Automating Sales Orders and Shipping in Business Central Without Replacing Your Job

In this Inside Insight episode, we explore how Microsoft’s Sales Order Agent and Insight Works’ Order Ship Express streamline order entry and shipping in Dynamics 365 Business Central. Discover how AI-driven automation handles quotes, multi-turn customer conversations, and real-time shipping rate comparisons—freeing you from repetitive tasks while keeping you in control.

Website: https://OrderShipExpress.com 

Episode Transcript

(05:20):
Welcome to Inside Insight, your quick hit of

(01:04:00):
tips, tools and trends for manufacturing, Distribution

(01:55:20):
and Dynamics 365 Business Central, brought

(02:39:20):
to you by Insight Works. So have you ever felt

Ryan (03:52:40):
like your workday is just, well, this relentless

(04:51:20):
cycle? Copying paste.

Emma (05:16:00):
Definitely.

Ryan (05:24:00):
You know, you get a customer email, copy it

(05:54:51):
paste into a sales order.

Emma (06:12:00):
Yeah.

Ryan (06:21:20):
Then hours maybe hunting for the cheapest shipping

(07:16:26):
rate.

Emma (07:23:20):
Yeah. Website after website. It's a huge drain.

Ryan (08:08:00):
It's such a common frustration. And I think

(08:53:43):
for those of you, you deep in Dynamics 365

(09:45:10):
Business Central, you know, these manual order

(10:25:10):
entry steps, the shipping delays, they're really

(11:05:11):
familiar pain points.

Emma (11:26:20):
They really are. It feels like information

(12:16:00):
overload sometimes and it's just, wow. Inefficient.

Ryan (13:05:40):
Exactly.

Emma (13:15:40):
And that's actually what we're diving into

(13:54:33):
today. Our mission for this deep dive is to

(14:44:33):
look at two new solutions that aim to tackle

(15:34:33):
these exact frustrations head on. Okay, we're

(16:13:26):
talking Microsoft Sales Order Agent and insightworks

(16:52:20):
Order Ship Express.

Ryan (17:11:40):
Right.

Emma (17:21:00):
And the promise here is while they could automate

(18:02:40):
the entire flow from the first quote request

(18:39:42):
right through to getting that package onto

(19:12:06):
the carrier's truck.

Ryan (19:28:40):
That sounds ambitious.

Emma (19:48:40):
Yeah.

Ryan (19:56:40):
And really promising. So the big question,

(20:30:46):
the one from the source material we're looking

(21:09:44):
at today is, but does this mean your job is

(21:58:27):
obsolete?

Emma (22:36:40):
Million dollar question.

Ryan (22:54:00):
Yeah, we're pulling from Automating Sales and

(23:34:40):
Shipping with Business Central AI to really

(24:15:21):
get into how these tools actually work. Work,

(25:01:50):
what they could mean for, you know, the modern

(25:54:08):
workflow and for your role specifically.

Emma (26:29:00):
And I think one of the most surprising things,

(27:17:00):
maybe the initial aha moment here, is that

(27:59:40):
the real story, it isn't really about machines

(28:42:20):
replacing people.

Ryan (28:53:00):
Okay.

Emma (29:02:20):
It's more about transforming what work itself

(29:36:30):
actually means. So, yeah, get ready for some

(30:15:32):
insights that might just reframe how you think

(30:54:35):
about automation day to day.

Ryan (31:19:00):
All right, I'm ready. Let's unpack this. First

(32:04:56):
up, the sales order agent. What. What exactly

(32:50:52):
is it? What does it do?

Emma (33:32:00):
So the sales order agent, that's Microsoft's

(34:08:06):
AI assistant, and it's built specifically for

(34:44:13):
capturing orders. A really key advantage is

(35:20:20):
how neatly it fits into the existing workflow.

(36:01:37):
So when a customer emails asking for a quote,

(36:48:03):
the agent is basically watching your designated

(37:24:10):
inbox.

Ryan (37:29:20):
Actively watching, actively monitoring.

Emma (38:02:00):
Yeah. And it's smart enough to recognize those

(38:37:25):
sales inquiries when they come in.

Ryan (39:09:20):
How smart are we talking? Like, how good is

(39:56:11):
the AI at understanding those emails? Can it

(40:37:50):
figure out what someone wants even if they

(41:19:28):
don't use perf specific keywords, maybe handle

(41:55:55):
informal language.

Emma (42:10:20):
That's A great point. It's designed precisely

(42:48:50):
for that. Understanding the intent behind the

(43:27:20):
email, not just math specific words.

Ryan (44:00:20):
Interesting.

Emma (44:09:40):
So once it identifies an inquiry, it finds

(45:04:08):
the customer in Business Central, checks your

(45:51:49):
stock levels right then and generates a PDF

(46:46:17):
quote automatically. Automatically, with all

(47:20:20):
the key details, items, quantities, prices,

(48:01:12):
even delivery dates. But it doesn't just stop

(48:55:41):
there.

