Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant innovation reserved for tech giants or research labs—it’s now embedded in the everyday tools businesses use to operate, grow, and compete. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in enterprise resource planning (ERP). AI-driven ERP systems, like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Copilot, are redefining how businesses manage finance, operations, supply chains, and customer engagement.
Microsoft’s Copilot functionality brings a new level of intelligence to Business Central, enabling users to automate tasks, generate insights, and interact with data in more intuitive ways. From predictive analytics to natural language interaction, these capabilities are designed to reduce manual effort, enhance productivity, and deliver strategic value across the organization.1
This isn’t just about making ERP easier to use—it’s about making ERP work harder for you, by transforming how users interact with data, collaborate across departments, and make timely, informed decisions.
Let’s take an in-depth look at the top 10 Copilot features for Business Central that customers can use to elevate their day-to-day operations:
1. Predictive Analytics: From Data to Decisions
Predictive analytics in Business Central allows users to take a proactive approach to planning by leveraging historical data to forecast future outcomes. Copilot uses AI models to evaluate sales history, customer behavior, seasonal trends, purchasing patterns, and even external market factors—then projects likely future performance.
Within Business Central, predictive tools are integrated into several core areas. For example, Sales and Inventory Forecasting uses historical transactions and item movement data to anticipate demand. Cash Flow Forecasting builds a forward-looking view of your liquidity based on payables, receivables, and projected transactions.
Copilot simplifies access to this data through conversational prompts or embedded insights, delivering forecasts directly into the user interface without requiring manual analysis or advanced configuration.
Business Central Predictive Analytics Example:
A sales manager can use Copilot to view a forecasted sales trend for a product category over the next quarter. Based on previous years and current order volume, Copilot predicts a spike in demand. The system suggests adjusting marketing campaigns and replenishment levels in advance, helping the company increase revenue while reducing stockouts.
2. Process Automation: Free Up Time, Reduce Errors
Repetitive administrative tasks are some of the most time-consuming activities in ERP systems. Copilot in Business Central identifies patterns in user behavior—such as frequent invoice posting, approval workflows, or data entry—and suggests opportunities for automation.
Users can activate built-in workflow templates, automate actions via Power Automate flows, or use Copilot’s recommendations to configure automation rules directly in the system. These automations span finance, purchasing, sales, and even intercompany operations.
Copilot can also surface routine task suggestions at the point of action. For instance, when creating recurring journals, Copilot may suggest defaulting dates, vendors, or ledger accounts based on previous activity.
Business Central Process Automation Example:
An accounts payable clerk processes dozens of monthly vendor invoices. Copilot recognizes the repetition and recommends a workflow automation. Once activated, invoices from regular vendors are auto-matched to purchase orders and routed for approval, with minimal manual oversight. The result: time savings, fewer errors, and faster payment cycles.
3. Real-Time Analytics: Instant Insights for Smarter Decisions
Copilot brings real-time analytics to Business Central by continuously pulling live operational data into dashboards, reports, and KPI visuals. Unlike traditional reporting methods, which rely on static or delayed data, Copilot surfaces up-to-the-minute metrics that reflect what’s happening across your business right now.
These insights are accessible within role-based dashboards, such as the Finance Manager, Salesperson, or Operations Coordinator views. Copilot-enhanced analytics can also be tied to Power BI integrations, providing deeper drill-down capabilities with dynamic charts and trendlines.
Users can ask natural language questions like, “What are my top five performing products this month?” and Copilot will return real-time visualizations within seconds.
Business Central Real-Time Analytics Example:
A warehouse supervisor reviews the day’s shipment status and notices a rise in unfulfilled orders. Copilot highlights the affected product categories, identifies a lagging supplier, and recommends rescheduling deliveries to maintain fulfillment SLAs. The issue is resolved before it becomes a customer complaint.
4. Personalized Recommendations: Tailored, Intelligent Guidance
Copilot doesn’t just automate—it learns. Based on historical transactions, user activity, and business rules, it provides context-aware recommendations to help users make smarter decisions. These recommendations may appear as task suggestions, reorder point alerts, pricing adjustments, or cross-selling ideas—tailored to the specific user or role.
