--- title: "Adopting AI-Powered Cloud Technology: A Guide for Mid-Sized Companies" id: "998088" type: "post" slug: "adopting-ai-powered-cloud-technology-guide-for-smbs" published_at: "2026-08-28T08:10:43+00:00" modified_at: "2026-08-31T12:50:21+00:00" url: "https://ioi.gmbh/en/2026/08/28/adopting-ai-powered-cloud-technology-guide-for-smbs/" markdown_url: "https://ioi.gmbh/en/2026/08/28/adopting-ai-powered-cloud-technology-guide-for-smbs.md" excerpt: "71 percent of SMB leaders consider AI critical for competitiveness, 61 percent have no plan for adopting it. What lies between those two numbers – and what a realistic path into an AI-ready cloud environment looks like." taxonomy_category: - "Artificial Intelligence (AI)" --- Contents - [The detour many companies take](#the-detour-many-companies-take) - [What Business Central brings as a foundation](#what-business-central-brings-as-a-foundation) - [What Copilot takes over in the ERP](#what-copilot-takes-over-in-the-erp) - [What the move is worth commercially](#what-the-move-is-worth-commercially) - [A checklist before the project starts](#a-checklist-before-the-project-starts) - [The part that rarely gets discussed](#the-part-that-rarely-gets-discussed) - [Conclusion](#conclusion) Two figures from a 2024 Microsoft survey describe the situation in the mid-market rather precisely: **71 percent** of decision-makers consider the use of AI critical for competitiveness – and **61 percent** have no idea how to introduce it. The actual project need lies between those two numbers. Microsoft has published a guide on this for small and mid-sized companies, which we pass on as a Microsoft partner. This article summarizes the points that matter most from our project perspective and adds what usually tips the scales in practice. ## The detour many companies take In most conversations, the topic of AI does not start with AI. It starts with processes that cost too many manual steps: documents that get retyped. Figures collected from three systems. Reports someone builds by hand at month-end. Anyone with workflows like these does not need an AI strategy first, but a data foundation on which automation can take hold at all. That is exactly why the cloud is not a matter of taste in these projects. AI features such as Copilot build on current platform levels, access connected data and work across system boundaries. A ten-year-old NAV installation simply offers no point of connection for that. ## What Business Central brings as a foundation Dynamics 365 Business Central combines finance, purchasing, sales, inventory and projects in one system and is closely interlocked with Microsoft 365. For day-to-day work, that mostly means fewer system switches. A quote is created in Outlook, approval runs through Teams, and the figures land in the general ledger without an intermediate step. From a project perspective, four points are relevant: - A shared data foundation instead of isolated solutions with their own master data - Regular updates instead of large version jumps every few years - Role and permission concepts that also apply to AI access - Extensibility through extensions, without changing the standard The last point is easily underestimated. Many grown ERP landscapes are hard to modernize because customizations were made directly in the standard. In Business Central that route is deliberately closed – which makes the start more demanding, but operations afterwards considerably calmer. ## What Copilot takes over in the ERP In Business Central, Copilot is not a separate tool but embedded in the screens people already work in. Product descriptions are generated from master data, documents are prepared instead of retyped, deviations in figures are surfaced without anyone searching for them. The benefit rarely lies in one spectacular case, but in the sum of small steps that disappear. Expectations matter here: Copilot does not replace expertise. It speeds up people who know what is right. Where master data is messy, it speeds up the error just as reliably. ## What the move is worth commercially In 2023, Forrester produced a Total Economic Impact study on Business Central commissioned by Microsoft. For a composite model organization it reports an **ROI of 172 percent** over three years, a possible **productivity increase of 18 percent** and around **30,000 US dollars** in avoided third-party fees after consolidation. Figures like these are model calculations, not a promise – they are based on interviews with existing customers and a constructed reference organization. As an order of magnitude they are still useful, because the effects show up in the same places in our projects: fewer side systems, fewer manual transfers, shorter closings. ## A checklist before the project starts Before talking about AI features, an honest inventory pays off. We answer these seven questions together with the customer in every upgrade check: - Which version are you running today, and how far is it from the current release? - Which customizations are business-critical – and which does nobody use any more? - Which side systems hold data that actually belongs in the ERP? - How clean are master data, chart of accounts and dimensions really? - Who decides on process changes, and how quickly? - What time window can operations tolerate for a changeover? - Should the system move to the cloud or stay on-premises for regulatory reasons? The last question is not rhetorical. Business Central runs in both operating models, and there are good reasons for on-premises. Only the AI features are tied to the cloud – that belongs in the decision. ## The part that rarely gets discussed In practice, adoption rarely fails because of the technology in the target environment. It fails on the way there: on grown data, on C/AL customizations without documentation, on the fear of a standstill in ongoing operations. This is exactly where DataMigrate Pro comes in. The solution reads the source database directly and transfers it into a current Business Central environment, without the detour through several intermediate versions. Delta synchronization keeps the legacy system usable until the cutover date while the target environment is already being built, validated and kept up to date. The step into the AI-ready cloud becomes predictable rather than risky. ## Conclusion AI in the ERP is not an add-on module you switch on. It is the result of a tidy, current and connected data foundation. Anyone still working on an old NAV version therefore makes a migration decision first and an AI decision second. We provide the full Microsoft guide as a PDF: [Adopting AI-powered cloud technology (PDF)](https://ioi.gmbh/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/EBook-Adopting-AI-powered-cloud-technology-1.pdf) . If you want to know how far your system is from the current release, the free [upgrade check](https://ioi.gmbh/en/business-central-upgrade-check/) is the fastest route to a solid assessment. About the author #### Sascha Marquardt Responsible for the partner programme, the licensing business and commercial project delivery. Keep reading## More from the IOI blog [Artificial Intelligence (AI) Accelerate Sales, Retain Customers: AI-Powered Experiences in Business Central Why customers walk away when they have to tell their story three times – and what a connected ERP does about it 28. August 2026 · 6 minutes](https://ioi.gmbh/en/2026/08/28/accelerate-sales-customer-loyalty-business-central/) [Artificial Intelligence (AI) Microsoft Copilot in Business Central: Where AI Actually Helps in Daily Work Less searching, less retyping, faster decisions – and the one prerequisite that rarely gets discussed 28. August 2026 · 7 minutes](https://ioi.gmbh/en/2026/08/28/microsoft-copilot-business-central-daily-work/) [Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial Intelligence for Your ERP Where Copilot already saves time in day-to-day ERP work, and what Microsoft has announced for the coming releases 4. July 2024 · 3 minutes](https://ioi.gmbh/en/2024/07/04/artificial-intelligence-for-your-erp/) ## From reading to action. Book your upgrade check. In the free upgrade check we analyse your current Navision or NAV version and show you the direct path to Business Central – including effort, sequence and a fixed-price range. [Book a free Upgrade-Check →](/en/business-central-upgrade-check/) [Give us a quick call: +49 214 8402 3000](tel:+4921484023000) ✓ Directly from any Navision or NAV version ✓ Live test while the legacy system keeps running ✓ C/AL→AL conversion included ✓ Fixed-price range and timeline afterwards