Dynamics 365 Customer Insights: Features and Implementation for Australia

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is Microsoft’s unified customer data and engagement platform that merges a customer data platform (Customer Insights – Data) with real-time journey orchestration (Customer Insights – Journeys). It provides organisations with a 360-degree view of customers while enabling them to deliver context-aware actions across sales, service, and marketing. This combined solution is designed to resolve data silos, scale personalisation, and meet Australia’s strict requirements for compliance, privacy, and data residency.

In Australia, the urgency is underscored by the rapid adoption of AI: 71% of organisations in ANZ report improved customer satisfaction since deploying generative AI (Microsoft News, 2024). At a global level, 91% of enterprises using AI anticipate more than a 24% uplift in customer experience, resilience, and sustainability (International Data Corporation, 2024). These trends show that value comes not just from technology but from structured implementation tailored to local conditions.

This article outlines the features that differentiate Customer Insights and the implementation steps for Australian businesses, followed by FAQs and a practical assessment of whether the platform is the right fit for specific business contexts.

Features of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

The features of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights are defined by its dual structure: Customer Insights – Data as the customer data platform (CDP) and Customer Insights – Journeys as the real-time engagement layer. Together, they unify data, apply AI predictions, orchestrate cross-channel journeys, and embed compliance into operations. For Australian organisations, these capabilities address fragmented systems and rising customer expectations while ensuring adherence to local privacy and residency laws.

1. Customer Insights – Data (Customer Data Platform)

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data is Microsoft’s enterprise-grade customer data platform that centralises, enriches, and governs customer data for Australian organisations. Built on Azure, it ingests transactional, behavioural, and demographic sources to create unified customer profiles. Its value lies in transforming fragmented information into actionable intelligence for sales, service, and marketing, supported by strict governance aligned with Australian compliance expectations.

Unified Profiles & Data Unification

At the core of Customer Insights – Data, Unified Profiles creates a single, trusted view of each customer by merging transactional, behavioural, and IoT data from multiple sources. Configurable deduplication and merge rules resolve duplicates, while continuous updates ensure data accuracy in near real time.

This screenshot highlights the merged fields that define a unified customer profile in the unified data view page:

Source: Microsoft

For Australian businesses, often dealing with legacy silos across ERP and CRM, this delivers both operational efficiency and compliance-ready reporting. A unified profile enables every engagement, from marketing to service, to be consistent and informed.

Data Enrichment & Activities

The Enrichment Hub in Customer Insights – Data enriches profiles with additional context and real-time activity timelines. Shown below is the Enrichment hub, which centralises options for enhancing customer profiles with external datasets:

Partner enrichments such as Azure Maps for geolocation are in preview, showing how external signals can add location-based context for analysis. These enrichments expand customer profiles with dimensions that improve segmentation and targeting. At the same time, transactional and behavioural data, purchases, service interactions, or website visits are captured into timelines, giving teams a holistic view of each customer journey.

AI Predictions & Custom Models

AI Predictions transform Customer Insights into forward-looking intelligence by applying churn and CLV models. Standard models cover churn, customer lifetime value, and product recommendations (in features preview), enabling rapid activation without specialist skills. For advanced needs, integration with Azure Machine Learning or Synapse allows training of domain-specific models.

The following view presents prediction results inside Customer Insights, illustrating churn and lifetime value scoring outputs:

Source: Microsoft

Australian retailers, for instance, can adapt predictions to account for seasonal patterns, while financial services firms can calibrate risk or retention models. This adaptability bridges descriptive analytics with prescriptive intelligence.

Segmentation & Measures

Segmentation and Measures in Customer Insights – Data allow organisations to define, refresh, and score customer groups using advanced logic. The segment builder supports complex queries that can be scheduled for automatic refresh, ensuring campaigns act on the most recent behaviours. Measures provide KPIs such as purchase frequency or average order value, directly linking segmentation to tangible outcomes.

In the following image, we see a segment summary displaying the total number of members included in the group:

Source: Microsoft

Together, these tools move targeting away from assumption-based lists toward evidence-driven strategies that can scale across sales and service.

Governance, Security & Compliance

Customer Insights – Data enforces strict governance through residency, consent, and Azure-based controls. Consent management and role-based access reinforce trust, while Private Link ensures data is isolated within secure channels (Microsoft Learn). The table below outlines role-based access in Customer Insights – Data, showing how permissions differ by user role:

Source: Microsoft

For organisations operating under strict local privacy laws, these features make the platform board-ready. Rather than functioning only as a marketing database, it serves as a compliance-aligned system that supports both operational integrity and regulatory obligations.

