Table of Contents
- What is the difference between ERP and Business Central
- What is the difference between Microsoft Finance and Operations and Business Central
- How to choose the right ERP system for your business
- Why choose Business Central
- Dynamics 365 vs Business Central: understanding the portfolio
- When Business Central isn’t the right choice
- What finance teams specifically need to evaluate
- Implementation realities finance should understand
- Making the final decision
- Stop delaying the decision
- FAQs
Table of contents
- What is the difference between ERP and Business Central
- What is the difference between Microsoft Finance and Operations and Business Central
- How to choose the right ERP system for your business
- Why choose Business Central
- Dynamics 365 vs Business Central: understanding the portfolio
- When Business Central isn’t the right choice
- What finance teams specifically need to evaluate
- Implementation realities finance should understand
- Making the final decision
- Stop delaying the decision
- FAQs
Your finance team is drowning in spreadsheets. Month-end close takes 10+ days. You can’t see real-time cash flow. Different business units use different systems that don’t talk.
You need an ERP. But which one?
Business Central or Finance and Operations? SAP or Oracle? NetSuite? Every vendor claims their solution is perfect.
Finance teams evaluating Dynamics 365 vs Business Central face a decision they’ll live with for years. Pick wrong and you waste budget on features you don’t need or hit limitations fast.
Here’s what your finance team actually needs to know.
What is the difference between ERP and Business Central
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, software managing core business processes like accounting, procurement, inventory, and operations in one integrated system.
Business Central is Microsoft’s ERP solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It’s one ERP option among many.
Business Central delivers:
- Financial management (general ledger, AP/AR, cash management)
- Supply chain and inventory management
- Project management and manufacturing
- Sales and service management
- Reporting and analytics
Cloud-based platform designed for companies with 10-250 employees, though it scales higher. A real estate firm managing 15+ business units with 1,000+ employees runs successfully on Business Central, achieving 80% improvement in billing accuracy and 60% reduction in approval dependency.
What is the difference between Microsoft Finance and Operations and Business Central
Microsoft offers two main ERP solutions: Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both are powerful, but they target different scales.
Company size
Finance and Operations handles large, complex global enterprises. Multiple legal entities across countries. Thousands of users. High transaction volumes.
Business Central serves small to medium-sized companies. Simpler structures. Standard processes. Hundreds of users.
Cost
Finance and Operations requires higher investment. Base licensing typically starts higher with implementation costs from hundreds of thousands to millions.
Business Central offers more affordable entry. Essentials plan around $70/user monthly, Premium around $100/user monthly. Implementation typically $50,000-$200,000 for mid-sized companies.
Timeline
Finance and Operations implementations take 6-18 months minimum, often longer for global rollouts.
Business Central implementations complete in 3-6 months for most mid-sized companies. Faster time to value, less disruption.
Customization
Finance and Operations provides deeper customization for complex business processes and intricate scenarios.
Business Central offers good customization through extensions and Power Platform integration. Low-code customization makes it accessible to business users, not just developers.
Integration
Both integrate well with Teams, Power BI, and Office 365. Business Central’s lighter architecture often makes integration simpler and faster.
How to choose the right ERP system for your business
Stop comparing feature lists. Start evaluating fit.
Assess company size and growth
Current headcount matters less than where you’re headed. Planning to grow from 200 to 2,000 employees in five years? You need an ERP scaling to your future state.
Business Central scales from 10 to several hundred employees comfortably. Beyond that, Finance and Operations or another enterprise solution might be necessary.
Evaluate process complexity
Simple, standardized processes? Business Central handles them well. Complex manufacturing with multiple plants, intricate supply chains, and heavy regulatory requirements? Finance and Operations might be necessary.
A landscaping company with 60+ automated applications on Power Platform reduced billing time from 30 hours to 4 hours. Simple workflows automated effectively without enterprise complexity.
Calculate total cost of ownership
Don’t just look at license fees. Include implementation, ongoing support, training, customization, and integration.
Consider integration requirements
What systems need connecting to your ERP? CRM, HRMS, e-commerce, banking, specialized tools?
Business Central integrates naturally with Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, and other Microsoft applications. The real estate firm integrated Business Central with LeadSquared CRM and Zing HRMS seamlessly.
