In recent years, companies have begun to feel the full pressure of digital transformation. Economic volatility, the need for real-time visibility, and a shortage of skilled labor are forcing organizations to rethink how they manage internal processes and resources. Many organizations are still using Dynamics NAV or Business Central installed locally (on-premise), which are solid solutions, but are starting to show their limits due to the local architecture and the associated hidden costs.
Importantly, Business Central is a modern and powerful ERP platform. The fundamental difference is where it is hosted and how it is operated.
On-prem versions require:
- Local infrastructure, with dedicated servers, licenses and maintenance,
- limited access to data, usually only from the internal network or via VPN,
- recurring costs for upgrades, back-ups, security and internal IT,
- difficulties to scale and integrate with other modern applications in the Microsoft ecosystem.
While these solutions still work, they can become inflexible in an economic environment that demands speed, flexibility and real-time visibility.
Business Central in the cloud - same platform with radically improved benefits
1. Reduce IT costs - no infrastructure, no surprises
Moving to the cloud completely eliminates the need for local servers, redundant equipment, perpetual licenses and hardware maintenance costs.
Business Central is delivered as a service (SaaS), with a transparent and scalable pricing model where you only pay for what you use.
No more costly upgrade projects, downtime or reliance on external consultants for maintenance.
What it means in concrete terms:
- Predictable monthly costs
- Eliminate upfront hardware investments
- Reduced time and effort from your internal IT team
2. Full automation - less manual labor, more time for decisions
Business Central comes with built-in automation functionality without the need for custom development.
Processes such as bank reconciliation, generating financial reports, automatic invoice posting or VAT calculation can be fully automated.
In practice:
- Invoices received by email can be processed automatically
- Financial reports are generated in real time without manual intervention
- Approval flows can be built visually, without code
- The risk of human error is significantly reduced
3. Native integration into the Microsoft ecosystem - everything works together
As part of the Microsoft platform, Business Central is designed to work seamlessly with the other solutions in the ecosystem:
- Microsoft 365 - direct Excel exports, Outlook synchronization
- Power BI - interactive dashboards, no additional integration
- Teams and Viva - collaborate directly in ERP without switching between apps
- Power Automate - automated approval workflows, notifications, tasks
This integration reduces the need for third-party solutions and provides a consistent and familiar work environment for your teams.
4. Enterprise-grade security and continuous updates
Hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform, Business Central has the highest level of protection for your company data:
- Automatic backups and advanced encryption
- Controlled access and multi-factor authentication
- Compliance with local and international regulations, including GDPR
- Functionality and security updates delivered automatically, without interruption
So your IT team no longer has to deal with backups or database migration - Microsoft takes care of everything.
5. Proven ROI - payback in less than 6 months
A report conducted by Forrester Consulting for Microsoft found that organizations that migrate to Business Central in the cloud achieve an average Return on Investment of 265% in 3 years.
What's more, the initial investment pays for itself in less than 6 months on average.
This translates into:
- Reduced operational and IT costs
- Increased productivity through automation
- Faster decisions through real-time visibility
- Adaptability to legislative and market changes
Every year you get stuck in an old ERP can negatively affect your business
By remaining dependent on an outdated ERP solution, your organization risks accumulating hidden costs and losing competitiveness. Here's what this implies in practice:
- Wasting valuable time on manual tasks: Many repetitive tasks - such as bank reconciliation, invoice processing or report generation - can be fully automated today with just a few clicks. Without these automations, employees waste hours on manual labor, reducing productivity and increasing the risk of errors.
- Bottlenecks and lack of transparency: Important data remains siloed in different departments and access to relevant information in real time is limited. This negatively affects internal communication and the ability to make quick and well-informed decisions.
- Constant investment in a stable solution with limited scalability: On-premise systems involve recurring costs for infrastructure, upgrades, IT maintenance and licenses, and the pace of adaptation to new market requirements can be slower compared to cloud solutions.
Find out more
Dynamics 365 Business Central Online offers the flexibility, agility and security you need for the future of your business. We'll provide you with more details!
Contact our COSMOnaut
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