In Business Central, this intelligence is embedded directly into pages like Item Cards, Customer Cards, and Sales Orders, where Copilot can suggest stock levels, alternative products, payment terms, or delivery timelines.
Over time, Copilot becomes more accurate as it learns from your specific usage patterns, industry trends, and organizational goals.
Business Central Personalized Recommendation Example:
A purchasing manager receives an alert: Copilot identifies a product that’s moving faster than forecasted and suggests adjusting the reorder point and increasing safety stock. At the same time, it recommends negotiating a bulk purchase discount with the vendor based on the projected increase in order volume.
5. AI-Driven Chatbots: Smarter Customer and Employee Support
AI-driven chatbots in Business Central use natural language understanding to answer queries, initiate workflows, and provide support to both customers and internal teams. Copilot can be embedded within customer portals, employee dashboards, or mobile apps to enable self-service capabilities that reduce the need for manual support.
These bots can access data such as:
- Order status
- Payment history
- Shipment tracking
- Inventory availability
- Account balances
Copilot also integrates with Power Virtual Agents, allowing businesses to extend chatbot functionality across broader use cases, such as onboarding assistance or internal helpdesk support.
Business Central AI-Driven Chatbot Example:
A customer needs an invoice copy. Rather than contacting the finance team, they ask the chatbot in the customer portal. Copilot instantly retrieves the invoice from Business Central and emails it to the customer—improving response time and reducing internal workload.
6. Fraud Detection: Keep Your Data and Finances Safe
Copilot’s fraud detection capabilities are based on anomaly detection models that scan financial and operational data for unusual patterns. This could include duplicate invoices, atypical transaction amounts, inconsistent GL postings, or suspicious vendor activity.
Business Central users can receive real-time alerts through notification centers, workflow escalations, or flagged journal entries. These alerts can be configured based on thresholds, transaction types, or custom AI-based rules.
Copilot also integrates with Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection for more advanced scenarios such as eCommerce fraud, payment validation, and account takeovers.
Business Central Fraud Detection Example:
During a month-end review, Copilot flags a series of high-value payments to a new vendor. The amounts fall just under the approval limit—raising a red flag. The finance controller investigates and discovers a misclassified vendor account. Early detection avoids an expensive financial error and triggers a new internal control policy.
7. Supply Chain Optimization: AI-Enhanced Operational Efficiency
Supply chain optimization in Business Central is powered by AI algorithms that assess supplier lead times, stock levels, order history, and customer demand. Copilot provides recommendations for reorder quantities, replenishment schedules, and vendor prioritization—all built into the Procurement and Inventory modules.
Copilot also helps identify slow-moving or obsolete inventory, track vendor performance KPIs, and simulate procurement scenarios to improve cost control.
This functionality integrates with Planning Worksheets, Item Forecasts, and Demand Planning tools inside Business Central.
Business Central Supply Chain Optimization Example:
A production planner reviews Copilot’s recommendations in the planning worksheet. The system suggests switching vendors for a key component due to improved lead time performance. At the same time, it proposes staggered ordering to avoid overstocking, aligning supply with projected sales orders.
8. Financial Forecasting: A Smarter Look at Tomorrow’s Bottom Line
Financial forecasting in Business Central combines AI-driven modeling with cash flow, revenue, and cost data to simulate future outcomes. Copilot helps users build “what-if” scenarios by adjusting key inputs—such as customer payment behavior, vendor payment terms, or payroll changes—and instantly visualizing the impact.
Forecasts can be accessed through Cash Flow Forecast pages, Financial Reports, and Power BI integrations, with Copilot adding intelligent guidance at each step.
It can also alert users when forecasted balances fall below thresholds or when revenue projections deviate from targets.
Business Central Financial Forecasting Example:
A CFO builds a cash flow forecast using Copilot. The system highlights a potential cash gap in Q3 due to delayed receivables. Copilot recommends negotiating early payment discounts or adjusting credit terms with high-risk customers—providing actionable insights to preserve liquidity.
9. Enhanced Reporting: Custom Reports at Your Fingertips
Copilot enhances reporting in Business Central by simplifying the process of building and customizing reports. Users can request custom summaries, grouping, filtering, and visualization generation using plain language prompts.
