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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / How can SMBs use AI & ...
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
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How can SMBs use AI & automation in Business Central for low-cost, better forecasting?

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Posted on by alivedean
Hi Experts,
Iā€™m exploring ways to enhance financial forecasting and real-time decision-making in Dynamics 365 Business Central for an SMB environment.
Specifically, Iā€™d like to understand:
- How can AI-driven insights and automation be effectively used within Business Central?
- What are the best third-party integrations for improving forecasting accuracy?
- How can we implement these capabilities without significantly increasing complexity or implementation costs?
Any real-world examples, best practices, or recommended tools would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Business Central
  • Suggested answer
    Teagen Boll Profile Picture
    Teagen Boll 2,979 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
    There are a lot of different AI features, really there is more being added every updated and it can be hard to keep track.
     
    Some of them you may be interested in:
    • You can use Azure AI for predictive cash flow forecasts in Business Central: Set up cash flow forecasts by using Azure AI in Dynamics 365 Business Central - Training | Microsoft Learn
    • Copilot chat and analysis is a standard free feature in BC: Get item insights with advanced KPIs and summary | Microsoft Learn and Chat with Copilot (preview) - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
    • For third party integrations the market is changing so fast it would be hard for me to recommend a specific tool. Most ISV's in BC are releasing AI features that are copilot related. If you aren't interested in Copilot its becoming easier to take Claude and integrate Claude into environments. What I do with clients is usually map out what problems they are trying to solve and then pick a tool after.
    • The best way to save money on implementation costs is to start doing detailed process mapping internally. Once you have a firm grasp of what you are trying to automate it becomes easier to select tools. You can do a lot of the leg work and consult a partner once you've done a lot of that work. Or if you have technical expertise in house I have seen some clients deploy AI automation tools with just minor assistance.
     
    Hopefully that gives you a bit of information to start!
    Teagen Boll, CPA
    Social: LinkedIn
  • Suggested answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    YUN ZHU 101,723 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
    Hi, hope the following can give you some hints.
    Standard feature
    Forecast your cash flow in Dynamics 365 Business Central
    The Sales and Inventory Forecast extension
    Create a demand forecast
    Business Central 2025 wave 1 (BC26): Summarize with Copilot (New capability of Copilot)
     
    Thanks.
    ZHU
  • Suggested answer
    OussamaSabbouh Profile Picture
    OussamaSabbouh 17,104 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
    Hello,
    For an SMB on Business Central, Iā€™d start with what BC already gives you before adding anything heavy: use cash flow forecasting, late payment prediction, analysis mode/Analysis Assist, and Power BI-based inventory forecasting to get quick AI-driven signals with relatively low cost and complexity; thatā€™s usually the best first step because it stays close to standard and avoids building a mini data platform too early. For third-party tools, Microsoft Docs mainly points you toward Marketplace add-ons rather than naming one ā€œbestā€ forecasting product, so my practical advice is to keep it simple: Power BI for better visibility and scenario reporting, and only add a specialist forecasting ISV if standard BC + Power BI clearly canā€™t handle your planning horizon, seasonality, or demand volatility. The main best practice is to keep transaction posting in BC, insight/modeling in the analytics layer, and approval/decision logic with users, otherwise the setup becomes expensive fast; real-world SMB wins usually come from improving a few focused use cases first ā€” cash visibility, collections risk, demand signals, and exception-based review ā€” instead of trying to automate every forecast from day one.
    Regards,
    Oussama Sabbouh

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