Evaluate implementation partner expertise
Your ERP is only as good as the implementation team. Advaiya holds Microsoft Solutions Partner status across multiple competencies including Business Applications, demonstrating proven expertise.
Test with real scenarios
Don’t just watch demos. Test with your actual processes. Load your data. Try your workflows.
Why choose Business Central
Business Central works particularly well for mid-sized companies needing robust ERP without enterprise complexity and cost.
Unified platform eliminating data silos
Finance, operations, sales, service in one system. Everyone works from the same data. No synchronization issues.
A Fortune 500 manufacturer unified global CRM deployment, migrating 1 million+ records and reducing data redundancy by 65%. Unified platforms eliminate fragmentation, killing productivity.
Cloud-based scalability
Adding users doesn’t require buying servers or expanding data centers. Cloud deployment means automatic updates, better disaster recovery, built-in security.
AI and automation capabilities
Business Central includes AI-powered features like late payment prediction, cash flow forecasting, and intelligent automation.
Power Platform integration lets you build custom automations without professional developers. Business users can create workflows, apps, and reports themselves.
Affordable entry with room to grow
Predictable subscription pricing beats surprise costs and annual negotiations other vendors impose.
Proven results
Real estate firm: 80% billing accuracy improvement, 60% approval dependency reduction
Landscaping company: billing reduced from 30 to 4 hours
Infrastructure company: 90%+ manual work reduction
Measured results from actual implementations documented in Advaiya’s case study compendium.
Dynamics 365 vs Business Central: understanding the portfolio
Dynamics 365 isn’t one product. It’s a suite of business applications including CRM tools (Sales, Customer Service) and ERP tools (Finance and Operations, Business Central).
When evaluating Dynamics 365 vs Business Central, you’re asking: which ERP within the Dynamics 365 portfolio fits?
Business Central = ERP for SMB
Small to medium businesses. Simpler operations. Standard processes. Budget-conscious.
Finance and Operations = ERP for enterprise
Large organizations. Complex global operations. Heavy customization. Bigger budgets.
Both integrate with Dynamics 365 CRM applications. Both connect to Power Platform. Both leverage Azure cloud infrastructure.
Difference isn’t capability quality. It’s complexity level and price point.
When Business Central isn’t the right choice
Global operations with complex compliance
Operating in 50+ countries with complex transfer pricing, intercompany transactions, and varying regulatory requirements? Finance and Operations handles this better.
Highly complex manufacturing
Simple assembly and light manufacturing? Business Central works. Complex discrete or process manufacturing with advanced planning? Finance and Operations provides more sophisticated capabilities.
Thousands of users
Business Central can technically handle 1,000+ users, but Finance and Operations is purpose-built for that scale.
Industry-specific deep requirements
Some industries (aerospace, pharmaceuticals, public sector) have specialized requirements that industry-specific ERP solutions address better.
What finance teams specifically need to evaluate
Finance leaders should focus on capabilities directly impacting their work.
Month-end close speed
Business Central customers typically cut close time from 10+ days to 3-4 days. Automated reconciliations, faster consolidation, real-time reporting all contribute.
Real-time financial visibility
Can you see current cash position, outstanding invoices, and budget status without waiting? Business Central’s embedded Power BI dashboards provide live financial insights.
Audit trail and compliance
Business Central maintains complete audit trails supporting compliance requirements, tracking every transaction change.
Multi-currency and consolidation
Operating in multiple countries? Business Central handles multi-currency transactions and consolidation across business units.
Integration with banking
Direct bank feeds automatically reconcile transactions. Electronic payments flow directly through Business Central. The real estate firm’s 80% billing accuracy improvement came partly from eliminating manual data entry.
Approval workflows
Purchase requisitions, expense reports, journal entries route through automated workflows. The 60% approval dependency reduction came from eliminating manual routing.
Financial reporting flexibility
Can finance build reports without waiting for IT? Business Central’s integration with Excel and Power BI lets finance users create reports themselves.
Implementation realities finance should understand
Finance often leads ERP selection but isn’t always involved enough in implementation planning.
