural tendency to compare them against each other, they’re not directly comparable. Share of voice calculates comparatives across your selected brands or interests using a 100-point scale.
The share of voice numbers for configured brands always add up to 100% and are grouped into four levels:
Less than 25%
25% to 50%
51% to 75%
Greater than 75%
The share of voice enhancement doesn’t require any additional setup. As with affinity enrichments, users will see the updated share of voice experience automatically.
The following figure shows the aggregate share of voice for configured brands and interests:
You can also see share of voice for configured brands and interests on individual customer pages:
Sign up for a free Dynamics 365 Customer Insights trial to experience how you can enrich your customer profiles with affinities and share of voice. We invite you to try these new feature enhancements and let us know about your experience.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Automatic assignment of incoming service requests is one of the most powerful capabilities of unified routing, benefiting customers as well as agents and management. A common customer pain point is waiting for a long time to reach an agent, only to find out that the agent is unable to solve the issue. Precise automated assignment directly impacts key KPIs like first call resolution, customer satisfaction, and agent satisfaction. On the management side, the system can determine the best agent to assign to a case, removing the need for supervisors to constantly monitor queues.
How automatic assignment works
To assign incoming service requests from all channels to the best-suited agent, unified routing evaluates the following information until it finds a match:
Static characteristics of the agents, such as skills, proficiency, working hours, and location
The dynamic characteristic of real-time capacity
Aspects of the incoming work, such as answers to pre-chat questions, virtual agent interactions, customer journey context, and required skills
Unified routing first looks at the incoming service request and any responses to bots, IVR, pre-chat surveys, and so on, and classifies or “enriches” the service request using machine learning models or logical rules. This step helps in identifying details like incident category, severity, and priority; determining the best support center from the customer’s location; and recognizing related records.
Next, the system uses the enriched information to find the most appropriate agent, as expressed in terms of assignment rules. Unified routing supports multiple assignment rules, executing them one after another until a suitable match is found. Matching can produce three results:
Only one agent matches all the criteria. The system assigns the work to the agent.
Multiple agents match the criteria. The system ranks them against one another, based on their capacity, proficiency, or experience, or simply assigns them in a round robin fashion.
No agents match the criteria. The system provides an option to relax the criteria, or constraints. We call this “gradual relaxation of constraints.” Unified routing evaluates the next matching expression, repeating the process until at least one agent matches.
What happens if the automatically assigned agent rejects the assignment or isn’t available? The system tries to reassign the work on its own, supplemented by supervisor intervention, when needed. Unified routing respects the supervisor’s assignment, so if a supervisor wants to step in and assign work to an agent, they can always do so.
With automatic assignment, unified routing helps improve CSAT while lowering the total cost of ownership, removing the need for constant queue supervision.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Across the manufacturing industry, pressure continues to rise as organizations and their workforces balance unpredictable supply chains, complex regulatory and compliance requirements, advanced security threats, and heightened competition. At Microsoft, we are working to empower all manufacturing workers, from the factory floor to the customer’s door, with the solutions they need for sustainable growth and increased productivity.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
One of the challenges of hybrid work is enabling teams to remain connected, engaged, and in sync. Ensuring everyone is on the same page may have felt easier when we were all in the office together, but we’re continuing to deliver updates to Microsoft 365 that bridge the digital and physical divide to bring employees closer to each other and to their organization’s mission and goals.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Last October, we announced a new partnership with Shopify to help our customers create a better shopping experience. The partnership was designed to better connect the easy-to-use e-commerce and merchant experience of Shopify with the comprehensive business management capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Today we are pleased to announce that a new Shopify connector is now available.
“We launched the Shopify Global ERP program to give merchants the power to manage the complexity of their business operations. The new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central connector will help our merchants remain resilient and prepare for the future of commerce using real-time insights from connected data.”Colin Bodell, Vice President of Research and Development, Shopify.
The connector will help our customers get the visibility needed to speed customer inquiry responses, process more timely returns and refunds, and achieve more accurate order processing. Ultimately keeping people focused on customer experiences, by eliminating manual processes through:
Support of multiple Shopify shops
Each shop has its own setup, including a collection of products, locations used to calculate inventory, and price lists.
Bi-directional synchronization of items or products
Connector will sync images, item variants, barcodes, vendor item numbers, extended texts, and tags between systems.
Easily export item attributes to Shopify.
Use selected customer price groups and discounts to define how prices will be exported to Shopify.
Decide whether items can be created automatically or only allow updates to existing products.
Synchronization of inventory levels
Choose to use some or all of the available locations in Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Update inventory levels on multiple locations in Shopify.
Bi-directional synchronization of customers
Smart-map customers by phone and email.
