AI and Business
At any technical conference, it seems as if every other breakout session is related to AI. Is it hype or help? How can AI help the average employee and how can it help the company?
Let’s start with a few definitions:
LLM (Large Language Model) is the underlying AI model. It's trained on massive amounts of text and learns to predict and generate language. It's essentially a brain with no interface.
Chatbot is an application - a conversational interface designed to interact with users. Chatbots have existed since the 1960s (ELIZA), long before LLMs existed, and many older ones ran on simple rules and decision trees.
The relationship: a modern chatbot like Claude or ChatGPT is built on top of an LLM. The LLM is the engine; the chatbot is the car.
AI Agent is a program that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actionsto achieve a goal — with minimal human hand-holding.
Think of it like the difference between a calculator and an intern. A calculator does exactly what you press. An intern understands the goal, figures out the steps, uses tools (email, spreadsheets, the web), and comes back when the job is done.
The key traits that make something an "agent" rather than just a chatbot:
Goal-directed — it's working toward an outcome, not just answering a question
Autonomous — it decides its own next steps rather than waiting for you to spell them out
Tool use — it can take real actions (search the web, run code, call an API, send an email)
Multi-step reasoning — it can plan across several steps, not just respond once
How can you utilize these tools in business and in life?
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s refer to Grok, Copilot, Claude, etc. as LLMs. Most have some experience by now using these LLMs to get answers, help with Excel formulas, etc.
Software developers can use LLMs to help write code. A code extension can be installed into one’s development environment giving access to the LLM. In this case, the LLM can write code, create files and “see” your code.
Some LLM’s can create documents for you such as Word documents, Excel documents, PowerPoint, flow diagrams and more. In many cases, the LLM can create beautiful, professional documents in minutes Employees can leverage this to greatly enhance and speed up work. Companies can use this to create company documents. One can upload branding guidelines for the LLM to follow.
LLMs can be used to research answers in many fields - accounting, legal, operations, etc.
LLMs can review contracts and point out areas which may be of concern or worth negotiating.
LLMs can be used to write documentation, procedure manuals, checklists, etc.
The number of use cases for LLMs is unlimited.
What about AI Agents? In Business Central, the Sales agent can read emails and enter sales orders. The payables agent can analyze emails and create vendor invoices. Microsoft has provided a custom agent designer tool for developers. This is just the beginning. The possibilities are infinite.
At ERP Efficiency Experts, we’ve embraced AI to bring solutions to our clients faster and at less cost than previously possible. We use AI in nearly every aspect of our business from quoting, estimating, developing, and user documentation to name a few. We encourage you to explore AI to see what it can do for you.