In classic Microsoft fashion, another product has been renamed. But before you roll your eyes and update your documentation: This time, it actually makes sense.
Say hello to Microsoft Power Automate – the new identity of what you once knew as Microsoft Flow. And no, this isn’t just a branding exercise. It’s a signal of something bigger: The rise of the Power Platform as the go-to toolkit for modern business automation.
So, let’s talk about what’s changing, what’s coming, and why automation just got a lot cooler.
In classic Microsoft fashion, another product has been renamed. But before you roll your eyes and update your documentation: This time, it actually makes sense.
Say hello to Microsoft Power Automate – the new identity of what you once knew as Microsoft Flow. And no, this isn’t just a branding exercise. It’s a signal of something bigger: The rise of the Power Platform as the go-to toolkit for modern business automation.
So, let’s talk about what’s changing, what’s coming, and why automation just got a lot cooler.
In today’s collaborative work environment, Microsoft Teams has become a central hub for communication and teamwork across many organizations. Meanwhile, Dynamics 365 CRM stands out as a key platform for managing customer relationships, sales pipelines, and support processes. The recent wave 2 release from Microsoft offers expanded integration between these two systems, enabling staff to unify their daily conversations and CRM data in a more seamless way. This post provides an overview of how the new Teams integration with Dynamics 365 CRM works.
Why This Integration Matters
Traditionally, employees switch between multiple tools: they discuss leads and customer details in a chat tool, then open the CRM system separately to update records or retrieve data. With the integration introduced in the wave 2 release, Microsoft wants to unify those steps. By embedding CRM data or actions directly into Teams channels, users can access relevant records without leaving the communication platform. This consolidation speeds up collaboration, because sales or support teams can quickly find client notes, respond to questions, or update contact information on the fly.
Key Advantages:
In-Context Collaboration: Instead of flipping to separate windows, users bring the CRM record into the Teams conversation. That prevents the usual “where did we store that lead’s details?” confusion.
Real-Time Updates: The Teams channel can stay in sync with the CRM. If a user modifies a record in the CRM tab, colleagues see the changes immediately, leading to better alignment across the team.
Improved Visibility: People who do not usually open the CRM interface can still see essential details or track sales progress if they follow the relevant Teams channel.
How the Integration Works
At its core, the wave 2 release allows you to link a Dynamics 365 entity record, such as an account or opportunity, to a channel in Teams. Once you perform this linking, team members can see key information from the CRM record in that channel. Some organizations pin a CRM tab in the channel, enabling direct read or edit access to the data. For instance, a sales manager might add a major client’s opportunity record to the “Key Deals” channel, so everyone on that channel can watch the pipeline stages or add commentary.
Possible Steps to Set Up:
You open Microsoft Teams and navigate to a specific channel.
You click the “+” icon to add a new tab, select the Dynamics 365 application, and choose the entity record you want to display.
You specify whether the tab is read-only or if authorized users can edit the record.
Team members can then open this tab directly within Teams, seeing real-time CRM data without jumping into a separate browser tab.
In addition, you can have chat-based discussions about the record. For instance, if a colleague wonders about the next step in an opportunity, they simply open the tab, reference the CRM data, and post a question in the channel for everyone else to see. This fosters real-time, context-driven collaboration.
Collaboration Scenarios
Sales and Marketing Coordination: A marketing manager can post newly qualified leads in a dedicated Teams channel. The sales representatives can see each lead’s profile from the CRM record pinned in the channel, verify details, and respond with next steps.
Support and Case Management: For service teams, a Teams channel might revolve around escalated support tickets, with a pinned case record. Agents can share updates and quickly adjust the case status from the same environment.
Project Oversight: If an internal project uses data from the CRM (like resource or vendor records), the project team can keep a reference tab in Teams, ensuring everyone remains up to date on vendor statuses or contract terms.
Looking Forward
In 2020, Microsoft aims to encourage organizations to lean on Teams as their single collaboration hub. By connecting Dynamics 365 CRM with Teams through wave 2 features, Microsoft steps closer to that objective. While the setup might require some administrative configuration, the day-to-day payoff is a more integrated workflow where employees do not have to switch constantly between separate interfaces or copy-paste client details from one tool to another.
Questions to Consider:
How will you handle permissions? You may not want to expose certain CRM data to all channel members.
Are you prepared for user adoption? Training or orientation can ensure employees fully leverage the new possibilities.
