Dynamics 365 Sales helps teams better understand business relationships, take actions based on insights, and close opportunities faster. One of the many ways the app helps sales teams succeed is enabling them to build segments for use in assignment rules to ensure leads and opportunities are routed to the right sellers.

What is a segment?

A segment is a collection of leads and opportunities that are grouped together based on certain conditions, such as location, deal value, language, and product. You can create segments for both lead and opportunity entities. For details, see this article: Create and activate a segment.

You can use segments in assignment rules and sequences. With segments, you can choose the set of characteristics a lead or opportunity should have in order to get assigned to relevant sellers or to connect to a certain sequence, without the need to create the same conditions repeatedly.

When a new lead or opportunity is created in Dynamics 365 Sales and matches the conditions of a specified segment, it will automatically become a member of that segment, and will assign to sellers and connect to a sequence based on how you build your organization’s process automation.

Let’s take an example to understand how it works.

Define segment conditions

The following segment is defined with simple conditions, to catch all leads coming from the company’s website and that have an email address.

A segment can also include more complex parameters, using groups of AND/OR conditions or a link to a related entity. For example, you can create a segment that will capture all opportunities that are interested in printers or monitors, and that are related to one of two relevant accounts.

Simulate segment members

You can simulate the results based on existing data in your system, to make sure the segment will catch the lead or opportunity with the desired characteristics. The simulation results are not actual members of that segment and are just an example of the types of leads the segment will capture when it is activated.

Important highlights and limitations

• A lead or opportunity will be evaluated for a segment when it is created, and again when it is being updated. For example, a lead can enter the system without a populated email address, but after going through a nurturing process, an email address will be added, and the lead will become a member of the “Nurtured leads from website” segment in the above example.
• Your segment must be activated to catch new leads or opportunities.
• A lead or opportunity can become a member of only one segment. If a lead matches the conditions of more than one segment, it will randomly become a member of one of them.
• When a lead is added to a segment and assigned to a seller or connected to a sequence, it can’t be added to a different segment, seller, or sequence.

How to use a segment in assignment rules

When creating assignment rules for a lead or opportunity, you can use a segment to define the type of record that will be assigned to sellers via each rule. You can create multiple rules based on the same segment and add specific conditions to each rule to match your business process.

In the following example, we can select the “Nurtured leads from website” segment. This means that all leads that will become members of that segment will be assigned to sellers by this rule’s conditions.

We can add another condition to that segment that will route the hot leads from the segment to the most experienced sellers.

For this scenario, we can create two rules: one rule to capture hot leads from the segment, and another rule to catch all remaining leads from the segment.

By placing the rule for assigning hot leads above the default rule, hot leads will be evaluated first and will be assigned to experienced sellers. The rest of the leads will be assigned by the default rule.

Next steps

For more information about segments, read the documentation:

• How to manage segments
• How to connect a segment to sequence

The post Automatically route deals to the right sellers by using segments in assignment rules appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Many organizations face supply chain challenges that can be addressed through digital transformation, yet organizational limitations make this transformation difficult. Disparate and disconnected enterprise systems can prohibit companies from gaining end-to-end visibility into their supply chains, while outdated technology can create a lack of business continuity during disruptions or lead to an inability to rapidly adapt to changing customer demand. New technologies that enable and automate data-driven decision-making should be central to any strategy designed to meet these challenges. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is a nimble and modern, open platform that empowers businesses to do exactly that.

Intelligent fulfillment optimization

Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management comes with a fulfillment optimization engine that intelligently manages order complexities, while also providing real-time end-to-end visibility into all inventory and order flows. Companies that ship direct-to-consumer, such as retailers, manufacturers, and distributors, face considerable challenges in this arena. This is one reason that in a recent Economist survey sponsored by Microsoft, ninety-nine percent of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) believe that the digital transformation of their supply chain is important to meeting their organizations’ strategic objectives.¹

The challenge comes from the complexity created by combining a myriad of order sources such as e-commerce marketplaces, physical stores, and call centers. Plus, a growing number of options to fulfill, including distribution centers, third-party logistics providers, and supplier drop-shipping. And finally, any number of inventory holding locations from which physical inventory can be pulled to fulfill customer orders. Leveraging and optimizing the use of these options and assets is crucial for businesses seeking to profitably deliver on their order promise.

