From the Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Blogs: Populate dates; Conversational CRM; Duplicate data; Close an opportunity

In this review of the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement/CRM blogs:

• Populate dates automatically from marketing forms in Customer Insights – Journeys
• Conversational CRM
• Duplicate data in D365: What it costs and how to fix it
• How to request approval to close an opportunity in Dynamics CE using Power Automate and adaptive cards

Populate dates automatically from marketing forms in Customer Insights - Journeys

On her blog, Megan Walker asked if you've ever needed someone filling out one of your marketing forms to automatically fill in a date field.

Walker added that maybe you have a hidden field where you want that day's date to show up, so you know exactly when something happened.

In her blog post, she walked you through how to automatically add dates to a date field on your real-time marketing form. She noted that although it's a quick and easy process, it can give you helpful historical details on a lead or contact record.

Conversational CRM

Writing on her blog, Anne Stanton stated that tracking and working with customer information doesn't have to be limited to complicated CRM screens or separate systems anymore.

She noted that with Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement integrated with Microsoft 365, including Teams and Copilot, it's a whole new experience.

Staton wrote that this shift to conversational CRM brings together customer data, team collaboration, as well as structured and unstructured information right into your everyday workflow. 

She stated that whether you're in a virtual meeting, chatting in Teams, checking emails in Outlook, or pulling details from the Dataverse, you can now access insights, update records, or get AI-generated suggestions – all without opening D365 CE.

Staton noted that this means you can stay in Microsoft Teams and still make quicker decisions, boost productivity, and connect with others more naturally.

She wrote that Copilot for Microsoft 365 connects tools that were once separate, such as email, meetings, documents, phone calls, and CRM, so D65 CE feels less like its own system and more like a helpful, built-in assistant.

In her blog post, Staton offered some examples of how this works.

Duplicate data in D365: What it costs and how to fix it

On the Nalashaa Digital blog, Aiswarya Madhu wrote that small data issues, such as duplicates or mix-ups, can lead to bigger problems across sales, service, inventory, and customer experience. 

Madhu offered these examples:

• A support manager sees two cases created from one email – one is complete, the other is empty.
• A sales rep calls a lead, only to find another team is already working with that same person.
• A manufacturer’s system shows products as both overstocked and out-of-stock at once.
• An online retailer struggles with rising cart abandonments and shipping delays, only to find the CRM full of duplicate customer records.

Madhu noted that all these problems stem from bad data in Dynamics 365 CRM.

In her blog post, Madhu provided information about:

• Why duplicates happen.
• Steps to fix duplicates in D365 CRM.
• Duplicate detection capabilities and limitations.
• The hidden costs of duplicate data.

How to request approval to close an opportunity in Dynamics CE using Power Automate and adaptive cards

Writing on the Stoneridge Software blog, Paul Denwood stated as a sales manager, you want your sales team to have a simple and efficient way to request approval before closing an opportunity in D365CE. 

He wrote that rather than depending on emails or manual reminders, you can automate the entire process using Power Automate flows and adaptive cards. 

Denwood noted that this setup makes the approval process faster, more organized, and easier to act on – directly within Teams or email.

In his blog post, Denwood explained in detail how to request approval to close an opportunity in Dynamics CE using Power Automate and adaptive cards.