The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly served as a wake-up call for many businesses. Not only has it highlighted the need for better insights across the entire operational experience, but this global stressor also exposed vulnerabilities in business models and workforce strategies.

The pandemic also brought to light the importance of agility and adaptability in the face of change. In order to survive and thrive in the new normal, businesses must be able to pivot quickly and effectively to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers. Enterprises are increasingly focusing on service-centric business models that provide recurring revenue streams.

To better understand these trends, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to investigate where companies are succeeding, struggling, and investing in their quest to move toward service-centric business models and project-based operations. In the study, Foster Business Model Innovation To Achieve Growth Goals, Forrester Consulting explored how this trend impacts the global business landscape and associated business teams.

Business model innovation

Learn how to achieve growth goals with business model innovation.

Read the Forrester report

Forrester highlights three areas of need

In March and April 2022, Forrester conducted an online survey of 509 global financial leaders who have decision-making influence within service and project teams or businesses.¹ They also performed two qualitative interviews with global practice and financial leaders. The research participants were asked about project-centric business tools. Companies ranged in size from 500 to more than 20,000 employees.

Forrester Consulting’s study highlighted three areas of need that organizations are struggling with.

Societal and business trends

With more employees working from home, the line between personal and professional life has blurred. This change compelled organizations to focus more on employee well-being, inclusion, and connectivity. Organizations are pushing for greater connectivity and convergence to foster an always-on culture.

These trends have pushed more than 75 percent of respondents to invest in the cloud, infrastructure as a service, software as a service, and the Internet of Things. By investing in these areas, organizations can provide their employees with the resources they need to succeed both at work and at home.

Multiple roadblocks

Macroeconomic trends, such as supply chain issues and staffing shortages, prevent organizations from adopting service-centric business models. About 42 percent of respondents reported struggling to keep up with demand due to external supply chain disruptions. Companies are also facing internal challenges, such as a lack of clarity and connectivity, which are preventing them from optimizing project delivery.

Unlocking new revenue streams

Revenue recognition is the main driver for business model transformation, with businesses looking to refine their product offerings as well as their pricing. About 40 percent of respondents are working to evolve their financial models, including how they charge customers and structure their entities.

This insight corresponds with a focus on improving strategy and planning that respondents are prioritizing. Improving team collaboration and connectivity also ranks highly with organizations investing in this area. Finally, workforce well-being is also a key concern, with organizations investing in improving the well-being of their employees.

Key takeaways to embrace service-centric business models

Let’s briefly touch on a few key takeaways you will find in the full study that can help companies address these challenges to embrace service-centric business models.

Beyond financial monetization

Forrester recommends that organizations take a comprehensive approach to business model innovation. Ideal innovation offers better insight into operational processes. It also gives employees modern workplace tools and environments, resulting in a holistic approach to critical process improvements.

Profit visibility

By investing in technologies that enable connectivity, organizations can improve communication and collaboration across their businesses. Forrester highlighted the importance of understanding how businesses can embrace service-centric business models. Companies improve profit visibility by focusing on customer outcomes through end-to-end project tracking. The right tools are necessary for organizations to fully understand their profit drivers. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance enables businesses to maximize financial visibility and profitability.

Finding the right partner

The study indicates that the right partners are essential for successful platform innovation and improved project-based operations. The right partner will have a deep understanding of the project requirements and the ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with the project team. Furthermore, technology investments and performance metrics should be aligned with business objectives.

Next steps

In today’s business environment, it is critical for businesses to be able to implement service-oriented business models. To accomplish this, companies need visibility and connectivity into all aspects of their operationsincluding their projects, processes, and data. Due to siloed systems and data, many businesses lack this visibility and connectivity.

Businesses that can optimize their systems and implement service-oriented business models will be better positioned to succeed. Organizations can use tools such as Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Project Operations to support their progress toward project-based operational models.

Learn how Dynamics 365 Finance can improve your business’s financial decision-making and sign up to try it out yourself. For Dynamics 365 Project Operations, visit us online and check out the free one month trial offer. To read more about the rise of the services economy, check out Forrester’s study in full.

¹Forrester Consulting study, 2022. Foster Business Model Innovation To Achieve Growth Goals. Commissioned by Microsoft.

The post Enabling rapid business model innovation and growth appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

90 percent of companies say their existing systems for tracking customer journeys need improvement.