With our rules-based, event-driven, AI-infused fulfillment optimization engine, we make it easier than ever to connect to any of these enterprise applications via simple API interfaces. The result is that companies can quickly connect their existing order management systems, such as ERP and WMS, and extend these with our pre-built partner connectors. By giving businesses this unprecedented flexibility, Intelligent Order Management plays a pivotal role in digitally transforming the supply chain while also making supply chains more resilient.

Learn more in our recent e-book: The Savvy CSCO’s Guide to Transforming Order Management.

Spotlight on ShipStation integration

Last month we introduced our new integration with ShipStation. This month, we want to look at how ShipStation is used within Intelligent Order Management with a simple walkthrough.

Learn more in our recent blog post: Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management accelerates adaptability.

For those who haven’t had an opportunity to check out the recent blog above, ShipStation is a cloud-based e-commerce shipping platform specializing in creating shipping labels. With ShipStation, users can automatically import all e-commerce orders, create labels with discounted rates, send out shipping notification emails to customers, and send shipment details back to the order source. By integrating ShipStation with the Intelligent Order Management platform, users can bring all their carriers and order sources together within one unified solution.

When an order is received and ShipStation is selected for use, carrier service and delivery timeline information from ShipStation are captured in real-time by Intelligent Order Management to provide users with visibility of the shipment details.

The following screenshot shows the ShipStation information integrated into the Intelligent Order Management application. As you can see, Intelligent Order Management gives you visibility into the full details on the creation of the fulfillment order, including its unique timeline, which is added as a map to show how the delivery route looks.

In the screenshot below, you can see that ShipStation has also generated a tracking number that is automatically shown in Intelligent Order Management.

And the shipping label is also available from a single click without ever leaving the application, as shown below.

The label information generated by ShipStation is then passed back to the warehouse, which receives the pick list of items that need to be shipped to fulfill the order.

By combining new partner connectors like ShipStation with our fulfillment optimization engine, users of Intelligent Order Management can fulfill orders better, faster, and cheaper than ever before.

What’s next?

Organizations that ship direct-to-consumer need technology solutions to have end-to-end visibility into their supply chains, which will help them to achieve supply chain resiliency. A central part of a supply chain digital transformation is an order management solution with a fulfillment optimization engine. Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management comes with a powerful fulfillment optimization engine that allows companies to simplify the complexity of managing numerous orders, fulfillment, and inventory sources. On top of this, we have added new provider connectors such as ShipStation so that companies can act before orders become late, gain access to discounted shipping rates, and offer customers greater visibility into order delivery status with email notifications.

If you would like to discover how you can turn order fulfillment into a competitive advantage and enhance your customers’ experience, you can get started today with a free trial of Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management or check out our recent webinar to learn more.

¹The Economist Intelligence Unit. Putting customers at the centre of the OEM supply chain. 2019

The post Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management enables fulfillment optimization and supply chain resiliency appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Field service is evolving quickly and changes in technology have made a quantum leap forward in customer engagement, elevating frontline worker effectiveness and optimizing service operations. New technologies and advanced analytics are reshaping field service to dramatically improve service levels, personalize the customer experience, increase productivity, and enhance perceived value. It is these differentiators that have helped elevate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service as a driving force within the field service community.

We are proud to share that Gartner has again positioned Microsoft as a Leader in its 2021 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management. We believe this position as a Leader reflects our expansive product functionality.

By combining IoT diagnostics, scheduling, asset maintenance, and inventory on the same platform, field service organizations can reduce downtime by diagnosing and resolving issues before customers are aware.

