Episode 516: Business Central Is Transforming Business Management: Insights from Mike Morton

Hey, welcome back to another episode of Dynamics Corner. This is a very special episode at Directions.

I'm your co-host, Chris. And this is Brad. This episode is recorded on April 29th, 2026. Chris, Chris, Chris, here we are at Directions North America. And with us today, we have the opportunity to speak with a special guest, Mike Morton. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. We really appreciate having the opportunity to talk with you about Business Central.

Yeah, thank you guys. It's uh great to be here.

Business Central Growth And Ambition

Thank you. And uh one thing that we noticed in the keynote is that Business Central has uh grown to over 50,055,000 installations. Uh can you tell us a little bit about the growth of Business Central?

Yeah, I mean it's it's been uh just really continuous strong growth. It's uh um, you know, uh when we started, you know, growing from a very small number to growing a little bit more, um, you know, is is maybe not sort of too surprising, but having the uh over the years, you know, each 2021, 2022, 2023, we kind of, you know, always sort of assumed there was going to be a slowdown that eventually um and we've just continued to see see sort of the opposite. We've seen um kind of acceleration and and growth and uh just really pleased with sort of the progress that we have in the in the product. Um I I will say that I am uh a bit greedy. Um and so despite the growth, you know, you know, what does it take to get to 100,000 or 200,000 or 400, you know, and so we we are thinking big, um, but certainly the momentum is great. Uh, you know, we continue to see really strong, uh, you know, great positive feedback from customers.

Where Adoption Is Rising Fast

That's great. A lot of customers. Have you noticed any particular markets or regions that have had uh the uh significant growth over the past year?

Yeah, the you know the the growth rates are are relatively sort of consistent. You know, we we've always uh you know had our strongest success in Europe. Um and so for you know, here at Directions North America, uh it is the biggest market for business central, you know, the US being obviously the sort of the biggest economy. Um but the uh you know we are seeing some sort of progress here. And so if we could um you know try to get uh you know, even in the US, it's hard to even talk about it as sort of one market because it's such a big country in sort of different sort of parts of um and uh you know and so I think that uh certainly the US is a sort of a huge opportunity. And then if you kind of go outside the US, uh South America and Asia are certainly uh really two great uh growth vectors for us. And they haven't been um as traditionally sort of strong as sort of some of these other, you know, as the US and and uh in Europe and both of them, um, you know, we did see there's a bunch of people from from South and Central America here at the conference, and uh we look forward to doing more in those locations.

Putting AI Into Real Work

Excellent, excellent. Um you know, I think in 2026, I don't think that you can go one minute without hearing the word AI. And I know that Business Central over the past several years has also introduced a number of AI features, and even at the conference it was announced that the expense agent will be available this year as well. Uh where do you see the position of AI within Business Central and what other areas do you think that AI will be added or features and functions for it?

Yeah, one thing that I will say is that, you know, here at this partner conference, um, you know, we're saying AI front and center, that's the focus, the number one most important thing. Uh I think that when we're in front of a bunch of customers, we'll talk about things differently. We'll talk about, you know, how are they actually gonna get their jobs done more efficiently? How are they gonna be able to grow their businesses faster? How are they gonna be able to do things they couldn't do before? Where AI is obviously gonna be a huge supporting sort of part of that. And so the uh, you know, I think the the message, you know, we come on very strong here because we're we're such foundational believers uh that the technology is just gonna completely change uh the art of what's sort of possible. Um and so the uh it is kind of interesting that when the message at this conference, I think, is is super clear. If you're a partner, you know, you need to be using AI for your work, you need to be prepared to sort of get customers there. And then I think when with customers, we're gonna talk in different terms. So we're gonna be like, hey, how can you make it you know faster to route your goods to the right place, or how can you be more efficient about getting the right tools, or how can you be more efficient about um you know, uh responding to customer requests in an efficient manner? And I think we'll have a very different language.

I I agree, and I see that. And you talk about the efficiencies. So uh customers that are looking to use the application, you talked about uh the story or the messaging that you give with them, how they become more efficient and and how they can use uh and work with uh Business Central in their business. What are some other areas that they can um use the application to become more efficient and how about scalability and growth within the application?

Yeah, it is interesting. A lot of our uh Dimitri actually had a fantastic slide on the end of his day too, where there's sort of you know AI to help make the things you already do more efficient. But then there's potentially this huge category of things that you never would have potentially thought to have done in sort of the very, very first place, right? And so um, you know, I have uh I have a brother that you know does an awning company and he has all sorts of typical stuff of responding to sales requests and invoices and vendor payments and all those kinds of things. But you know, what if AI could make it so when somebody says, hey, I'm interested in an awning, and it could respond right there with a visualization of the awning at the location, you know, with their logo. Um and you know, he he does that today, but he already you know he only does that after being under some contract or some business development. You know, can you actually uh you know build new business by actually um you know doing things that you know would otherwise be sort of very, very costly to do? And so I think it's a a real opportunity to actually um you know increase growth. And so I think you're gonna look at us, yes, things like expenses, payables, that's about reducing costs. Um but I think you're gonna see a lot more investment about how companies can actually uh do things they never imagined they can do before.