In today’s customer-centric world, customer data is a critical part of a company’s ability to serve up personalized, relevant experiences. Post-sale, data plays an equally critical role in providing customer service teams with the tools they need to provide speedy service, answer customer inquiries, and resolve post-sale issues smoothly and quickly. The challenge facing a majority of companies today is the ability to collect, analyze, and act on that data across their organizations.

In partnership with Futurum, we surveyed 1,000 global business leaders, technologists, marketers, and data and customer experience professionals, and identified the challenges and opportunities that best-in-class data practices afford customer experience (CX) leaders today. The findings of the report revealed what we had surmised going inthat companies are evolving their customer relationship management (CRM) technologies to meet changing customer expectations.

Shift to digital customer journeys

Companies are changing their operational mindset regarding customer experience. Our research shows that a whopping 85 percent of companies report that their customers are significantly more digitally focused than they expected, and it’s clear that companies need to shift their strategies in order to adapt. In the last two years, we’ve seen a seismic shift in how customers live, work, play, and shop online. Customer behavior has irreversibly changed. In fact, 96 percent of organizations say they’ve accelerated their digital transformation and/or technology deployments to keep pace with changing customer requirements, and that includes serving up a better customer experience.

Complexity abounds for customer experience transformation

Complexity is the name of the game in business today. If you’re involved in delivering better customer experiences, you’re likely nodding as you read that lineand we feel your pain. Today’s proliferation of channels through which customers interact with brands provides both opportunities and challenges. We are seeing this interaction via email, text, social media, apps, websites, and in-store communicationsand it can be more than a little overwhelming. The massive influx of data from these many touchpoints has added a level of complexity that we haven’t seen before. Our research shows that working with and properly managing data is easily one of the most difficult challenges companies face, and solving this challenge is of paramount concern.

But why does data add so much complexity? In order to be used effectively, data must be collected, cleaned, analyzed, and maintained in real timesomething that many organizations aren’t yet capable of doing, both from a tech stack standpoint as well as an internal skill set standpoint. Adding to that, organizations are also facing new challenges with the looming elimination of third-party data that’s been relied on to track customers, along with changing privacy regulations. There’s a shift happening, and organizations aren’t ready. In fact, 90 percent of companies in our research study reported that their existing systems for tracking customer journeys need improvement. But the good news is that there are solutions for that.  

Harness data and use it more effectively, customer data platforms are the solution

Companies looking to transform their customer experience don’t just need customer data for better customer engagements, they also need real-time data to inform those engagements. That data is of great value to the organization, but in order for it to deliver value, data needs to be centralized, easily accessible, and processed in a single source of truth. That’s where a customer data platform (CDP) comes in and why it’s truly table stakes for organizations today (and not just for marketers).

Best-in-class CDP solutions work to connect the organization as a whole to the data that is amassed so that it can be accessed and utilized by sales teams, marketing teams, customer service teams, commerce teams, and beyond. CDPs are the lifeblood of the organization, housing data, providing visibility as needed, and allowing employees throughout the organization to make data-driven decisions that serve up the very best in customer experiences across every touchpoint.

That’s where the right technology solutions can be game-changers. Real-time, actionable insights into customer experience are most likely to materialize from a CDP that centralizes user data and makes it available to everyone who engages with the customer journey. As the amount of data available has increased exponentially, the challenge becomes how to collect data in a manner that both enables actionable analysis but also protects customer trust.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

Microsoft provides an enterprise-leading customer data platform.

Learn more

Ensuring customer trust and privacy to improve customer experience

Let’s talk about the roles that trust and privacy play in the overall customer experience. The collection and analysis of customer data is central to improving customer experience, but mounting privacy concerns surrounding data can threaten customers’ trust in the companies they engage with. Our research shows that while the speed of digitization and the necessity to respond with new solutions has led more than three quarters of companies to implement new technologies or programs, those technologies and programs might not be completely secure. A solid 51 percent of respondents in our study acknowledge they’ve experienced at least one customer data breach in the prior year, so unified data systems that reduce this risk are highly prized.

Changing regulations surrounding privacy and data protection also provide a consistent challenge. Our research showed that 88 percent of respondents expect to change their customer engagement strategies in order to adapt to future market and regulatory requirements. A CDP can help ensure compliance required by General Data Protection Regulation, California Privacy Rights Act, California Consumer Privacy Act, and other regulations designed to give customers more control over the personal information businesses collect about them. We expect to also see CDPs evolving to address the cookieless future that’s ahead of us and track customer consent as part of the functionality of the CDP.

