Why a Dynamics NAV Upgrade Helps You Meet the Demands of Your Growing Business

Upgrade Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central to Connect Your Business and Drive Productivity and Profits

Accounting tools are critical to helping companies streamline their operations. But many businesses eventually outgrow their basic accounting software or legacy ERP systems, like Dynamics NAV, for a variety of reasons, including:

• Basic tools are unable to handle increased transaction volumes or expanded inventory.
• They lack integration with other line-of-business systems or have critical reporting limitations.
• They don’t allow companies to easily scale or embrace mobile ways of working, making it difficult for employees to do what they need to do when they’re out on the road or working from home.
• They can’t handle growth because they don’t connect well with other line-of-business systems, making it hard for employees to find critical information or requiring employees to routinely enter duplicate data into multiple systems to complete tasks.
• They cause security issues because they lack audit trail capabilities.

High-performing businesses need a more robust solution that is easy to use and connects with their existing tools and data sources. And recent research has indicated that cloud-based ERP systems fulfill this need.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is the Ideal Path for a Dynamics NAV Upgrade

For growing businesses that have outgrown existing accounting software and upgrade Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one business management solution that easily and seamlessly connects people and processes. Dynamics 365 Business Central is deeply integrated with Microsoft 365 and includes built-in intelligence, so it’s easy to use and helps you make better business decisions.

Our solution offering puts flexibility at the core of your business, enabling you to grow at your own pace and adapt in real-time. That means you can start small with the right fit for employees’ roles and business needs, and then you can extend Business Central as your business evolves and grows.

IT’S HARD TO BE PRODUCTIVE IF YOUR CURRENT SYSTEMS ARE DISCONNECTED

How many tools or apps does your organization use to get work done?

It becomes increasingly difficult to stay productive when systems and processes don’t work together. You may not be ready to handle growth if you’re constantly spending time navigating between different applications or re-entering data by hand. With siloed systems, your people may struggle to quickly locate the information they need to perform their jobs.

Deploy a Single, Comprehensive Solution with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central automatically pulls your systems and processes together so that you can better manage financials, sales, service, and operations—all from one, unified solution. This makes it easy for employees to quickly locate the most current, accurate data, share it with colleagues, and make informed decisions.

To put this connectivity into perspective, imagine that a sales rep in the field makes a change to a customer quote. The second the rep updates the customer quote, Business Central automatically ensures that the change is reflected in the numbers being pulled for a forecast report back at the office. Because your tools talk to each other, you can rest assured that information is always up-to-date, which means employees can make more informed decisions.

Functions like payroll, banking, and CRM systems are also just as integrated into Business Central. By connecting with third-party applications, it’s easy for your people to share the most current data and respond to customer requests faster.

With Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can shorten the time it takes to go from quote to cash by managing the entire process from inside your Outlook inbox.

Create quotes, process orders, and submit invoices without ever leaving Outlook:

• As part of the experience inside Microsoft Outlook, real-time customer and vendor history is immediately accessible from within contextual emails. Access to the most current information enables users to be more productive and make quicker decisions without needing to switch to a different app.
• Dynamics 365 Business Central reduces the wasted time and friction that happens when you’re forced to toggle between multiple applications. Instead, users can take immediate action directly from a single screen, sharing information and insights that lead to better customer experiences.

Access live data directly from Microsoft Excel to update items, sales orders, and purchase orders:

• Users can access live Dynamics 365 Business Central data directly from Microsoft Excel to read, write, and update items, sales orders, and purchase orders. Integration with Excel offers powerful capabilities such as bulk imports/exports/updates and Excel solution-based data analysis using Charts and Pivot Tables.

Customize outgoing documents such as quotes and invoices in Microsoft Word:

• Integration with Microsoft Word allows users to customize and brand all outgoing documents such as quotes and invoices. Users can create / edit / modify the report layout in a Microsoft Word document using a WYSIWYG editing experience.

Rest assured that all the work you do within these Microsoft 365 apps and Dynamics 365 Business Central is synchronized so that your data is always up to date.

