If Wave 1 2026 was about giving you AI agents you could actually see and control, Wave 2 looks set to be about making those agents,  and the finance processes around them,  more capable. Business Central 29 is due to land in October 2026, kicking off the second release wave of the year and running through to March 2027.

Microsoft typically publishes its detailed, feature-by-feature Wave 2 plan around mid-to-late July, a few months ahead of general availability, with early access opening around a month before launch. That means the fine print is only just landing as SME finance and operations teams start their autumn planning,  which is exactly the window to get ahead of it rather than reacting in October.

Here's what's confirmed, what's strongly signalled, and what it's likely to mean for your business.

What's confirmed

The release date and cadence. Business Central 29 arrives in October 2026. As with every major update, existing customers will get advance notification and a scheduling window before the update lands automatically,  worth putting in the diary now so it doesn't catch anyone by surprise mid-quarter.

The direction of travel. Wave 1 2026 introduced four AI agents into everyday finance workflows,  Payables, Sales Order, Expense, and the Agent Designer for building custom ones,  all working on a human-in-the-loop basis rather than acting autonomously. Microsoft has been explicit that this is a multi-release investment, not a one-off. Wave 2 is expected to build directly on that foundation rather than introduce something entirely new.

What's expected,  and who benefits

More capable, more autonomous agents. Having spent Wave 1 giving finance teams visibility and control over agent activity (audit trails, a "stop all tasks" switch, transaction-level approval), the logical next step is agents that handle more of the process end-to-end with less manual review. Expect incremental extensions to the Payables and Sales Order agents rather than a wholesale redesign. Who benefits: AP and order-processing teams currently reviewing every agent-drafted transaction,  less oversight overhead as trust in the agents builds. When: through the wave, October 2026 to March 2027, in monthly updates.

Continued e-invoicing and e-document expansion. Wave 1 already broadened the e-documents framework beyond invoices to shipments and other operational documents. With mandatory e-invoicing continuing to expand across the EU and UK regulatory bodies signalling similar direction, further investment here is highly likely. Who benefits: finance teams trading cross-border, or anyone bracing for e-invoicing to become mandatory in their sector. When: likely phased across the wave, with country-specific rollouts staggered by region.

More native finance tooling, less reliance on add-ons. Wave 1's biggest finance-adjacent shift was native expense management and subscription billing improvements,  reducing dependence on bolt-on tools. Expect this pattern to continue: closing gaps in built-in reporting, tax handling, and approval workflows rather than headline new modules. Who benefits: finance controllers and SMEs looking to simplify their tech stack rather than add to it.

Deeper governance and audit capability. As agents take on more, Microsoft has consistently paired that with better oversight tooling,  permission auditing, activity logs, API access for compliance teams. Wave 2 should extend this rather than pull back on it, given how central "trust and control" has become to the agent narrative. Who benefits: IT administrators and finance controllers with governance or audit obligations.

Shopify and commerce integration, incrementally. Each wave has brought steady Shopify connector improvements,  variant-level detail, tax handling, currency control. No reason to expect that investment to pause.

What this means for your planning

None of the above should be read as a confirmed feature list,  that's Microsoft's job to publish, and ours to verify once it does. But the pattern across the last several waves is consistent: less about flashy new modules, more about making existing AI and finance capability more trustworthy, more native, and more automated. If your team is still manually reviewing every agent-drafted invoice from Wave 1, or working around gaps with third-party tools, Wave 2 is worth planning for now rather than waiting for the update notification to land in your inbox.

Want to make sure you're ready for whatever Wave 2 brings? Speak to the team at Creative Computing,  we'll walk through your current Business Central setup, flag anything that needs attention before October, and make sure you're positioned to take advantage of what's coming rather than scrambling to catch up.