Data migration complexity
Moving years of financial history requires cleaning data, mapping accounts, converting formats, testing thoroughly. Plan 2-3 months minimum.
Chart of accounts restructuring
ERP implementation is often the time to fix your chart of accounts. But changes impact historical reporting. Plan how you’ll handle comparative periods.
Process changes happen
ERP forces standardization. Some current “special” ways of doing things won’t survive. Usually that’s good, but it requires change management.
Training is critical
Finance teams comfortable with old systems resist change. Proper training showing how new ERP makes jobs easier is essential.
Go-live doesn’t mean done
First weeks reveal optimization opportunities. Plan for post-implementation refinement, not just big bang go-live.
Partner expertise matters
Implementation partners with deep financial process expertise deliver better results. Advaiya’s business applications expertise includes understanding how finance teams actually work, not just technical configuration.
Talk to Advaiya about your ERP evaluation. Get guidance from teams who’ve implemented Business Central across industries and understand what works for mid-market finance teams.
Making the final decision
Build a decision matrix
Score each ERP option against weighted criteria: functional fit (40%), total cost of ownership (25%), implementation timeline (15%), vendor/partner capability (10%), integration requirements (10%).
Get references you can talk to
Don’t just read case studies. Talk to companies similar to yours who’ve implemented each ERP. Ask what they wish they’d known.
Plan for the future
Where will your company be in 5 years? Your ERP needs to support that future state.
Don’t underestimate change management
Technology is easy. Getting people to change is hard. Budget time and money for change management, training, and adoption support.
Choose implementation partner carefully
The cheapest quote isn’t the best. Experienced partners complete implementations faster, anticipate problems, and deliver solutions working right the first time.
Advaiya’s expertise implementing Business Central for companies like the real estate firm (80% billing accuracy improvement) and Fortune 500 manufacturers (1 million+ records migrated successfully) demonstrates the difference experienced partners make.
Schedule a consultation with Advaiya to evaluate whether Business Central fits your finance team’s needs.
Stop delaying the decision
Old systems cost money every day. Manual processes waste time. Lack of real-time visibility leads to poor decisions. Disconnected systems create errors.
The landscaping company wasted 30 hours per billing cycle before automating. That’s 26 hours per cycle they can never get back.
Your finance team deserves better tools. Business Central provides robust ERP capabilities at mid-market prices. For the right companies, it’s the sweet spot between limited accounting software and overbuilt enterprise systems.
Not every company should choose Business Central. But if you’re a growing mid-sized business with standard processes and limited IT resources, it’s probably your best option.
Advaiya helps finance teams evaluate ERP options and implement solutions delivering measurable results. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner across multiple competencies, Advaiya combines technical expertise with understanding of how finance teams work.
Get expert guidance on your ERP decision. Advaiya can assess your current state, clarify which ERP fits, and implement solutions working the way your finance team needs.
FAQs
Q. Is Business Central suitable for multiple legal entities
Ans. Yes, Business Central handles multiple legal entities and companies within one environment. You can manage separate legal entities with their own financials while consolidating reporting. The real estate firm manages 15+ business units successfully on Business Central with consolidated financial visibility.
Q. Can Business Central integrate with non-Microsoft systems
Ans. Business Central integrates with third-party systems through APIs and connectors. The real estate firm integrated with LeadSquared CRM and Zing HRMS. Power Platform provides low-code integration tools for connecting various systems without expensive custom development.
Q. How does Business Central pricing compare to NetSuite
Ans. Business Central offers transparent pricing starting around $70/user monthly (Essentials) or $100/user monthly (Premium). NetSuite doesn’t publish pricing publicly and customers report annual negotiations with increases. Business Central typically costs 30-50% less than NetSuite for similar functionality.
Q. What happens if we outgrow Business Central
Ans. If you eventually need Finance and Operations, Microsoft provides migration paths from Business Central to the enterprise platform. Data and customizations can transfer, though expect re-implementation work. Most mid-market companies don’t outgrow Business Central’s capabilities.
Q. How long does Business Central implementation take
Ans. Mid-sized implementations typically complete in 3-6 months including data migration, configuration, customization, integration, training, and testing. Timeline depends on process complexity, data volume, customization requirements, and team availability.
