Why organizations will choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central - and what users still need

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central management solution for small and mid-sized organizations continues to expand after its launch, becoming available in new locations. Microsoft is investing a lot, and the product has improved significantly in the transition from Project Madeira (the first one) to Finance & Operations Business Edition to its current form. The product now contains all the existing features in Dynamics NAV 2018, with the remaining constraint (acceptable, in my view) that customers must rely on the Web Client or on the Universal App rather than the NAV Windows client.

As a cloud-first product, Business Central will be seeing frequent updates from Microsoft, a notable difference from the typical NAV solution ownership experience of the past. Business Central's emphasis on newness comes with many strengths, but also drawbacks. I will offer a comparison of the strengths and limitations of Business Central, compared with Dynamics NAV 2018. I'll also examine the differences between the on-premises systems and those in the public cloud.

Documentation

With Business Central, even the documentation has changed. There is a lot of documentation available compared to the past (and in multiple languages). For partners there are courses and videos available. A forum dedicated to the product has already been activated.

Cloud first and automatic upgrades

Yes, the product has now become cloud by design. This means that Microsoft will update the cloud systems first, then the on-premises ones later. Using an ERP in the cloud means always being up to date with the latest version of the product.

The new development environment

The new development environment, born first for Business Central, then used for NAV 2018, is innovative, allowing you to develop extensions (and to certify them - or not). It is useful ...