Running a business today means juggling countless invoices, purchase orders, customer requests, and financial data. What if an intelligent assistant could help shoulder some of that load, automating routine tasks so your team can focus on what matters most? Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is introducing just that—AI-powered billing agents designed to streamline processes like vendor invoice handling, sales orders, and more, all with flexible, usage-based billing through a “Pay as You Go” model.
This blog will explore what billing agents in Business Central are, the benefits they bring, and how to configure the "Pay as You Go" billing option step by step. Whether you’re an accountant, IT admin, or business leader, this approachable guide will help you harness AI agents to boost efficiency while managing costs smartly.
For expert guidance tailored to Australian SMBs, visit WMS.
Think of billing agents as your virtual office assistants dedicated to financial tasks. Powered by AI and Microsoft Copilot Studio, these agents autonomously process incoming requests like vendor invoices or customer sales orders.
These agents operate in the background, saving time and reducing human error while keeping your team informed when manual intervention is needed.
In other words, billing agents help businesses operate smarter without committing to fixed high-cost systems upfront.
Microsoft uses a consumption-based billing model for these AI agents. You pay for the actual AI interactions used, measured in “messages,” which reflect the complexity and number of tasks processed.
Purchase message packs in advance, suitable if you can predict usage.
Charged monthly based on actual AI consumption, ideal for flexible or unpredictable volume.
“Pay as You Go” ensures you only pay for what your business actually uses — there’s no overcommitment or unused capacity.
This connection allows consumption billing data to flow correctly.
Assign Cost Owners: Designate one or two people (for example, the finance manager or IT lead) responsible for monitoring the billing agent costs each month.
Set Up Alerts and Budgets: Use Azure Cost Management to create spending alerts or budgets on your pay-as-you-go subscription. This way, you’re notified if usage (Copilot-Credit consumption) goes beyond your expected threshold.
Track Message Consumption: Regularly check your “message” consumption in the Power Platform Admin Center and correlate it with business activity (invoice volume, order processing) to understand usage patterns.
Optimize Agent Configuration: Tune the agent settings — for example, adjust how confident the AI must be before creating drafts vs alerting a supervisor — to reduce unnecessary message consumption.
Use a Hybrid Billing Model: If your usage is relatively stable, consider combining prepaid capacity (message packs) with pay-as-you-go. This way, predictable usage is covered with prepaid packs, and spikes are handled via pay-as-you-go.
Review and Refine Periodically: Monthly or quarterly, review your billing statements, see which agent capabilities are used most, and decide if you need to scale up, scale down, or tweak how agents work (supervisor thresholds, mailbox config, etc.).
Imagine a vendor sends you an invoice via email. The Payables Agent monitors a mailbox linked to Business Central and:
All these steps use AI messages, which tally up for billing purposes under the Pay as You Go model.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central billing agents are game-changers, automating tedious financial tasks and helping businesses become more agile and responsive. The “Pay as You Go” billing model offers a transparent, cost-effective approach to adopt AI-driven automation without heavy upfront commitments.
Setting up consumption-based billing involves simple environment linking through Power Platform and Azure, giving you control over agent activation and spending.
Ready to empower your finance teams, reduce manual errors, and pay only for what you use? Start exploring billing agents and “Pay as You Go” billing in Business Central today—embracing the future of smart business management.
If you want more detailed technical guidance or demos, Microsoft’s official documentation and community videos provide step-by-step visuals to complement this introduction.
This is just the beginning—AI agents in Dynamics 365 Business Central are evolving fast, promising even greater productivity gains ahead. Take that step forward and let your business thrive on automation.
Billing agents are AI-powered assistants that automate financial processes such as processing vendor invoices and managing sales orders, helping reduce manual work and improve accuracy.
It is a consumption-based billing model where you pay monthly based on actual AI agent usage, measured in message units, allowing flexible and cost-effective automation.
Configuration involves linking your Business Central environment to the Power Platform and Azure subscription, enabling agent activation and usage monitoring.
Tasks include reading and extracting data from vendor invoices, creating purchase invoices drafts, handling customer sales orders, and notifying supervisors for approval where needed.
Agents work mostly autonomously but include human-in-the-loop features for approvals, exceptions, and manual reviews to maintain accuracy and control.
Yes, including limits like one payables agent per company, dependency on mailbox and LLM availability, and restricted access rights to ensure security.
Usage can be tracked in the Power Platform admin center and Azure billing portal, enabling you to adjust usage and budgeting as needed.
