Directions EMEA 2026 brought the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central community together in Paris from October 27 to 29. As an ISV Lounge Sponsor, Xpand joined the event to connect with partners, follow Microsoft's latest announcements, and discuss what new developments could mean for businesses working with Business Central.
This year's conversations focused heavily on AI and its growing role in business applications. Microsoft's announcements showed how Copilot is moving beyond answering questions towards helping users work with Business Central data and perform tasks. But the most important question is not simply what AI can do. It is how these capabilities could change the way businesses operate.
We asked Xpand's Business Development Manager Eric Robbeets and Chief of Product Anzhela Pozdniakova to share their main takeaways from the event.
AI could change how business processes work
One of Eric's key takeaways came from the opening keynote by Aida Seifi Labrosse, Microsoft's General Manager of Dynamics 365 Business Central.
The keynote drew a parallel between the introduction of computers into the workplace and the current development of AI. Eric highlighted how the productivity boom between 1995 and 2004 followed a fundamental rethink of business processes. He believes AI presents a similar opportunity to reconsider how businesses operate.
For example, a typical order process can involve several departments: sales, finance, purchasing, and the warehouse. Employees spend time entering information, chasing updates, and waiting for the next step. AI agents could eventually help carry work across these stages, while people remain responsible for decisions and exceptions.
This means businesses should look at the entire process rather than introducing AI into isolated tasks. The same thinking applies to how technology partners design, deliver, support, and improve solutions.
Business Central and Copilot: from answering questions to taking action
Anzhela's main observations focused on Microsoft's announcements around Copilot in Business Central.
The event highlighted the direction in which these capabilities are developing: beyond answering questions about business data towards helping users create and edit records, run actions, and work with system configuration. The roadmap included initiatives such as Edit with Copilot, Customize with Copilot, and Business Central in Cowork, with different availability stages, including early access and planned previews.
For businesses and technology partners, this points to a change in what users may expect from their software. Business applications could become more capable of turning business knowledge into action. Two important implications:
1. Business expertise could become more directly actionable
Traditionally, setting up accounts, posting groups, and opening balances requires both accounting knowledge and familiarity with configuration tools and processes. Conversational assistance could make parts of this work more accessible to people who understand the business but may not have deep technical knowledge of the system.
This could give finance teams more ownership of the setup process, while they remain responsible for checking and validating the results.
2. Lower barriers to change could make more improvements possible
In many businesses, improvements remain on the backlog because implementing them requires external support, and the cost may outweigh the expected benefit. If AI-assisted configuration and customization make routine changes easier, businesses may reconsider improvements they previously postponed.
This could also affect the work of technology partners. AI-assisted configuration, customization, and testing may reduce the effort required for some tasks, allowing partners to deliver changes faster and focus more attention on complex business needs.
The role of technology partners is evolving
Since artificial intelligence simplifies the execution of certain routine tasks within a company, businesses may need less external support for specific configuration changes. However, this does not mean that partners’ expertise is losing its importance. It simply means that the areas in which this expertise is most valuable are changing.
Partners will increasingly be involved in addressing issues that go beyond individual system changes: how processes, departments, data, and applications interact, and how changes in one area affect the rest of the business.
At Xpand, this means combining technical expertise with an understanding of business processes. A partner’s role isn’t limited to simply fulfilling a list of requirements. It also involves identifying opportunities that clients may not have considered, anticipating the consequences of changes, and helping to integrate improvements across all their systems.
Long-term partnerships are also becoming increasingly important. Choosing a business system is a single decision, but determining how to adapt the business to technological changes is an ongoing process. Shared knowledge, trust, and an understanding of the client’s operations help partners and clients make these decisions together.
Technology is becoming more accessible. Choosing what to change still matters.
Another point raised by Directions EMEA is how AI may affect the way businesses evaluate technology investments and the services they receive from IT partners.
As AI reduces the effort required for some activities, customers may increasingly question pricing models based primarily on hours spent. They will want to understand the results: shorter processing cycles, faster collections, fewer errors, or more capacity to grow.
For technology companies, this means explaining the value of their work more clearly and considering how services and solutions are packaged and delivered.
But access to new tools does not automatically create a competitive advantage. If businesses gain access to similar AI capabilities, the difference will come from how they use them: which processes they improve, which customer needs they address, and where they choose to invest.
What these changes mean for Xpand and our customers
Directions EMEA 2026 reinforced that AI is becoming an increasingly important part of the Business Central ecosystem. Its impact will go beyond individual features. It may change how people work with business applications, how companies approach improvements, and what they expect from their technology partners.
At Xpand, we see these developments as an opportunity to keep improving how we help businesses work with Business Central. This includes making everyday processes easier, connecting systems, and helping customers get more value from the technology they already use.
One example is Xpand Portal,our B2B customer portal for Business Central. It extends Business Central with secure, role-based self-service access, helping businesses simplify interactions with customers, vendors, and partners.
As AI capabilities continue to develop, the important task for businesses will be to identify where these technologies can solve real operational problems and deliver measurable results.
Have a business process you'd like to improve? Contact the Xpand team to discuss how we can help you get more out of Business Central.