Copilot in Dynamics 365: smarter finance and supply chains

While time savings are the most visible benefit, the real value of Copilot lies in resilience: anticipating risks, improving forecasts, and enabling proactive management. Here are four areas where Copilot can add significant value:

1. Cash & liquidity foresight

Finance teams often spend days reconciling accounts, chasing late payments, and preparing reminder emails. Copilot speeds this up dramatically. It can automatically predict which customers are likely to delay payment, prepare collection reminders in natural language, and reconcile transactions against bank statements. Instead of being stuck in repetitive tasks, finance professionals can focus on higher-level analysis and decision-making.

James Solomon, Dynamics 365 consultant at 9altitudes, explains it this way: “In finance, every hour saved in reconciliation or collections is an hour gained for forecasting and strategy. Copilot doesn’t replace finance professionals, but it gives them better visibility and frees their time for higher-value work.”

2. Supply chain resilience

Disruptions in supply chains can cascade quickly: a late purchase order can halt production or delay deliveries to customers. Copilot helps by flagging risks earlier. By analyzing supplier performance and order histories, it can predict potential delays and alert supply chain managers before issues escalate. That enables organizations to proactively adjust sourcing, negotiate with suppliers, or replan production.

“What used to be separate silos – procurement, planning, logistics – can now be connected,” says Willem Sanders. “Copilot bridges the data across these areas, which makes collaboration much easier when the pressure is on.”

3. Operational continuity

For manufacturers, downtime is money lost. Copilot supports predictive maintenance by analyzing sensor data and detecting anomalies that might indicate equipment failure. Instead of reacting to breakdowns, maintenance teams can plan interventions ahead of time, increasing reliability and reducing costs.

4. Adoption & workforce readiness

ERP systems are powerful, but often intimidating for new users. Copilot lowers the barrier to entry. With natural language commands like “Create a new vendor called Northwind Electronics”, employees don’t need to memorize every menu path. That speeds up onboarding and reduces the dependency on specialized ERP knowledge.

Why Copilot doesn’t replace humans

Finance and supply chain decisions are unforgiving: a wrong forecast, a missed reconciliation, or a late supplier signal has immediate financial consequences. That’s why trust is central when adopting Copilot.

It’s important to remember: Copilot is not a pilot. It doesn’t replace human expertise; it augments it. Predictive insights, draft communications, or suggested actions always remain under the control of the user. Approval workflows and exception handling ensure that accountability stays where it belongs – with finance and supply chain leaders. Traditionally, exception alerts simply told you that something went wrong. With Copilot, these alerts come with context. They explain the impact and suggest next steps, so teams can resolve issues faster and with greater confidence.

Or as James Solomon frames it: “You wouldn’t want AI to take over your financial close or supply chain planning on its own. But as a copilot, it highlights issues and accelerates tasks while keeping people in the driver’s seat.”

Your next move with Copilot? Start today.

At 9altitudes, we believe that Copilot’s true impact not only lies in making processes faster, but in building finance and supply chain operations that are resilient, able to anticipate, adapt, and act before disruptions escalate. Granted, Copilot is still evolving and, like any AI technology, it will keep improving over time. Still, we believe the best time to start with Copilot is now. Waiting for the technology to be perfect means losing ground to competitors who are already experimenting with AI in their finance and supply chain operations.

The good news: you don’t need a massive project to get started. Out-of-the-box copilots in Dynamics 365 F&SCM are available today and can deliver immediate value. From there, organizations can explore more advanced possibilities with Copilot Studio, Microsoft’s platform for creating custom copilots.

But customization should never be the default. In some cases, a standard report or workflow might serve just as well. The role of a partner like 9altitudes is to help leaders evaluate when a custom copilot makes sense, and when existing functionality is enough. That ensures investments align with your business goals and deliver real impact.