Upgrade from Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 Business Central (F&O vs BC)
Business Central offers right-sized features for replacing Dynamics AX
There’s no denying that Dynamics 365 Finance (Finance & Operations / Commerce / Supply Chain / SMC) is a strong Enterprise ERP that can scale to meet client needs. However, typical implementations are for 100+ users and have an implementation fee of $500,000 to over $2,000,000 after all of the complex custom processes are mapped and configured within the system. Consider the following for F & O vs Business Central.
Replacing Dynamics AX with Business Central, on the other hand (10-50 users), can be a strong fit for organizations of all sizes with moderate to high complexity especially when extended with additional best-of-breed add-on applications for advanced process automation and industry-specific needs. Business Central comes standard with multi-entity, multi-currency, dimensional reporting, and internal approvals workflow.
Example Illustration: How much power, size, cost, do you need to meet your business needs?
Business Central is Right-Sized for your needs
- Less than 1/3 the price even after all the bells and whistles
- Far greater short-term and long-term flexibility
- Easier to maintain and support
- A strong workhorse for core financials, distribution and light manufacturing
- Available add-on options for Advanced Manufacturing, WMS, and industry-specific needs
For organizations with 10-50 users Business Central is the perfect fit. Some larger global organizations also use multiple instances of Business Central to support the localization and unique business needs of various subsidiaries and entities, rather than implementing a larger one-size fits all Enterprise ERP. See our ‘How to choose a new ERP/CRM white paper” with sample projects in the $100,000 to $250,000 range, a fraction of the implementation costs seen for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.
Why upgrade from Dynamics AX to Microsoft Business Central in Canada or the United States?
- New cloud features and functions to support increased end-user productivity may pose a strong business case for upgrading. Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is the last version of Dynamics AX on-premise before being rebranded and moved to the cloud as Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. If you have less than 50 ERP users, moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central may present SIGNIFICANT COST savings on implementation, migration, and configuration of your new cloud ERP. Business Central supports multi-entity, multi-currency, supply chain, manufacturing, and SOx compliance.
- You may be on an older version and need to upgrade as your current version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 or AX 2012 may be ending mainstream support (see below). Being off support presents risks associated with security, bug fixes, and compatibility concerns. We recommend Dynamics 365 Business Central for organizations using AX in cases where there are less than 50 ERP users. (Endeavour does not support Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations aka F&O, which is the natural evolution of Dynamics AX for larger enterprise organizations with 150+ ERP users and $500K to $ multi-million budgets)
- Dynamics AX 4.0 was released in September 2006 and ended support on October 2016. Now is the time to migrate to Microsoft Business Central.
- Dynamics AX 2009 was released in August 2008 and ends support on April 2022 (previously was to end October 2021, but was extended by Microsoft to 2022 to allow added time for cloud migrations). Now is the time to migrate to Microsoft Business Central.
- Dynamics AX 2012 was released in September 2011 and ends support on April 2022. Now is the time to migrate to Microsoft Business Central.
- Dynamics AX 2012 R2 was released in February 2021 and ends support on April 2022. Now is the time to migrate to Microsoft Business Central.
- Dynamics AX 2012 R3 was released in August 2014 and officially ended extended support on January 10 2023. Announcement. Now is the time to migrate to Microsoft Business Central.
- If you have less than 50 ERP users, we recommend a migration from Dynamics AX to Microsoft Business Central, Microsoft's Mid-Market cloud ERP.
- You may be seeking to be Cloud-hosted with new cloud productivity functions available in the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365. If you are on Microsoft Dynamics AX or Dynamics CRM, the new Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud platform may be of interest to you. Cloud-based ERP and CRM applications from Microsoft are available on a subscription basis and include cloud-hosting from Microsoft Canada on Azure, or options for on-premise.
- You want to have a tighter integration with Microsoft 365 and the rest of the award-winning Microsoft cloud business applications including Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, Outlook 365, and SharePoint online. Business Central also integrates well with Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer service for a better customer experience.
- You need a trusted ERP partner to help right-size your implementation including advisory services for the financial setup, supply chain, and mid-market process automation. Endeavour Solutions is a top Microsoft Dynamics ERP partner in Canada with remote services for the United States. Our Dynamics AX to Business Central Canada & USA experts are worth talking to before looking at F&O or a non-Microsoft platform.
Serving clients across Canada and the United States
2023 Case study - Moving from Microsoft Dynamics AX on-premise to Business Central
Full Introduction to Dynamics 365 Business Central (44min) showcasing the integrated and unified nature of Dynamics 365, with Office 365 and the Power Platform
Learn more about Microsoft Business Central
With Endeavour Solutions you can expect your AX to Business Central upgrade (Canada or USA) to include:
- A proper assessment of your needs
- A scope and project plan to meet your objectives
- A technical upgrade including pre-production and live production upgrade
- Advisory Services to review opportunities for improvement including configuration, training, and adoption of new functions.
- A significant cost savings as an alternative option to Finance & Operations (for less than 50 users)
Microsoft Dynamics AX migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Canada and USA.
Endeavour Solutions, as a GOLD ERP partner and 30+ years in Microsoft Dynamics ERP for SMB and Mid-Market organizations with $50M to $500M revenue, typically between 10 and 50 users. Our team has a specialized set of tools and processes to move Dynamics AX to the new cloud-based Dynamics 365 Business Central platform. The following are the types of data than can be migrated from Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Migrate Chart of Accounts (CoA) to Business Central dimensions
- GL Accounts and summary transactions history and open years
- Customers and Open Receivables Transactions
- Vendors and Open Payables Transactions
- Items and Quantity on Hand at the time of migration run
- Sales, Purchasing, Inventory history data is brought over into Business Central Extension tables. Including inventory locations, quantity on hand, Serial Numbers, lot numbers.
- Additional historical data can be moved to Microsoft Azure Data-Lake for long term storage, analysis and reporting.
