Last month Microsoft rolled out their 2023 Wave 1 release to the public which is set to “expand agility, automation, and innovation across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform” – but what exactly does this mean for your business?
In this post, we’ll be giving you the highlights of Microsoft’s latest release and covering the key Business Central and Power Platform updates that your business needs to know about.
What’s new with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?
The 2023 Wave 1 update is set to streamline operations and boost productivity among teams. Some of the highlights from this release include:
Seamless collaboration
Collaboration takes centre stage with the Business Central Wave 1 2023 release, building upon productivity apps such as Word, Excel & Teams to enhance product engagement and offer better data access across your business.
Expect to see effortless collaboration when working with business documents thanks to the OneDrive for Business integration, allowing you to view, share and co-author business documents with ease. You’ll also be able to engage your colleagues with the ability to start a conversation about a specific Business Central record or key data points in Teams.
Enhanced customer service & sales experience
The 2023 Wave 1 release promises to facilitate more meaningful customer interactions with the help of Dynamics 365 Copilot updates, including actionable AI-powered suggestions, enhanced email templates and 24/7 AI-powered assistance.
We’ll also see optimised communications between salespeople, your prospects and your customers, with the ability to track email exchanges and turn them into actionable opportunities. And with Business Central and Microsoft Exchange Online working hand in hand, expect a streamlined communications process with both inbound and outbound messages being logged.
Data visibility
The 2023 Wave 1 release strives to offer businesses enhanced data visibility, offering you access to all your data in an easily consumable way. Expect to see optimised reports and enhanced analysis, the ability to manage data on lists directly in Business Central, and a range of buildable custom analysis tabs.
Next-generation AI
Covering everything from email content suggestions to advanced AI-generated product descriptions that drive sales, users can expect to work smarter, not harder, in 2023.
Better together
Users will benefit from a more seamless integration between the Business Central and Power Platform offerings, allowing for increased flexibility, enhanced automation and a new level of productivity.
For more on the 2023 Wave 1 release for Business Central, check out the overview shared by Microsoft.
The latest Power Platform enhancements
Microsoft’s Wave 1 2023 Power Platform release is set to rocket businesses to a new era of digital transformation. Some of the key updates are outlined below, but for the full release plan, head to the Microsoft website.
- Advanced automation: Teams can now build new automations with ease using natural language and pre-filled flow parameters.
- Real-time collaboration: Microsoft’s new coauthoring feature will allow teams to collaborate simultaneously in the modern model-driven app designer. Users can also expect to see a simplified record sharing process and the ability to see which colleagues are viewing the same records as them at any given time.
- Effortless editing: You ask, Microsoft delivers. Following feedback, the Wave 1 2023 release has made it easier than ever before for makers to create and edit views and forms in the modern app designer. In May, we’re set to see prayers answered with users able to add table columns to forms and views automatically with the help of table designer and table hub.
- Low-code virtual tables: Importing data from external sources has just got a whole lot easier. Now, users are able to virtualise existing datasets to act as standard Dataverse tables in a matter of minutes. This once high-code, lengthy process has now been made accessible thanks to the Power Apps wizard.
- Power Virtual Agents: Chatbots can now be integrated into Power Apps using chatbot control and offer more effective conversational responses thanks to GPT-powered generative AI.
Microsoft Copilot
If you follow us on LinkedIn, you’ll already be familiar with one of the biggest updates to Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 and Power Platform offerings: Copilot. With the help of advanced AI capabilities and natural language processing, Copilot promises to level up productivity and streamline your business processes in 2023.
Copilot for Dynamics 365 is the “world’s first AI copilot in both CRM and ERP”, offering users advanced AI-powered assistance across business functions. From creating meeting summaries and enhancing your business’ chat experience with AI-powered expertise, to making data more accessible with natural language and near real-time data analysis, Copilot for Dynamics 365 is set to take operations to a whole new level.
Similarly, Copilot for Microsoft Power Platform is set to further enhance Microsoft’s Power offering, making development even more accessible, empowering users to build innovative solutions with the help of natural language. You can expect low-code app creation, effortless automation and next-level analysis.
Overall, users can expect to see enhanced automation, increased productivity and seamless collaboration across teams and platforms in 2023. We’re expecting big things from Microsoft this quarter and look forward to seeing how the new features play out.
Looking to harness the latest updates and take your Microsoft solution to the next level?