Use country-specific templates when creating customers, which helps ensure that tax settings are correct.
Import of orders from Shopify
During import you can automatically create customers in Dynamics 365 Business Central or decide to manage the customers in Shopify.
Include orders created in other channels, such as Shopify POS or Amazon.
Shipping costs, gift cards, tips, shipping and payment methods, transactions, and risk of fraud.
Receive payout information from Shopify Payments.
Easy tracking of fulfillment information
Optionally choose to write item tracking information from Dynamics 365 Business Central into Shopify.
Microsoft has partnered with scapta, a Business Central ISV, to acquire their market-tested, feature-rich Shopify connector and embed it directly within Dynamics 365 Business Central. Scapta has many customer testimonials showcasing the power of connecting Dynamics 365 Business Central and Shopify. This approach allows us to offer more value to our customers that need global commerce capabilities.
“We rely on Shopify to manage commerce across three shops and to process thousands of orders each month. The connection with Dynamics 365 Business Central provides us with the visibility needed to adapt faster, work smarter, and perform better.”Stijn Lowette, CEO Kambukka.
Capitalize on the Shopify connector today
More connected data insights can help you reimagine the shopping experience for your customers, while streamlining business operations and financial management. Empower your people with more automated commerce processes so they can stay focused on more strategic work and customer outcomes. By connecting Shopify and Dynamics 365 Business Central you get the flexibility, control, and tracking needed to drive growth. The Shopify connector is available for the online version of Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is not available for on-premises versions. We expect this feature to be available as an extension in all countries where Dynamics 365 Business Central is available. The extension will be pre-installed for new customers. Existing customers can download and install the extension from Microsoft AppSource or the Shopify app store.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
We are excited to return to Hannover Messe in person this year between May 30, 2022 and June 2, 2022. The pandemic has been difficult for most manufacturers, and there are still many lingering challengesyet, manufacturers are intent on digital transformation to drive resilience. There are several emerging trends that we believe are instrumental to manufacturers’ success in how they operate in 2022 and beyond.
At Hannover Messe this year, we will showcase how Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps manufacturers:
Transform work with advanced warehousing, robotics, and mixed reality.
Increase resilience with a predictive supply chain.
Manufacture and operate sustainably with minimal waste.
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Based on a commissioned study with Forrester Consulting, more than 30 percent of manufacturing leaders face visibility challenges with inventory of raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods in the distributor network.1 Manufacturers are adopting a data-driven approach to improving operations, and doing so drives more focused improvements to systems and processes. But one-third of respondents surveyed note their organizations struggle with analyzing and applying the data to drive business and process improvements.
Visibility across operations is useful only if the manufacturers can use that data to drive action, hence the importance to driving both visibility and data improvements. Manufacturers are also keen to overcome distribution-related disruptions. Nearly half (48 percent) of manufacturing leaders expect distribution disruptions such as lack of carrier availability to increase.1 Demand fluctuations are at their peak, and so flexibility is paramount to meet this changing customer demand on time. However, this cannot come at the expense of front-line workers getting burnt out. It is an imperative to improve processes and conditions for frontline employees.
Lastly, environmental sustainability is a growing priority for manufacturing leaders to address in supply chain. Nearly one-quarter of leaders have improving sustainability metrics as a top digital transformation objective. As manufacturers transform, roughly 30 percent expect a reduced environmental impact as a result of their transformation efforts.1
Overcome disruptions and shortages with robotics and mixed reality
It is no secret that manufacturing operations have facedand continue to grapple withmultiple sources of ongoing shortages and disruptions. From port congestion, shipping delays, and material and workforce shortages, to extensive and unforeseen swings in customer demandtoday’s current challenges are as varied as they are persistent. However, these challenges have also given rise to innovative solutions capable of providing manufacturers and distributors with the capability to improve operations and overcome workforce shortages and skills gaps.
Robotics and automation are an attractive opportunity in this regardone that is generating goodwill among industry professionals and driving increases in investment. Most manufacturing executives believe that automation will positively impact their sector. Concurrently, the number of robots sold in North America rose 28 percent in 2021, setting a record of approximately $2 billion in sales.2 These points provide the context for our first work transformation innovation that is helping manufacturers and distributors overcome workforce shortages: advances in warehousing with robotics.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is designed to incorporate robotics to improve the automation of warehousing functions. This robotic integration and automation capability allows organizations to rapidly stand up and tear down temporary and flexible warehouse capacities closer to their manufacturing sites. Ultimately, these innovations enable companies to support complex warehousing functions, improve warehouse productivity, and overcome workforce shortages.
