3 Ways Microsoft's Copilot AI Will Supercharge Operations For SMEs in 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been the talk of the town when it comes to business impact over the past few years, and with the emergence of generative AI such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot in 2023, its significance for businesses of all sizes – small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) included – cannot be overstated.

Find Out How The Introduction Of Copilot To Microsoft 365 Will Transform Work As You Know It.

Because of this development, AI  holds the promise to supercharge business operations for SMEs this year. From enhancing customer service experiences, to acquiring market insights through predictive analytics and tailored marketing, Microsoft Copilot offers SMEs many opportunities to optimise their efforts for maximum results.

Let's take a look at a few ways that Copilot can help SMEs

1. Microsoft Copilot Helps You Bring Your Products To Customers Faster Than Ever

Featuring Co-pilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ; Source: Microsoft Dynamics 365

Being able to bring a product to market swiftly and efficiently is crucial for success in today's market. Microsoft Copilot expedites this process in the following ways: 

Accelerated Copywriting: Copilot leverages natural language processing (NLP) technology to simplify and speed up the creation of product descriptions, allowing SMEs to swiftly generate engaging content for their products. By automating the creation of product descriptions, SMEs save valuable time and effort that can be redirected towards other critical tasks.

Consistency Across Product Line: By selecting relevant attributes and formats, Copilot ensures consistency in product descriptions across the entire product line, and align them with the SME's brand identity. This ensures consistency and brand coherence across all product listings, enhancing brand credibility and customer trust.

Seamless Integration with Shopify: Through integration with Shopify via Business Central, product publishing to the E-Commerce shop becomes a seamless process, allowing SMEs to quickly launch products online and reach customers efficiently. 

Increased Sales and Conversion Rates: By publishing engaging and informative product descriptions on their entries in the E-Commerce shop, generated with Copilot's assistance, SMEs can bring about higher conversion rates and increased sales, as customers are more likely to make informed purchasing decisions.

By leveraging Microsoft Copilot, SMEs can streamline the product launch process, reduce time-to-market, and achieve greater success in today's competitive landscape.

2. Microsoft Copilot Enhances The Efficiency Of SMEs' Sales Personnel And Consultants

In today's dynamic business landscape, sales personnel and consultants face the challenge of managing vast amounts of data and navigating complex processes efficiently. Microsoft Copilot offers invaluable support to address these challenges:

Productivity and Efficiency: Copilot significantly boosts productivity and efficiency by providing instant access to information, enabling sales personnel and consultants to accomplish tasks more quickly and effectively.

Natural Interaction: Thanks to the NLP capabilities of Copilot, sales personnel and consultants can interact with their data naturally, using their own words. The ability to ask follow-up questions and refine searches also empowers them to find precise answers and relevant information quickly. This intuitive interaction minimises the need for menu navigation, making data access and manipulation more seamless and user-friendly.

Time Saving and Strategic Focus: By streamlining processes and automating routine tasks, Copilot saves valuable time for sales personnel and consultants. This time-saving aspect allows them to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as nurturing client relationships and exploring growth opportunities.

Comprehensive Solution with Dynamics 365 Business Central: When integrated with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Copilot offers a comprehensive solution that empowers businesses to adapt and excel in an ever-changing environment. This combination enhances data management, decision-making, and overall performance.

With Microsoft Copilot, sales personnel and consultants can work smarter, achieve greater efficiency, and drive business success in today's competitive landscape.

3. Microsoft Copilot Will Complement Existing Predictive AI For Multiple Use Cases 

Even before the rise of Copilot, Business Central has long brought the power of AI to SMEs, leveraging AI-driven predictive analytics to help users better forecast customer behaviour and risks more precisely.

Sales and Inventory Forecasting: One way this happens is in sales and demand forecasting, as they will be able to use predictive analytics to anticipate customer demand for products and services. For example, the Sales and Inventory Forecast extension in Business Central to predict your future sales, based on the sales history of the SME to help avoid inventory shortages.

It does so by leveraging the predictive Azure AI, and can be set up to offer just-in-time suggestions for when to make new orders to vendors, in order to replenish inventory and avoid stock-outs.

Late Payment Prediction: Another way Business Central already leverages predictive AI is in the Late Payment Prediction extension, which leverages Azure AI to predict whether an SME should be expecting late payments.

For example, if the extension predicts a delay in payment from a customer, the SME could proactively address the causes behind this delay, which helps minimise overdue receivables, mitigate the risk of non-payment, and ultimately enhance your financial performance.

Freeing Up Time For High-value Tasks: And with the introduction of generative AI technology to Business Central with Copilot, accessing these predictive AI-powered extensions and features will become even easier than before.

The interactive chat functionality integrated with Copilot in Dynamics 365 Business Central offers swift and seamless responses to queries, accelerated record retrieval, and even a platform for acquiring new skills—all through interactions enabled by NLP capabilities.

By eliminating the need for traditional menu navigation,  Copilot enables efficient task completion, and frees up the users' time for high-value tasks. 

Copilot Will Greatly Influence How SMEs Operate In 2024 And Beyond

In conclusion, the introduction of Copilot to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central marks a significant shift in how businesses can optimise their operations and drive success in a competitive landscape. From expediting product launches to enhancing sales efficiency and leveraging predictive AI, Copilot offers SMEs a multitude of opportunities to thrive and excel.

As we look towards the future, it is clear that AI technology, such as Copilot, will continue to play a crucial role in transforming how SMEs operate in 2024 and beyond. To fully harness the potential of this innovative tool, SMEs should embrace the opportunities it presents and explore the ways in which it can supercharge their business operations. 

But Business Central is more than just AI, and offers SMEs a much more comprehensive business solution beyond AI technologies such as Copilot and Azure. To find out what else it can do for your SME, click on the image below to learn more.