What you need to know
- Microsoft introduced two new retail applications for Dynamics 365 today.
- Dynamics 365 Commerce and Connected Store combine to improve customer experiences across the web and physical stores while helping managers and employees make better decisions.
- Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection will also launch into general availability later this year.
Microsoft announced a new set of AI capabilities and apps coming to its enterprise Dynamics 365 platform. The new apps are focused on providing a better, more reliable retail experience for consumers and employees using AI analysis of customer behavior, inventory management, and more.
The two new applications, Dynamics 365 Commerce and Dynamics 365 Connected Store, are focused on improving the efficiency of stores and maintaining the customer experience between the web, mobile, and physical stores.
"Intelligent systems provide deep insights to empower advanced decision-making and personalization, delivering the fully connected commerce solution retailers need to build brand loyalty, optimize operations and supply-chain efficiencies, and deliver better business outcomes," Microsoft says of Dynamics 365 Commerce.
Dynamics 365 Connected Store, meanwhile, can help bring more understanding to what's happening at stores based on observational and predictive data, delivered via cameras and IoT sensors, based on how customers are moving through a store. The application also keeps track of the status of store equipment and product.
Connected Store uses all of this data to feed suggestions and insights to store managers and employees. For example, Connected Store can help ensure there are enough cashiers ready to ease the checkout experience with instant notifications. Further, Connected Store can spot potential problems with store equipment by identifying anomolies and making managers aware of potential threats to inventory. Finally, Connected Store can spot long-term trends to identify patterns and opportunities in day-to-day and season-to-season activities.
Lastly, Microsoft announced that Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection will be generally available later this year. "This new application will decrease fraud costs and help increase acceptance rates for customer payment transactions with e-commerce merchants," Microsoft said in a blog post announcing the updates.
