Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform 2021 Release Wave 1 Launches

As of April 6th 2021, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform 2021 Release Wave 1 is now generally available. This means that the next six-month wave including hundreds of new capabilities, feature updates, and applications across Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform will now begin to roll out.

Below, we have answered some of the common questions we get asked regarding a new wave release:

Who does this update apply to?

The 2021 Wave 1 Release will affect Dynamics 365 and Power Platform customers. This update does not apply to on-premise customers.

How does the update cycle work?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 follows a continuous release cycle, which means that updates are automatically applied to Dynamics 365 Online environments. Throughout the year, there are ongoing minor updates for bug fixes and performance improvements that happen in the background, but the main focus is on the two major releases every year: Wave 1 in April and Wave 2 in October. If previous releases are anything to go by, the 2021 Release Wave 2 Timeline should be unveiled in June, with the release wave plans becoming available the month after (we will be updating our blog accordingly).

As a Microsoft Dynamics 365 customer, do I need to do anything?

If you are working with a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner, you should have been informed of the changes taking place and they will be managing this for you. However, if you are a customer managing your systems internally, there has been the early access option to validate the upcoming capabilities in a sandbox environment, before they get enabled automatically in production environments during April 2021. By the end of April 2021, all instances will have had 2021 release wave 1 features applied.

What features are coming in the 2021 Release Wave 1?

If you wish to find out what features are included in the new release in detail, you can check out our blog posts here – Dynamics 365 2021 Release Wave 1 Overview and Power Platform 2021 Release Wave 1 Overview. Below we have highlighted at a high-level, some of the key features that are coming to Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform (depending on which solutions you use, only certain elements will be of interest):

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

  • An intuitive mobile experience that offers quick and easy access to information, in real-time.
  • Collaboration with Microsoft Teams – Create activities or notes on a Dynamics 365 record from the context of a Microsoft Teams message, Access contextual list of Microsoft Teams channel and chats from within Dynamics 365, Engage in a Microsoft Teams chat from within Dynamics 365
  • Seller KPIs and manager dashboards
  • New pipeline manager workspace
  • Improvements to forecasting and predictive scoring

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave1/sales/dynamics365-sales/planned-features

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing

  • New set of built-in analytics dashboards and cross-journey insights to improve results and achieve business goals
  • Revamped email editor, bringing a completely new way of creating engaging and relevant content
  • More channels, power, and ease to reach your customers with the right messages – Deliver push notifications to any Android or iOS app, Create and send SMS messages to any mobile phone, Search and manage your digital assets with a new centralised asset library
  • Deeper personalisation to engage your customers – Participant engagement-based communication for online events powered by Microsoft Teams, Use customer journeys to target leads in addition to contacts

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave1/marketing/dynamics365-marketing/planned-features

example webinar in CRM software

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service

  • Customer Service workspace – an omnichannel, multisession, multi-app experience that supports intelligent work classification and enhanced routing capabilities
  • Collaborate with organisational contacts within Dynamics 365 using Microsoft Teams
  • Improved embedded analytics for customer service managers
  • Enhanced Knowledge management
  • Improved user experience through email

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave1/service/dynamics365-customer-service/planned-features

Customer service dashboard example

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Voice

  • Pause and resume survey
  • Survey reminders
  • Auto prefill answer
  • Integration with Dynamics 365 Marketing Customer Journey
  • Personalise survey
  • Over-survey management

Find out our top 10 new features coming to Customer Voice: https://www.pragmatiqsolutions.co.uk/blog/new-releases/new-features-coming-soon-to-dynamics-365-customer-voice/

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave1/customer-voice/dynamics365-customer-voice/planned-features

example webinar in CRM software

Power BI

  • Quick create
  • Sharing links for Power BI reports
  • Data lineage, impact, and API enhancements

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform-release-plan/2021wave1/power-bi/planned-features

Example of Power BI Dashboard/report

Power Apps

  • Improved apps discovery and selection in Power Apps mobile
  • Model-driven app adds in-app notifications
  • Improved navigation in model-driven apps
  • Enabling remote work with deep integration to Microsoft Teams
  • Export documents to PDF from a canvas app
  • Duplicate detection Unified Interface experience

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform-release-plan/2021wave1/power-apps/planned-features

Power Apps Portals

  • Use Power Apps Portals Studio and Portal Management app to configure Power Apps portals.
  • Unlock advanced Portal customisations using professional developer capabilities and familiar toolsets

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform-release-plan/2021wave1/power-apps-portals/planned-features

Power Automate

  • Trigger flows when a Microsoft Dataverse action is called
  • Search records in Microsoft Dataverse using relevance search
  • Manage solution-based flows
  • Improved onboarding experiences for new users
  • Connect to desktop flows without the on-premises data gateway
  • Power Automate Desktop inclusion with Windows

Read more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform-release-plan/2021wave1/power-automate/planned-features

power automate workflow example

Get in touch

If you have any more questions about your current system or the upcoming release, please contact us. Fill out the contact form below and a member of our team will be in touch shortly, or if you’d prefer, email us at info@pragmatiq.co.uk or call us on 01908 038110.