We are into holiday season now. That means Microsoft has already started rolling out 2021 Release Wave 2 updates to the general public for Dynamics 365 apps and the Power Platform. Every app and service within the Microsoft business applications lineup has its own plan and schedule for enhancements and new features with each six-month release wave.

For Dynamics 365 Sales, the frequent updates mean that managing customer relationships, closing deals, boosting sales revenue, and improving productivity have become a lot easier for sales reps and managers. With Release Wave 2, Microsoft has launched more innovative updates for Sales. In this article we will look at four feature  areas that will add  measurable customer value.

About Microsoft's release wave model

For those who are not aware, Microsoft plans two major releases of each application per year, one in April called Wave 1 and the other in October called Wave 2. The Dynamics 365 2021 Release Wave 2, scheduled to roll out between October 2021 and March 2022, has been bringing new interesting capabilities across Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, and more) and Dynamics 365 Apps (Sales, Customer Service, Customer Engagement, Supply Chain Management, and more). Users and admins can opt for early access to these new releases and test them out in their sandbox environments. For a detailed schedule of each and every feature, review the official 2021 release wave 2 plan.

Sales features not to miss

1.  Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365 CRM Integration

Integration between Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365 Sales is reducing the time spent in switching between these apps. Microsoft is approaching the integration between Teams and Dynamics 365 apps through a range of smaller features that should add up to improved efficiency for organizations. Some of the key capabilities include:

• Teams Meeting Integration (Public Preview from October)
• Configure and Secure Teams integration (Public Preview from August)
• Sending Chat notifications to Teams (Public Preview from November)

There are even more Teams integration scenarios coming, so continue to watch Microsoft's plans for the full list.

2. Sales Accelerator Enhancements