How To Start With Copilot

Oh, that's great. That's great. That's great. It's uh it's very exciting. No, it's a lot of exciting. I've been working with the application for quite some time and passionate about the application, and I like to see the growth and I like to see the features and functionality being added to it. And uh with customers just starting out with AI, I know it's it's challenging sometimes for them to adopt AI in their or their organization and to uh sort of navigate the waters of how do I start, how do I begin? So, what are some of your suggestions for customers or even partners who are just starting their journey, how to take advantage of AI within their organization, whether from implementing business central from a partner helping someone or a customer being able to capitalize on these features?

Yeah. So I'll I'll start with uh you know, you first need to just ensure you have access to the tools. And really the most fundamental tool for that is M365 Copilot for Microsoft. Um there are um, you know, there are other you know, you can use uh Chat GPT and other kinds of things, but you're you're gonna want the enterprise version. Um because if you're using the consumer tools A, you're not getting um the best capabilities, like if you're actually not using the sort of the paid versions of these sort of tools. And certainly with M365 Copilot, the integration with um all the Microsoft graph, your your mail, your calendar, your teams, et cetera, sort of really makes that powerful. And then from there, uh, you know, I I I sort of half joked, but it was very half serious. Um just tell it your problem. Like what are you trying to do? Um, don't really overthink it. Um and and you often might tell it uh you know very silly things like, you know, um, I'm trying to build a house, and like, well, I'm not expecting the AI to physically go and build a house out for me, but it might actually come and sort of discover all those kinds of things. Or maybe you're saying I'm you know trying to um you know expand the the reach of my peanut farm or whatever the kind of thing is. And so, you know, what what is it? What are the actual sort of tasks that you're actually trying to do? Um, for partners, like the uh the example that I give is sort of very simple. Go to one of these tools and say, hey, I have a customer named XYZ, they're running uh, you know, GP, you know, version whatever um they want to move over, help um and sort of go from there. And you might be surprised at uh where that you know conversation leads, not just in terms of conversation, but actually in tools. It may end up building you know data migration tools, finding the right ISVs, helping to convert uh you know, you're coming from nav C A L to AL or you know, converting code uh solutions, uh might create documentation. And so I think the uh part of it is really uh having a little bit of that sort of leap of faith of describing what you want to not what you want to do, like what you want to accomplish and having it actually help you uh help you get there.

So don't overthink.

Yeah, um well uh don't overthink don't overthink from the beginning. Um and so I I I don't want to downplay uh the huge amount of human intelligence involved there. And so um, you know, it still is gonna require um you know a lot of that sort of ingenuity, but start the conversation, you know, just like you would be sort of working with another human, you know, having that context is critical, right? And so if you if you sort of uh do think about describing it as if you were uh you know describe it to a friend, hey, here's what I'm trying to do, here's what I'm trying to accomplish, you know, here's what I sort of need. Um and then you know you can refine, sort of go along those ways. Um, but uh, you know, don't um uh you know, maybe overthink might be the term, but don't hesitate. Might be another way, you know, get started, try it out. And if it gives you a terrible answer, then fine, move on to sort of the next task. Um, but but really, you know, you know, see what happens. Jump it.

Yes, I think as you had mentioned, starting with a simple task is sometimes the best way to start. I know when I started my journey, that's that's how I got started. So uh it it blossoms from there.

The other advice that I gave too, and and I kind of show this a little bit in my keynote, is uh if you can find challenges that are um that are simpler, they could be in your personal life, in your work life, or whatever, um, that uh you know uh let you see what can be done with these tools, then they can inspire you. And so the a classic um coding one would be, you know, six months ago, people were like, hey, it's great for writing, you know, prototype code on non-big code basis, but this is never gonna work for you know big complicated sort of solutions. And uh and when people actually did it for these simpler things, they're like, wow, this is so incredible. How can I make it work for big complicated solutions? And so they until you actually sort of spent the time to um to see it in sort of it the cases that it does work, you know, that's what's gonna inspire you to try to really make it work in these sort of more complicated situations.

That's great. Uh where do you see business central a year from now, two years from now, if someone were to you know, ask you randomly your your thoughts on the application?

