Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2: Key Updates and AI Enhancements

Summary

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 introduces meaningful AI-driven enhancements focused on seller productivity, Copilot integration, and improved administrative agility. Key updates include natural language Copilot experiences, AI-powered lead and pipeline insights, expanded manager visibility, and a shift to a monthly release channel for faster innovation.

For sales leaders, the opportunity is not just understanding what’s new — it’s prioritizing and adopting the right features to improve efficiency, forecasting accuracy, and overall revenue performance.

If you use Microsoft Dynamics 365, you know that new features and functionality are released on an ongoing basis. These updates are typically delivered in two “release waves” per year, each rolling out enhancements over a six-month period.

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 introduces new AI-driven capabilities designed to streamline sales processes, improve customer engagement, and ultimately drive revenue growth. AI takes center stage in this wave, aligning with Microsoft’s push to “automate the mundane” and empower sellers to focus on high-value activities.

Enhancing customer experience, boosting loyalty, and expanding your customer base are core objectives of this release. In this article, we break down the most important updates so you can quickly understand what matters and how it may impact your sales organization.

What Is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Release Wave?

A Microsoft Dynamics 365 release wave is a scheduled rollout of new features, enhancements, and platform updates delivered twice per year. Each wave introduces improvements across Dynamics applications over a six-month release cycle, allowing organizations to adopt new capabilities in a structured and predictable way.

For sales leaders using Dynamics 365 Sales, a release wave means regular access to new tools such as AI-driven insights, process automation, Copilot enhancements, and expanded CRM functionality. These updates are designed to accelerate deal cycles and strengthen your overall Dynamics 365 CRM strategy.

Why Dynamics 365 Sales Release Wave 2 Matters for Sales Leaders

For sales leaders, staying informed about Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 is more than a technical exercise — it is a strategic advantage. Each release wave introduces new capabilities that directly impact how your team manages pipelines, engages customers, and leverages AI to drive revenue.

This wave places a strong emphasis on automation and AI-powered insights. From Copilot-driven recommendations to enhanced analytics and streamlined workflows, these updates are designed to reduce manual effort and increase seller effectiveness. When adopted thoughtfully, they can accelerate deal cycles, improve forecasting accuracy, and enhance the overall customer experience.

However, the pace and volume of updates can feel overwhelming. Many organizations struggle to determine which features matter most and how to prioritize adoption. That is why understanding the intent behind each release wave is critical. Leaders who proactively evaluate and implement relevant enhancements position their teams to stay competitive, modern, and aligned with evolving market expectations.

If you prefer a live walkthrough of these updates, register for our upcoming webinar for a guided breakdown and practical implementation guidance.

In this article, we simplify the key updates in Release Wave 2 so you can quickly identify what deserves attention and where it may create measurable impact for your sales organization.

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 Timeline and Availability

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 rolls out between October 1, 2024, and March 2025, with new features introduced progressively throughout that window.

Not every capability becomes available on day one. Microsoft designates features as General Availability (GA) when they are fully released and accessible to end users. Some features may enter preview before reaching GA, allowing organizations to evaluate functionality ahead of broad deployment.

While this release wave primarily targets the U.S. market, availability and rollout timing can vary by region. Sales leaders should review Microsoft’s release documentation and assess feature readiness within their specific environment before planning adoption.

Key Focus Areas in Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 centers on enhancing seller productivity and strengthening sales management through expanded AI capabilities. Microsoft continues its push to embed Copilot and intelligent automation directly into daily sales workflows.

This wave introduces improvements designed to streamline processes, surface actionable insights, and create a more connected experience across Microsoft applications. The emphasis is clear: reduce manual effort, increase visibility, and empower sellers and managers with real-time intelligence.

The primary focus areas include:

Natural Language Copilot Experiences

Natural language Copilot experiences allow sellers to interact with Dynamics 365 Sales using conversational prompts instead of manual navigation and data entry. Rather than clicking through multiple records or building custom views, sellers can ask Copilot direct questions about accounts, opportunities, or activities and receive context-aware responses in real time.

This shift reduces friction in day-to-day CRM usage. Sellers spend less time searching for information and more time engaging customers. For sales leaders, it means improved adoption, cleaner data capture, and faster access to actionable insights across the pipeline.

Full-Screen Copilot Home Page

The new full-screen Copilot home page centralizes insights, tasks, and recommendations into a single AI-driven workspace. Instead of navigating between dashboards and records, sellers can access prioritized actions, account summaries, and suggested next steps in one consolidated view.

