Many business leaders believe that upgrading or replacing their critical business systems, like their ERP platform, is a massive undertaking.
In reality, upgrading your businesses’ ERP platform is not as complicated or expensive as you might think. Let’s look at some common myths and misconceptions about the process:
Do We Even Need a Change?
Determining whether your current setup is capable of doing everything your business needs to not simply survive, but thrive is the first step. The biggest question that needs to be answered is simple: “Are we able to easily meet customer demands?”.
As the needs of customers evolve, the capabilities of your business systems must grow to match. Businesses operating on a legacy, monolithic ERP platform to power their business will struggle to keep their disparate operations and processes at the level they need to be at to truly serve their customers.
An in-depth internal assessment should be done to determine if your business is meeting all of your customer’s needs, and if not, where you are falling short. Once it’s determined that there are issues that need fixing, a plan can be developed.
Warning Signs to Watch For
Many businesses operating with legacy systems report seeing similar recurring issues across their various departments. These issues range from the frustrating to the debilitating for a business and its users, and shine a light on the deeper issues in how businesses are set up.
Lack of System Interoperability
Many organizations operating with a legacy ERP at their core will face the challenge of getting their different systems to communicate with one another. Whether it’s between different departments or different locations within the business, this lack of easy communication can turn the most basic of tasks into a tiresome, drawn-out process, killing efficiency and employee morale.
A modern ERP platform powers the entirety of a business, ensuring that there are no breakdowns in communication between different locations, teams, or departments because of different systems.
Human Error Slowing Things Down
If you find certain processes cannot be sped up, no matter how many people you assign to them, it is not a staffing issue; rather, it is a system one.
Manually completing processes like data entry, invoice matching, and inventory logging can be a time-consuming, frustrating process for employees, taking attention away from other jobs. Human error, an inescapable reality (no matter how good the employee) introduces mistakes into the system that have to be corrected.
Businesses operating with legacy ERP platforms often will find themselves throwing more staff at the problem, when in reality a more efficient and accurate solution than manual entry is required.
Reporting Feels Like a Headache, Not a Tool
Businesses operating without a modern ERP platform tend to struggle with reporting. The issues can be varied:
- struggling to find and collate the data across multiple systems
- issues with configuring reporting tools to adequately represent data
- lack of understanding of what data needs to be represented
- reports that are not up to snuff
This issue can then snowball dramatically, especially when the reports are to be used for high-level decision making.
Bad Information Impacting Customers (and Sales)
A major danger of operating with disparate systems is the potential for information to “fall through the cracks” between the various departments. These “missing pieces” of information can often lead to negative experiences for customers:
- sales records not being accessible for returns
- differing pricing information across systems or departments
- customer records being incomplete or lost.
This can naturally lead to customer dissatisfaction, which can directly affect the bottom line through loss of sales and repeat business. For small to medium-sized businesses, especially ones in specialized fields, this can be catastrophic.
Security and Compliance Concerns
If your business does not have systems equipped to meet the security and compliance needs the modern workplace requires, you are in serious trouble.
Cyber-threats are a fact of life for every business, regardless of size or industry, and steps need to be taken to protect their systems and data from bad actors. Protecting multiple systems across the business is a difficult and costly proposition, especially compared to the business-wide protection offered by a modern ERP solution.
Compliance is also a concern for every business, be it with inescapable considerations like tax codes and labor laws, or more industry-specific standards, such as those governing healthcare or financial services businesses. The disparate nature of legacy ERP platforms makes creating and maintaining compliance and audit trails a nightmare. For regulation-heavy industries, this consideration alone is enough to enact a change in platform.
Multiple Systems Killing Productivity
An often-under-noticed headache for businesses is the productivity and efficiency lost due to employees constantly having to switch between multiple systems to do even the simplest parts of their jobs. While this may not be considered as urgent of a need as some others outlined above, the fifteen or thirty-minute delays add up over the course of weeks and months, eventually costing a significant amount of money and stress.
What a Modern ERP Brings to the Table
The answer to all of these concerns is straightforward: implementing a modern, agile ERP platform to power your business. Connecting every aspect of the business under one all-encompassing platform, a modern ERP like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the cure for the headaches outlined above through a combination of cutting-edge technology, intuitive systems, and powerful security functions.
Everything Under One Roof
A modern ERP platform will power every aspect of your business, from financials and accounting to inventory to services to security. This connectivity offers several upgrades over legacy systems that operate with disparate systems for different functions.
Gone is the need to swap between multiple systems during the course of day-to-day work, eliminating the annoying “dead time” while users log out and in. This also ensures that all aspects of the business are operating with the same, up-to-date data, drastically lowering the odds of records or other data “falling through the cracks.”
Efficiency Boosts
This interconnectivity also directly contributes to an increase in efficiency for employees across the business. With powerful, cutting-edge tools like AI assists and workflow automation, your employees can accomplish more in less time- a dramatic shift from the time-consuming manual processes that required constant double-checking for human error. These automations improve both the efficiency of your workforce and also the accuracy of data being entered into the system because of the decrease in human error.
In-Depth Reporting for All
The top-of-the-line modern ERP platforms, like Dynamics 365 BC, offer an array of reporting functions for users across the business. The ability to easily and intuitively create reports for any audience is a massive upgrade over the often-frustrating experience of creating reports on legacy systems.
Having all system data stored in one place, rather than spread across multiple systems, means the report creation time is drastically reduced. The always-online nature of a cloud ERP solution means that data in the system is always “live” and up-to-date, meaning reporting is always accurate- there is no lag between data entry and having it reflect in reporting.
Security First
Operating with a modern ERP platform ensures you are able to protect the entirety of your business with a high level of security. With advanced firewalls and encryption capabilities, modern platforms like Dynamics 365 BC ensure businesses are protected with the power of Microsoft’s industry-leading investment in security, no matter the size of your business.
These are simply some of the highlights of what a modern ERP platform can provide a business. The question is, does it make financial sense for your business?
The Financial Case for a Modern ERP
A complete overhaul of your business systems can be a costly endeavor; however, it is usually one that would be more costly to pass up.
Experts estimate that the return on investment (ROI) for businesses moving to a modern platform for the first time can be as high as 180%, with industry leaders estimating that the value generated from a platform switch is five times higher than the cost savings associated with simply lowering IT needs.
Additionally, leaders report an increase in employee satisfaction because of the ease of access, automation tools to simplify jobs, and quality of life improvements, leading to a happier, more efficient workplace.
These considerations all make the choice clear- the initial investment in upgrading systems will more than pay for itself.
The Right Partner Matters
Not all ERP platforms are created equal, even modern ones. Choosing the right platform and partner to implement the process is vital. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the clear choice for businesses looking to make the jump to a modern platform, offering all of the automation, security, and technologic tools necessary for businesses to thrive, while maintaining an intuitive, user-friendly experience to facilitate employee happiness.
With Enavate’s Xcelerate, your transition to Dynamics 365 Business Central is both swift and budget-friendly—typically completed in just 10 to 12 weeks.
Delivered as a fixed-price, fixed-scope package, Xcelerate deploys fully configured core financial modules (starting at $29,000) and includes everything from data migration and testing to role-specific training and go-live support. There’s virtually no downtime, and you're set up for success from day one. Plus, Xcelerate uses a "land-and-expand" model—start with essentials and scale as your business grows, ensuring cost-efficient adoption without compromise.