Gartner defines field service management (FSM) as a discrete market within the broader customer service and support software market. Field service providers (FSPs) typically dispatch technicians to remote locations to provide installation, repair, or maintenance services for equipment or systems. They may manage, maintain and monitor these assets under a predefined service or maintenance contract. Gartner’s view of the FSM market is focused on transformational technologies and approaches to meeting the future needs of end users. It is not focused on the market as it is today.

Dynamics 365 Field Service capabilities

Many field service capabilities highlighted by Gartner are innovations pivotal to providing world-class customer care.

Microsoft has pioneered cutting-edge technologies enabling the development of rich features that empower technicians to increase productivity, optimize resources, and enhance the customer experience. These resulting capabilities help field service organizations quickly align service operations to strengthen business continuity, build resiliency to withstand a changing economic landscape, and provide the flexibility to take on new opportunities when they arise.

Burckhardt Compressionis a perfect example of an organization reshaping the delivery of service by leveraging Microsoft technology. This Swiss marine gas compression manufacturer provides critical compressor repair and maintenance services for ships at sea. Compressors create high-pressure conditions that transform gas from a gaseous state to liquid to reduce volume. If a compressor fails, time is of the essence as the liquid gas can expand and return to a gaseous state, building pressure and becoming highly explosive. To respond to an incident or perform proactive maintenance, Burckhardt Compression had to send a service engineer to wherever the compressor was locatedwhich was time-consuming, resource-intensive, and simply not scalable.

The company turned to Dynamics 365 Field Service, allowing service engineers to engage in real-time video chat and provide instructions and markups onscreen over the actual compressor. When a call is initiated via Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, a case is automatically created in Field Service and a recording of the repair work is created for future needs. Burckhardt Compression is thrilled with the seamless workflow and interoperability, increased service capacity, and the enhanced safety resulting from the new process.

What’s ahead for Dynamics 365 Field Service

For the 2021 release wave 2, we continue our focus on delivering rich, innovative features that map to three distinct pillars:

• Tailor customer engagements. Deliver empathetic connected service experiences that provide a holistic view of customers’ case information to enhance first-time fix rates and support smooth service delivery every time.
• Elevate employee effectiveness. Empower employees across your service organization to solve problems faster with actionable insights, enriched data signals, and mixed reality.
• Optimize service operations. Drive proactive service with IoT, unlock new service revenue streams, and reduce downtime and service costs.

We will also continue to enhance this leading end-to-end field service solution, further transforming field service organizations from a reactive break or fix model to a proactive model with built-in predictive modes. We are broadening the possibilities of additional business models such as outcome-based service or “anything-as-a-service.”

We aim to innovate Dynamics 365 Field Service, transforming service operations by connecting people, places, and things to deliver customer-centric experiences. We are committed to driving unparalleled customer engagements by personalizing experiences and anticipating and meeting your customer’s needs and wants. Our focus on ensuring your employees are effective in any capacity they fill, from department managers to dispatch to technicians onsite, will continue to guide us in delivering the analytics and tools you need to resolve any issue the first time, every time, and identify gaps in service delivery and opportunities for improvement. These efforts can drive new revenue streams that were previously overlooked.

We’ve just gotten started, and the possibilities are limitless.

The bottom line

Many field service organizations consist of technicians making service calls, identifying the issue, ordering the required part, and rescheduling to commence the repair. This process is inefficient, costly, and unsatisfying to the customer. Field service is changing. Today organizations are evolving into profit centers, redefining business models, and creating powerful and fulfilling customer experiencesall supported by leading-edge solutions like Dynamics 365 Field Service.

We are excited to be positioned as a Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant Leader for Field Service and are committed to bringing you the best field service application available. Depend on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service to help you tailor customer engagements, elevate employee effectiveness, and optimize service operations.

Learn more:

• Read the Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant Report for Field Service Management.
• Learn more about Dynamics 365 Field Service.
• Check out the release wave 2 for Dynamics 365 Field Service.

GARTNER and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, 31 August 2021, Jim Robinson, Naved Rashid.

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