One of the other differentiating benefits you get with Dynamics 365 Business Central is the mobile experience. Often, mobile versions of ERP systems don’t provide the same rich functionality. Alternatively, Business Central supports all mobile experiences equally. Your people get the same desktop capabilities and experience on Windows, iOS, and Android platforms—all while using their device of choice. Get one experience that is consistent and secure across every desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone.

YOU CAN’T SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE WHEN DATA IS SCATTERED ACROSS SPREADSHEETS AND EMAIL

How many times has the inability to access information impeded your ability to see the bigger picture? Or perhaps, has a lack of information about customers ever affected a sale or your reputation?

When you do not have direct access to updated business data, it becomes more difficult to manage company accounts, create reports, or drive meaningful customer engagements. When information is scattered across spreadsheets and email with notable discrepancies, it prevents you from making data-driven decisions.

Get an end-to-end view of your business with Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Upgrade Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central to help you get an end-to-end view of your business. It centralizes your company’s data from finance, sales, service, and operations to paint an accurate picture of your business.

And with more accurate information at your fingertips, decisions have a bigger impact on the bottom line. Business Central gives you real-time data updates to help your organization spot trends, prevent issues, and deliver great customer experiences.

Another benefit of Dynamics 365 Business Central is that you can easily track ongoing sales performance and leverage actionable insights to focus on customers with the greatest potential for long-term growth. Use custom dashboards and reports to prioritize sales leads based on revenue potential, keep track of every customer interaction, and get guidance on the best upsell, cross-sell, and renewal opportunities.

Business Central empowers your team to take advantage of powerful analytics thanks to its integration with Power BI. Transform data into rich visuals and dashboards. Live updates make sure you’re always looking at the latest data—it’s actionable intelligence anyone in the company can use!

Finally, use Business Central to deliver exceptional service with a comprehensive overview of your service tasks, workloads, and employee skills to effectively assign resources and accelerate case resolution.

Dynamics 365 Business Central also helps you guide employees to optimal outcomes.

Optimize inventory levels:

• Predict when and what to replenish with built-in intelligence, sales forecasts, and dynamically updated inventory levels.

Manage vendor bills:

• Get recommendations on when to pay vendors, when to use vendor discounts, or how to avoid overdue penalties.

Keep projects on time and under budget:

• Manage budgets and monitor progress with real-time data on available resources.

WITHOUT THE RIGHT AUDIT TRAILS AND CONTROLS, YOU MAY FACE SECURITY ISSUES AND OTHER BUSINESS RISKS

Does security and data compliance concern you?

How confident are you about your accounting solution’s security measures and audit controls? Limited internal controls can make it easier for users to manipulate data and cause security risks.

Automate and secure business processes with a Dynamics NAV Upgrade

Dynamics 365 Business Central helps you improve productivity and get more done with easy-to-create workflows, audit trails, and enterprise-level security. Connect workflows across sales and accounting to automatically track cash flow and secure purchasing, credit authorization, and vendor payment processes with pre-defined alerts and approval workflows.

Get the freedom to begin with the apps you need today and add new solutions at your own pace over time. This is a cost-effective way to meet your unique business needs with a cloud-based ERP system that doesn’t just make it easy to scale but also secures financial information and customer data with enterprise-level security.

Handle the most common business processes from day one, like quotes, orders, invoicing, purchasing, cash management, and reporting. And rest assured that all of your company’s assets are protected.

As your company grows, it’s easy to add apps and configure Dynamics 365 Business Central to fit business needs or industry demands.

Extend Business Central with integrated add-on apps such as:

• Business apps like Office 365 and other Dynamics 365 tools.
• Data storage apps like Dropbox and OneDrive.
• On-premises systems, including SharePoint, SQL Server, Oracle databases, SAP, and more.

And connect to data sources and services such as:

• Excel files.
• SharePoint lists.
• CRM records.

Supercharge your Growth and Upgrade Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Free your business and your people from the limitations of multiple, disconnected solutions and the inefficient employee workarounds that waste hours every week. Dynamics 365 Business Central automatically pulls your systems and processes together so your people don’t have to, getting your entire company in sync with your business’s growth. Automate critical processes with easy-to-create workflows and audit trails that secure processes without adding complexity.

