The much-anticipated Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 Release Wave 1 is finally here, bringing with it a host of new features. In recent releases of Business Central Microsoft has evolved the platform’s AI capabilities and added features targeted to larger organizations.
While many consider Business Central an “SMB” platform, it’s important to note that Microsoft’s definition of “SMB” includes some companies with revenues approaching $1BN and employee headcount of over 1,000.
If you’re pressed for time, here are my top five picks:
Enhanced Integration with Dataverse: The basic integration between Business Central and Dataverse has been expanded. Now, you can add additional fields and tables that your company might need, such as syncing customer ship-to addresses. Microsoft has also revamped the Virtual Tables feature in BC and created a UI for setting up virtual tables within Business Central. Previously the setup process was not very intuitive. The difference between Virtual Tables and using the Dataverse Integration is that Virtual Tables are a “view” of data and don’t consume any storage, whereas using the Dataverse integration actually moves data between the two systems.
This enhancement reduces the need for developer interaction, thereby cutting costs and deployment time. Having an integration designed and supported by Microsoft also de-risks support cases.
Electronic 1099 Filing: A long-awaited feature for US-based Microsoft end users. This feature not only enables electronic filing via the IRIS system but also provides a mechanism to correct vendor setup errors after transactions have already been posted. It’s expected to be fully operational by the end of 2024.
This enhancement takes the guesswork out of a 1x per year process that nearly always results in unanticipated costs. Using this feature requires very little training and will have immediately noticeable cost reduction benefits.
Field Services Integration: Previously, integrating data between Field Services and Business Central required custom integration and sometimes middleware. However, it does require some setup and adds overhead to your invoicing routine because invoices are created using the project module. We recommend considering this one of the options for integrating D365 Field Service with Business Central and not THE option.
Now, it’s simpler to build a business case for using both apps, potentially reducing costs and streamlining integrations. This feature also has the potential to transform the way you do business. The D365 Field Service app is an extremely popular and feature rich platform that drives technician productivity and customer satisfaction.
Mobile App & Barcode Scanning: This low-cost add-on could be a boon for businesses with shop floor employees looking for basic Warehouse Management System (WMS) functionality. The SaaS mobile app now supports several popular 1D and 2D barcodes and worksheet pages, making it a game-changer, especially for those tracking serial or lot numbers.
This enhancement reduces the risk of data entry errors and is fully extensible by developers so it can be customized to your end users unique needs and workflows. This feature also has some transformational qualities in that implementing it will likely solve for issues with pick accuracy, put away accuracy and receiving efficiency (among others).
Better Employee Experiences with Copilot: I could write an entire book on the massive investment Microsoft is making in AI (it is billions of dollars). This release of Business Central has several AI-related additions, all of which help end users do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Here are a few of the ones that most impactful for end users.
- Ask Copilot for help with fields – The Learn More link in tooltips is replaced by an Ask Copilot link that triggers the copilot chat pane to open and asks a question on behalf of the end user. Previously, an end user may have had to skim several parts of the documentation or consult a colleague.
- Create sales lines with copilot – Users can now engage Copilot with structured data or natural language to input lines on sales documents (quote, order, invoice). In other words, you can copy/paste an email or purchase order from a customer into a Copilot prompt. This is a totally new way of entering sales transactions and is a huge time – saver for end users who would have otherwise had to “hunt and peck” for data.
- Create Power Automate flows with copilot – this takes the guesswork out of what can sometimes turn into a complicated and time-consuming endeavor. While there are still some inputs required, this saves a ton of time and can accelerate the process for setting up new flows.
Each of these new AI features give your team a better employee experience. While these features certainly aren’t a silver bullet, they serve as a proactive way to save your internal (or external) support teams from fielding “how do I…” questions and boost your end users’ confidence.
This latest release continues Microsoft’s trend of investing in AI for Business Central and pushing the platform further upmarket. If you have any questions about these new features, please contact us here.
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