{"id":58262,"date":"2024-03-21T13:13:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/?p=58262"},"modified":"2024-03-25T17:02:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T17:02:58","slug":"microsoft-to-release-new-contact-center-forecasting-omnichannel-and-routing-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/contact-center\/microsoft-to-release-new-contact-center-forecasting-omnichannel-and-routing-capabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft to Release New Contact Center Forecasting, Omnichannel, and Routing Capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft will announce the general availability of a new contact center forecasting tool next month as part of its latest release for the Dynamics 365 Customer Service platform.<\/p>\n

The tool \u2013 which covers voice and digital channels \u2013 allows workforce management (WFM) teams to forecast daily demand up to six months in advance.<\/p>\n

Yet, it also offers forecasting at 15-minute intervals across a shorter six-week timespan.<\/p>\n

In addition, users may apply service level, shrinkage, and concurrency to their forecasts while the solution automatically detects trend and seasonality from historical traffic.<\/p>\n

Finally, the tool forecasts data by queue \u2013 not only channel \u2013 for increased granularity, and planners may export all that data into a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

Of course, some customers may demand more advanced features, like a longer forecast view, “what if” scenario modeling, and automated forecast recalculations.<\/p>\n

Moreover, they may wish for a broader WFM solution and note how Microsoft doesn\u2019t yet offer native shift planning, intraday management, or WFM reporting dashboards within the Dynamics 365 Customer Service platform.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, those businesses that wish to leverage a more comprehensive WFM solution \u2013 like Calabrio, NICE, or Verint \u2013 can connect their current third-party offering to the Dynamics 365 Customer Service platform.<\/p>\n

That capability is also relatively new, with Microsoft launching a Workforce Management Adapter with TTEC in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet,\u00a0Gopal Yuvaraj, Product Manager at Microsoft<\/strong>, promised much more WFM innovation is to come.\u00a0In a blog post<\/a>, he teased:<\/p>\n

Stay tuned as Dynamics 365 Customer Service continues to evolve and deliver cutting-edge capabilities in WFM that anticipate and meet the ever-changing demands of the modern business landscape.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That evolution is essential, given the platform’s lack of broader workforce engagement management (WEM) tools.<\/p>\n

Late last year, the Ventana Research Contact Center Suites Buyers Guide<\/a> highlighted this as a notable gap within Microsoft\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n

However, while fellow high-profile CCaaS market entrants \u2013 including Google, Sprinklr, and Zoom \u2013 recently released more comprehensive WFM offerings, this is a positive step forward.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Microsoft is adding critical brick-in-the-wall features to its contact center platform, which is a theme that runs through the rest of Microsoft\u2019s latest release wave.<\/p>\n

Other New Features Coming to the Dynamics 365 Customer Service Platform<\/h2>\n

Altogether, Microsoft plans to release 18 new features and enhancements to the Dynamics 365 Customer Service platform between April and September.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, a Copilot upgrade is on the agenda, as Microsoft will launch a “filtering” capability in a public preview next month. That capability will bolster its ability to scour knowledge articles and suggest relevant customer responses to agents.<\/p>\n

Another feature that will reach public preview in April offers contact centers the ability to pass a customer conversation through to any Microsoft Teams user \u2013 regardless of whether they have an assigned phone number.<\/p>\n

The capability – which leverages Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) – allows contact center agents to more easily pull the subject matter expertise of external employees.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, a slew of solutions will become generally available in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

A tool that allows agents to test call, microphone, and speaker quality before and during calls is particularly innovative.<\/p>\n

However, most are examples of brick-in-the-wall tools that aid Microsoft\u2019s bid to build a more complete contact center platform.<\/p>\n

The new omnichannel additions exemplify this, with Microsoft unveiling various email enhancements and a feature for users to search customer contacts and accounts from the outbound dialer.<\/p>\n

While most are somewhat boilerplate, one email feature presents the ability to make sure every email sent to multiple mailboxes results in separate customer cases. That improves customer journey tracking.<\/p>\n

Then, there are new routing solutions that help prioritize existing conversations in asynchronous channels and use overflows for long wait times.<\/p>\n

“Overflows” automatically move customers between queues to lower wait times when traffic surges.<\/p>\n

To get a sneak peek at many of these upcoming features in action, check out the video below.<\/p>\n