Reports can be generated across sales, inventory, finance, and customer data, and then shared via Excel, Power BI, or PDF exports.
Copilot uses AI to determine the best layout, data sources, and visual structure—streamlining the reporting process without requiring technical expertise.
Business Central Enhanced Reporting Example:
A sales manager types, “Generate a report showing sales by product group for the last six months, grouped by territory.” Copilot creates an interactive dashboard with bar charts, tables, and summary KPIs—ready to present in the next team meeting.
10. Natural Language Processing (NLP): Conversational ERP Experiences
Copilot’s NLP capabilities let users interact with Business Central through natural, conversational language. Instead of navigating menus or searching for report filters, users can simply type or speak requests.
NLP queries can be used to:
- Retrieve records
- Run calculations
- Launch workflows
- Answer ad hoc questions
- Summarize trends
This significantly reduces the learning curve for new users and boosts productivity for everyone.
Business Central NLP Example:
A new employee unfamiliar with Business Central asks, “How much did we spend on office supplies last month?” Copilot instantly pulls the data and returns a breakdown by vendor, department, and location—without the user needing to know where to find that data manually.
Closing Thoughts: AI-Powered ERP is Here to Stay
As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it’s clear that ERP systems are no longer just back-office record keepers—they are becoming intelligent, proactive business partners. The integration of Copilot into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central marks a pivotal shift in how organizations manage their operations, make decisions, and respond to change.
Copilot’s capabilities in Business Central—ranging from predictive analytics and process automation to natural language queries and AI-driven reporting—are fundamentally transforming the ERP user experience. These tools are not only simplifying workflows, but also empowering employees at every level to work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence.2
By embedding intelligence directly into everyday tasks, Copilot turns Business Central into a dynamic platform for continuous improvement and strategic execution. Whether it’s helping a sales team identify opportunities, a finance manager uncovering cash flow risks, or a supply chain leader optimizing procurement—Copilot ensures the right insights reach the right people at the right time.
The future of ERP is intelligent, intuitive, and insight-driven—and Business Central with Copilot is leading the way.
Partnering With Experts: How CIT Maximizes Business Central Success
Implementing Business Central is a powerful step toward digital transformation—but the real value comes from customizing it to meet your unique needs, aligning it with your business goals, and ensuring your team knows how to use it effectively. That’s where Custom IT Solutions comes in.
With deep Business Central expertise and experience, CIT delivers end-to-end solutions that drive value across your organization. From initial strategy and planning to implementation, support, and continuous optimization, our team is committed to ensuring you get the most out of your ERP investment.
Our Business Central Services Include:
- System Design & Implementation
We tailor Business Central environments to your specific processes, workflows, and industry requirements—ensuring scalability, integration, and future-readiness from day one.
- Data Migration & Configuration
Our experts handle seamless data transitions, mapping, and configuration to preserve business continuity while modernizing your ERP infrastructure.
- Training & User Enablement
We provide in-depth user training, change management guidance, and best practices to ensure your teams are confident and empowered in using Business Central effectively.
- Ongoing Support & Optimization
ERP is never “set and forget.” We offer continuous improvement strategies, system audits, and Copilot feature enhancements to ensure your ERP solution evolves with your business.
Why Partner with CIT?
- Proven Industry Experience
We’ve supported clients across manufacturing, distribution, retail, services, and more—bringing best practices and sector-specific insights to every engagement.
- Certified Microsoft Partner
As a trusted Microsoft Partner, we stay current on platform capabilities and product roadmaps—helping you stay ahead of the curve.
- Personalized, Strategic Approach
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all ERP. Every Business Central solution we deliver is customized, consultative, and designed around your business outcomes.
With Business Central and Copilot at the core—and CIT as your guide—you’re equipped to not only run your business more efficiently, but to grow it strategically, backed by the power of AI.
Let’s talk about how Copilot can work for you
Sources
1 Microsoft. “Work Smarter with Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365 Business Central.” Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog, May 13, 2024. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2024/05/13/work-smarter-with-microsoft-copilot-in-dynamics-365-business-central/
2 Microsoft. “Copilot in Business Central Overview.” Microsoft Learn. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/copilot-overview
