Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Business Central: Features to Get Excited About in 2024
Microsoft is bringing the power of AI to small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) through Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Business Central.
According to a Microsoft survey, nine out of 10 workers in those businesses want to use AI to reduce repetitive tasks in their jobs, despite AI being a commodity that SMBs have had trouble investing in previously.
In this blog post, we will analyze some of the new Copilot features in Dynamics 365 Business Central and detail how they can help your business and employees optimize performance.
Please note that according to Microsoft, Copilot for Dynamics 365 Business Central is available online only.
Boost Productivity and Empower Your Users with Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Business Central
Here are some of the new Copilot features you can utilize in your Dynamics 365 Business Central environment in 2024:
Chat with Copilot
Communication is key for any business. Your team members talk to each other, your team members talk to clients, and clients reach out to your support team for help. Copilot allows you to optimize these conversations by letting you quickly find data in your system using natural language search. You can use the same method to ask Copilot for steps on how to complete certain processes in your system.
This feature goes into public preview in February 2024.
Complete Faster Bank Reconciliations
Your finance employees have a lot of work on their hands, importing bank statements, reconciling transactions, and making sure all transactions are accounted for. While Business Central already has features that streamline these processes, the time-consuming work to process unmatched transactions every week takes up valuable hours during their workdays.
With Copilot, your users can now take advantage of three main features:
- AI-powered transaction matching – Completes rule-based matching, reducing the number of unmatched transactions that your users need to review.
- General Ledger account suggestions – Copilot will suggest related ledger accounts so you can attach additional transactions to remember specific transaction descriptions and will store them for you so you can use them next time.
- Built-in demo data - You can use pre-loaded data to teach others how to take advantage of Copilot’s capabilities in Business Central.
This feature has been in public preview since November 2023, but Microsoft has yet to announce general availability.
Integrate AI with AL Solutions
Generally available since December 2023, you can enhance the AI of Copilot with a few lines of AL code. Microsoft says the first version of this solution includes:
- A new System.AI namespace to connect to Azure OpenAI Service and models like GPT from your AL code.
- A new PromptDialog page with AI experiences that looks and feels like Microsoft Copilot, including safety controls for customers and signature visuals.
- Managing your subscription with your own Azure AI key.
- Guidance on how to apply Responsible AI principles to the implementation and design of your environment.
- A new Sparke action image to highlight your new AI features.
- New administrative screens to help your customers discover the Copilot features you deploy.
- The ability to download sample code to start with.
- Statistics to monitor end-user feedback with Power BI.
Marketing Text Suggestions
AI in marketing can help you streamline the process of highlighting your products and starting the process of attracting new customers. With marketing text suggestions, you can utilize a lot of new features, including:
- Create records with pictures – Copilot for Business Central will analyze a photo and suggest a matching category from pre-defined categories defined by you.
- Marketing copy automation – From the Marketing Text page, you can ask Copilot to help you write marketing materials for you to use in your sales process.
- AI Suggestions – You can ask Copilot to help write product descriptions with Azure OpenAI Service and GPT solutions. It does this based on an item's attributes, category, and name.
- Customized Suggestions – When working in the Draft with Copilot window, you can adjust language parameters such as format, tone of voice, and quality to emphasize your text.
- Publish to Shopify – If your Business Central system is connected to Shopify, you can use AI to send items directly to your store and view them to make sure it’s up to your standards.
- The Ability to Preview – Business Central free trials come with these AI tools included. This means you can try them out if you are thinking about switching from a non-Microsoft ERP system or if you are currently running Dynamics GP and want to upgrade to the cloud.
This new feature also brings you a new user experience where you can review and edit drafted text, quality improvements, additional content moderation features, and support for multiple languages. It has been available since November 2023.
Want to Learn More About Copilot in your Dynamics 365 Business Central Environment?
Please reach out to Stoneridge Software! Our team of experts can help guide you in how to best use AI to move your business forward and utilize your Business Central environment to its fullest potential.
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