2. Customer Insights – Journeys (Real-Time Engagement)

Customer Insights – Journeys is Microsoft’s real-time engagement layer that uses unified profiles to orchestrate communications across multiple channels. Formerly Dynamics 365 Marketing, it now delivers agile, trigger-based interactions powered by AI. By acting on insights from Customer Insights – Data, Journeys ensures that every outreach, whether sales, service, or marketing, is relevant, timely, and compliant.

Trigger-Based & Segment-Based Journeys

In Customer Insights – Journeys, Trigger-Based and Segment-Based Journeys enable communications to be launched instantly in response to actions or targeted to predefined audiences. Segment-based journeys reach loyalty groups or dormant customers, while trigger-based journeys react to behaviours such as abandoned carts or Dataverse record updates. 

Displayed below is a search query filtering leads due for follow-up within the next seven days:

Source: Microsoft

For Australian enterprises managing long and complex lifecycles, these triggers ensure engagement happens when it matters most, driving higher response rates and customer retention.

AI-Driven Personalisation

AI-Driven Personalisation in Journeys reduces manual effort by enabling teams to refine audience criteria, optimise message timing, and personalise engagement at scale. These capabilities remove much of the guesswork from campaign design and allow mid-market firms to operate with greater efficiency.

The next screenshot demonstrates Copilot suggesting content ideas to accelerate email drafting for customer engagement:

Source: Microsoft

This aligns with broader market trends: Microsoft ANZ reports that over 70% of organisations in the region already use AI for personalisation, confirming its role as a mainstream driver of customer engagement (Microsoft News, 2024).

Multi-Channel Campaigns

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys support multi-channel campaigns across email, SMS, push, and connectors to sustain engagement. Journeys can mix channels dynamically: if an email remains unopened, an SMS follow-up can be triggered. In the view below, users configure custom channels to expand marketing interactions beyond standard connectors:

Source: Microsoft

This flexibility is vital for Australia’s diverse landscape, where digital habits differ between urban and regional populations. For B2B firms, integration with existing Microsoft channels ensures alignment between marketing and sales outreach, strengthening pipeline visibility and customer engagement.

Journey Orchestration & Optimisation

Moreover, campaigns become adaptive experiences through orchestration tools like branching, frequency caps, and testing. Organisations can design multiple paths: for example, continuing a sequence if a customer clicks a link or diverting to service if no action is taken. Frequency caps and quiet times prevent oversaturation, while automated A/B testing continuously improves messaging.

Here’s a journey configuration screen showing how branches adapt based on multiple customer responses:

Source: Microsoft

Together, these features elevate engagement from static workflows to intelligent, outcome-driven journeys.

Analytics & Power BI Integration

Customer Insights – Journeys embed performance measurement directly into campaigns, supported by Microsoft’s analytics stack. Real-time dashboards track delivery, open rates, and goal completions, while integration with Power BI is enabled through a dedicated connector (currently in preview). Prebuilt templates provide funnel analysis, segmentation performance, and program effectiveness.

This screenshot reveals the hidden Interaction data flow page, which tracks engagement volumes over time:

Source: Microsoft

These analytics can be shared across marketing, sales, and service leaders, helping Australian organisations align engagement tactics with broader business outcomes and compliance reporting.

With the feature set and preview explained, the next step is to address how Australian organisations can implement Customer Insights effectively, from assessing data readiness through to scaling with AI and Power BI.

4 Steps to Implement Dynamics 365 Customer Insights with A Case Study

The four steps to implement Dynamics 365 Customer Insights in Australia move from assessing data quality to defining business goals, piloting with partners, and scaling across business units. Each stage addresses compliance, governance, and measurable value. The section concludes with a case study, showing how Globus achieved transformation with this structured path.

See an overview of the four steps in the illustration below:

Step 1: Assess Data Readiness (sources, governance, consent)

The first step is assessing data readiness. Customer Insights depends on accurate, unified inputs, so Australian organisations must identify sources, review governance, and validate consent processes before unifying records across CRM, ERP, e-commerce, or web platforms.

Key readiness tasks include:

• Audit data sources: Identify where customer, transactional, and behavioural data originates. Typical Australian sources include MYOB, Xero, Dynamics 365, and web analytics.
• Unify and deduplicate: Apply Customer Insights – Data matching rules to merge duplicate records and create a single customer view.
• Establish governance checks: Confirm that consent management aligns with the Privacy Act 1988, GDPR, and sector regulations (e.g., healthcare, financial services).

