Directions North America 2025 was more than just a gathering of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central partners. As we celebrated the event's 20-year anniversary, partners got a high-energy glimpse into the future of AI-powered business applications, growing opportunities, and Microsoft's continued investment in the mid-market. With over 1,400 partners already selling AI agents and 45,000 Business Central customers globally, the momentum is undeniable.
Below are our biggest takeaways from the event, including keynote highlights, product innovations, and themes that defined our experience in Vegas. Jump to a specific section in this blog or read on for the full recap:
From the opening keynote, Microsoft made one thing clear: Business Central is no longer a best-kept secret—it’s a global growth engine at the heart of Microsoft’s mid-market ERP strategy. With consistent year-over-year customer growth, a rapidly maturing partner ecosystem, and AI front and center, the keynote sessions underscored Microsoft’s vision for an intelligent, scalable, and partner-driven future.
Here are the key highlights:
Dual revenue recognition for companies with complex billing models
AI skilling and enablement resources for both partners and customers
Large deal support with funding of up to $100M for qualified opportunities
One of the most talked-about announcements at Directions NA 2025 was Microsoft’s showcase of pre-built AI agents in Dynamics 365 Business Central. We first saw these agents during the Business Central Launch Event earlier this month, but Mike Morton and the BC team put a fun spin on their demo that helped land the agents in a more realistic context. The two agents Microsoft showcased were:
What sets these agents apart is not just what they do today, but how they’ll evolve. Microsoft confirmed that both agents will eventually be surfaceable in Copilot Studio, enabling developers and partners to embed them into broader workflows. This opens the door to cross-app agents (e.g., spanning BC, CE, or Teams) and multi-workload deployments (e.g., embedding an agent in Outlook, Teams, or a self-service portal).
We also got some exciting news for Power BI. Between the spring and fall of 2025, the Business Central team will open-source the suite of embedded Power BI apps that ship with the ERP. This move empowers partners and customers to customize, extend, and build on Microsoft’s native analytics foundation with full access to both Power BI apps and their underlying semantic models.
Lastly, Microsoft announced a long-requested capability: partners will soon be able to schedule environment updates on behalf of their customers. While Microsoft continues to recommend that updates be applied promptly, this new tool gives partners more flexibility and control over when and how those updates are rolled out.
This was such an invigorating event for our team. We connected with so many new and old friends and learned so much. It was particularly exciting to connect with the team at Endeavour Solutions and hear about their plans after acquiring Express Info, and the teams at both Companial and Ciellos about their joining of forces.
Aside from the buzz around the M&A activity in the channel, a few partners unveiled new offerings they are bringing to the BC community. In our books, TMC had one of the most fun build-ups to the event as they spread their confidential letters around the community, finally revealing their intention to push the envelope when it comes to AI. TrueCommerce had one of the most engaging on-stage presentations and we enjoyed our time at their booth as we continued learning more about EDI through Jeopardy.
Jovaco's OMZY solution also stood out to us. Learning more about the company's approach to project accounting and enabling AEC and professional services teams fit perfectly within Microsoft's theme of empowering the upper mid-market to use BC. It's always good to see partners assess and understand their position in the market, and drive towards it in a way that elevates the entire ecosystem.
This year's sessions truly packed a punch. Some of our favourites were:
and too many more to include here.
From booth buzz to late-night chats about the future of Dynamics, the ideas sparked at Directions NA 2025 are already shaping the next wave of transformation. The path ahead for Business Central partners is clear: lean into AI, invest in cross-solution fluency, and make skilling a priority. Whether you're an ISV, SI, or anything in between, this week reminded us that the opportunity has never been bigger or more dynamic.
We cannot to see you all in Orlando for Directions NA 2026, April 27-29!