Top 5 features in successful CDP solutions

As we’ve mentioned previously, our research showed an overwhelming number of companies feel like they don’t have the right tools in place to help them improve their customer experience. They need something betterand they know what they want.

Our study identified the top five most important features in successful customer-facing solutions. These include:

1. Integrated AI-based analytics
2. AI-based data classification
3. The ability to import data from multiple sources
4. Connection to social networks
5. Real-time actionable insights

Unfortunately, these are the same five areas in which respondents reported their existing customer data tools are lacking. 83 percent of those surveyed report they already use a CDP to provide a centralized source of record, 35 percent say they are still relying on piecemeal solutions that don’t offer real-time access to customer data. In order to effectively use technology to improve the customer experience they’re serving up, CX leaders require substantial improvement in the existing CDP solutions that they’re relying on.

CX leaders need a unified CDP that provides real-time access to customer data, and one that is easily accessible to multiple stakeholders throughout the organization. They also need a tool that ensures regulatory compliance and data privacy, putting customers at ease. This can help facilitate enhanced collaboration, actionable analysis, and the ability to put the insights gained from customer data to immediate use.

By offering a single source of truth for an organization, a unified CDP can enable enhanced collaboration across the entire organization (including sales, service, finance, and research and development) to address every part of the customer experience journey.

Learn more

In the full report, we’ve identified nine key insights that are shaping customer experience needs today, creating a clear roadmap for the future of customer data collection, storage, and analysis. The application of this knowledge stands to benefit companies and customers alike. You can download the full report here.

Looking for a CDP? Learn more about Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, Microsoft’s enterprise-leading customer data platform. Microsoft provides an enterprise-leading customer data platform.

End notes

Source: Nine Key Insights on Customer Data: Marketing Perspective, 2021 Futurum Research in partnership with Microsoft.

The post Microsoft and Futurum research: Discover insights to create experiences that customers love appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

An email signature concludes an email with style, professionalism, and branding. Customer service agents need to use their signature when emailing customers. Each agent has a distinctive style, however, and enforcing a standard pattern can be a challenge. With two new features in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, you can create signatures for your agents that consistently represent your organization’s brand and messaging.

Include dynamic content in a common email signature

We have added the ability to include dynamic placeholders in email signatures. Now you can easily create a common signature for multiple agents.

Dynamic signatures eliminate the need to maintain multiple signatures while bringing consistency to how agents sign off their emails. You no longer have to manually check to make sure agents are using a consistent pattern or train new agents to use a specific signature. With the magic of dynamic placeholders, agent information is automatically inserted with their signature.

Link an email signature to a queue to ensure consistent messaging

Agents often send email from a queue or a shared mailbox. Having a common signature in this scenario is necessary for most contact centers. Now it is possible to link a signature to a queue.

If you don’t want to link a signature to your queues, Dynamics 365 will continue to use the signature template of the queue owner.

Learn more

Watch a quick video introduction:

To find out more about using email signatures, read the documentation:

• Use an email signature – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn
• Configure a default signature template for a queue | Microsoft Learn

The post New email signature features in Customer Service improve agent productivity appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Templates are a fast and easy way to send consistent, professional, preformatted email messages. They’re a time-saving feature that agents loveexcept when they forget the name of a template or have so many that quickly finding the right one becomes a challenge. Fortunately, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service now makes it easier to search your templates.

Search for email templates with any detail that you remember

You can now search your templates not only by title but also by subject, description, and even a word in the message body. You only need to remember a detail or two to save yourself from spending extra time scrolling and reading.

Filter the list of email templates

What if you don’t remember a lot of details about the template you need? The template selection page now includes out-of-the-box filters that you can use to narrow down the list. Your administrator can also add custom filters.

Easier on the eye

The template selection experience now allows you to switch between grid, tile, and list views. Your administrator can help define a default view. You can also preview a template in both zoomed-in and full-screen views.

Learn more

Watch a quick video introduction:

To learn more about using email templates, read the documentation: Insert email template while composing an email in model-driven apps – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

The post Find email templates faster in Customer Service appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

From automating work orders to leveraging mixed reality, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service continues to evolve to meet the growing changes of field operations and support seamless collaboration. Quality service is crucial to organizations remaining resilient despite uncertainty. Employees are working from remote or distributed locations, reducing the amount of personalized interaction. Customers are demanding self-service options that empower them to resolve issues.