Do you see the same benefits in your environment? Some industries may require further customizations or want additional security checks.
Overall, the synergy between Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365 CRM can reduce friction in daily tasks, letting everyone focus on delivering results rather than fighting disconnected systems. If you rely on CRM for sales or service and your teams already gather in Teams, wave 2’s integration might be precisely the jump forward that boosts your productivity and elevates your collaboration game.
If you’ve ever wished your hands could stay busy while your brain got expert help from miles away—good news! Microsoft is delivering exactly that, and it’s called Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. Powered by Microsoft Teams and enhanced by the magic of Mixed Reality, it’s reshaping how frontline workers—technicians, engineers, and support staff—get the job done.
The recent announcement of HoloLens 2 put a spotlight on immersive collaboration. Microsoft’s goal? Reduce “time-to-value” and help customers realize real-world benefits faster—no more “future tech, someday” dreams. It’s here. It’s now. And it’s dazzling.
Let’s dive into what makes Remote Assist a game-changer in 2019—and why it’s the ultimate proof that Teams is no longer “just” a chat app.
HoloLens 2 + Dynamics 365 Remote Assist: A New Reality
While branded under the Dynamics 365 umbrella, Remote Assist quietly taps into the power of Microsoft Teams under the hood. Think about it: Teams has absorbed Skype for Business, inherited its enterprise-grade calling and video conferencing, and fused it into something modern, scalable, and collaboration-ready.
Remote Assist builds on this foundation. With a HoloLens 2, a technician in the field can share their exact point of view live with a remote expert—no more blurry photos or long-winded explanations. Instead, it’s “you see what I see” in real-time.
It’s smart, it’s simple—and it’s deeply strategic. Microsoft is quietly showing us the convergence of productivity, communication, and spatial computing.
What Makes Remote Assist So Powerful in 2019?
Here’s what you can do right now using Remote Assist with HoloLens 2 and Microsoft Teams:
📞 Make live calls between a HoloLens and Microsoft Teams
🧠 Move freely while transmitting high-quality visuals to your remote expert
🎯 Receive visual annotations—arrows, drawings, images—overlaid on your field of view
✏️ Collaborate through real-time drawings and annotations from desktop to HoloLens
📺 Share your screen and present key documentation or schematics in MR
🧽 Undo, delete, or update annotations instantly
👓 Get expert guidance without flying someone across the country
This isn’t just collaboration—it’s presence without physical presence. And in industries where uptime is everything, that’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity.
Remote Assist for Android: MR on a Budget
Let’s be honest—not everyone has a HoloLens lying around. At €5,000+, it’s an incredible device but not always within reach.
Enter Remote Assist for Android.
By bringing Remote Assist to Android smartphones, Microsoft unlocks massive accessibility. The same field technician who’s already carrying a rugged device can now access remote expertise using the phone in their pocket.
💡 This changes the game. Organizations can scale Remote Assist quickly without hardware rollouts. The training curve is minimal, and the benefits are immediate.
Imagine a world where every field service call, no matter how remote, comes with a built-in expert—without ever booking a flight.
What It Means for Business
Microsoft is showing us the future—and it’s not just about tech. It’s about transformation:
Reducing service downtime by enabling real-time expert assistance
Lowering operational costs by slashing unnecessary travel
Improving onboarding and training by providing hands-on remote guidance
Empowering Firstline Workers to be just as connected as the C-suite
In short, Remote Assist turns expertise into a service—one that scales, travels instantly, and fits into your existing Microsoft Teams deployment.
This is one of those rare times when tech actually feels like magic—and it’s powered by something as familiar as Teams.
Stay clever. Stay responsible. Stay scalable. Your Mr. Microsoft, Uwe Zabel
🚀 Curious how mobile first workes with Microsoft solutions? Follow my journey on zabu.cloud—where cloud, AI, and business strategy converge. Or ping me directly—because building the future works better as a team.
There’s something oddly satisfying about a well-structured ID. Clean. Predictable. Sequential. But anyone who’s ever had to implement auto-numbering in Microsoft Dynamics 365 knows the struggle: duplicate numbers, skipped sequences, race conditions, and the all-too-familiar “Wait, why did it jump from 2027 to 2030?”
Yep. I’ve been there. In fact, I’ve lived there.
