Big news in the Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) space. At the recent Ignite event, Microsoft announced the release of "Voice Channel for Dynamics 365 Customer Service". This means that "Dynamics 365 Customer Service expands to become the all-in-one digital contact center solution" to quote the Microsoft blog.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service leveragesAzure Communication Service, the underlying platform that supports Microsoft Teams, and Power Virtual Agents as voice robots.
The initial realization is voice/PSTN, but Microsoft says "Video is not far behind," which makes sense because it is based on Azure Communications Services. So the video capability is definitely there. You can find an overview of this in Microsoft' s blog post:
With the addition of the voice channel, Dynamics 365 Customer Service allows for off-duty functions:
- A consistent 360-degree view of the customer across all channels, allowing agents to quickly understand the entire customer journey so that customers never have to repeat themselves.
- An intelligent, conversational Power Virtual Agent that can be used as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for the voice channel and versatile enough to be used as a chatbot for SMS, live chat and social messaging channels.
- AI-based routing of incoming calls to the most qualified agent, consistent with all other channels.
- Increased collaboration with other agents and subject matter experts globally using integrated Microsoft Teams to resolve issues faster.
Microsoft Teams certified Contact Center solutions(Anywhere365, Altigen, ...) will also continue to be supported by Microsoft.
The new Voice Channel for Dynamics 365 Customer Service is available for trial from Lambert Consulting directly.