Now that you are ready to make the switch and migrate your Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Business Central, start with our Business Impact Assessment by completing the simple form here – Start my Business Impact Assessment, or contact us directly (905) 907-3600.

Our Dynamics Consultants team is here to help you upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central so you can get the most from your accounting software.

Dynamics NAV Upgrade to Business Central FAQ

1. What is the future of Dynamics NAV?

Dynamics NAV has been rebranded as Dynamics 365 Business Central. Microsoft will stop selling Dynamics NAV to new customers on April 1, 2019. Dynamics NAV 2018 will be the last version under the NAV brand name. However, existing Dynamics NAV customers will still be able to purchase new licenses for their solution as needed. Microsoft will continue to offer Dynamics NAV support through January 2028 but will no longer release upgrades for Dynamics NAV 2018 and earlier NAV versions as of April 1, 2019.

2. What does this mean for Dynamics NAV customers?

Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV run the same application codebase. Therefore, for existing customers, this will be a similar process to upgrading their Dynamics NAV instance. However, they will need to consider variables such as where they are in their BREP, what to do with their customizations, and pricing and licensing differences.

• Migrate to Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud: By migrating to Dynamics 365 Business Central in the cloud, customers will get all the benefits of a true cloud solution, like easy 24/7 access anywhere from any device with Microsoft’s secure servers, seamless upgrades, easy integration building through web APIs, and reduced hardware costs.
• Starting today, for customers interested in the cloud, Dynamics 365 Business Central offers unprecedented opportunities to drive the transformation of the customers’ businesses, increasing their business performance through the power of Microsoft cloud technologies and services.

3. What migration tools are available to help migrate from Dynamics NAV on-premises to Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Making the switch to Dynamics 365 Business Central is very similar to any other Dynamics NAV upgrade. Now, instead of upgrading to a newer version of Dynamics NAV, customers will transition to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

QuickStart Services is available for data import/export from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud.

4. Will current Dynamics NAV customers be required to migrate to Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Customers are not required to migrate to Dynamics 365 Business Central. However, to stay current and get the latest functionality, we suggest that they upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

5. Can customers migrate their customizations and integrations to Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Yes, customers can migrate their customizations and integrations by upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central and then converting their customizations to extensions.

As part of a customer’s transition, we suggest that they evaluate their customizations and integrations and determine which ones are still required or cost-effective to redevelop for Dynamics 365 Business Central.

6. Will customers have to pay for cloud hosting?

If customers opt to use Dynamics 365 Business Central in the cloud, they will not have to pay separately for cloud hosting, as everything is included in one fee—including software, cloud hosting, and management services.

7. Can customers customize Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Yes, customers can customize Dynamics 365 Business Central with the new Extensions model. Customers can’t change standard code, and they need to use the event-based model.

It is not mandatory for customers to deploy their extensions to AppSource. Extensions can be developed and deployed per tenant.

8. How often will content be updated in Dynamics 365 Business Central in the cloud?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central will be automatically updated monthly by Microsoft.

9. Is Dynamics 365 Business Central GDPR compliant?

Yes, the continuous updates to Dynamics 365 Business Central (in the cloud) help ensure that customers are fully GDPR compliant.

10. Can customers buy Dynamics 365 Business Central by themselves?

No, customers will need to contact a Microsoft partner (CSP) to buy Dynamics 365 Business Central.

11. Why should customers trust that the Microsoft cloud is secure?

Microsoft invests more than $1B a year in Dynamics Azure to ensure unmatched security and governance. It also employs more than 3,500 security experts to protect your information. Microsoft collaborates with industry and regulators to build trust in the cloud ecosystem guided by the following principles:

• Security – Protect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data
• Privacy and control – Control access to and use of your data
• Compliance – Stored and managed with applicable laws, regulators, and standards
• Transparency – Visibility into how your data is handled and used

12. Where is my data physically stored in the cloud?

Your data is stored in one of Microsoft’s several data centers in the same country in which you are located. You can learn more about Microsoft security here.

13. What’s Dynamics 365 Business Central online SLA?

Microsoft has 99.9% SLA in place on the public cloud platform.