Everything you need to know about upgrading from Dynamics NAV to Business Central
For companies that want to keep up with the latest technological developments, it can be a challenge to determine when it is time to switch over and introduce new software systems. The first question is: Is your organisation ready for this transition? The other question is: What are the consequences of waiting (too) long? The same applies to companies working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and considering an upgrade to the latest version Dynamics 365 Business Central. Here we give you an overview of the most important technical and business reasons for which you should consider this upgrade in the short term.
Dynamics 365 Business Central is the latest cloud ERP solution from Microsoft to replace the highly successful Dynamics NAV (also known as Navision). Business Central offers semi-annual updates instead of the annual upgrades of Dynamics NAV. This allows businesses to benefit from the latest technological developments much more quickly.
In addition, Dynamics 365 offers enhanced features that help businesses keep up with the modern demands of their customers and employees. For example, Business Central offers integrated office tools such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft’s Power Platform that increase overall productivity and optimise daily business processes
Advanced and enhanced features. Business Central has the latest and most advanced technology on the market, such as the brand new and AI-based Co-Pilot solution.
Easy integration with Microsoft products. Business Central offers easy interoperability with other Microsoft products. These include Power Platform, Outlook, Power BI, Dynamics 365 CRM, Excel, Teams and Word, among others.
Mobile availability. Businesses with mobile or distributed teams benefit greatly from Business Central as it works anywhere, anytime based on a stable internet connection.
Lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Your total cost of ownership is (much) lower because of the Business Central cloud solution. So your system management is done by Microsoft in its highly automated data centres.
The foundation for your digital transformation. Unlike Dynamics NAV, a modern and up-to-date ERP solution like Business Central can serve as the backbone for your company’s digital transformation.
In addition to these “proactive” arguments, there are also some more “defensive” reasons for moving to Business Central in the short term.
End of support from Microsoft. Microsoft recently announced the end of basic support for Dynamics NAV 2018. Users of this version will no longer receive system updates with new features, security patches and bug fixes. This puts these users at risk for cybersecurity threats. This was already the case with older versions of Dynamics NAV.
Avoiding further cost increases. With the decrease in the number of users, Microsoft is increasing the costs for the annual maintenance of Dynamics NAV.
Would you like to know more about what a migration to Business Central can do for your company? Then you should contact our Managing Director Markus Köhler today.
