Tired of wasting hours on manual data entry and repetitive tasks that don’t scale?
Every SMB has the same dilemma: manual, repetitive, non-productive work gets in the way of growth.
The thing is…
Business Central ERP has all the tools you need to automate your key business processes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive business management solution that can take over the busy work and let you focus on the stuff that really matters.
Business Central users report saving 40 hours per month through automation of manual tasks. That’s a full work week per month that’s suddenly free for you.
Let’s dig in!
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
- Why automation is the key to productivity
- The most useful Business Central automation tools
- Where to start with workflow automation
- Real-world use cases that save time and money
Why Business Central Automation is a Game Changer
Manual, repetitive processes are a massive productivity black hole. How many hours a week does your team waste re-entering the same data into multiple systems? How many invoices pile up waiting for approval because everyone’s tied up in meetings?
Business Central’s business process automation frees up all that time by automating the most repetitive and time-consuming business processes. The thing is…
According to research, employees overestimate the potential time savings of task automation. On average, respondents believe automating a repetitive task would save them 240 hours per year, or six full weeks.
So how much of your team’s time is tied up in work that software can do better? Automating even a few of the most time-consuming manual tasks would set you free.
How Power Automate Integration Can Transform Your Business
Power Automate integration is the secret sauce in Business Central. Power Automate is Microsoft’s platform for workflow automation.
With Power Automate and Business Central, you can automate business processes at a level of sophistication previously reserved for major corporations with large IT budgets.
Some simple examples of what Power Automate can do for you include:
- Send automatic reminders for invoices that are past due
- Sync inventory levels in real-time across multiple sales channels
- Automatically create work orders when stock levels fall below a preset point
- Send automated notifications to team members
Power Automate templates provide pre-built workflows for common business processes. You can also build your own custom workflows for your unique business needs.
The beauty of Power Automate is that it’s designed for non-developers. You don’t need to know code to set up workflows that will save you hours each week.
These AI-Powered Features Actually Work
Copilot in Business Central is not another AI buzzword. This is an AI tool that actually helps your employees work faster.
Copilot can help you automate:
- Writing product descriptions
- Sales data analysis
- Bank account reconciliation
- Creating marketing content for your products
Businesses are reducing their time to market for product listings by 50% with Copilot’s product description generator. Instead of spending hours manually writing product descriptions, your team simply inputs the product details and Copilot does the rest.
Copilot is an AI tool that learns from your data. The more you use it, the better it will get at understanding your business and automating your work.
Stop Waiting on Approvals with Automated Approval Workflows
We all know what the real productivity killer is in any organization.
Approval processes.
Purchase orders queue up in someone’s inbox waiting for a missing approval. Expense reports get lost in an endless loop of email sign-offs. A simple decision that could be made in an hour drags on for days because nobody wants to “take the heat” for signing off.
Business Central’s automated approval workflows eliminate this completely. Once you set up your approval rules in Business Central, the system automates the rest.
An employee submits a purchase order, and Business Central automatically routes it to the appropriate approver. If the approver doesn’t respond by a set time, it escalates to their manager automatically.
No more waiting on people, faster decisions across the organization, and an audit trail of who approved what and when.
Bank Reconciliation Made Simple
Bank reconciliation is the worst. Hours lost hunting down matching transactions, rootling through piles of receipts, and trying to make sense of it all.
Not anymore.
Business Central automates bank reconciliation through smart matching rules that automatically reconcile most of your bank transactions. The more you use the system, the more the AI algorithm learns from your patterns.
Business Central automatically:
- Matches bank statement lines to posted entries in Business Central
- Suggests matches based on previous transactions
- Highlights unmatched transactions for your review
- Creates missing entries automatically
In most businesses, 80-90% of transactions will reconcile automatically. Your team only has to review unmatched items.
Say Goodbye to Inventory Shortages with Automation
Running out of stock costs you sales. Holding too much stock ties up your cash. Striking the perfect balance is nigh on impossible when you are manually managing inventory.
Business Central’s intelligent inventory automation uses AI to predict demand and suggest reorder levels. The system analyzes your sales patterns, seasonality, lead times, and other factors to tell you exactly when to reorder.
Business Central can automate:
- Calculating and monitoring reorder points
- Creating purchase orders when stock reaches reorder levels
- Inventory counting and adjustments
- Stock level notifications
Set the rules, and let the system optimize your inventory for you without constant manual monitoring.
Automate Document Creation, Approval, and More
Creating quotes, invoices, and orders should not take your team hours to prepare. Business Central’s document automation will generate professional documents for you in seconds.
A customer requests a quote.
You select the products and quantities and Business Central automatically populates the prices, calculates totals, applies any relevant discounts, and creates a PDF quote. The process takes less than a minute.
When the customer accepts, you click to convert the quote to an order. When the order ships, it automatically generates the invoice.
Where to Start with Business Central Automation
Automation is a journey, not a sprint. Don’t feel like you need to automate everything right now. Get one or two automations in place and then keep adding more.
When choosing your first automation project, ask yourself:
- What is the most time-consuming manual task for my team?
- Does Business Central have a built-in automation tool for this task?
- Can I set up this automation using a template?
Focus on automating tasks that will free up the most time for your team. Solve one big annoyance, and your people will be ready for the next.
Making the Most of Business Central Automation
The most common mistake businesses make when adopting automation is to try to automate broken processes.
Before automating a process, make sure it’s fully documented, any bottlenecks and inefficiencies are identified, and streamlined as much as possible first. Only then automate the improved process.
Automating an inefficient process will just give you an inefficient process that works faster.
Automation Tips for SMBs
Maximize the return on your investment in Business Central automation by choosing the right automations, using templates, training your team, and continually optimizing.
- Focus on automating the most time-consuming tasks first
- Take advantage of built-in templates for common automations
- Train your team on how to use the automation tools effectively
- Review and optimize your automations regularly
Automation isn’t a “set and forget” strategy. Regular review and refinement will unlock even more time savings and business value.
The Bottom Line
Automation tools in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are not a luxury. They are a necessity for SMBs that want to compete in today’s fast-paced business environment.
While you are still entering data manually, your competitors will be automating key processes and scaling faster than you can dream of keeping up with them.
The good news is these automation tools are designed for SMBs. You don’t need a massive IT budget or army of developers to get the job done. Business Central has powerful, easy-to-use automation tools that put small and midsize businesses on equal footing with the big corporations.
Pick one automation and automate that. Then keep going. Pick one more and automate it. Pretty soon, you will have dozens of automations in place and your team will be free to focus on the more strategic growth-driving work that automation tools can’t do.
Stop wasting time on menial work that should be handled by software. Your SMB deserves better.