Poor governance can undermine adoption. Addressing this upfront ensures that unified profiles later created in Customer Insights are both accurate and compliant.

Step 2: Define Business Use Cases & KPIs

Step 2 is defining business use cases and KPIs. Customer Insights must be directly tied to measurable outcomes to drive value beyond reporting or isolated analytics dashboards.

Australia-specific use cases include:

• Retail & e-commerce: Reduce churn, improve repeat purchases, and personalise offers.
• Manufacturing & wholesale: Forecast demand, track account-based engagement.
• Services & nonprofits: Lift donor retention, improve customer satisfaction scores.
• KPIs to track: Customer lifetime value (CLV), revenue per customer, service time reduction, and engagement uplift.

Customer Insights supports these outcomes through segmentation, predictive models (CLV, churn), and journey orchestration. Clear KPIs allow leaders to measure whether initiatives are delivering returns. For example, tracking “engagement lift” after an email journey is launched provides a benchmark for scaling.

By defining outcomes upfront, Australian organisations ensure investment is tied to tangible improvements, not generic digital transformation promises. This step links strategy with execution and prepares for a focused pilot.

Step 3: Pilot with a Microsoft Partner (AU)

Step 3 is piloting with a Microsoft partner. Structured pilots in sandbox environments validate governance, compliance, and functionality before scaling Customer Insights across Australian industries and departments.

Critical focus areas include:

• Sandbox validation: Run controlled tests of data unification, churn models, and trigger-based journeys.
• Local compliance: Confirm data residency in Australian regions of Azure, test opt-in/opt-out processes, and ensure alignment with GST and consumer law.
• Licensing guardrails: Monitor usage of “People Unified” and “People Interacted” metrics to stay within entitlements.
• Governance testing: Validate consent flows, privacy notices, and automated double opt-in.

For Australian businesses, working with an experienced partner is not optional. The partner brings vertical knowledge, whether in retail, finance, or manufacturing, and ensures that pilots test scenarios relevant to local conditions.

The pilot phase builds internal confidence, providing business and technical teams with evidence that Customer Insights delivers on both compliance and engagement.

Step 4: Scale & Optimise (BI, ERP, AI)

The last step is scaling and optimising Customer Insights. Once validated, organisations expand across sales, service, commerce, and ERP, embedding predictive AI and Power BI for enterprise-wide decision-making.

• Cross-department extension: Expand Customer Insights into Dynamics 365 Sales, Service, and Commerce. Sales teams benefit from predictive scoring, service agents gain a 360° profile, and commerce platforms personalise offers in real time.
• Predictive AI for growth: Activate prebuilt models for churn prediction, lifetime value, and product recommendations, or extend with custom models from Azure Machine Learning and Synapse. These insights help scale customer engagement strategies with precision.
• Data-to-action with Power BI: Integrate Power BI dashboards for executives and frontline managers to track funnel performance, segment health, and engagement metrics. Decision-makers can act faster on reliable, visualised data.
• Continuous optimisation: Use journey analytics, A/B testing, and frequency caps to refine campaigns, while aligning measures with KPIs such as revenue per customer or satisfaction scores.

In the Microsoft ANZ report From hype to habit, nearly all large organisations in Australia and New Zealand are already using generative AI, and 71% reported higher customer satisfaction since adoption (Microsoft News, 2024). For Australian enterprises, scaling Customer Insights with AI and BI is about embedding an adaptive, data-driven culture across the organisation.

Case Study: Globus Family of Brands (Australia)

The Globus Family of Brands illustrates how Customer Insights unifies fragmented operations. By consolidating data and journeys, the travel leader transformed engagement, visibility, and service across global and regional markets.

Source: Microsoft

Challenge

The Globus family of brands, a global leader in travel and tours, illustrates how Customer Insights transforms customer engagement. Prior to adoption, Globus operated with siloed systems across multiple countries, making it nearly impossible to collect meaningful insights or deliver consistent experiences. This fragmentation is familiar to many Australian businesses managing distributed operations and legacy platforms.

Solution

In 2023, Globus implemented Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data and Journeys, alongside Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service. The solution consolidated millions of customer records into unified profiles, integrating data from global offices into a single source of truth. Marketing teams gained access to real-time journey orchestration, enabling personalised emails and campaigns triggered by traveller behaviour. Service agents were equipped with omnichannel dashboards, providing a complete history of interactions and feedback before responding to calls.

Results

The results were significant, including:

• Unified profiles across global and regional systems, improving visibility.
• Real-time journeys that triggered communications during key customer interactions.
• Omnichannel service supported by dashboards that gave agents complete context.

For Australian organisations, Globus demonstrates a clear path: by unifying profiles, orchestrating journeys, and integrating with sales and service, even complex, multi-brand businesses can reset operations and scale in a more customer-centric direction. The case underscores that Customer Insights is not a peripheral tool but a platform for sustainable growth.

With these four steps and the Globus case study, the roadmap for Customer Insights in Australia becomes clearer. Yet practical questions remain for business leaders, especially around scope, integration, and risk. The next section answers common FAQs from Australian buyers.

FAQs for Australian Buyers

1. Do we need both CI Data and Journeys?

Yes, the value comes from using them together. Data builds unified profiles and predictions, while Journeys activates those insights through real-time engagement. For Australian organisations, this integration ensures compliance with privacy and residency requirements while delivering measurable improvements in customer satisfaction.

2. Is CI the same as Dynamics 365 Marketing?

No. Microsoft merged Dynamics 365 Marketing with Customer Insights into one unified product in 2023. The offering now includes both Customer Insights – Data and Customer Insights – Journeys, with simplified licensing. The functionality of real-time orchestration, AI personalisation, and CDP-level governance is broader than the legacy marketing app.

3. Which data sources matter most by industry?

• Retail/eCommerce: purchase transactions, loyalty apps, web browsing.
• Wholesale/manufacturing: ERP orders, partner channels, IoT telemetry.
• Professional services: CRM contacts, project histories, and contracts.

Prioritising these inputs ensures Australian businesses capture the right mix of operational, demographic, and behavioural data for actionable insights. In practice, industry guides such as Dynamics 365 For Retail and Dynamics CRM For E-commerce detail how retailers and e-commerce operators integrate ERP and CRM data sources to improve loyalty, forecasting, and engagement.

4. What risks arise if we stay siloed vs unified?

Siloed data leads to fragmented engagement, compliance risks, and missed opportunities for personalisation. Australian enterprises that fail to unify data and journeys will lag in customer trust and responsiveness, while competitors gain real-time visibility and predictive accuracy. For example, our Dynamics 365 Sales guide shows how integrated sales insights directly reduce silos, while Dynamics 365 Customer Service illustrates how unified service channels build trust and measurable responsiveness.

Is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights a Fit for Australian Businesses?

Yes, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is a fit for Australian businesses that need unified profiles, predictive insights, and real-time journeys to improve compliance, customer trust, and engagement outcomes.

1. Best-Fit Signals (Yes)

Customer Insights is a strong fit where customer data is fragmented across multiple systems or engagement channels.

• Multi-channel operations: businesses running sales, service, commerce, and marketing across different platforms.
• Growth-focused enterprises: organisations scaling nationally or globally that need predictive insights and automation.
• Compliance-sensitive sectors: industries such as finance, healthcare, or government, where AU data residency, privacy, and consent management are critical.

For these organisations, CI’s unified profiles and AI-driven journeys provide measurable improvements in customer experience and resilience.

2. Not-Yet-Fit Signals (No / Not Now)

Some businesses may find the platform premature if data and systems are still basic.

• Low data maturity: firms with minimal transactional records or no structured CRM/ERP backbone.
• Single-channel models: small operators dependent on email-only outreach or offline sales.
• Resource constraints: organisations lacking internal data governance frameworks or the capacity to manage AI-driven processes.

For these cases, the cost and complexity of CI may outweigh its immediate benefits until foundational capabilities are in place.

3. Pragmatic Alternatives & Pathways

Australian businesses not yet ready for the full suite can adopt phased pathways:

• Start with Customer Insights – Data only to unify records.
• Combine ERP solutions like Microsoft Dynamics with Power BI to establish data visibility and reporting baselines, ensuring Australian leaders gain both operational control and actionable analytics.
• Progressively integrate Journeys once maturity improves. This staged approach ensures compliance and value capture without over-investment.

This staged approach ensures compliance and value capture without over-investment.

In conclusion, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights delivers unified profiles, AI-driven journeys, and compliance-ready governance for Australia. To translate these capabilities into measurable outcomes, connect with Havi—an experienced Microsoft partner helping local teams turn customer data into growth, resilience, and trust.

References:

• Microsoft. Overview of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data.
• Microsoft. Overview of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (Real-time marketing).
• Microsoft News (2024). From hype to habit: Microsoft report highlights best practices for generative AI adoption by industry leaders
• International Data Corporation (2024). From Risk to Reward: The Business Case for Responsible AI.
• Microsoft. Azure Private Link for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data.
• Microsoft (2025). Globus reimagines the customer experience with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.