Sales Order Agent in Dynamics 365 Business Central: the AI agent revolutionizing order management

What is a Sales Order Agent?

The Sales Order Agent is an AI-based intelligent agent (Copilot/Agent framework) in Business Central, designed to automate the management of quote requests and customer orders received by email. 

It is one of the preview features of Business Central. Specifically, it monitors a dedicated mailbox (Microsoft 365/Exchange), analyzes customer requests using AI, automatically creates quotes or orders in Business Central, manages email exchanges for clarification, checks item availability, and converts the quote into an order after approval.

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Why is Microsoft betting on the Sales Order Agent, and what is its vision for the future?

Microsoft is integrating this agent as a first step toward automated, AI-driven sales processes to reduce manual tasks, increase responsiveness to customer requests, and improve operational efficiency. The agent is also an example of what could be called "Copilot Agents" in the Microsoft ecosystem: it paves the way for other features that AI Copilot could fulfill in the coming years (e.g., supplier orders, credit agents, service agents). 

This direction shows that Microsoft wants to drive a transition from ERP as a simple data manager to an interactive, proactive ERP capable of communicating with users and customers via AI, particularly for SMEs seeking to be efficient and effective while remaining agile.

Key Features of Sales Order Agent

Here is an overview of the features that AI can perform today (still in its test version):

• Mailbox monitoring: it automatically reads incoming emails from a dedicated mailbox (Microsoft 365 mailbox or shared mailbox). 

• Customer identification: the agent automatically searches for the email address in the Business Central contact database to identify the customer.

• Checking item availability: the agent can check whether the requested items are available according to the requested delivery date and the location of the item (if this setting is enabled). 

• Quotation and order creation: the agent generates a quotation, sends it by email, and can convert it into an order after receiving a response from the customer and internal validation.

• Human review and approval: depending on the configuration, certain steps require validation by a user (e.g., sending a quotation or order). 

• Timeline/trace: the agent provides a history of exchanges and actions taken for each task, which allows their actions to be traced and therefore provides transparency. 

• Permissions/dedicated profiles: the agent has their own account and profile and therefore has permissions in Business Central (limited to necessary and predefined actions).

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What is its practical use, what are the benefits for SMEs?

The Sales Order Agent saves time and reduces errors in the processing cycle for incoming sales requests. For an SME in distribution or e-commerce, here's what it offers:

• Reduced customer response time: a quote request email can be processed automatically without manual intervention. 

• Less risk of data entry errors (quantity, product code, price) because the agent uses existing data in Business Central.

• Improved team efficiency: sales representatives or order managers spend less time on repetitive tasks and can focus on negotiations or customer follow-up. 

• Standardized & traceable process: each quote/order goes through a traceable workflow (history, approval, logs), which is essential for quality and compliance. 

• 24/7 availability: the agent works in the background (with scheduled tasks) to monitor the mailbox, which is ideal if customers work outside business hours or in a different time zone.

For an SME, this translates into better customer satisfaction, reduced administrative costs, and a smoother sales cycle.

Use case & typical scenario

Specifically, for an SME in the distribution sector based in France or Switzerland:

1. A customer sends an email saying, "I would like a quote for 10 units of product ABC, delivered mid-month." 

2. The Sales Order Agent automatically reads the email, identifies the customer in BC, and checks stock availability.

3. They create an attached PDF quote and send a provisional response to the customer (with a request for validation if necessary).

4. The customer replies "OK" to this quote → the agent automatically converts the quote into an order in Business Central. 

5. Everything is logged: date, approving user, email trail, visibility for managers.

6. This saves several hours per week on manual processing of emails/quotes. → The team saves time and can track and analyze the performance of the quoting process.

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Limitations to anticipate and precautions

• For the moment, the agent is only available in preview and in a geographically limited version

• This requires the mailbox to be configured correctly (with "Read & manage," "Send as," etc. permissions).

• If you have extensive customizations in Business Central or specific business extensions, test the integration with custom fields (some fields may not be recognized correctly by the agent).

How to leverage Sales Order Agent with Almakom

If you are an SME and you use (or are considering using) Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sales Order Agent can be integrated into your digitalization strategy to improve responsiveness and productivity.  At Almakom, we can help you:

• Check the compatibility of your Business Central instance with Sales Order Agent (version, region). Set up mailbox settings, permissions, and security. 

• Configure settings: trigger verification, availability, request user approval, monitor tasks.

• Train your teams in the use of the agent and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for the number of automated quotes, time saved, and errors avoided.

• Adapt settings to your business (distribution, transportation, logistics).