Business Central: SaaS, Azure, or On-Premise?
Microsoft is backing Business Central as its go-to ERP solution for organizations in need of an easy-to-use, full-featured, and modern business solution. Although Business Central is a cloud-native application (meaning it’s strongest when fully hosted and operated on the cloud), there are a few hosting options that your organization can choose from depending on your business needs, budget, and infrastructure capacity. For some organizations who already own complex hosting machinery, an on-premise deployment might make the most sense to get the most out of existing infrastructure, while other businesses might jump at the earliest opportunity to downsize and go fully cloud-based.
Here are the three possible hosting options for Business Central, and the best use cases for each method.
SaaS
Business Central was designed with full-cloud functionality in mind, making Software as a Service (SaaS) hosting the sleekest option with the least amount of heavy lifting on your end. SaaS is the best option for growing organizations who will need a solution that scales quickly with changing needs, the ability to manage users on a flexible basis, and provides the most visibility and control over monthly and annual costs. Plus, users can log on quickly and easily and securely work from anywhere, on any device, at any time.
Licensing is based on a per user per month basis, and since you do not have to pay for any kind of hosting or infrastructure cost (it’s accessed through a secure internet connection), your monthly bill covers your usage – think renting licenses without having to worry about how or where it’s hosted. The SaaS model comes with the lowest up-front costs, and a monthly bill without any added surprises.
Your Business Central instance updates automatically, and because it’s hosted on a cloud server you don’t have to worry about performing fixes and maintenance yourself. Updates are rolled out in Release Waves twice a year—in April and October. Any kinds of minor system changes like user additions (or removals) or system customizations can be done by your Business Central Partner, eliminating stress on the user-end of your system.
As a cloud-based application, Business Central was built with integration to your other Microsoft applications in mind – built-in integrations with the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.), Power BI and Power Automate, and Dynamics 365 CRM solutions make for a well-rounded, integrated tech stack. Your data is centralized and uniformly stored and updated across all your applications, so you’re always working with the most up-to-date data available. And if you need to stretch your capabilities even further, thousands of add-ons and extensions are available on App Source, the online extension catalogue – your Partner will be a valuable resource to help you find the right extensions and get them up and running smoothly.
Azure
Business Central on Azure still operates as a cloud-based application, but it’s instead privately hosted environment on the Azure cloud – dedicated hosting that’s operated completely by Microsoft. This means that on top of licensing, you must also pay for your cloud hosting as well. The application is accessed through a secure internet connection, while your data is stored on an Azure server. Hosting on Azure is a great option for organizations who want all the benefits of using a cloud-native application but have a bit more room in the budget for hosting costs.
Owning a cloud server is a good choice for businesses who still want the benefits of a cloud application, but also have or plan on configuring lots of customizations – frequent automatic updates can become muddled in a system with lots of customizations and configured integrations. Hosting Business Central on Azure allows you to self-manage your system updates, so you’re in control of when and how often updates occur.
Feature-wise, Business Central hosted on Azure still brings you a fast cloud-based application with the same functionalities, plus countless extensions and add-ons through App Source that take your system capabilities further to meet more of your niche operational needs. Business Central on Azure still has built-in connectors for the rest of the Microsoft business applications for a well-rounded tech stack.
Hosting on Azure can be licensed either on a subscription or perpetual basis – meaning you pay for users in an up-front cost instead of paying month-by-month. Hosting on Azure provides the same great flexibility and scalability as Business Central on the SaaS model, but note that there is an increased cost for the private Azure environment – although it’s still a great investment for businesses looking for a cloud ERP solution with a bit more control over hosting preferences, and more affordable than many of the ERP applications currently on the market.
On-premise
Business Central can also be hosted and configured through an on-premise deployment for organizations that already own servers and hosting machinery. Your system is locally hosted, so usage is not reliant on your internet speed (this is a big benefit for businesses located in remote areas, or for businesses who may have spotty internet connection at times), and is scalable by investing in more hardware or upgrading your existing system capacity. Note that users cannot simply access the application through a web browser, so other measures like remote desktop must be implemented to allow off-site workspaces.
On-premise deployments are optimal for perpetual licensing – for those who want to buy one system and (theoretically) own it forever – you pay for your system and user licenses up front for permanent usage rights and self-manage the deployment on your in-house infrastructure. Perpetual licensing still comes with both Essentials and Premium options – both of which have per-user access licenses, external accountant and system administrator users, and the ability to purchase Team Member licenses. You also must control your own server instances and are responsible for managing the hardware, maintenance, and backups – you will need to purchase, license, and maintain your own SQL Server, separate from your Business Central licensing.
However, it should be noted that by design, Business Central on-premise users miss out on certain features that are built-in to the cloud versions. Some Excel, Power BI, and Power Automate features that are out-of-the-box in the cloud version require additional Azure Active Directory connections, which does not come included with an on-premise deployment. These are configurable after the fact, but there are certain features that are just flat out unavailable for Business Central on-premise – Power Automate workflows, automatic configuration of Power BI reports, bulk invoicing through Microsoft Bookings, Microsoft Teams integrations, a company hub to manage multiple companies in the same application workspace, and sandbox environments to develop extensions. On-premise is also not compatible with App Source, Microsoft’s online add-on and extension marketplace, so integrations (like with Power Platform) will require additional data gateways.
No matter how you choose to host it, Business Central is a great choice as an affordable midmarket ERP solution. If you think Business Central could be a good fit for your business needs, fill out the form below. Our skilled consulting team will be in touch to set up a free system demo.