Boost, Automate, Grow: Exploring Copilot in Business Central

What is Copilot in Business Central? 

Copilot in Business Central is a groundbreaking AI-powered assistant embedded directly into your ERP environment. It’s designed to work across multiple business functions and assist users in real-time. From crafting email replies to summarizing lengthy records, Copilot saves time and improves productivity. It’s like having a smart assistant that understands your business context, data structure, and objectives—available whenever you need it. 

The real power of Copilot lies in its contextual intelligence. It understands the structure of your Business Central data and responds accordingly, reducing the need to jump between screens or perform manual lookups. This translates into faster decisions, less data entry, and more time to focus on strategic goals. 

Key Features of Copilot in Business Central 

Copilot’s capabilities continue to evolve. Some of the most powerful features currently include: 

• Natural Language Chat Interface: Ask questions like “What were our top-selling products in Q1?” and get an instant answer in plain English. 

• Data Summarization: Copilot can condense long reports, invoices, or records into concise, actionable summaries. 

• Email Drafting: Create professional and personalized customer emails using business context pulled directly from CRM and ERP data. 

• Product Description Generator: Use AI to write compelling product copy based on technical specifications. 

• Inventory Insights: Forecast trends and anticipate shortages before they happen. 

• Analysis Assist: Get intelligent suggestions and summaries directly from your customized list views. 

These features allow non-technical users to harness the power of AI with minimal training or setup. 

Security, Privacy, and Compliance: Enterprise-Grade by Design 

One of the common concerns around AI tools is data privacy. Microsoft has addressed this with robust built-in measures: 

• Respecting User Roles and Permissions: Copilot operates strictly within the user’s existing permissions. It cannot access or process data the user does not already have access to. 

• Data Sovereignty: For EU customers, data remains within the EU Data Boundary and adheres to GDPR and other regional compliance regulations. 

• No Data Mining for Model Training: Microsoft does not use customer prompts or business data to train its foundation models unless explicit permission is granted. 

These safeguards ensure that Copilot meets the security, compliance, and governance needs of modern businesses, including those in regulated industries. 

AI with Integrity: Microsoft's Responsible AI Principles 

Microsoft’s Copilot aligns with the company’s Responsible AI framework, ensuring ethical and safe use of generative AI technologies. The framework includes: 

• Fairness: Reducing algorithmic bias in AI-driven suggestions. 

• Reliability and Safety: Ensuring consistent and dependable outcomes. 

• Transparency: Making AI behavior understandable to users. 

• Accountability: Built-in audit trails and user control. 

This commitment is not just theoretical—it’s reflected in documentation, feedback loops, and policy updates. Businesses can confidently use Copilot knowing it’s built on ethical foundations. 

Cost and Access: What's the Price of Innovation? 

Today, Copilot is included at no additional cost with all Business Central Online licenses. However, organizations should be aware that Microsoft may introduce: 

• Fair-use policies to prevent over-consumption. 

• Feature-based pricing models for premium capabilities. 

• Add-ons or tiered licensing for industry-specific tools. 

For now, Copilot offers significant value—especially for SMBs looking to drive digital transformation without adding more software costs. 

Also, there is no minimum user count—even a solo entrepreneur can benefit from AI assistance. 

Azure AI Quota: Understanding the Relationship with Copilot 

There’s often confusion between Copilot and the broader Azure AI features in Business Central. Here's the distinction: 

• Copilot uses large language models for natural language interactions, which are not billed against Azure AI time. 

• Other AI Features—like demand forecasting or late payment predictions—use separate Azure Machine Learning services and draw from the 30-minute Azure AI quota included in your license. 

So, using Copilot won't impact your Azure AI time, making it a cost-effective way to get AI into users’ hands immediately. 

International Availability and Language Support 

While Copilot’s early rollouts are primarily in English-speaking markets, Microsoft is working to expand: 

• Language Support: More languages will become available over time to accommodate global teams. 

• Regional Access: Different Copilot features may launch in different geographies based on demand, compliance readiness, and infrastructure availability. 

Customization Compatibility: Will It Work with My Unique Setup? 

Copilot is increasingly capable of understanding and interacting with custom environments, such as: 

• Custom tables and fields from installed extensions 

• User-defined list pages and views 

• Embedded Power BI dashboards 

While some features like Chat with Copilot work out of the box with customizations, others may require fine-tuning or development support. 

Does Copilot Require Data Training? 

Unlike traditional machine learning models that demand large training datasets and complex setup, Copilot leverages: 

• Pre-trained foundation models 

• Built-in context awareness from your Business Central environment 

• Metadata like user roles, entities, and workflows 

That means no training phase, no data wrangling, and no setup delay. Businesses can begin using Copilot as soon as it's enabled in their environment. 

Building Your Own Copilot Experiences 

Want to go beyond out-of-the-box functionality? 

• Use AL and Visual Studio Code to extend existing Copilot behavior or build your own conversational flows. 

• Leverage Copilot Studio to design custom chatbots with business-specific logic. 

• Build standalone apps that connect to Business Central APIs and infuse them with AI. 

This extensibility opens the door to vertical solutions—ideal for industries like manufacturing, logistics, retail, or healthcare. 

Keeping Up with Innovation: Staying in the Loop 

Copilot evolves fast, with new features landing regularly. To stay ahead: 

• Bookmark the Business Central Release Plans to preview what’s coming. 

• Subscribe to Microsoft’s product update blogs. 

• Join the Dynamics 365 community forums to learn from other users and developers. 

Being proactive ensures you can leverage new features early and maintain a competitive edge. 

Demonstrating Copilot: A Partner's Guide 

Business Central partners can easily showcase Copilot through Microsoft’s Customer Digital Experiences (CDX) platform. These environments are pre-loaded with demo data and configured for Copilot functionality. 

Steps include: 

1. Provision a CDX tenant with Business Central Online. 

1. Use Microsoft’s demo scripts and assets to present scenarios like inventory management, sales insights, or collections automation. 

1. Configure any additional agents or connectors as needed. 

This makes Copilot a compelling part of client pitches and presales discussions. 

Copilot in Business Central vs. Microsoft 365 Copilot 

Copilot in Business Central is embedded directly into ERP workflows, making it a powerful assistant for tasks like forecasting, managing inventory, and generating reports. It understands business data and structure, helping users navigate and make decisions within the context of their operations. On the other hand, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is built into productivity tools like Excel, Word, and Outlook. It focuses on understanding documents, messages, and schedules, making it ideal for tasks such as writing emails, creating presentations, and summarizing reports. These two Copilots can also work together through Copilot for Finance, a standalone Microsoft 365 product that connects ERP data with Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook and Teams for a more unified and intelligent workflow. 

Deployment and Integration Limitations 

Before you get started, consider these technical constraints: 

• Online-Only Availability: Copilot is exclusive to Business Central Online—on-premises or private cloud deployments are not supported. 

• ISV Embed Limitations: Customers using ISV Embed applications may not access full Copilot features, though ISVs can create their own AI-enhanced solutions. 

Understanding these limitations helps with planning deployments and setting user expectations. 

Final Thoughts A Smarter Way to Do Business 

In an era defined by digital transformation, Copilot in Business Central is a leap forward. It’s not just about automation—it’s about empowerment. It’s about giving people the tools to focus on work that matters. 

Whether you're a startup aiming to scale or a seasoned company optimizing processes, Copilot brings enterprise-grade AI within reach. It’s secure, responsible, customizable, and built with your business goals in mind. Are you ready to put AI to work in your ERP?