Microsoft Introduces Dynamics 365 Business Central
Launched in North America in early April 2018, Dynamics 365 Business Central is Dynamics NAV in the cloud. Later this year, Dynamics NAV on premises will become Dynamics 365 Business Central on premises.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV has evolved over the years in efforts to serve its partners and users. Broad-based cloud adoption – up to 80% of businesses report embracing the cloud, with only 8% expressing no interest – has led Microsoft to take Dynamics NAV to the cloud. With digital transformations bringing more business data to the cloud, Microsoft’s Business Central provides more than a cloud-based ERP. It delivers a common data service that allows Microsoft applications, partner products, and third-party solutions to be stored in a common repository that is a well-formed, purposefully curated, interrelated data source.
Dynamics 365 BC uses Artificial Intelligence technologies to analyze the connected data, drive insights, and provide predictive analytics to empower customers to make intelligent decisions about their business. All this interconnectivity makes Dynamics 365 BC to be a unified and intelligent solution.
Dynamics 365 Business Central: The ERP Experience
Unified. Intelligent. Scalable.
These are just some of the words to describe Dynamics 365 Business Central. Microsoft is promoting Dynamics 365 Business Central as an all-in-one business management solution and for good reason. With the full capabilities of Dynamics NAV, Dynamics 365 BC combines essential tools from accounting, sales, supply chain, reporting, operations, and project management. Further, Power BI is embedded throughout allowing for real-time, actionable data that is easily accessible in all areas of the software.
The new user interface (UI) is a clean, modern look with more functionality available. In response to feedback from users, Microsoft added more real estate allowing users to personalize their UI so that they can have the tools they want and need readily accessible; each user can customize to see only the data that is relevant to them.
Dynamics 365 Business Central:Â Both an Application and a Platform
Microsoft has described Dynamics 365 BC as an application and a platform. The business application platform includes full NAV application objects, Dynamics 365 branded vertical solutions, and Microsoft ISV Cloud Embed program where specific vertical add-ons can be built. As in the past, customizations can be built and deployed through Events and Extensions. Vertical solutions can be built and published on AppSource. Extensions allow the ease of upgrading by not making modifications to the core code.
What’s Next?
The software is continually evolving. The next release of NAV will not be NAV 2019, but Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises and hosted. It will be the same code base, the same product for both the cloud and on-premises versions. One product with two releases (spring and fall), with continuous updates in between.
The on-premises version will be available to avoid disruption for existing on-premises customers, as well as to provide an option for customers and businesses where the cloud is not the preferred option.
You can find more information in our recorded webinars on What’s new in Dynamics NAV 2018 to learn about the functionality in NAV 2018, learn more about Dynamics 365 Business Central and follow ArcherPoint on LinkedIn to stay abreast of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.