Use Copilot for Finance additional native ERP support

Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Aug 2, 2024	-

Business value

Microsoft Copilot for Finance is revolutionizing the collections experience for accounts receivable (AR) personnel. By integrating with Outlook, it enhances customer communications through several key features:

• Provides a summary of customer information directly from the source ERP, eliminating the need for manual data retrieval.
• Offers a summarization of inbound emails in Outlook, streamlining the communication process.
• Assists with crafting customer communication emails, ensuring clarity and professionalism.
• Serves as a single source of truth storage in the ERP for critical updates such as transactions, contact information, action items, and relevant customer communication.

This holistic approach not only optimizes the collections experience but also fosters efficiency and accuracy in AR operations.

Steady and predictable cash flow is the lifeblood of a healthy business, providing the necessary liquidity for day-to-day operations and facilitating strategic investment for growth. An effective collections process in accounts receivable plays a critical role in this context, ensuring timely inflow of revenue and thereby driving the predictability essential for financial planning and stability.

Accounts receivable professionals spend a lot of time in Microsoft Outlook responding to customer balance inquiries. They are switching between Outlook and ERP to gather the required details to perform their work and updating information back to ERP such as follow-up actions, updated contact information, and promise-to-pay dates.

However, Microsoft Copilot for Finance aims to streamline this process significantly. It will enable employees to connect directly to their ERP system from within Outlook. While communicating with customers, accounts receivable personnel can access valuable ERP customer data, receive assistance in crafting email responses, and conveniently save communication summaries and action items back in the ERP system all while avoiding the toll of switching.

Feature details

Copilot for Finance broadens its native support for additional ERPs with the introduction of Dynamics 365 Business Central and SAP. In addition to the generative AI features related to email summarization and composition, this integration is designed to enhance the collection coordinator experience in Microsoft Outlook by offering a range of features that include:

• Customer Financial Details Retrieval: The add-in allows users to access and retrieve customer financial details directly within Outlook, streamlining the process of financial management and decision-making.
• Contact and Invoice Updates: Users can update contact information and invoices directly from Outlook, ensuring that all data is current and accurate across all platforms.
• Business Document Management: The add-in supports the ability to download and send business documents such as invoices and balance statements. This feature simplifies the process of document management and distribution, saving time and improving efficiency.

Geographic areas

This feature will be released into the following Microsoft Azure geographic area:

• United States

See also

Required permissions for Copilot for Finance to work with Dynamics 365 Business Central (docs)