Today, I want to walk you through what’s possible in Dynamics 365 for Sales (as of version 9.0), why auto-numbering is such a pain for high-throughput environments, and how you can finally implement a robust solution—without losing sleep or data integrity.
The Built-In Numbering System: Great… Until It’s Not
Let’s start with the basics. Out of the box, Dynamics 365 already comes with auto-numbering fields for specific entities like:
Contracts
Cases
Quotes
Orders
Invoices
Campaigns
Articles
Categories
Knowledge Base Articles
But here’s the kicker: Microsoft only allows minimal customization. You can change the prefix and define a 4–6 character random string, but that’s about it. And the incremental numeric section? Always fixed to 6 digits. Not exactly enterprise-flexible, right?
Want to change the step size? Nope. Add a suffix with the fiscal year? Sorry. Format it with leading zeros, region codes, or a smart pattern? You’re out of luck.
What sounds like a small limitation turns into a serious blocker for enterprise customers who rely on unique, readable, and structured numbering for auditing, reporting, or regulatory compliance.
Third-Party Tools to the Rescue (Almost)
For years, I relied heavily on tools like:
✅ Planet Technologies ID Generator Simple, elegant, and smart. Supports prefixes, step sizes, zero padding, and even placeholders like year tokens. Find it here on Planet XRM.
Source: www.planetxrm.com
✅ Celedon AutoNumber A hidden gem. Similar to the Planet tool but with more conditional logic. You can even use dropdown fields to dynamically change the numbering logic (e.g., generate a different prefix for Partner vs. Customer vs. Lead). Bravo! Check them out here.
https://celedonpartners.com/blog
Both plugins do a great job… under the right conditions.
But there’s a problem they all share—race conditions. 😬 When you’re importing records or executing a workflow that spawns multiple entities simultaneously, there’s a real chance you’ll:
Duplicate numbers
Skip sequence entries
Create broken dependencies
And suddenly, your supposedly unique IDs aren’t so unique anymore.
My Code-Free DIY Auto-Numbering Engine
Because necessity is the mother of reinvention innovation, I built my own Auto-Numbering logic using nothing but native Dynamics tools:
Custom Entity: A simple entity called NummernGenerator to track counters.
Calculated Fields: Concatenate year, prefix, and padded number into a final ID.
Workflow: On record creation, retrieve the current number, assign it, and increment the counter.
Bonus? I built a year-rollover feature so the generator resets in January or any custom month you want.
And all this without a single line of code. Just standard Dynamics + some clever logic.
Still, it’s not 100% race-condition-proof under heavy load, but it gets the job done for many common business scenarios.
The Game-Changer: Native Auto-Numbering for Any Entity (Dynamics 365 v9.0+)
Here’s where it gets interesting.
With version 9.0 of Dynamics 365, Microsoft quietly introduced native support for custom auto-numbering fields on any entity. Yes—you read that right.
It’s now possible to:
Add auto-numbering to custom entities
Mix elements like static prefixes, sequential numbers, random strings, and dates
Format unique IDs like INV-2019-000123 or Q3-EU-0456-X
This is exactly what many of us have been waiting for. And yet… there’s a small caveat:
Microsoft forgot to expose it in the GUI.
That’s right. No way to set this up directly from the Dynamics UI. Which is where the trusty XRM Toolbox comes in.
The XRM Toolbox Plugin You Need
Thanks to the community, there’s now a plugin for XRM Toolbox that lets you:
Define auto-numbering fields for any entity
Edit existing system-managed fields (yes, even quotes and orders!)
Apply advanced logic like conditional tokens, randomized values, and year-based sequencing
You can check it out in the XRM Toolbox plugin store. It’s saved me hours of work and a few grey hairs.
Quelle: https://community.dynamics.com
Summary: Your Auto-Numbering Checklist
So what’s the best solution for you? Here’s how I’d decide:
✅ Need fast deployment with some logic → Go with Planet or Celedon plugins ✅ Need flexibility without race conditions → My DIY approach is great for controlled scenarios ✅ Want native performance and zero-code scaling → Use the new v9.0 features + XRM Toolbox
And always, always test under realistic load. Because what works in dev might not survive production.
Stay clever. Stay responsible. Stay scalable. Your Mr. Microsoft, Uwe Zabel
🚀 Curious how enterprise-ready Dynamics 365 has become for real-world business scenarios? Follow my journey on zabu.cloud—where cloud, AI, and business strategy converge. Or ping me directly—because building the future works better as a team.
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