We are excited to announce the introduction of Microsoft Copilot features to Microsoft Business Central and 1Staff 365 Back Office.

There are a range of features currently in preview, the anticipation is high, and for good reason. The fusion of these powerful tools promises to revolutionize the way staffing back offices operate, offering unprecedented efficiency and productivity.

Why is this Important?

Microsoft Business Central Copilot is an AI-powered assistant natively threaded through daily processes designed to spark creativity, boost productivity, and eliminate tedious tasks¹². It’s like having a personal assistant that understands your business and helps people navigate through their daily tasks efficiently.

The integration of Microsoft Copilot with Microsoft Business Central and 1Staff 365 Back Office brings together the power of AI with robust staffing-business management tools. This combination will provide businesses with intelligent suggestions, insights, and automation, leading to more informed and efficient operations¹⁶.

What is Available now?

The May 2024 wave release of Microsoft Copilot in Business Central introduced several exciting features. Here’s a list of some of the key features and their descriptions:

Bank Reconciliation Assist: This feature uses AI to help reconcile bank transactions with ledger entries in Business Central⁵. It offers two distinct tasks: Improved Matching of Transactions with Ledger Entries and Suggested General Ledger Accounts.

Generative Language to Query Data: Copilot allows users to chat with it to answer questions in natural language², whether that’s finding 1Staff and financial data they are looking for or asking for guidance on how to use the system.

Analyze Lists: The Analysis Assist feature is a Copilot for the analysis mode on list pages in Business Central across all 1Staff and financial ERP data¹⁵. It provides an interactive and versatile way to calculate, summarize, and examine data¹⁵. Users can express the structure they want in natural language, such as “sort on quantity from smallest to largest” or “show average cost per assignment”, and Analysis Assist uses AI to generate a suggested layout on an analysis tab¹⁵.

Assistant: Copilot serves as an intelligent assistant, seamlessly integrating into Business Central to assist users in boosting productivity and eliminating tedious tasks¹. It helps users with tasks such as finding records in custom tables or using analysis assist on custom lists¹.

Please note that these features are currently in preview and are subject to change. They are part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to enhancing productivity and efficiency through AI-powered tools¹²⁵¹⁵.