When deciding the timeline for moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central, consider your Dynamics NAV version’s place in the Microsoft support lifecycle, your evolving business requirements, the newer functionality in Business Central, and your regulatory compliance needs.
Support Lifecycle: If your NAV version is nearing or has reached the end of Microsoft extended support, that suggests moving to Business Central sooner. NAV 2013 R2 and earlier versions are now beyond extended support. See the support dates for different NAV versions.
Evolving Business Requirements: Many businesses have changed considerably since they first implemented NAV, sometimes to the point where their existing NAV configuration doesn’t match their current inventory, warehouse, or bank information needs well anymore.
When you begin the process of moving to Business Central, you will have the chance to collaborate with an experienced Dynamics Partner to tailor the system to suit your present business requirements as well as your plans for the future.
Newer Functionality: Business Central facilitates remote and mobile work, offers interoperability with other Microsoft products (everything from Excel to Power Automate), and has other functionality improvements like built-in workflow approvals. Consider the relevance of these functionalities to your own business processes as another factor in deciding your best time to move to the newer ERP.
Security and Compliance: Your regulatory and security needs may suggest you should move to Business Central shortly. In Business Central, the latest patches are automatically applied to your system. That lowers your security risk and eases complying with regulations.
Read more about timing for a move from NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
With respect to the interface differences, watch this short comparison of the two systems:
There are two approaches for migrating Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central: upgrade and clean start. The main difference is that an upgrade migrates your historical data directly into Business Central, while a clean start (also called a reimplementation) provides an opportunity to optimize and reimagine your ERP, and lets you keep your historical data through Azure Data Lake or another solution.
The upgrade process takes your data from Dynamics NAV and massages it via development tools to fit it into Business Central.
Note that customizations do not convert and will need to be recreated: however, we find that many customizations can be left behind, because of the added functionality in Business Central.
In the clean start process, on the other hand, we migrate your master records, GL balances, Open A/R, and Open A/P into Business Central. Your historical data are made available to your team in a related system like Azure Data Lake. A clean start is sometimes called a “re”-implementation because Business Central’s code is built on things you already know from NAV.
Pros of Upgrading:
Con of Upgrading:
Pros of Clean Start:
Con of Clean Start:
For a deeper dive, read our blog post on the differences between the upgrade and clean start processes. It discusses high-level steps for each, and reasons to choose either approach.
For advice tailored to your company’s needs or to discuss your eligibility for some unique Encore migration promotional offers, talk to your Encore Account Manager or contact us with the form below.
Within these overall steps, each company’s journey will be somewhat different, as the process should be adapted to fit your technology and business needs.
A move from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central typically takes around 6 months.
The overall timeline will be impacted by your amount of modules, customizations, and integrations. New functionality or business processes being added can also extend the time needed.
When evaluating the financial impact of a technology investment, it is important to assess metrics such as return on investment (ROI) and net present value. Forrester released The Total Economic Impact™ of a Migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The study revealed that customers have reported significant cost savings and business benefits after moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
A few statistics shared, based on 160 respondents, in the Forrester TEI Migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central include:
To help you understand the financial benefits of transitioning from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central for your business, the Encore team can work with you to utilize an ROI Tool. This tool provides a detailed analysis of potential cost savings and productivity improvements over time for your business.
Contact your Account Manager to complete the ROI Tool to understand the financial impact of migrating for your business.
Dynamics 365 Business Central is licensed as a monthly subscription based on named individual users. There’s no minimum number of users, and you can raise or lower your number of users over time as needed.
Azure hosting is included with your licenses — you do not pay hosting or server fees. Furthermore, you never have to pay annual enhancement plan fees again.
For the prices of the three main license types, review this table:
For more information, including the functionality available with each license type, read our fuller explanation of Business Central licensing and pricing.
Through the decision-making process, it’s important to consider the full technology roadmap for your business. As your Dynamics Partner, Encore takes the time to understand your business needs, goals, and strategy, in order to create a technology plan going forward.
At Encore, we are experts in both Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 Business Central. When we implement your new Business Central solution, we’ll also draw on our experience with your current solution.
Beyond NAV and Business Central, we have teams with knowledge and experience in all Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM solutions, Microsoft 365 (Office 365), Power BI and the Power Platform, the Microsoft Azure cloud, and more. These tools can extend the capabilities of Business Central to meet your changing business needs as you grow.
We combine this comprehensive technical skill in Microsoft products with experience in the essential change management and training aspects of an ERP transition. This means we can guide you through testing, training, and user adoption – which are as important to your success as the technical implementation itself.
We advise each of our clients on the best tools and processes for them. We’d be happy to help you design the technology roadmap for the future of your business.
Start the conversation today about your options and don’t miss out on the limited-time promotions for Dynamics NAV customers moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central. To learn more and discuss your eligibility, contact us using the form below or reach out to your Account Manager.