As assets grow in complexity, remote monitoring of Internet of Things (IoT) devices continues to transform service from a cost center to a revenue generator. Changes in technologies that personalize the service experience, increase worker productivity, and optimize service operations elevate the frontline worker effectiveness and increase customer experience. These differentiators propelled Dynamics 365 Field Service.

It is with great pride that Microsoft shares its position as a Leader within the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management* for the third consecutive year.

We believe this placement recognizes Microsoft’s continuous investment and authority across our service solution and cloud functionality.

Gartner defines field service management (FSM) as a discrete market within the broader customer service and support software market. FSM suites support field service providers (FSPs) whose technicians travel to customer locations to provide installation, repair, and maintenance services for equipment and systems (consumer, commercial, or industrial). FSPs may also manage, maintain, and monitor these assets under a predefined service or maintenance contract.

What is Connected Field Service?

By using the power of IoT and cloud services, Connected Field Service enables organizations to transform the way they provide service from a costly break/fix model to a proactive, predictive service model. Organizations can respond faster through a combination of IoT diagnostics, scheduling, asset maintenance, and inventory on the same platform.

Through remote monitoring, technicians can quickly identify the equipment and the issueoften before the customer is even aware. IoT devices communicate with the field service management system, sending alerts to technicians about anomalies with the device. Remote field service technicians can quickly isolate the issue and sometimes resolve the problem by sending device commands or resetting the device without ever stepping foot on the customer’s site.

Clean Energy reaps value from Connected Field Service

Take, for example, Clean Energy,one of the largest providers of renewable natural gas. The company offers renewable natural gas as a transportation fuel, significantly reducing pollution and greenhouse gas caused by diesel and gasoline. It owns, operates, and maintains 550 stations across the United States and Canada. Clean Energy also develops renewable natural gas production facilities.

Reducing pollution is important to Clean Energy. Not to mention, the extensiveness of Clean Energy’s operation along with siloed data and applications created the need for specialized systems. Overcoming silos and meeting their pollution-reduction goal hinges on internal efficiency, anchored by a collaborative, well-integrated infrastructure. The company began its journey with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and now manages its environment using Dynamics 365. It also takes in and analyzes sensor data from its automated fuel stations using Microsoft Azure IoT and equipped its technicians with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist.

Technicians are now empowered with data and can pull up information about their teams and the stations they’re managing. The analysis performed by Microsoft Azure IoT Central results in a request to generate a work order to Dynamics 365 Field Service. That data is then sent to the company’s Azure Data Lake for use in management reportingand eventually, to create the base for predictive analytics. And because the IoT sensors transmit status data, those technicians no longer get up in the middle of the night to drive long distances to inspect stations that don’t need ita contribution to greater job satisfaction.

With Connected Field Service, Clean Energy is achieving its efficiency and cost savings goals. During the past couple of years, it pivoted seamlessly to remote work, reducing travel with virtual training and supporta win for the planet.

Clean Energy is just one of many organizations that has reaped value from Connected Field Service and is harnessing its capabilities to build stronger, more collaborative, and proactive service delivery.

Dynamics 365 Field Service

This is where innovation meets what’s possible.

Learn more

The bottom line

Many service organizations consist of dispatchers answering service calls, putting customers on hold, asking the same questions repeatedly, while searching for the next available technician to dispatch. This process is inefficient, costly, and unsatisfying to the customer.

The world of field service is changing. Today, service organizations are evolving into profit centers, redefining business models, and creating powerful and fulfilling customer experiencesall supported by global edge solutions like Dynamics 365 Field Service.

We’re excited to be positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and are committed to bringing you the best and most featured field service application available. Depend on the multidimensional capabilities of Dynamics 365 Field Service to help you better personalize customer engagements, improve employee effectiveness, and optimize service operations now and tomorrow.

Read the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management report.

Learn more about:

• Dynamics 365

• Dynamics 365 Field Service

• Dynamics 365 Remote Assist

Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, Jim Robinson, Leif-Olof Wallin, 24 October 2022

*Gartner and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service marks 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.

The post Microsoft is named a Leader in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Field Service Management appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.