“Go to this website. Look this up. Then put the answer in Dynamics.”
Sound familiar?
Somewhere in your business, someone is doing this right now. Opening a browser tab. Copying a number. Pasting it into a search box. Checking the result. Then flipping back to Dynamics 365 to update the record.
And then doing it again. And again.
It's not glamorous work. But it matters. Outdated provider data, wrong part numbers, expired licenses, and mismatched vendor records all cost real time and real money.
The old answer: buy the data, build the integration
For years, the answer to automating that process has often looked the same:
Buy access to the data.
Build an API integration.
Maintain it.
That approach works, and sometimes it's absolutely the right call. But it also means another subscription, another project, and another connection to keep running, often just to automate a lookup a person can do in a few minutes on a public website.
The new option: give an agent the same instructions you'd give a person
AI agents are giving businesses another option.
Instead of building an integration solely to automate the lookup, imagine giving an AI agent the same instructions you'd give a new team member on their first day. Plain language. Step by step. Including what to do when something doesn't look right.
Here's what that could look like:
Healthcare provider validation
“Go to the NPI Registry. Search for the provider by NPI number. Review the search result and validate that the provider information matches what we have. Update the appropriate fields in Dynamics 365 and flag any discrepancies.”
Electronic parts and product data
“Go to DigiKey. Search for this manufacturer’s part number. Confirm that the manufacturer and part match. Retrieve the part information we need and update the product in our CRM.”
Professional license verification
“Go to the appropriate state licensing website. Search for this professional. Confirm that the license belongs to the right person, verify the license information and status, check for any Board Actions, update Dynamics 365, and flag anything that needs review.”
Company and vendor verification
“Go to the public corporate registry. Search for this company. Confirm that we have the right legal entity, compare the available company information to our customer or vendor record, and update or flag discrepancies.”
Regulatory product information
“Go to the FDA's public data. Search for this product. Review the results, identify the relevant regulatory information, and bring what we need back into the business process.”
Notice what these all have in common?
Each one is a task a person already does today, through a public website, following a clear set of steps. Each one ends with an update in your system. And each one includes a flag when something needs a human.
That last part matters. The goal isn't to take people out of the process. It's to take the repetitive clicking out of their day, so they can focus on the exceptions that actually need their judgment.
So… do paid APIs and data subscriptions disappear?
Of course not.
There are still plenty of good reasons to keep (or buy) a structured data feed:
Scale. Thousands of lookups an hour is a very different problem than a few hundred a week.
Licensing. Some data comes with terms about how it can be accessed and used.
Reliability and SLAs. When a process can't go down, guarantees matter.
Structured data. Sometimes you need clean, consistent fields, not a web page.
Governance. Security, auditability, and compliance still apply, agent or not.
An agent isn't a replacement for every integration. It's another tool in the toolbox, and a new question to ask before you sign the next contract.
Where to start
If you're wondering whether a process is a good fit, look for work that checks these boxes:
A person already does it through a public website
The steps are repeatable and easy to explain
The answer ends up in Dynamics 365, Business Central, or another system of record
There's a clear rule for when to flag something for review
If that sounds like a few processes on your team's plate, you're not alone.
The question worth asking
If a person can perform the research through a public website, it's worth asking whether an AI agent can perform that work too.
So before paying for the next integration, ask:
Could an agent just do the work?
That's the kind of question we love exploring at Hummingbird. We help businesses figure out where AI agents fit across Dynamics 365, Business Central, and the Power Platform, and where a traditional integration is still the better answer.
Less repetitive work. Smarter automation. And maybe even a few subscriptions you don't need anymore.
Have a “go look this up and update Dynamics” process on your team? Let's talk about it.