In today’s operating environment, efficiency gains aren’t optional—they’re how SMEs protect margin and scale without adding headcount. SMEs are expected to run increasingly complex workflows, which is why business process automation needs to lift productivity and free teams for higher-value work.
To address this, Microsoft is expanding Dynamics 365 Copilot experiences across Business Central and Power Automate to make automation and insight easier to access. Rolling out in public preview across 2024, these updates use natural language AI to help teams build automations, query data, and speed up routine work inside the product.
If you want to see how Copilot supports sellers in Dynamics 365 Sales, read this article.
Key Dynamics 365 Copilot capabilities (and what they unlock for SMEs)
1. Build Power Automate flows faster with Copilot (Public preview target: May 2024)
- Natural language flow building: Describe what you want to automate in plain English, and Copilot helps generate the flow structure.
- Guided co-authoring: Copilot supports you while you build—suggesting next steps, surfacing relevant guidance, and updating the flow as requirements change.
- Faster time-to-automation: Teams can move from idea to working flow more quickly, reducing manual work and speeding up process improvements.
2. Ask Business Central questions in natural language (Public preview target: April 2, 2024)
- In-app Copilot chat: Ask questions and take actions using natural language to explore ERP data and complete common tasks.
- Faster answers: Find records (like sales orders) and get guided explanations of key concepts without digging through menus.
3. Faster, more accurate e-document processing (Public preview target: April 2024)
- Smarter matching and mapping: Copilot helps match vendor invoices to purchase orders and map fields more accurately to reduce exceptions and rework.
- Automatic updates: When e-invoice information is received, the system can update relevant purchase order details to keep records current and reduce delays.
4. Generate sales document lines faster (Public preview target: April 2024)
- Flexible inputs: Provide context as text (and where supported, structured prompts) and Copilot can propose relevant sales document lines.
- Smarter suggestions: Copilot can recommend sales lines based on prior transactions and customer context to speed up quoting and reduce manual entry.
5. Create analysis tabs with a description (Public preview target: April 2, 2024)
- Describe the view you want: Tell Copilot what you want to analyse and how you want it laid out, and it can generate an analysis tab you can refine.
- Faster decisions: Quicker access to the right views helps leaders spot issues earlier and act with more confidence.
6. Speed up item and product setup (Public preview target: July 2024)
- Faster item setup: Copilot can suggest values based on similar items to accelerate product creation and reduce errors in master data.
- Better master data quality: Copilot supports item details like variants, units of measure, and dimensions—reducing rework and improving readiness.
7. Contextual help inside the product (Public preview target: April 2024)
- In-context guidance: The application can surface relevant Microsoft Learn content and guidance based on the field you’re working in.
- Faster onboarding: Users can learn what a field means and how to use it while they work—reducing training time and support tickets.
Why Dynamics 365 Copilot matters for SMEs
Dynamics 365 Copilot across Power Automate and your ERP can change how teams automate work and access operational data—without needing specialist skills for every task. By using natural language to support complex workflows, these capabilities reinforce business process automation by reducing manual effort and helping teams spend more time on higher-value work.
Together, these updates make automation, insight, and data interaction more accessible—starting from their announced public preview dates across 2024. For the latest details and timelines, read these release notes.
