Top Reasons to Move from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central

By Marcus Haug | August 6, 2019

There’s no denying that Microsoft Dynamics GP has always been a stable and reliable system built to meet the needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Since its release in 1993, thousands of businesses have relied on GP to manage every aspect of their business. While Dynamics GP has continued to evolve over the years with new features and user experiences, a new Dynamics offering has entered the marketplace that is causing current GP users to consider a different path forward in regards to their ERP solution.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is a true Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. Business Central is hosted in the Microsoft Cloud, ensuring consistent updates and new features without the hassle of having to complete a full upgrade. Many IT professionals at companies that currently use Dynamics GP are relieved to learn that with Business Central, all security monitoring, threat management, intrusion detection, and penetration testing is taken care of by the team at Microsoft. This removes the burden of managing constantly changing security measures and protection from already stressed internal IT resources.

With a SaaS solution like Dynamics 365, not only is less time spent on maintenance and infrastructure, but leaders gain visibility into the operating costs of the solution. While the cost isn’t necessarily less expensive, it is more predictable with a set monthly price that includes those infrastructure and maintenance fees and expenditures for patches and upgrades. Because you pay as you go, you can easily increase or decrease your user count as needed, avoiding long-term commitments that you may not necessarily need.

For example, companies with a busy season that requires additional users no longer need to buy and pay for licenses that are only used three months out of the year. They can add those licenses during the busy months, and then remove them when they are no longer needed.

On-Premises vs. Cloud moving from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central

One of the largest pain points for Dynamics GP users is upgrades. Currently, upgrades can be costly to implement – especially if your GP instance is several versions behind. Business Central includes predictable updates that are regularly scheduled and require little to no time and money to complete. Two major updates take place each year – one in the spring and one in the fall, with 6 other minor updates. Your administrator will be informed prior to an update being released and can preview your system in a test sandbox. That person can also choose the specific date of the update or let Microsoft automatically push the update on a predetermined date. Read more about predictable updates here.

Another reason that so many Dynamics GP users are considering Business Central is the modern user experience and platform. Business Central offers a user-friendly and intuitive look and feel that can be accessed across any device, from anywhere with an internet connection. This eliminates the need for both RDP and VPN and offers seamless integration to the rest of the Microsoft Suite – including Outlook and Excel.

Business Central users can look forward to features and functionality that will help increase productivity and reduce manual tasks.

  • Cash flow functionality
  • Warehouse management
  • Enhanced approval workflows
  • Job costing and projects
  • Robust reporting options
  • Extension development
  • Late payment predictions

These are just a few of the new features that Business Central users can take advantage of. AppSource from Microsoft also offers hundreds of add-on functions that can be added to enhance the functionality that you need the most. One of these add-ons available rounds out Business Central to include payroll functionality, a feature that many currently GP users need.

Finally, the Business Insights included in Business Central elevate the ERP solution past any system of the past and gives users predictive insights, robust reports and dashboards, and much more. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are changing how businesses use and react to data and information. Additionally, the Power Platform, which includes Power BI, Flow, and Power Apps all work together to give users the ability to build custom apps, automate workflows, analyze data, and much more.

Gain Business Insights through upgrading from GP to Business Central

Making the move from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central is a big decision. Make sure to follow the Stoneridge Software blog to learn more about why businesses are transitioning to BC and how you could benefit from a SaaS solution. Register for our upcoming webinars where we’ll dive into the different reasons companies are choosing Business Central. You’ll see the solution, learn more about it, and have opportunities to get your questions answered. If you have questions in the meantime, feel free to reach out to us.

Learn more about transitioning from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central.


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