Ryan (49:09:10):
Okay, this next bit sounds really interesting.

(49:37:29):
What happens after it sends that first quote?

(50:09:51):
Can it actually talk back and forth with the

(50:46:16):
customer? How does that work?

Emma (51:09:10):
It can. It engages in what they call multi

(52:03:10):
turn email conversations.

Ryan (52:23:50):
Multi turn.

Emma (52:39:50):
Yeah. So if the customer replies, maybe asking

(53:30:40):
for changes or having questions, the agent

(54:15:09):
actually adjusts the quote and sends back new

(55:06:00):
versions. Think about it. It's not just efficiency,

(55:56:50):
it's like creating this super responsive digital

(56:41:19):
first impression. Almost like a tireless digital

(57:25:48):
helper.

Ryan (57:32:10):
A concierge kind of.

Emma (57:57:30):
Exactly. It frees up your human team to step

(58:39:15):
in where that personal touch really counts.

(59:11:44):
Not just on the basic back and forth stuff.

Ryan (59:53:30):
Okay, so it's conversational, which is impressive.

(60:34:50):
But if it's generating quotes and emailing

(61:16:10):
customers, how much control do I still have?

(62:03:24):
Am I just watching this happen?

Emma (62:40:10):
No, no, that's absolutely crucial. And the

(63:16:20):
source material is really clear on this. Users

(63:57:40):
stay completely in control. Oh, well, you set

(64:39:00):
up permissions, you define profiles to say

(65:15:10):
exactly which tables and pages the agent can

(65:56:30):
even touch.

Ryan (66:09:30):
Right.

Emma (66:17:30):
And maybe the most important part, you always

(67:00:50):
review outgoing messages before they actually

(67:33:20):
go out.

Ryan (67:45:30):
Ah, okay. So that's not just firing things

(68:17:56):
off on its own.

Emma (68:34:10):
Not at all. Think of it like a really diligent,

(69:16:20):
very capable assistant. It does the heavy lifting,

(69:50:04):
the legwork, but you give the final okay, got

(70:28:02):
it. And once you approve, then it converts

(71:01:46):
those quotes into orders and emails them back

(71:35:30):
to the customer.

Ryan (71:53:30):
Okay, that makes sense. So the order is created.

(72:55:50):
Now the next big headache often kicks in. Right?

(73:58:11):
Shipping, traditionally that's just another

(74:32:50):
black hole of manual tasks. Logging into different

(75:28:15):
carrier sites, copying addresses again, comparing

(76:09:49):
rates, printing labels. It eats up so much

(77:05:14):
time.

Emma (77:12:10):
A huge time sink. Absolutely.

Ryan (77:42:50):
So is that where this order Ship Express comes

(78:17:50):
into the picture?

Emma (78:32:10):
Exactly. Right. Once that sales order is sitting

(79:10:32):
nicely in Business Central Order Ship Express,

(79:44:06):
which by the way, is a license free app for

(80:32:04):
from insightworks.

Ryan (80:41:40):
License free, Russ.

Emma (81:01:00):
Yeah, it's designed to basically eliminate

(81:31:05):
all those manual shipping steps we just talked

(82:11:12):
about. And one of the best things is how easy

(83:01:21):
it is to get started. It plagues right into

(83:46:29):
Business Central. No extra modules, no really

(84:21:36):
complex setup, very accessible.

Ryan (84:41:40):
And what about Reach? Is this mainly for, say,

(85:26:20):
North American businesses or can others Use

(86:01:04):
it too.

Emma (86:15:00):
It's actually globally available, which is

(86:49:36):
a big plus. You can use Ordership Express in

(87:41:30):
a lot of countries. Okay, but there's an important

(88:33:25):
distinction here. It's primarily for generating

(89:08:01):
domestic parcels labels.

Ryan (89:29:20):
Ah, okay, so just standard packages within

(90:06:40):
the same country.

Emma (90:24:00):
Right. If you're dealing with international

(91:01:55):
shipments or things like LTL less than truckload

(91:52:28):
or FTL full truckload shipments. You know,

(92:36:43):
the bigger freight stuff.

Ryan (93:02:00):
Yeah.

Emma (93:09:20):
Then you'd need to look at InsightWorks other

(93:52:00):
solution, which is called Dynamic Ship. That

(94:29:20):
one has the broader carrier and freight support

(95:12:00):
needed for those more complex scenarios.

Ryan (95:46:40):
Got it. Okay, so Order Ship Express is solid

(96:36:10):
for domestic parcels, but does it help with

(97:20:10):
finding the best shipping rates? Because that's

(97:58:40):
always a huge factor for businesses.

Emma (98:31:40):
Oh, absolutely. That's a core feature. It has

(99:14:33):
flexible carrier support. You can use built 169 99:52:06,086 --> 100:29:38,260 Emma