Microsoft’s new direction with ERP Part 3: What direction should you take?
No action is required at this time. However, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the various options available to your organization and begin the planning process to take advantage of the new Microsoft ERP landscape.
An important consideration to make is Microsoft’s development strategy. Microsoft has reallocated its development resources away from Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL to Business Central. This means that although Microsoft continues to support GP and SL, the majority of new development is happening in Business Central.
Please keep in mind that this is not bashing Dynamics GP or SL. In fact, Syvantis is heavily invested in Dynamics GP. Our Dynamics GP clients are very happy with their current solution. However, everyone needs to understand the current status of Dynamics ERP so that they can effectively plan for their business in the long term.
If you are not currently using any Microsoft ERP products
If you are not currently using any mid-market Microsoft ERP products, we recommend serious consideration of Business Central as your new solution. While Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL are still actively sold to new clients, Microsoft’s development effort is focused on Business Central. From an investment perspective, implementing Business Central will provide the biggest financial payback as compared to GP and SL.
That being said, there is no question that investing in Business Central will yield the biggest benefits as compared to competitors such as NetSuite, Intacct, or others. The integration capabilities with other Microsoft products such as Office 365 and Dynamics 365 are unmatched. Further, the Business Central user interface has been completely reimagined using state of the art design principals and taking into account extensive research into user acceptance. Competitors’ interfaces were designed years ago and can’t compete with Business Central’s personalization capabilities and user data entry efficiencies.
If you are currently using Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP clients frequently ask whether they should migrate from Dynamics GP to Business Central. To be clear – Microsoft will continue to support Dynamics GP for a few years. In fact, we fully anticipate that Syvantis will be supporting Dynamics GP clients 5 to 7 years from now. However, we expect that many of our Dynamics GP clients will move to Business Central in the next 2 to 4 years.
If your users like the Dynamics GP interface and are generally not agreeable to change, then by all means stay on Dynamics GP for a while. Start getting your users used to the idea that they may need to accept a new financial system in the next 2 to 4 years.
However, if your organization is planning to invest substantial financial resources into updating and re-envisioning business processes, then we recommend at least looking into Business Central, because you may want to put those investment dollars toward a more long-term solution. Further, if your users are unhappy with the older Dynamics GP interface or desire to take advantage of new Excel and other integrations, think about a move to Business Central.
If you are not ready to move right now, upgrade to Dynamics GP 2018R2 and take advantage of the new Intelligent Cloud. This solution allows your organization to take advantage of some of the AI capabilities of Business Central while still on Dynamics GP. At the same time consider upgrading and moving your Dynamics GP instance to the Microsoft Azure cloud so that when you are ready to make a change, your organization is ready. Syvantis hosts the largest multitenant instance of GP on Azure, and we can help you upgrade, get into the cloud, and utilize the Intelligent Cloud.
Please note that if you decide to move to Business Central SaaS in the future, you will need to be on at least GP 2018R2 with SQL 2016 to take advantage of Microsoft’s historical data migration tools.
If you are currently using Dynamics NAV
If you are currently on Dynamics NAV, then you are in a good place. Microsoft is investing heavily in Business Central, and you will reap the benefits in the future.
Our clients have invested significant resources on their Dynamics NAV solution. Many of them are not ready to upgrade to Business Central today due to staffing limitations, financial resource issues, or for other business reasons. For these organizations, here is our recommendation for how to prepare to upgrade in the future:
Don’t invest in server hardware and software, as this will lock you in for another 5 years and make it more difficult to cost justify the upgrade in the future. Instead, migrate NAV to Azure to avoid a capital outlay and take advantage of the cloud immediately.
Implement the NAV web client to acclimate users on how to run ERP on a website, as this is different than the classic NAV access methods. Bonus: Many of your younger users will appreciate the newer, more modern interface.
Clean up your data now to prepare for the migration later. Review your current Mods, and deprecate any that you are not currently using. This will save time later when you are trying to determine which Mods to transition to Extensions.
Link your NAV instance to the Intelligent Cloud to start taking advantage of those advanced cloud features now.
We recommend that you engage your partner today to begin this journey. If you do not have a partner that can assist you with your business transformation, Syvantis consultants are happy to assist you.
If you are currently using Dynamics SL
If you are currently using Dynamics SL, we recommend that you consider migrating to Business Central with the Progressus extension, which is essentially the successor to Dynamics SL.
Progressus is an extension to Business Central that provides full project management and project accounting functionality on Business Central. Progressus was built by Plumbline Consulting, the same company that built and supports Dynamics SL on behalf of Microsoft.
If you are interested in learning more about Progressus, Syvantis consultants can help.