For those already running Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains), the name is unusual, but the prospect of a cloud-based ERP like Dynamics 365 Business Central will be jarring. But do the math and balance the ROI for migrating to Business Central and weigh that out against the cost. On that balance, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Let’s see why this is more than an upgrade and a strategic move that drives value and efficiency.

Cloud ERP ROI

In addition to this saving in finance, based on data, the amount of the value adds up to increased productivity, scalability, and improved performance of the business. Although it comes with high initial costs, payback on investment will have many years down the road in terms of efficiency in business performance.

Important Ingredients for Cloud ERP ROI

Saving in Costs

  • Lower IT Costs: Business Central reduces costs associated with on-premises systems like GP—such as perpetual hardware maintenance, server upgrades, and IT support—where businesses can instead experience predictable subscription pricing.
  • Lower TCO: Business Central avoids expensive upgrades and features continuous updates in the subscription.

More Productivity

  • Streamlined Processes: Automated processes of Business Central reduce the amount of manual work, allowing teams to focus on more value-added activities.
  • Improved Collaboration: Integration with Microsoft 365 leads to easy communication and collaboration between departments.

Scalability and Flexibility

  • Flexibility: Business Central grows with your company, and it grows organically without having infrastructure investments that affect the organization significantly.
  • Remote Access: This is a cloud-based system; it makes it possible to work from anywhere. Most organizations in this hybrid world want this as well.

Better Decision-Making

  • Real-time Insights: This Business Central delivers real-time analytics and dashboards, not available in GP with its dependency on batch processing data updates.
  • AI-Powered Predictions: Advanced forecasting tools help businesses predict trends long before they happen to be ahead of the competition.

Why Business Central Should Be of Interest to Dynamic GP Users

  1. GP Is Going Obsolete
    Microsoft has made Business Central its future hold; thus, users of GP shall soon face bland end-of-life support and reduced updates. With Business Central, users can experience new technology as well as ongoing support.
  2. Seamless Integration
    Business Central integrates well into the entire Microsoft ecosystem with Power BI, Teams, and Office 365. This causes increased productivity along with one-stop central access to all business operations.
  3. Benefits of Cloud
    The benefits of moving to the cloud are as follows:
    • Automated Updates: Be up to date with minimal effort.
    • Improved Security: Take hold of enterprise-grade security by Microsoft.
    • Convenience of Accessing Anywhere in the World: Enable your employees to access the system from anywhere in the world.
  4. Smoother User Experience
    Business Central has an extremely trendy UI that minimizes the time that users take to become productive. It is light years ahead, after all, of the antique UI in GP.

Payback from Going Live with Business Central

Cost Savings

Calculate savings by reducing hardware, maintenance, and upgrade costs.
Add in possible savings of increased employee productivity and reduced errors.

Productivity Improvements

  • Tracking time saved in automation and smoothing workflows.
  • Improvement in report time as well as speed to make decisions.

Revenue Growth

  • Calculate revenue based on the more effective knowledge of customers and in the management of inventory. By using market trends, as well as the behavior of customers through the AI tools used.

It is a mid-size company that will move from GP to Business Central. This move would reduce the annual IT maintenance and hardware cost by $50,000. Automation lowers 15% manual labor, which allows people to have time for growth initiatives. Benefits in terms of revenue growth increase by 10% as the forecasting and management of the inventory improve. These are combined at less than two years payback period.

Overcoming Challenges During Migration

ROI is evident, but the migration must be planned. Here is how to ensure a smooth transition:

  • Data Migration Planning: Look for an experienced partner who can take data from GP without any disruption.
  • Change Management: Train your staff on the new system in a way that is bound to lead to higher adoption and minimize downtime.
  • Rollout Plan: Do this in a phased approach to risk minimize and the transition to become smoother.

Conclusion

It is not just an upgrade in terms of technology but a strategic move that touts humongous ROI from Dynamics GP to Business Central. Business Central benefits with cost savings, productivity gains, and better decision-making that will help businesses compete and succeed in today’s competitive environment. Long-term success will come with the adoption of the cloud and flexibility and scalability.

Is your company ready for its move? Get started on your journey today with Dynamics 365 Business Central.