What’s New in Business Central 2025 Release Wave 2
The Autumn brings the second major release of the year for Business Central, as part of the 2 wave annual update cycle. Here we look at the highlight features.
Microsoft Teams is now available for Free
Microsoft Teams for Free
Tanya Denton
Introducing Microsoft Teams for Free!
You did read that right. There is a free version of Microsoft Teams available worldwide in 40 languages!
Microsoft Teams is a platform that combines all areas of work, such as chat, meetings, notes and attachments in all on one platform.
The purpose of this is to give small businesses, who don’t have a commercial Office 365 subscription, the opportunity to an introductory experience of using Teams.
Features Available
- Up to 300 People on your Team.
- Unlimited Chat Messages & Search.
- Built-in Audio & Video Calling for Individuals, Groups and Full Team meetups.
- 10 GB of team file storage plus additional 2 GB per person for personal storage.
- Integrated, real-time content creation with Office Online apps, including Adobe, Evernote and Trello.
- Ability to communicate and collaborate with anyone inside or outside your organisation, backed by Microsoft’s secure, global infrastructure.
Teams and Office 365
The Teams service integrates with your business’ Office 365 subscription to allow seamless productivity to appear efficiently throughout your company. Teams as part of your Office 365 subscription opens up further functionality, depending on your subscription level. See the comparison table for further details on what is included.
| Included | MICROSOFT TEAMS FREE (PREVIEW*) | OFFICE 365 BUSINESS ESSENTIALS | OFFICE 365 BUSINESS PREMIUM |
|---|---|---|---|
|
FREE
|
$5.00 user/month
|
$12.50 user/month
|
|
| Unlimited messages and search | done | done | done |
| 300 maximum users | done | done | done |
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote apps in Teams | done | done Plus web versions |
done Plus web and desktop versions |
| Exchange email hosting and custom email domain | done Plus web versions of Outlook |
done Plus web and desktop versions of Outlook |
|
| OneDrive, SharePoint, Planner, Yammer, and more Office 365 services | done | done | |
| 140+ integrated apps and services | done | done | done |
| Exchange email hosting and custom email domain | 2 GB/user and 10 GB of shared storage | 1 TB/user | 1 TB/user |
| 1:1 and group online audio and video calls | done | done | done |
| Channel meetings | done | done | done |
| Screen sharing | done | done | done |
| Scheduled meetings | done | done | |
| Meeting recording— available with Microsoft Stream | done | done | |
| Phone calls and audio conferencing | Available as add-ons | ||
| Availability in more than 150 markets and 35 languages | done | done | done |
* Preview refers to the pre-release from Microsoft and details are subject to change
The Future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation in the UK
After a recent visit to the Digital Manufacturing 2day event in Coventry and an insightful presentation by Lord Chris Holmes, I thought I would delve a bit deeper into the current AI regulation facing UK industry.
D365 Business Central vs Sage 200: Comparing Sage 50 Upgrade Options
Choosing the right ERP system when moving on from Sage 50 can shape how efficiently your business grows and adapts. If you want advanced features, greater flexibility and easier integration with familiar Microsoft tools, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is often the stronger option compared to Sage 200. As real-time data insight, automation and scalability are now necessities and not luxuries, your ERP upgrade decision is more important than ever.