5 things you should know about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Fueled by a growing focus on customer experience (CX) and the rise of remote work, the Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) marketplace is expanding at a rapid rate. Between 2023 and 2030, the CCaaS market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1 percent, according to Grand View Research.

Because of the high demand for cloud contact center solutions, it’s no surprise that Microsoft has joined the ranks of CCaaS suppliers. Earlier this year, the tech giant debuted Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, a standalone CCaaS offering that promotes customer engagement across various channels (voice, SMS, web, mobile, email, and social media).

If you’ve already invested in Microsoft solutions and want to know if you should deploy the new CCaaS platform, here are a few notable facts about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center.

1. It’s a Copilot-first platform.

Microsoft Copilot, an enterprise-grade generative artificial intelligence solution, integrates with this CCaaS offering to support better customer and agent experiences. Copilot streamlines processes and saves time in these notable ways:

• Pulling in data from your customer relationship management (CRM) solution to support personalized service
• Answering customer queries via chatbot (e.g., checking order status and estimated delivery date)
• Assisting agents during calls (e.g., providing a summary of client activity across all channels to support personalized service, conducting sentiment analysis, suggesting responses, and summarizing the call afterward)

Through AI-powered self-service and agent assistance, Copilot helps improve customer and employee experiences while saving everyone time.

2. It has a built-in interactive voice response (IVR) system capable of complex conversation.

Leveraging technology from Nuance, the IVR can decipher complicated requests and deliver accurate responses to callers in a natural conversational style. The IVR can handle routine queries in a personalized and human-like manner, enhancing CX while reducing the volume of calls for your human agents.

3. It utilizes AI-powered unified routing.

Smart unified routing directs customers to the agents best suited to address their requests and issues the first time, saving everyone time and creating a smoother experience for your clients. The intelligent routing feature works across all channels for omnichannel customer care.

4. It supports better contact center management with analytics and real-time intervention capabilities.

The Dynamics 365 Contact Center includes a few key elements to increase visibility for supervisors and help them identify opportunities for improvement.

• Agent dashboard for assessing agent allocation, skillset, and capacity
• Built-in omnichannel analytics offering insights into contact center health (e.g., average hold time, agent ratings, overall customer sentiment)
• Real-time and historical reporting
• Data silo elimination via Microsoft Dataverse
• Option to connect Copilot to your applications and data to support automation

5. There are a few pricing plans available depending on your needs.

Microsoft offers three base plans for Dynamics 365 Contact Center.

• Dynamics 365 Contact Center (all-in-one plan with digital and voice channels): $110/user/month
• Dynamics 365 Contact Center Voice (includes native voice capabilities and excludes digital channels): $95/user/month
• Dynamics 365 Contact Center Digital (includes digital messaging and chat channels and excludes voice): $95/user/month

If you want to identify the best technology for your business, we can assist you with our Microsoft and CCaaS consulting services. With over 20 years of IT industry experience and expertise in both cloud contact center solutions and Microsoft, we can help you evaluate your options and determine how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center compares to other CCaaS solutions with your needs, pain points, and goals in mind.

Start by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing [email protected]. You can also jumpstart your search for your ideal cloud contact center solution by taking our free assessment.