Benefits of Business Central's Integrations with Microsoft's Technology Stack
There are many reasons to choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC) as your ERP – it’s a comprehensive, affordable, and customizable ERP that is secure, quick to install, and easy to learn. One aspect you might not know is how tightly Business Central integrates with Microsoft’s technology stack and productivity tools.
Integration with Microsoft 365
Businesses running Microsoft 365 (Office) will appreciate that Business Central is seamlessly integrated with the Microsoft productivity suite of apps and services, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, SharePoint, LinkedIn, and Teams. Read-only or read/write access to Business Central data can be granted to specific departments and individuals, allowing them to perform their jobs without interrupting coworkers with repeated requests for information.
Excel
For viewing and editing, information such as customers, sale orders, and invoices from Business Central pages can be opened in Excel. When editing, users can perform calculations, prepare reports, and then publish the changes back to Business Central.
Outlook
Sales and customer-facing staff can spend up to half their workweek reading, writing, and responding to emails. With BC’s integration with Outlook and artificial intelligence capabilities, users can access customer and vendor data directly from within Outlook. This functionality can be used to perform many routine tasks, including:
- Emails from someone not already in BC can be added as a new customer without leaving Outlook.
- See the contact card for the sender or the sender’s company. Review information like sales history, outstanding balances, and past due amounts.
- Create invoices from meeting appointments.
- Create sales quotes and orders from customer email requests and reply to the request from within Outlook.
- Create purchase orders for vendors.
- Business Central will create a PDF, attach it to the email response, and save the changes to BC.
Teams
Using Business Central’s Teams integration, users can view the contact list and access customer, vendor, and contact details, including past interactions and any documents related to the contact. Users can also share BC contact details with other Teams members, including links to BC pages and records.
Power Platform and Dataverse
Business Central also integrates with Microsoft’s Power Platform, a suite of cloud technology tools that includes:
- Power BI: Gather data from multiple sources, perform in-depth business analysis, and create visually stunning reports for confident decision-making.
- Power Apps: Create powerful custom apps with little to no coding required.
- Power Automate: Automate routine tasks using drag-and-drop tools.
- Power Virtual Agents: Use little to no coding to create chatbots to engage with your customers.
- Power Pages: Create and administer secure business websites.
- Microsoft Copilot: Apply artificial intelligence to Microsoft products, including Outlook, Power Platform, CRM, and Business Central.
Power Platform integration can supercharge Business Central and enhance BC’s integration with Microsoft Productivity apps, like Teams, Excel, and Outlook. Data can be securely stored and shared between various applications using Microsoft Dataverse.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales (CRM)
Business Central can be integrated with Dynamics 365 Sales to help sales and customer-facing staff be more productive. For instance, a salesperson preparing a sales quote in D365 Sales can access inventory quantity in Business Central to ensure they have enough product available to fulfill the order. Accounts in D365 Sales can be coupled and synchronized with customers in Business Central. Users can also automatically transfer sales orders submitted in D365 Sales to Business Central.
Other Microsoft Services
Microsoft cloud applications running on Azure also benefit from access to over 200 Microsoft Azure products and services. These products include such diverse tools as analytics, administration and governance, integrations, and networking. For example, use Azure Active Directory to provision users and Azure Monitor to analyze the performance of Azure applications.
ISV products
Even though Business Central offers a comprehensive ERP solution, it can be extended to perform specific business and industry functions. Business Central is supported by a large community of Independent Software Vendors that provide over 4,000 BC extensions available on Microsoft’s AppSource.
Integrations to third-party applications
In addition to native integrations to Microsoft’s productivity tools and Power Platform, Business Central also comes with the ability to integrate seamlessly with many third-party applications, so users can use best-of-breed applications for their business solutions. Examples of third-party integration include Shopify, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Salesforce, and many financial, business intelligence, payment systems, CRM, and eCommerce applications.
Business Central is a powerful ERP at home in most businesses, but it is made even more powerful through its integration with Microsoft’s productivity suite and Power Platform. In addition, BC’s extensibility through a robust ISV developer network and native integrations with third-party business applications makes Business Central a top candidate for any business considering a new ERP.
Contact ArcherPoint to learn how your business can get the most from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.