Considering an Upgrade from Dynamics GP to Business Central?

What are your options moving forward?

You may be thinking about your options moving forward. One option is a Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central migration.

Whilst both Dynamics GP and Business Central are aimed at SMEs and are great for managing a business’s core finances, some differences may make you want to transition to Dynamics Business Central sooner rather than later.

If you're considering a GP to Business Central migration, you may relate to some of our commonly asked questions:

1. What will I gain from upgrading to Business Central?
2. Will I need new hardware for Business Central?
3. What are the benefits of moving to the cloud?
4. What about my staff, will it be a difficult transition? 
5. Why upgrade now and not next year?
6. What will happen to my integrations?
7. Does BC work seamlessly with customisations and ISV integrations?
8. What can Syscom offer?

If you’re already aware of the benefits migration to Business Central will bring, take a look at why Syscom are the right Microsoft Partner for the job – we promise minimal installation costs, plus we don't ask for a big upfront payment - payments are scheduled in line with project progress.

1. What will I gain from a GP to Business Central migration?

There is much to be gained from upgrading to Business Central as your ERP solution– improved efficiency and optimisation of your business's processes and operations. Take a look at some of the key benefits:

Seamless Integrations with other Microsoft Products

If your staff are users of Microsoft 365 (Office 365) programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook, or Dynamics CRM (Dynamics 365 Sales) then the pre-built integration between these and Business Central will be a major benefit to you.

Whilst integrating your GP software with Microsoft 365, power BI or CRM can be done, this requires additional costs for the resources, skills and effort needed.

Dimensional Accounting

One key benefit offered by Business Central is the dimensional accounting functionality. This allows you to define analysis categories and makes it simple to review a particular dimension – for example, staff expenses.

Project Accounting

Using project accounting functionality, which is not available in GP, Business Central lets your finance team work more efficiently with your operations team.

Improved Reporting

Whilst Power BI can be integrated into GP with some effort, it is pre-built into Dynamics Business Central.  This offers excellent reporting capabilities, the ability to merge data from multiple sources and customised dashboards, giving the right people the information that they need to do the best job. Overall, Business Central offers better and more flexible data analysis.

Benefit from AI

With Business Central, you can benefit from Microsoft's built-in AI companion - Copilot. 

2. Will I need new hardware for Business Central?

Choosing the cloud version of Business Central eliminates the need for new hardware, as it operates on Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure. However, opting for an on-premises deployment may require server and infrastructure upgrades to meet system requirements.

Business Central: Cloud vs On Premise

4. What about the staff? Will it be a difficult transition?

The Business Central interface is consistent with all well-known Microsoft products, so if your staff are familiar with Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, Word, or Excel, they should find using Business Central comes naturally.

It’s important to have staff on your side when changing systems, and training from your Dynamics Partner should be part of the migration process.

5. Why upgrade Dynamics GP to Business Central now?

Are you on an old version of GP and need to upgrade as mainstream support has ended? Now could be the time to jump to Business Central and migrate to the cloud.

Perhaps you were considering an update to the latest version of GP, but the announcement from Microsoft about the discontinuation of the software has made you contemplate Business Central instead. Or if you feel you have outgrown GP and want more from your software solution, now could be the time to reap the benefits Business Central SaaS could bring to your organisation. 

6. What will happen to my integrations?

Sometimes, the built-in features of Business Central can replace the need for certain third-party solutions currently integrated with your GP system.

We will collaborate with you to assess all existing integrations, identify which ones are necessary for your future needs, and create a smooth transition plan to ensure that all essential features, functions, and systems are seamlessly integrated into your new solution.

7. Does Business Central work seamlessly with customisations and ISV integrations? 

Business Central is highly flexible and supports numerous third-party ISV integrations.

We can assist you in identifying and implementing the necessary customisations and integrations to ensure your new solution aligns perfectly with your unique business needs.