Quick 5 Exciting New Features Coming with 2023 Release Wave 1

Before we get started highlighting the five exciting new features, we need to make mention of ChatGPT and the momentum it is gaining. ChatGPT doesn’t get a mention during the 2023 Release Wave 1 but will be all the talk around the water cooler during this release wave period, which runs from April 1st, 2023, to September 30th, 2023. The 2023 Release Wave 2 period will run from 1st October 2023 to 31st March 2024.

ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) model, which is trained to generate human-like text. It is trained on a massive amount of text data and can be used to generate coherent and fluent responses to a wide range of inputs you feed it – that is where the power of ChatGPT begins. So as the 2023 Release Wave periods 1 & 2 unfold this year, there will be one major disrupter you will need to keep close to your planning, ChatGPT!

If you would like to get a taste of the preview of ChatGPT, you can test out your phrases using the OpenAI chat made available here: https://chat.openai.com/chat ?

Now working through the two 2023 Release Wave 1 documents released for Dynamics 365 & Power Platform, I have filtered out 5 exciting new features from this release wave.

Engage with your customers via SMS

From May 2023, Dynamics 365 Sales will offer SMS capabilities to the core of the application. Sellers find SMS as a convenient and effective channel to send reminders, provide quick updates, or respond to customers' queries. This feature will enable your sellers to engage with key customers and decision makers via SMS conversation during the ongoing sales process and to build and maintain an ongoing relationship. Key capabilities will include:

• The ability for administrators to assign specific mobile numbers to any user or team record
• Send and receive SMS directly from a Dynamics 365 Sales entity form
• Get real time notification for any incoming SMS directly on the entity form?

Frequency Cap of Marketing Messages Sent

A lot of you have been asking for this feature within Dynamics 365 Marketing and Microsoft has listened and delivered it with this release wave.

With this new feature in Dynamics 365 Marketing, you now can define the maximum number of messages your customer can receive per channel. This new feature will ensure that your customers not only receive the right message at the right moment, but also at the right frequency to prevent fatigue, avoid unsubscribes, and facilitate optimal engagement with your key messages.

Get tips and suggestions while on a call with customer

Dynamics 365 Sales will now surface real-time suggestions and tips while you are on a phone call with a customer.?Get suggestions on product and service details, competitive battle cards, brand info, pricing, and more, while you are on a call with a customer.

As an administrator, you’ll be able to enable this feature which, conversation intelligence will automatically surface real-time suggestions and tips while sellers are on a phone call with a customer.?

Solution Awareness for Power Pages

Moving your Power Pages site and its components across from one environment to another got easier with the new solution awareness capabilities with this release.?You will be able to move sites between environments through a new dedicated solutions area for managing Power Pages, similar to what we are use to with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.

New Email Template Designer with Dynamics 365 Customer Service

To round out the quick 5 new features to share, let's add the new Email Template Designer to the list.

We are familiar with the template designer for Dynamics 365 Marketing, but now we gain this same experience within Dynamics 365 Customer Service even if we don’t have Dynamics 365 Marketing. This new feature delivers a better experience when creating those email templates. How good is that?

It includes the usual advanced layouts that are responsive and adapt to any screen size. Users can add elements like images, text, buttons, or dividers easily while creating email templates.