Contributing to the workforce shortages that manufacturers face is the retirement of a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce and, to a lesser extent, normal attrition as workers move on to other roles or companies. The learning curve for new team members in a manufacturing environment can often be steep and challenging due to the complexity of numerous processes and machinery that must be operated. This can cause significant disruption to normal operations.
A key innovation that is helping manufacturers to overcome workforce shortages and close the talent gap is the application of mixed reality to accelerate the onboarding of new employees and rapidly upskill existing team members. Based on the Microsoft-commissioned Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) study, manufacturing organizations that have deployed mixed-reality solutions have reduced training time by 75 percent, at an average savings of $30 per labor hour.3
With Microsoft’s mixed-reality solutions, including Dynamics 365 Guides, HoloLens 2, and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, manufacturers can deliver interactive learning experiences that increase workforce efficiency and flexibility and improve workforce safety by providing hands-free work instructions directly in the field of vision during task execution. Let us see how Toyota Motor North America is boosting operational and training efficiency and scalability with Microsoft’s mixed-reality solutions.
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Increasing resilience with visibility, insights, and orchestration
When organizations are slow to digitize, they lack the visibility to predict disruptions. They also lack the insights and agility to proactively mitigate these disruptions. At Hannover Messe, we will showcase our latest investments from Dynamics 365 that enhance end-to-end visibility of your supply chain and the production floor, enable flexible real-time planning, and optimize and automate fulfillment by seamlessly orchestrating business processes to proactively mitigate constraints.
These investments from Dynamics 365 are developed to help manufacturers become a composable enterprise. The capabilities are built such that they are interoperable with the manufacturer’s existing supply chain technology infrastructure. They unify data from disparate systems and leverage AI to drive actionable insights. With Microsoft Teams embedded within the Dynamics 365 supply chain portfolio, collaborating to achieve consensus with internal team members and external partners is more streamlined, quick, and almost in near real time.
Manufacturers can further add new revenue lines by moving from fixed revenue to recurring revenue by adding new service offerings. The Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management works seamlessly with Dynamics 365 Field Service so that manufacturers can predict and proactively maintain their customer’s assets.
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Dynamics 365 can also integrate with other third-party manufacturing execution systems. This allows manufacturers to unify data in real time across multiple different systems and contextualize the transaction data you get from enterprise resource planning (ERP) and time series data you get from the production floor to proactively looks for inefficiencies and quality issues so that you can improve the overall equipment effectiveness. At the end of the day, these innovations empower manufacturers to create and run more agile and connected factories and more resilient supply chains.
Circular manufacturing advances sustainability
Manufacturers have diligently worked to minimize waste since the ascendancy of lean manufacturing techniques. Now, as the world, governments, and consumers increasingly focus on sustainability, the push is on for manufacturers to reduce another form of wastecarbon dioxide (CO2). The leading sustainability initiative that brands are investing in worldwide is circular economy or circular manufacturing. This allows customers to recycle products easily. By setting up reverse logistics flows that allow customers to recycle products, manufacturers can not only drive a more sustainable future that is aligned with evolving consumer expectations but can also realize cost savings by utilizing recycled materials to produce new goods.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management provides organizations with the platform and tools to design manufacturing systems, processes, and products for reuse, minimize waste and emissions, and introduce new revenue streams like subscriptions and buyback programs. At Microsoft, we use these solutions to help us keep our commitment to zero-waste and carbon-negative operations. Our pilot initiative is the Microsoft Circular Centers program, which facilitates the reuse and recycling of servers and hardware within our data centers. To date, the Circular Centers program has reduced carbon emissions by 14,500 metric tons CO2 equivalent.
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With sustainability being a core focus for Microsoft, we are also pleased to announce the general availability of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability on June 1, 2022. Cloud for Sustainability solutions such as the Sustainability Manager gives organizations the ability to better manage their environmental footprint, embed sustainability throughout their value chain, and make strategic business investments that drive more value.
To learn more about strategies for overcoming disruptions and shortages while also improving sustainability through circular manufacturing strategies and Cloud for Sustainability solutions, see us at Hannover Messe.
Engage with Microsoft at Hannover Messe 2022
Register for Hannover Messeand visit the Microsoft booth Hall 4 Stand E34, where you can join guided tours and book meetings with Microsoft executives and manufacturing experts on hand to discuss how Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing brings together Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Power Platform capabilities that help:
Build more agile factories.
Transform your workforce.
Engage customers in new ways.
Create more resilient supply chains.
Unlock innovation and new services.
Secure manufacturing solutions from edge to cloud.
We will also be showcasing Dynamics 365 Customer Service, which brings the anytime, anywhere experience through the self-service capability for manufacturers.
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