Yeah, I I think that there is gonna be um a decent amount of transition of people spending um uh less time in the depths of the app where you're going and filling out these fields and navigating in these sort of more complicated ways and doing things in a much more uh natural format where you know I I upload the invoice and it does everything that you want, and then maybe you you help correct or answer sort of the specific conversations versus the way that I start by I go to this tool and fill out this field and that field and this field and that field. And so I think you're gonna see um you know, call it an evolution, call it a revolution, but a pretty significant change in terms of how uh users interact. And so uh it's not necessarily all natural language. And so you will see scenarios where I can just type what I want to do, but I think you'll also see cases um, you know, like the expense where you just snap it with your phone and things kind of go down sort of a different path. And so I think the um the UI path is gonna be um pretty significant. Um I do always want to remind folks, um, we are very committed to the VC UI. So we are not gonna you know throw the baby out of the bathwater, we're gonna continue to invest and having a great experience. And in fact, AI is gonna allow us to build a better UI, you know, than we ever could with some of the tools that we have. And so we really want to try to you know bring together the best of both.

That's great. Thank you. That's uh some things I wonder when I think about is how the user interface will change almost to where maybe an ERP application could almost be faceless or headless. And you can have tools work together from other uh agencies or applications to be able to communicate with each other. Uh, do you see any of that in the future?

I I I do. I mean, you know, we we've talked about that. Salesforce made a big announcement about Hydwist. We've had others um, you know, I I do expect, you know, more and more of the interactions will be from you know the other tool, you know, the tools people use, whether that's you know, Teams or Outlook or M365 or just even ambient, um, where you're you know, and uh the you know, the pace and the rate at which that goes is is gonna be interesting. You know, I think some people predict that's gonna happen um very, very rapidly, some think it's gonna take more time. Uh ERP uh is a little bit unique in that um you know it really does have to be right and accurate. Um but I I I do think that you're gonna see, I I don't love the term hagwist, I just don't think it's a greatest term. Um but I I think the you know if you if you wanna um maybe another way that I'd like to to put to do it would be, you know, if people can spend way less time doing the uh the taxing parts, the data entry, the things that are sort of nice, you know, so really making that just come from the information we already have. You know, what information do we have from your existing, you know, documents or teams, you know, meeting recordings or from uh incoming emails, whatever it may be. Uh and then how do we sort of on the flip side uh have ERP do more value, right? So ERP is um it's necessary today, um, but not necessarily people find it the you know the thing that's like exciting them in their but their business. They're like, well, of course I have to do my accounts and I have to sort of manage my my supply chain. And so I think you are gonna see these scenarios where um it's gonna help you a little bit more on the creative side, right? How can I actually you know take this data and figure out what action should I be doing? You know, how can I, you know, what new products should I build, what new offers should I have? How can I optimize the um you know supply chain? How do I optimize, you know, how do I procure things better, whatever it may be.

Orlando Travel Notes And Wrap-Up

That's great. It's uh I see a lot coming in for the product too. So um you know, on the personal side, how are uh things going here in Orlando for you?

Um it's it's fun. You know, the I I was kind of joking, I haven't really been outside the conference center. Um looking forward to uh to riding the Velocicoaster uh Velocicoaster, did I get that right? I'm going to Universal Studios um this evening. Um I have uh I have family in Florida. I was actually in uh in Tampa just a week and a half ago for uh for a nephew's wedding. So um, you know, I I I love it here in Florida. I love the um the nice weather and it's uh great.

I know it's nice. It must be tough with the travel. You go, it's almost so you can go everywhere but go nowhere in a sense.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You spend time uh Orlando is particularly, you know, it's so spread out. It's not like you go to Orlando and like you know, you kind of need to go to Disney or whatever, but it's like you know, just kind of walk around.

Thanks And Where To Connect

That's good. That's great. Well, Mike, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us this afternoon. Uh really appreciate your time. I know it's valuable. Uh any minute you spend with uh with us or spend with anyone, it's the minute that you don't get back because uh time truly is the currency of life. So we really do appreciate the opportunity.

Uh I appreciate it. And you know, thank you to everybody that that attended the event. And uh, you know, I think uh I I saw the the poll at the end of today's keynote, you know, the number one reason people come is it's for the people, and so I so appreciate it. Thank you guys. Thank you very much.

Talk to you soon. Thank you, Chris, for your time for another episode of In the Dynamics Corner Chair, and thank you to our guests for participating.

Thank you, Brad, for your time. It is a wonderful episode of Dynamics Corner Chair. I would also like to thank our guests for join joining us. Thank you for all of our listeners tuning in as well. You can find Brad at developerlife.com. That is D V-L-P-R-L-I-F-E.com, and you can interact with them via Twitter D V L P R L I F E. You can also find me at mattalino.io mate l i no.io, and my Twitter handle is mattalino16. And see you can see those links down below in the show notes. Again, thank you everyone, thank you, and take care.