In the fourth and final instalment of the Four Pillars of Dynamics series, we’re taking a look at perhaps the least-discussed quarter of Microsoft Dynamics: Microsoft Dynamics Service. If you’re an IT professional looking for a Microsoft Dynamics job in the US or UK, you’re bound to be asked questions in your interview about what excites you most about Dynamics. This four part series examines the four key areas of Dynamics’ functionality, showing the breadth and depth of the Microsoft Dynamics Development platform. We have already looked at Marketing, Social and Sales. Now, without further ado, we will get right into it and look at just what Microsoft Dynamics Service has to offer. Silver Service Is Sales Gold Microsoft Dynamics Service (MDS) is how Microsoft helps business win customers for life – or at least that’s what it wants to be. We all know that notions of customer loyalty have changed a lot since, say, the ‘50s. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that great customer service still makes sales sense. All agree that it costs significantly more to acquire new customers than to keep existing ones. Holding on to past customers is where Microsoft Dynamics Service comes in. By providing Microsoft Dynamics users with the tools to keep customers satisfied, they can help customer retention and boost sales. Anytime, Anywhere A big part of MDS is its cross-platform, cross-channel service. What does this mean? Let’s look at both in Cross-platform chimes in with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s “mobile first, cloud first” mantra. It means that you can look after customer interaction from desktop, tablet and mobile device because the tools are all optimised across all devices. Cross-channel means that customers are tracked across channels. This gives you the bigger picture and context that you need to deliver top-quality customer service. You’ll know how important this is if you’ve ever taken half an hour to respond to an email complaint only to find that the complaint has already been processed on another platform or over the phone! Contextualising Customer Care Microsoft Dynamics Service has a wide range of tools which empower customer service staff by giving them the information they need to truly look after their customers. By providing instant, easy-to-read data displays, MDS frees up time for staff to focus on the concerns of the customer on the other end of the phone. This can be particularly important in certain industries, such as healthcare or insurance, where people are often in an impassioned state when they contact a brand’s customer service team. Things like call-scripts, company policies (e.g. returns) and processes can all be viewed at a glance for increased speed and authenticity of service. DIY Tool Retention may be cheaper than acquisition, but it’s still a big cost. By serving customers the information they need to solve their own problems, Microsoft Dynamics Service helps companies to minimise this cost. What’s more, with MDS, customer service managers achieve this in a friendly and reassuring manner. One Source of Truth We’ve all experienced it before. Having a simple complaint with a product or service and being bounced around all the departments for an answer to what we thought was a simple question. Microsoft Dynamics Service saves customers from this bad service by ensuring that all parts of the customer service team have access to knowledge of the whole customer service process. This ensures that your business is presenting customers with a single, unified, on-track message. Pro Social Is Pro Service As we wrote in the second Four Pillars of Dynamics post, social media is an increasingly important way for brands and customers to interact. Many complaints are now made on social media. Customers think that the public setting will force businesses to act on their complaints for fear of bad press or – heaven forfend – going viral as a bad customer service provider! Using tools like sentiment readers and keyword recognition, MDS allows a swift, complete handling of social media interaction with customers. Pre-empt Needs Before They Arise Microsoft Dynamics Service’s powerful data visualisation and trend analysis lets you predict the needs of customers and move to meet them before customers even run into them. This is achieved by great out-of-the-box data-handling and reporting tools. MDS can even produce 3D graphic displays to help customer service teams better understand the information they have collected from customers. Hopefully, we’ve explained everything you need to know about Microsoft Dynamics Services. It’s a comprehensive package with a lot to offer. If you still need a little bit of persuading, speak with one of our Microsoft Dynamics consultants who can help to explain the benefits. You never know, you might end up with a Microsoft Dynamics job at the end of your conversation!