Why Business Central Is the Right Next Step After Dynamics GP
- Abhisar Sharma
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
This is Part 2 of our 5-part series on migrating from Dynamics GP to Business Central.
Read the full series:
Part 2: Why Business Central Is the Right Next Step (you are here)
Part 4: GP to BC Migration: Automated vs. Manual - Which Path Is Right for You?
Part 5: The Most Common GP to BC Migration Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
When Microsoft announced Dynamics GP's end of life, many GP users started asking the obvious question: where do we go from here? The answer Microsoft is pointing toward - and the one most experienced BC consultants would recommend for small and mid-sized businesses - is Dynamics 365 Business Central.
But "it's Microsoft's recommended path" is not a sufficient reason to commit to a major ERP migration. Here is an honest look at what Business Central actually offers, and where it represents a genuine improvement over GP - not just a different name on the same kind of system.
It Was Built for the Cloud from the Ground Up
This distinction matters more than it sounds. GP was built as an on-premises system and adapted over time to accommodate cloud access. Business Central was designed from the start as a cloud-native platform.
The practical difference: with GP, your data lives on servers your organization owns, maintains, and secures. Infrastructure costs, upgrade cycles, and IT overhead are your responsibility. With Business Central, Microsoft manages the underlying infrastructure, delivers automatic updates, and handles security at the platform level. Your IT team is freed from routine ERP maintenance and can redirect that time toward work that actually moves the business forward.
For organizations that have been absorbing the cost of on-premises infrastructure - whether visibly in their IT budget or invisibly in staff time - the shift to a predictable monthly subscription model often looks different than expected when modeled out over three to five years.
The Feature Gap Is Significant
GP was a strong accounting and financial management system for its era. Business Central is a comprehensive ERP platform - and the difference in scope is meaningful.
Out of the box, Business Central includes integrated capabilities for sales, purchasing, inventory, supply planning, project management, and advanced warehouse management. Several of these areas required third-party ISV solutions in GP, each with its own licensing, support contracts, and upgrade dependencies.
The reporting difference alone is worth noting. GP's reporting was fragmented, often requiring separate tools or significant manual effort to produce management-level financial information. Business Central integrates natively with Power BI, which means real-time dashboards and custom reports become a configuration exercise rather than a technical project.
Business Central also uses a "dimensions" structure for tracking and analysis - a flexible approach that is a meaningful improvement over GP's rigid, segmented chart of accounts. Finance teams who have spent years working around GP's chart of accounts limitations tend to notice this quickly.
AI Is Built In, Not Bolted On
Business Central includes Microsoft Copilot - AI assistance embedded directly in the system. This is not a feature you need to separately license or integrate. It simplifies daily tasks, surfaces intelligent suggestions, and automates repetitive processes across finance, inventory, and operations.
For GP users, this represents a category of capability that simply did not exist in their previous system. The gap between GP and current-generation ERP is not just about features - it is about the underlying architecture's ability to incorporate what modern software can do.
Integration Across the Microsoft Ecosystem
If your organization uses Microsoft 365 - Outlook, Excel, Teams, OneDrive - Business Central connects to all of it natively. Emails can be linked to transactions, Excel remains a familiar interface for data entry and review, and Teams becomes a collaboration layer on top of live operational data.
GP's integrations with the broader Microsoft ecosystem were possible but required configuration, third-party connectors, and ongoing maintenance. In Business Central, these connections are designed in rather than added on.
A Direct Comparison
Category | Dynamics GP | Business Central |
Deployment | On-premises | Cloud-native |
Scalability | Limited | Built to scale |
AI and Automation | None built-in | Microsoft Copilot included |
Reporting | Fragmented, manual | Native Power BI integration |
Microsoft 365 Integration | Complex, requires connectors | Native and seamless |
Maintenance | Manual upgrades, high IT overhead | Automatic updates, low IT overhead |
Cost Structure | Perpetual license, high ongoing cost | Subscription with predictable costs |
Security | Outdated framework, ends 2031 | Enterprise-grade cloud security |
One Honest Caveat
Business Central is not the right fit for every organization without qualification. Companies with highly complex manufacturing operations, deep industry-specific customizations, or very large transaction volumes may need to evaluate whether additional ISV solutions or a different tier of Microsoft's ERP stack - Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations - is more appropriate.
For most small and mid-sized businesses currently on GP, particularly those in distribution, wholesale, or light manufacturing, Business Central covers the required functional ground and does so more efficiently than GP did.
Next in This Series
In Part 3, we get into the practical reality of how long a GP to Business Central migration actually takes - and what drives that timeline.
Evolve Strategy & Capital Inc. is a senior Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central consulting firm based in Calgary, specializing in inventory-intensive organizations. If you are evaluating Business Central as your next step, we offer a no-obligation discovery conversation to help you understand whether it is the right fit for your business.
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