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Microsoft adds two more Dynamics 365 AI apps to its roadmap

Microsoft is adding new Dynamics 365 AI-infused applications, plus two mixed-reality Dynamics 365 applications, to the family with the coming October 2018 Dynamics 365 CRM and ERP releases.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft is adding more AI-infused Dynamics 365 applications to its line-up. In addition toe the previously announced Dynamics 365 AI for Sales app, Microsoft also is introducing a Dynamics 365 AI for Customer Service app and a Dynamics 365 AI for Market Insights app this fall, officials said on September 18.

In July this year, Microsoft made publicly available its 238-page release note document for its coming October 2018 wave of Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM applications. The October 2018 releases will include more than 100 incremental updates to the core Dynamics Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Portals, Omni-channel Engagement Hub, Field Service,Project Service, Social Engagement, Finance and Operations, Talent, Retail, and Business Central products and services. Officials reiterated today that Microsoft will start rolling out its October 2018 Dynamics 365 and Power platform deliverables generally on October 1.

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Back in July, Microsoft officials also demonstrated the coming Dynamics 365 AI for Sales app, which they said would be available in public preview form in October 2018. AI for Sales is meant to help sales teams use technologies, such as call sentiment analysis and warnings about deals being at risk, to take proactive actions and help salespeople prioritize their time.

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Credit: Microsoft

AI for Customer Service, which also will be available in preview this fall, uses Microsoft AI and natural-language understanding technologies to help workers understand where and how to take action based on automatically generated insights. This app will work with virtual agents out of the box without users needed to write any code, Microsoft officials said. Microsoft itself will provide a domain-specific bot for customer service available with AI for Customer Service, officials added.

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AI for Market Insights, which also is slated for a fall preview release, is aimed at marketing, social media and market research teams who need market insights to make more informed decisions.

Microsoft also talked up today during a press and analyst day dedicated to its Business Applications strategy the first two Dynamics-365-branded mixed reality apps that the company has built. Microsoft officials first demonstrated these apps -- Remote Assist and Layout -- publicly at the company's Build 2018 developers conference earlier this year.

Over the past year, Microsoft has renewed its focus with its augmented reality/mixed reality products more toward business users and applications, rather than gamers and general consumers. The Mixed Reality Workplace Team's Remote Assist and Layout reflect that focus.

Remote Assist and Layout, were listed in the Dynamics 365 October release notes as part of the product family. The Mixed Reality Workplace team also seemingly is building two other new augmented/mixed reality apps for HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality headsets: One for Training and Dev and another for product-focused collaboration, based on information shared at Build.

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Remote Assist is a hands-free calling application designed to help firstline workers quickly triage issues. Customers could use Microsoft's Common Data Service (CDS) to enable Remote Assist to leverage work-order data from Dynamics 365 Field Service on-site.

Layout is a spatial-planning application. It helps users visualize room layouts in real-world scale, which could be a competitive advantage for customers in manufacturing and retail, among other markets. Using Layout, customers can resize and rotate 3D models in order to edit layouts on the fly.

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