For the ERP industry, 2024 proved to be a groundbreaking year, marked by the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, now present in nearly every sector and aspect of life. AI-powered tools are no longer just a trend embraced by companies keen to adopt the latest technologies – they represent tangible improvements in efficiency and work quality. Artificial intelligence has revolutionized how we perform repetitive tasks, conduct analyses, and create content.
What opportunities will Dynamics 365 Business Central, the leading ERP system in 2024, bring in the coming year? A perfect summary of these changes was presented at the Directions EMEA 2024 conference, which we had the pleasure of attending. We encourage you to explore the key insights shared during this event.
Dynamics 365 Business Central: Highlights and Innovations
- Dynamics 365 Business Central Reaches Over 40,000 Cloud Customers
This milestone underscores the continued success of Dynamics 365. Business Central’s popularity stems from its flexibility, comprehensive feature set, and customization capabilities that allow businesses to tailor the system to their unique needs. - Introducing the Sales Order Agent
The growing importance of AI in business development has led to the creation of a groundbreaking autonomous AI agent—the Sales Order Agent. Fully integrated with Business Central, it significantly enhances sales processes. This agent is just the beginning of Microsoft’s broader strategy, with work already underway on additional agents designed to support other organizational functions.
Key features of the agent include:
- Custom business process handling – The agent can seamlessly integrate custom requests, such as special packaging orders received via email, with existing sales orders.
- Ease of configuration – Despite its advanced technology, the Sales Order Agent is easy to set up. Businesses simply define basic parameters and activate the agent.
- Availability in 2025 – While the full version will launch in early 2025, a demo version is already available.
- Copilot Studio: A New Tool for Building Custom AI Solutions
For years, Microsoft has empowered users to create custom applications without coding through Power Apps. Now, it’s also possible to design custom AI agents within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Users can test and adapt AI agents, like the Sales Order Agent, to meet specific business needs, defining how agents should respond to various scenarios and integrating them with Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Sustainability and ESG Reporting
The latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central introduces enhanced support for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. Responding to the growing demand for sustainability tracking, the new Sustainability Center simplifies compliance with ESG regulations. This tool enables businesses to collect, analyze, and report data related to environmental impact, social responsibility, and corporate governance, aligning with global standards and emerging business priorities. - The Growing Importance of E-Documents and Localized Solutions
A significant increase in e-document adoption is expected over the next few years, driven by regulatory mandates for e-invoicing in more than 20 countries by 2025/2026. Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed to meet these requirements, offering comprehensive solutions tailored to various local regulations.
For businesses operating globally, Business Central ensures compliance with regional e-documentation requirements while enabling efficient and seamless digital workflows.
- E-commerce Growth – Integration of Business Central with Shopify
With the rapid expansion of e-commerce, Business Central introduces solutions tailored specifically for this sector.
The integration between Business Central and the Shopify e-commerce platform significantly shortens the time-to-market for products. By connecting data from both systems, businesses can automate the flow of information on products, orders, inventory, and finances between their online store and ERP system. For instance, when a company adds a new product to its Shopify store, details such as price, description, and stock levels are automatically synced with the ERP system. This ensures all essential information is immediately available within accounting and inventory systems, accelerating order processing, inventory updates, and invoice generation.
Additionally, IT Vision has developed integrations with other e-commerce platforms like IdoSell, Allegro, and BaseLinker—learn more about these solutions!
- Subscription Billing for Services and Products
Another noteworthy addition to Business Central is the Subscription Billing module, which facilitates the management of various subscription models. This feature allows companies to easily issue recurring invoices for their subscription-based products or services, such as monthly or annual plans, based on pre-defined billing schedules that suit the customer’s preferences.
This functionality is particularly beneficial in industries like IT services, rentals, and accounting, where subscription-based agreements often include a combination of products, services, and recurring billing.
Dynamics 365 for Your Business
New features in Business Central are continuously being developed – every year, two official updates are introduced as part of the Microsoft Release Wave, enhancing existing features and adding new ones.
As a result, Dynamics 365 Business Central effectively meets the growing demands of customers. If you’re interested in implementing the system in your company, contact us using the form below.
