Advocates for the old Great Plains software complain that when Microsoft bought it, they messed with a perfectly good tool. Advocates for the new Microsoft Dynamics GP say there have been consistent improvements to the software, which has turned it into a premier mid-level accounting solution linked to a whole suite of productivity products.

Managing the customer experience is the most important business strategy you can undertake in 2019. Increasing brand impressions for prospects is just as important as creating positive direct interactions with customers. It’s particularly important for small companies that are fighting against competing businesses.

There’s one thing that just about everyone can agree on when discussing cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software – it helps small businesses compete against bigger organizations.

The newest member of Microsoft Dynamics 365 family is called Dynamics 365 Business Central, which is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform designed for the small to mid-sized business. It can get confusing because Dynamics Business Central is essentially the successor of Dynamics NAV. Microsoft has also rebranded, tweaked, and issued new versions for their middle-market ERP platform, including:

Rolling out any new software requires planning and finesse. Dynamics 365 implementation is a tricky process no matter the size of your business. That’s because this sophisticated software could impact many areas of your business. Dynamics 365 migrations are particularly tricky at the enterprise-level, as the rollout could encompass dozens of corporate departments. But having a process in place for Dynamics 365 implementation is important even for a small business.

Understanding whether your small business needs an ERP is the first step. If you’ve done due diligence on enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, you already understand the efficiency and cost savings they can bring to any business. Small business owners are increasingly adopting these sophisticated platforms because they’ve become less cost prohibitive under the newer cloud-driven software as a service (SaaS) subscription models.

If you’re planning on transitioning from your legacy accounting platform to Dynamics 365 Business Central, this post is for you. We’ll look at how the migration can be easy – but you’ll need the right tools to make it happen.

One of the questions we’re asked by small to mid-sized business clients is why they should consider investing in enterprise resource planning software. The chief question seems to stem from the idea that ERP software is overkill for such the small company. But here’s the rub; small businesses often teeter on the edge of insolvency; Small Business Trends says more than 50% of all small companies fail in their first four years. We believe any software that helps these ventures achieve competitive advantage during this treacherous time is a necessity.

The 2017 Report on ERP Systems and Enterprise Software surveyed organizations on their ERP experience to determine best practices that could be utilized by others in their implementation journey. Here are some statistics that will give you a sense of how often the transition to ERP can go poorly: