Blog by Jason Bradley, Solution Architect, TVision Technology
This year I had the great pleasure of representing TVision Technology, along with our MD, Pippa Odell and Sales Director, Jon Bain, at Directions EMEA 2023. This Microsoft partners-only conference, which happens every November, is a great opportunity to hear about current and future plans for Microsoft’s leading ERP, CRM and Cloud solutions, including Business Central. And this year was no different!
Directions EMEA is the “Go To Place” for Dynamics Partners, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)and Value-Added Resellers (VARs) to meet with Microsoft, network with each other and find out where products such as Business Central, Power Platform and other Dynamics solutions are heading. This year the conference took place from 1-3 November in Lyon, France. There were 2964 attendees from 803 organisations, representing 70 countries and, in total, we all spent three days listening to a total of 247 presenters delivering three keynotes and 248 sessions, round tables, and Q&A sessions.
AI and Copilot are the future
The key message that I took from Directions EMEA 2023 is that Microsoft is very much focused on AI and Copilot as the way forward for its product innovation. In the keynote session, the Microsoft CVP for business applications marketing Emily He spoke about the move away from traditional navigation structures and towards “a new user experience based on interactive communication like questions and natural language requests.”
The Microsoft team then showcased two Co-pilot based application offerings currently available within Business Central. The first is AI-generated product descriptions. These are currently available in eight languages and this allows customers to generate descriptions in one language and then provide translated descriptions that apply the semantics in each addition language rather than a word for word translation.
The second is “Reconcile with Co-pilot” on Business Central’s bank reconciliation page which allows a user to input a bank statement and then allows Co-pilot to generate the reconciliation. Microsoft program manager, Jannik Bausager, was very careful to stress that 100% matching is still not available but they are currently working on areas such as G/L account matching for bank interest fees. Co-pilot is already able to help users match the right account to the bank statement lines but the implication is that, in future, it will be able to do even more.
AI and Co-pilot also featured very heavily in the seminar topics. From seminar titles such as “I’ve got 99 problems but AI ain’t one” to “You need to implement AI now. But what even is AI” and “Designing safe AI experiences for your customers” it is clear that AI was definitely the topic of the year at Directions EMEA 2023.
About TVision Technology Ltd
TVision deliver efficiency, control and growth by having one of the largest and most experienced Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central teams in the UK. In addition to deep technical know-how, every member of the team takes real pleasure from implementing solutions that are just the right fit for your business – no matter what industry you are in, including Bevica our drinks industry specific solution. That’s why our customers stay with us for the long term, whether they are implementing a new system, enhancing their existing deployment, or looking for an outstanding support partner.