This enhancement supports focus and execution. By surfacing what matters most at the start of the day, Copilot helps sellers prioritize high-impact activities, maintain momentum in active deals, and reduce the risk of stalled opportunities.

AI-Powered Lead Insights

AI-powered lead insights provide deeper visibility into lead quality and engagement signals. By analyzing behavioral data and historical patterns, Dynamics 365 Sales can surface indicators that help sellers identify which leads are most likely to convert.

For organizations managing large volumes of inbound or outbound leads, this intelligence supports better qualification decisions and resource allocation. Instead of relying solely on intuition or manual scoring, sales teams can focus attention on the opportunities with the highest probability of success.

Sales Pipeline Insights for Managers

Sales pipeline insights for managers extend AI beyond individual sellers and into leadership visibility. These enhancements provide aggregated views of deal health, activity trends, and performance indicators that support more informed coaching and forecasting.

With stronger visibility into pipeline risk and seller behavior, managers can proactively address stalled deals, reinforce best practices, and improve forecast accuracy. The result is a more disciplined sales process and a leadership team equipped with real-time data rather than lagging reports.

These enhancements span two closely related applications: Dynamics 365 Sales and Microsoft Copilot for Sales. Each serves a distinct purpose, supporting both individual sellers and sales leaders with complementary capabilities.

This article (Part 1) focuses specifically on updates within Dynamics 365 Sales. In Part 2, we’ll examine the new capabilities introduced in Microsoft Copilot for Sales and how they further expand AI-driven selling.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Investment Areas in Release Wave 2

Within Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2, Microsoft is investing in three core areas: Administration modernization, Copilot-driven AI innovation, and enhanced seller experiences. Together, these investments aim to accelerate adoption, increase automation, and provide greater visibility across the sales lifecycle.

These updates go beyond incremental improvements. They reflect Microsoft’s broader strategy to embed AI directly into daily workflows while improving platform agility for administrators and sales operations teams.

Administration Updates in Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2

Administration updates in Release Wave 2 focus on improving platform agility and reducing friction in feature deployment. As organizations scale their CRM environments, the ability to adopt enhancements quickly becomes a competitive advantage.

Dynamics 365 Sales continues to provide robust administrative controls, including security role management, integrations, and extensibility through plugins and workflows. However, the most significant change in this wave is the shift in release cadence.

Monthly Release Channel

One of the most impactful updates is the transition of the Sales Hub app to a monthly release channel. Previously, organizations waited for semiannual updates to access new capabilities. This slower cadence often delayed innovation and limited responsiveness to emerging needs.

With a monthly release cycle, enhancements can be adopted sooner, allowing organizations to continuously optimize workflows, automation, and AI capabilities.

Release Channel Options: Auto vs Monthly vs Semiannual

As part of Release Wave 2, the default release channel for Sales Hub changes from Auto to Monthly. Administrators still retain control and may opt for a semiannual cadence if stability or change management constraints require it.

For sales operations leaders, this flexibility introduces an important governance decision: Prioritize rapid innovation or maintain a slower, more controlled update cycle. The right choice depends on organizational readiness and adoption maturity.

Copilot and AI Innovation in Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2

Copilot and AI innovation remain central themes in Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2. Microsoft continues expanding real-time AI assistance to reduce manual effort, improve communication quality, and strengthen decision-making across the sales process.

Rather than treating AI as an add-on, this wave embeds intelligence directly into seller workflows.

Some key features include:

Copilot Email Assistance (GA Oct 2024)

Copilot Email Assistance enables sellers to generate personalized, context-aware email drafts directly within Dynamics 365. By leveraging CRM data and conversation history, Copilot reduces the time required to craft high-quality outreach while maintaining brand consistency.

This capability improves responsiveness without sacrificing personalization.

AI-Generated Account Summaries (GA Oct 2024)

AI-generated account summaries provide a consolidated, 360-degree view of customer activity, open opportunities, and recent engagement. Instead of manually reviewing multiple records, sellers receive a structured snapshot that accelerates preparation and follow-up.

For leadership, this promotes more consistent account strategy and cleaner pipeline visibility.

Sales Document Summary (GA Nov 2024)

Sales Document Summary automatically extracts key information from proposals and sales documentation, aligning insights to structured frameworks such as BANT. This reduces review time and ensures critical qualification criteria are not overlooked.

AI-Powered Action Suggestions (GA Nov 2024)

AI-powered action suggestions recommend next steps based on deal activity and engagement patterns. By identifying potential follow-ups or risk indicators, Copilot helps sellers remain proactive rather than reactive.

