AI, Apps, and AL: Is the Business Central Developer Going Extinct?

There’s a question bubbling up in boardrooms and on Teams calls across the Business Central ecosystem: Do we still need a developer?

It’s a fair question. With every release, Microsoft pushes the boundaries of what’s possible without writing a single line of code. The AppSource marketplace is a sprawling metropolis of pre-built solutions. Copilot and other AI tools are now writing code, creating reports from a simple sentence, and automating entire business processes like the new Payables Agent.

Looking at the 2025 release waves, this trend is only accelerating. We're seeing more AI, deeper integration with the Power Platform, and more user-friendly customization tools.

So, let's ask the hard question: Are we witnessing the twilight of the AL developer? Or is the role simply… evolving?

The Case for Obsolescence: The World Without Code

The argument that the developer role is shrinking is compelling, and it’s built on three powerful pillars:

1. The Maturity of AppSource: When Business Central was just released, if you needed a specific piece of functionality, the only answer was to build it. Today, the first question is always, "Is there an app for that?" From advanced warehousing to e-commerce integration, there’s a high chance a well-built, supported, and affordable extension already exists. For many standard business needs, buying is now unequivocally better than building.

2. The Rise of the Citizen Developer: The Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate) has been a game-changer. Need a simple mobile app for warehouse staff to capture quality control data? A manager can build a Power App for that. Need to automate an approval workflow when a vendor is created? A power user can design that in Power Automate. These tools have democratized development, taking a huge chunk of "simple" tasks off the developer's plate.

3. The AI Explosion (Copilot): This is the new frontier. The latest Business Central releases are a showcase for this. Copilot can now chat with you to explain how add-ons work, create data analysis views from a natural language prompt, and, in the case of the Payables Agent, take over an entire accounts payable workflow. The logical next step, which we're already seeing hints of, is AI generating entire extensions from a detailed specification.

If your developer’s primary job is building simple reports, adding a few fields to a page, or creating basic approval workflows, then yes, that job is on the endangered species list.

The New Reality: Why Developers are More Valuable Than Ever

The developer isn't disappearing. Their job description is just getting a massive upgrade. The future of the BC developer is not about writing more code; it's about writing the right code and managing the entire technical ecosystem.

The role is evolving from a pure coder into a Solution Architect and Platform Orchestrator.

Here’s what that new role looks like:

1. Master of the Last 20% AppSource and AI will get you 80% of the way to a solution. That last 20%—the part that is unique to your business, the complex process that gives you a competitive edge—is where the real value is. This is the developer's domain.

• Example: An off-the-shelf shipping extension can handle standard packages. But what if your business requires complex, batch-based chemical lot tracking that must integrate with that shipping solution and a third-party compliance API? No app will ever cover that specific need. That’s a job for a developer who understands the core business logic.

2. The Grand Orchestrator The modern Business Central environment is not a monolith; it’s a collection of services. The developer of the future doesn't just write AL. They are the technical strategist who decides which tool is right for the job.

Their thought process looks like this:

• "For the core financial modification, I'll write a clean AL extension."
• "For the mobile data capture part, a Power App is the fastest and best solution."
• "To connect these two, I'll use a Power Automate flow, but I'll expose a custom API page from Business Central for it to call, ensuring data integrity."
• "And for the core e-commerce integration, we'll use a trusted AppSource app, but I'll write a small extension to subscribe to its events for our custom order validation."

This requires a far broader and deeper skill set than just knowing AL. It requires architectural thinking.

3. The Guardian of the Platform With dozens of apps, hundreds of Power Automate flows, and multiple integrations, who ensures the system doesn't collapse under its own weight? Who guarantees performance, security, and data integrity?

The developer.

They are the ones who can look at a citizen-developer's Power Automate flow and say, "This is great, but it will hit the API call limit and throttle the system. Let's redesign it to be a batch process." They are the ones who use tools like the Performance Profiler and Telemetry to diagnose why the system is slow and identify the offending extension. This governance role is becoming one of the most critical functions in any scaled BC implementation.

4. The AI's Co-Pilot AI is a phenomenal tool for productivity, but it’s not a strategist. A developer will use Copilot to generate boilerplate code in seconds, freeing them up to focus on the complex architecture. They will use AI to explain a confusing part of the base application, speeding up their learning.

The developer's job is to ask the AI the right questions, validate its output, and weave it into a larger, robust solution. The premium is no longer on the ability to type code, but on the wisdom and experience to know what code to ask for.

The Verdict

So, does your company still need a Business Central developer? More than ever.

But the hiring profile has changed. Stop looking for a "coder" who can just add fields to a page. Start looking for a solution architect who understands the entire Microsoft ecosystem, who can think in terms of integration and governance, and who sees AI not as a threat, but as the most powerful tool in their arsenal.

The future isn't about replacing developers with AI and apps. It's about empowering developers with AI and apps to solve bigger, more interesting, and more valuable problems than ever before.