Directions 2025: our findings you shouldn’t miss

At the beginning of this month, Boltrics attended Directions EMEA 2025 in Poznań, the leading event for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central community. More than 3,000 executives and partners gathered there to discuss the future of Business Central, technological innovation, and concrete practical cases.

It was inspiring to be surrounded by people who share the same passion and focus: advancing Business Central and making the most of the latest opportunities within the Microsoft platform. In this blog, I would like to share some of our most important findings with you.

AI and Copilot: from promise to practice

Just like last year, AI was once again the dominant theme. However, it was clear that we have now entered a different phase. Whereas previously the focus was mainly on what might be possible in the future, the conversation is now shifting to how we can actually use AI in everyday processes. There was a strong emphasis on the enormous possibilities that Copilot offers for Business Central. From faster data entry and verification to support for analysis and decision-making, Copilot is increasingly becoming a fully-fledged assistant rather than a nice extra.

Some of the new AI agent functionalities will take a while to arrive in the Netherlands. Not everything is immediately available in all regions or languages, and some components are still in preview. But what we saw makes one thing clear: what’s coming is well worth the wait. The direction is clear, and it is unmistakably AI-first.

The shift from developer to consultant

One of the most interesting shifts we saw is in the division of roles between developers and consultants. Rapid advances in AI are giving consultants more and more tools to create rich solutions themselves, even before a developer needs to get involved. That doesn’t mean developers are being sidelined. On the contrary, their role is becoming more important in monitoring quality, architecture, and security. But the collaboration is changing. Functional and technical roles are moving closer together, allowing ideas to be validated more quickly and innovation to take place at a faster pace.

For us at Boltrics, this confirms what we have been seeing for some time: added value lies not only in writing code, but in the smart combination of industry knowledge, standard software, and new technologies such as AI.

AI-first development: from hours to minutes

Microsoft also presented an impressive vision of the future of AI-first development within Business Central. One of the scenarios showed how a consultant draws up a comprehensive functional design, after which an AI agent generates the underlying code in just a few minutes. This greatly shortens a process that previously took hours or sometimes days – from development to construction and testing. In the future, this means:

• Shorter lead times for new or modified functionality;
• More scope to test different variants;
• More focus on quality, logic, and user experience, rather than repetitive programming work.

Again, this is not a button that will suddenly change everything tomorrow. But it clearly shows where Business Central and the Microsoft platform are heading, and how we as a partner are preparing our working methods for this.

Reporting and data analysis: faster access to the right insights

In addition to AI, there was a lot of attention for reporting and data analysis. Improvements in Word layouts make it possible to quickly compile Word or Excel reports with exactly the data you need. Less technical, more content-focused: the right information gets to the right person faster. Developments were also shown within Power BI. The system offers increasing flexibility to build analyses and visualize insights that fully meet the needs of the organization.

For you as a logistics service provider, shipper, or forwarder, this means you can get a grip on your data faster: from operational KPIs in the warehouse or transport to financial performance and customer insight. Not after the fact, but while processes are running.

In short, Directions EMEA 2025 showed that we are on the eve of a new era within Business Central. An era in which:

• AI not only accelerates processes, but also changes the way consultants add value;
• Developers and consultants work more closely together thanks to AI-supported tools;
• Reporting and data analysis become more accessible to more users within the organization.

At Boltrics, we are moving with the times – and ahead of them – by continuously developing our industry solution, closely aligning it with the Microsoft platform, and critically testing the latest possibilities against our customers’ practices.

Would you like to discuss what Boltrics can do for your organization, or see what options are already available within your Boltrics solution and Business Central? Feel free to contact us or request a demo.