Copilot in Business Central is Microsoft’s AI assistance built into the ERP itself. It drafts text, suggests entries and answers questions about your data, but it only pays off when your master data, permissions and processes are in order. If you are weighing it up, or looking for a European partner to help you roll it out, this is what it does today, what it needs from you, and when it is worth building your own.
What you need to know
- Copilot ships with Business Central. An administrator turns each capability on or off.
- Microsoft adds and changes capabilities with every release wave. Check what is available in your version, country and language.
- Poor item and customer data produces poor suggestions. Clean data comes first.
- A person reviews every suggestion. Copilot assists; it does not replace your accountant.
- Where the standard stops, AL developers can build your own Copilot features as upgrade-safe extensions.
What Copilot in Business Central actually is
Copilot in Business Central is a set of AI capabilities that Microsoft delivers as part of the standard product. They appear where people already work: on the item card, in bank reconciliation, on sales documents and in list pages.
Alongside these capabilities, Microsoft is introducing agents. An agent is more autonomous than an assistant: it picks up a task, such as handling an incoming customer request, and prepares the next steps for a user to approve. At the time of writing, several of these agents are still in preview and limited to certain countries and languages.
Built-in capabilities you can expect
Names and scope change between versions, so this list is deliberately generic. Typically you will find:
- Item text. Copilot drafts marketing copy from an item’s attributes, which you edit before using it in a web shop or catalogue.
- Bank reconciliation help. Suggestions for matching bank transactions to ledger entries, and for posting what is left over.
- Sales line suggestions. From a description or a document, Copilot proposes items and quantities for a quote or order.
- Chat and help. Users ask in plain language how to do something, or find records without knowing the menus.
- List analysis. Copilot helps group and summarise data in a list so trends are quicker to spot.
Not every capability is available in every country or language at the same time. Open the Copilot capabilities page in your own environment before you plan around a specific feature.
What has to be in place first
Copilot works from your data, so data quality sets the ceiling. Thin item cards give thin product text; inconsistent customer records give wrong sales lines. Cleaning master data is the most valuable preparation you can do.
Permissions matter too. Copilot only sees what the signed-in user can see, so permission sets and roles must reflect reality. If everyone has access to everything today, fix that before you switch anything on.
An administrator has to enable the capabilities. Some of them require you to allow data to be processed by Azure OpenAI outside your geography when the service is not offered in your region. For companies in the EU that is a data protection decision, and it belongs with whoever owns GDPR compliance, not only with IT.
Finally, people. Users need to know what Copilot is good at, where it gets things wrong, and that every suggestion is read before it is accepted. Short training on your own data beats a generic demo.
Extending Copilot in Business Central with AL
The built-in capabilities cover common tasks. If you have a process that is specific to you, such as reading supplier price lists or classifying returns, an AL developer can build a Copilot feature of your own.
The Business Central system application includes an AI module that lets an extension call your own Azure OpenAI resource. The feature can appear in the same interface as Microsoft’s, with the same rule that a user confirms the result. The key point is that everything lives in an extension, so it follows the same principles as any other customization and survives Microsoft’s updates. We cover those in our Business Central customization guide, and they apply to any Business Central development work, AI or not.
Your own AI also needs running: monitoring outputs, keeping Azure costs visible, and retesting when models change. Plan that as part of ongoing software maintenance. If you have inherited an extension from a previous partner, a code audit tells you what you are building on.
Dynamics 365 Sales, Copilot Studio and agents across systems
If you also run Dynamics 365 Sales, it has its own Copilot aimed at sellers: summarising accounts and opportunities, preparing for meetings and drafting emails. It works best when CRM and ERP share the same customer data, which takes a proper integration. That is typical work for Dynamics 365 developers.
When an AI solution has to work across several systems, Power Platform and Copilot Studio are usually the route Microsoft points to for building your own agents that draw on Business Central and other sources. Anything beyond that is custom AI development.
What about cost?
We deliberately quote no prices. Microsoft regularly changes what is included in the Business Central licence and what is billed by consumption, particularly for agents. Check current Microsoft licensing, or ask your licensing partner, before you build a business case. If you build on Azure OpenAI yourself, you pay for usage on your own Azure resource.
Frequently asked questions
Many Copilot capabilities come with Business Central, but terms change and agents may be billed separately. Check Microsoft’s current licensing.
It depends on the capability. Some support many languages, others only English or selected countries. Check the capabilities page in your environment.
Copilot makes suggestions that a user reviews and accepts. Design your processes the same way, including when agents arrive.
Yes. AL developers can use the AI module in the system application with your own Azure OpenAI resource and ship the feature as an extension.
What we would do
Pick one or two processes that take real time today, such as product text or bank reconciliation. Measure how long they take now. Clean the data they rely on, enable the relevant capabilities for a small group, and train that group. Measure again after a month, then decide whether to widen the rollout or build your own. See our Business Central development services.
Want help getting started with Copilot in Business Central? Contact us to book a call.
