Overview of Dynamics 365 for Customer Service

My study of MB-900 is continuing with an overview of Dynamics 365 for Customer Service. Where Dynamics 365 for Sales was focused on helping the sales associates build stronger and lasting relationships with customers, Dynamics 365 for Customer Service is focused on providing flexibility and a consistent level of service for customers. Support agents will be able to use Dynamics 365 for Customer Service to better optimize their time and deliver the right answers to the customer quicker.

As with Dynamics 365 for Sales, Dynamics 365 for Customer Service contains customizable interactive dashboards. These dashboards will keep track of support queues, knowledge articles, and current cases. Support agents can use these dashboards to quickly and dynamically determine which are the highest priority cases to follow up on. Once the case is identified and opened, a customized case resolution process will help them find the tools and information that the support agent will need in order to properly assist the customer.

Customer Service diagram from Microsoft Learn
Customer Service diagram from Microsoft Learn

In Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, a customer has an entitlement, also known as a support contract. This entitlement defines the level of support the customer can receive over a one-year period of time. The entitlement can include the number of support cases that can be opened as well as how long it takes for a support agent to respond to the case.

An omnichannel support solution is provided by Dynamics 365 for Customer Service. This gives the customer multiple different methods of interacting with the service center each with a consistent experience, regardless of the method they choose. These methods include online customer support portals that can be accessed from a computer or mobile device; integrated chat that has a service bot answering basic questions and recording them for the support agent to take over; email support queues; and phone calls direct to the service center.

When customers interact with the portal, online chat, or email the service center, a case is automatically created in Dynamics 365 for Customer Service. This case is compared to the customer’s entitlement to determine which queue the case is assigned. From that point, a support agent that has access to the queue can pick up the case and start working it. That support agent is then responsible for working the case until it is resolved. Other support agents will be able to see that the case is being handled, and can pick up the next case in the queue.

The support agent is given several tools to assist them in resolving the case. A case resolution process is automatically assigned to the case, based on the type of case. This process is customized by the business and contains several stages, each with multiple steps to be completed in order to resolve the case. Integrated knowledge base articles are offered to the support agent and can be emailed to the customer with possible resolutions.

Once the customer confirms that their problem has been resolved, the support agent is able to close the case as resolved. With the case resolved, the entitlement is updated. If the entitlement includes a specified number of support cases available to the customer, that number is decremented by one to reflect the number of cases they have remaining.

Demo of the customer support process in Dynamics 365 for Customer Service.

Demo of the customer support portal in Dynamics 365 for Customer Service.