Interview: Is AI Set to Revolutionise Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O?

I. AI in Daily Life: From Search Engine to Intelligent Assistant

Tomasz Mordel: Let’s start with the basics. Beyond your professional life, how is AI impacting your daily routine? Where do you encounter these tools, and how do you use them—excluding, of course, the ubiquitous social media “fake videos”?

Alexey Khottchenkov: AI is already an inseparable part of our reality, and it’s not going away. Interestingly, at this stage, I find AI more helpful in my everyday life than in the highly specific technical complexities of F&O.

I use it as a “Super Google.” When I face a topic where I’m not proficient—be it medicine, law, travel, or sightseeing—AI is my first point of contact. Previously, Google gave us a list of links that we had to painstakingly sift through, analysing articles and wasting time selecting information. AI provides visibility into a topic in seconds. While the question of trust remains—especially with medical data—as a summary tool for building a knowledge base, AI is unrivalled.

II. Delivering Tangible Value in ERP Systems

Tomasz Mordel: Moving to your area of expertise—in which sections of Finance & Operations does AI deliver the most tangible value today, and who is actually benefiting?

Alexey Khottchenkov: It’s a complex issue. Regarding Dynamics 365 F&O, Microsoft hasn’t yet “heavily dived” into AI to the extent we might hope for. We see the early stages, but it’s not yet at a point where we can be fully satisfied.

Currently, the most significant benefit is in knowledge base exploration. AI is brilliant at investigating documentation and providing a user or consultant with a specific step-by-step guide to achieve a task in the system. However, there is a paradox: while Copilot is thriving in the Office environment (Word, Excel), that success hasn’t fully translated to the F&O user interface or development environment yet. F&O is a narrow, specialised domain with a smaller community, so it hasn’t been the primary focus for Microsoft’s broadest AI updates.

III. Data Security: The Main Brake on Innovation

Tomasz Mordel: So we are at the beginning of the road. In your opinion, what is the main bottleneck preventing faster AI growth in business systems?

Alexey Khottchenkov: The number one blocker is data security. In the enterprise world, this is the top consideration. AI models are essentially public, and no business wants its private financial data, strategies, or intellectual property “squeezed” into a model where it could leak.

This has led to a situation where even Microsoft, despite owning Copilot, does not give it full access to the internal logic of F&O. Copilot doesn’t know the full structure of AOT objects or the specific file formats we use; it only reads what is in public articles. Consequently, when I ask it to generate X++ code, the result is often irrelevant to the existing platform. Without secure access to data and metadata, AI cannot analyse processes or give accurate recommendations.

IV. The Future: Automation, Integrations, and AI Agents

Tomasz Mordel: Let’s look ahead. Where can AI help customers the most once these barriers are removed?

Alexey Khottchenkov: I see several key areas:

• Routine Automation: Creating a sales order requires a user to fill in numerous fields. Currently, companies spend a lot on manual integrations to automate this. AI could do this dynamically, mapping data from external systems directly into F&O.
• Data Mining and Analytics: F&O is a massive database. Using AI-enhanced BI or OLAP systems would allow for instant insights without the need to manually build complex exports to Data Lakes.
• Agents in Microsoft Teams: This is the future. AI Agents could act like virtual colleagues. Instead of opening the ERP, you chat in Teams: “What’s the credit limit for this customer?” or “Can I sign a new multi-million contract?” The AI, acting as a bridge, would query the system API, extract parameters (dates, account IDs), and return the answer as text or an Excel file.

V. The Developer’s Role: Will AI Replace Us?

Tomasz Mordel: You mentioned code generation. Is AI capable of replacing an F&O developer?

Alexey Khottchenkov: At this moment—absolutely not. I’ve tested Copilot for simple tasks, like creating a command-line tool to convert text file formats. AI knows general languages (like C# or Java) brilliantly, but even then, I had to manually fix the code at the end.

With F&O, it’s harder because it’s a proprietary system. AI cannot replace even a junior developer today because it lacks an understanding of the deep architecture that Microsoft hasn’t shared with it. However, it can significantly shrink the time spent on routine code, which will eventually lower implementation costs for clients.

VI. Advice for the CFO: How to Start?

Tomasz Mordel: Finally, what would you advise a sceptical CFO who is wary of AI but feels the pressure to innovate?

Alexey Khottchenkov: I’m a sceptic myself, so persuading another sceptic is hard! But as an optimist, I’d say: AI will conquer the market one way or another. The sooner a business turns toward it, the more beneficial it will be.

For a CFO, the strongest argument is operational cost optimisation. Microsoft is heavily boosting AI agents that can, for example, monitor Azure infrastructure. An agent in the admin cockpit can advise: “You’re paying for a plan that’s too high here,” or “You have unused tools here.” With millions of parameters in the cloud, a human can’t track everything—AI does it instantly. My advice: start with safe tools that support administration and technology, and gradually move toward business processes.

Key Takeaways:

1. AI as a “Super Google”: Excellent for research and learning, but requires expert verification.
2. The Security Barrier: Enterprise adoption will remain limited until fully isolated, trusted models are the norm.
3. The Rise of Agents: The future lies in natural language interaction (voice/text) with F&O via Microsoft Teams.
4. Support, Not Replacement: AI helps developers and admins reduce costs and double-check work, but it does not replace expert knowledge.

Tomasz Mordel: Alexey, thank you very much for sharing your insights and spending this time with me. Even as a self-proclaimed “optimistic sceptic,” your perspective on the practical trajectory of F&O is incredibly valuable.

Alexey Khottchenkov: Thank you as well! It was a pleasure to discuss these developments. I look forward to seeing how the ecosystem evolves.