Manager Dashboards (GA Mar 2025)

Manager dashboards expand AI visibility beyond individual contributors. These dashboards surface behavioral trends, deal progression insights, and coaching opportunities, enabling managers to intervene earlier and forecast more accurately.

Copilot Overview Page (GA Jul 2025)

The Copilot overview page centralizes AI-driven insights, goals, and conversational interaction into a single interface.

This unified workspace reinforces AI as a daily operational tool rather than a separate feature set.

Seller Experience Enhancements in Release Wave 2

Seller experience enhancements in Release Wave 2 focus on reducing complexity within opportunity management and lead qualification. The goal is simple: Make it easier for sellers to navigate data, prioritize work, and execute consistently.

The new features, such as grouping and aggregating opportunities and customizing lead qualification, boost productivity by allowing sellers to easily segment opportunities, analyze key metrics, and fine-tune their approach based on actionable insights.

These tools empower sellers to navigate tasks more efficiently, reducing manual effort and expediting deal closures.

Some key features include:

Group and Aggregate Opportunities

The ability to group and aggregate opportunities dynamically allows sellers to analyze pipeline data by account, owner, or custom criteria. Aggregated metrics such as estimated value and actual revenue provide faster insight without exporting reports.

This improves both visibility and execution discipline.

Customizable Lead Qualification

Customizable lead qualification streamlines the transition from lead to opportunity by reducing redundant data entry and enabling multi-opportunity creation from a single lead record. This creates cleaner data structures and accelerates progression through early-stage pipeline activity.

Together, these investment areas reinforce Microsoft’s broader objective: embed AI intelligence, increase administrative agility, and improve seller productivity within Dynamics 365 Sales. Organizations that align adoption with strategy will extract significantly more value from Release Wave 2.

Summary of Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 reinforces Microsoft’s continued investment in AI-driven selling, administrative agility, and enhanced seller productivity. From expanded Copilot capabilities to a faster release cadence, this wave introduces meaningful improvements that can reshape how sales teams operate.

The real opportunity lies not just in awareness of new features, but in thoughtful adoption. Organizations that evaluate, prioritize, and implement the right enhancements will improve efficiency, strengthen pipeline visibility, and drive more consistent revenue performance.

If you’re ready to move beyond awareness and start capturing value from Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2, the Optrua Care Plan helps you prioritize, implement, and optimize with clarity.

👉 Book a free strategy session today to ensure your sales team is positioned to capitalize on every enhancement.

What’s Next: Microsoft Copilot for Sales (Part 2 Preview)

While this article focused on enhancements within Dynamics 365 Sales, the broader AI story continues in Microsoft Copilot for Sales.

In Part 2, we’ll explore the latest Copilot-specific innovations and how they extend AI beyond the CRM interface into Outlook, Teams, and everyday seller workflows. These updates further strengthen Microsoft’s vision for AI-assisted selling and offer additional opportunities to improve productivity and customer engagement.

FAQ

What is Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2?

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 is Microsoft’s scheduled set of updates for Dynamics 365 Sales delivered over a six-month rollout. This wave emphasizes AI-driven selling, Copilot enhancements, and improvements that streamline seller workflows, strengthen sales management visibility, and help teams work more efficiently.

When does Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 become available?

Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 rolls out between October 1, 2024, and March 2025. Features are released progressively during that timeframe, and Microsoft labels a feature General Availability (GA) when it is fully released for end users.

What new AI features are included in Release Wave 2?

Release Wave 2 includes multiple AI and Copilot-driven capabilities such as AI-assisted email drafting, AI-generated account summaries, sales document summarization, recommended next actions, and expanded manager insights. The overall focus is reducing manual effort while improving decision-making, prioritization, and customer engagement.

How does the monthly release channel affect Dynamics 365 Sales users?

The monthly release channel delivers new Sales Hub improvements more frequently than a semiannual cadence, helping organizations adopt enhancements sooner. For users, this typically means faster access to new features and workflow improvements; for admins and sales operations teams, it also introduces an important governance decision about balancing faster innovation with change management.

About the Author

Ryan Redmond is the Founder of Optrua, where he advises organizations on CRM strategy, sales process optimization, and technology alignment. Drawing on leadership experience shaped by his time in the Navy, Ryan focuses on building structured, efficient systems that help teams operate with clarity and discipline.

He works with growth-focused organizations to streamline Dynamics 365 environments, improve operational visibility, and empower sales teams to work smarter without adding unnecessary complexity.

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn.