Microsoft is doubling down on retail, and it wants to be the first place companies turn to beef up their tech offerings to compete with Amazon. Today, Microsoft unveiled several new retail- and logistic-centric tools from Dynamics 365, the company's enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management offering. The new capabilities focus on helping retailers connect their in-store and digital experiences and using technology to gain new insights for the business. In addition to the retail tools, Microsoft unveiled Dynamics 365 tools for automating customer service and using IoT sensors to predict maintenance needs for manufacturing equipment before something goes wrong. Microsoft has made retail an important pillar of its business in recent years as technology in the industry has evolved and companies look for an edge against Amazon.