Cracking the Code on Warehouse Inefficiencies: Real-Time Solutions for Business Central Users

This episode explores the costly and often overlooked inefficiencies hiding in warehouse operations—especially for companies using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Hosts Emma and Ryan unpack how small mistakes, such as mispicks and outdated manual processes, can quietly erode profits. They highlight actionable fixes, including real-time data capture, mobile-enabled workflows, and low-code customizations. Plus, they explore the hidden burden of managing warehouse devices and how centralized configuration can streamline operations. It’s a bright look at how technology can turn warehouses from bottlenecks into strategic assets.

Website: https://WMSforDynamics.com 

Episode Transcript

(04:00):
Welcome to Inside Insight, your quick hit of

(58:41):
tips, tools and trends for manufacturing, Distribution

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and Dynamics 365 Business Central, brought

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to you by Insight Works.

Ryan (03:22:14):
Welcome to the deep dive. Okay, so today we're digging into something

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I think a lot of you using Microsoft Dynamics

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365 Business Central might be bumping up against.

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It's a great system, Business Central, really

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powerful, but let's be honest, right? It sometimes

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leaves these gaps.

Emma (08:16:10):
Yeah, exactly. Little operational gaps.

Ryan (08:48:50):
Right. And we're going to look at how to fill

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those gaps not with, you know, huge expensive

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projects, but with some really high impact

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things that won't actually cost you a penny.

Emma (11:20:50):
That's the key part. Because look, Business

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Central, it's a big step up for businesses,

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no doubt, but we hear it all the time. Common

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things like, you know, exporting data to Excel

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way more than you probably should be.

Ryan (14:28:10):
Oh yeah, the Excel workaround, that old chestnut.

Emma (15:17:30):
Or dealing with paper forms for things. Or

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just switching different tools constantly for

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like basic everyday tasks. It's frustrating.

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And what's really interesting is these aren't

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like super rare problems. They're daily friction

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points for a lot of teams.

Ryan (19:33:10):
Okay, let's unpack that a bit. Those friction

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points, what are we really talking about? Day

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to day things like maybe tracking safety incidents

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on a spreadsheet somewhere, or manually printing

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out shipping labels one by one.

Emma (23:35:10):
Yep, classic examples.

Ryan (24:01:50):
Or like trying to forecast inventory based

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more on gut feel than actual data. Or maybe

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not being able to easily say, scan barcodes

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with a mobile device out in the warehouse.

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I bet some of that sounds familiar to folks

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listening.

Emma (27:33:50):
Oh, absolutely. And these things, they seem

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small, right? Just little inefficiencies, but

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they really stack up.

Ryan (29:24:30):
How so?

Emma (29:36:30):
Well, they cost time. Obviously they can lead

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to errors, which costs money, maybe even impacts

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credibility if things go wrong. And maybe most

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importantly, they pull your team away from,

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you know, the actual important work, the strategic

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stuff.

Ryan (33:16:50):
We're just distractions. Busy work.

Emma (33:45:30):
Exactly. But if we look at the bigger picture

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here, the good news really is you don't have

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to just live with those limitations. There's

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actually a growing set of free apps, really

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high impact ones, built for Business Central

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and they help fix exactly these kinds of broken

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bits in the workflow. And the crucial thing

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is they integrate natively.

Ryan (39:22:10):
Natively. So what does that mean in practice?

Emma (40:02:50):
It means they're built right inside Business

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Central's own structure. It's not like bolting

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on a completely separate system. It feels like

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it was always part of BC uses your existing

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data. There's no, no Complex middleware, no

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separate databases to manage.

Ryan (44:22:50):
Oh, I see. So that's why you avoid the big

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IT project headache and the extra overhead.

Emma (45:57:30):
Precisely.

Ryan (46:07:30):
Okay, so free high impact apps that integrate

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natively. I mean, for some listeners, that

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might sound a bit, well, maybe too good to

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be true. You know, free sometimes means limited

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or actually really complicated to use.

Emma (49:28:40):
Yeah, that's a fair question. And it gets to

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the core of why these are valuable. The high

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impact part isn't just about the zero cost.

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It's about how they solve a specific painful

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problem really effectively right out of the

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box.

Ryan (52:38:40):
Okay, give me an example.

Emma (53:00:40):
Sure. Take WMS Express. It's for warehouse

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management. It's not just like basic mobile

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scanning. It gives you real time inventory

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accuracy because your team's mobile devices

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and barcode readers talk directly to Business

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Central.

Ryan (56:44:20):
Right, so less chance of picking errors, faster

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shipping.

Emma (57:44:20):
Exactly. It speeds up fulfillment, improves

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accuracy, big impact. Or think about data.

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The Import Export PowerTool.

Ryan (59:59:00):
Right.

Emma (60:04:20):
This isn't just your standard data import function.

Ryan (60:45:40):
Okay.

Emma (60:55:00):
This thing can, like, turbocharge, migrating

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data, doing mass updates, even mass deletes,

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handling thousands of records in just minutes.

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It turns something that used to be a massive

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manual chore.

Ryan (64:18:10):
Yeah, thank you.

Emma (64:30:50):
Into something super quick. Imagine deploying

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new setups or cleaning data that fast.

Ryan (65:44:50):
Wow. Okay, I can definitely see how that would

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save a ton of time and probably frustration

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too. Yeah, what about some of those other things

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you mentioned earlier, like safety or shipping?

Emma (67:54:10):
Yep, Got solutions there too, for safety and

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compliance. There's the Safety Logbook. It

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basically lets you track and report incidents

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right inside Business Central.

Ryan (70:18:10):
So ditch the spreadsheet or the clipboard.

Emma (71:02:10):
Exactly. Get it all in one system. Makes it

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easier to stay on top of safety protocols,

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you know? And then for shipping, especially

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domestic parcels, there's Order Ship Express.

Ryan (73:42:10):
Okay.

Emma (73:51:30):
It's a license free app. Makes shipping really

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hassle free. You can print your labels instantly,

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right from B.C. no switching systems.

Ryan (76:15:30):
Hmm. So these aren't just little tweaks then.

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They're actually hitting significant bottlenecks.

Emma (77:36:50):
That's the point they address real often costly

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operational roadblocks. And by doing that,

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they let your team shift focus from that kind

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of busy work to making better decisions, doing

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more valuable things. It's about enhancing

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productivity, really.

Ryan (82:30:00):
So wrapping this up then, what does this all

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mean for you? If you're listening?

Emma (83:23:20):
Well, if you're already using Business Central,

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it sounds like you're actually much closer

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than you might think to smoothing out those

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workflow headaches.

Ryan (85:06:40):
Definitely.

Emma (85:14:40):
These free apps, they integrate seamlessly

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and they're ready to go. Basically, they seem

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designed to give you real value without the

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usual hurdles, you know, the cost or the technical

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complexity. Yeah, and maybe a final thought

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to consider is this. Think about your own operations.

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What are those daily tasks that cause the most

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friction? The ones that slow things down or

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just feel inefficient?

Ryan (91:58:30):
Good question.

Emma (92:11:50):
How much time could your team actually get

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back? And maybe more importantly, what bigger

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problems, what more strategic initiatives could

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they tackle if they weren't bogged down by

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that stuff? Stuff Just by using a free Focus

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tool that plugs right into the system you already

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have.