In today’s fast-paced digital economy, sticking with a legacy ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics NAV, GP, or on-premises Business Central is more than a technical choice, it’s a business decision with real financial consequences.
A recent The Total Economic Impact™ of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central study, commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Forrester, helps quantify what businesses stand to gain (or lose) when deciding whether to migrate to a modern, cloud-based ERP.
The takeaway isn’t about urgency for urgency’s sake. It’s about understanding where value is created, and where it’s quietly lost over time.
The Stakes: Are You Leaving Value on the Table?
Forrester’s updated analysis of a composite organization found that moving to Business Central can deliver:
The implication isn’t that every organization will see identical results. But it does highlight a broader reality: when you delay modernization, you’re often deferring measurable gains in efficiency, visibility, and cost control.
Let’s break down where that value comes from—and what it can look like to operate without it.
Wasted Productivity: The Hidden Cost of Manual Work
Legacy ERP environments often rely on disconnected systems, spreadsheets, and manual processes. Over time, this creates friction across finance and operations.
The Forrester study found that organizations using Business Central can achieve:
What this means in practice:
- Less time spent reconciling data
- Fewer manual errors
- More capacity for strategic, higher-value work
What you’re losing by staying on-prem:
Your team’s time and expertise get absorbed by maintaining processes instead of improving them—making it harder to scale without adding headcount.
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Third-Party Dependency: The Cost of Complexity
While this latest TEI report focuses more heavily on productivity and consolidation, previous iterations of this report revealed trends that still hold true and remain highly relevant:
Legacy systems often require third-party tools and external consultants for:
- Custom reporting
- Integrations between systems
- Ongoing maintenance and upgrades
Modern cloud ERP platforms consolidate many of these capabilities into a single system, reducing complexity and dependency on outside support.
What you’re losing by staying on-prem:
Ongoing external costs, slower response times, and limited flexibility when business needs change.
(Note: While the latest report doesn’t isolate third-party savings as a headline metric, it does attribute overall cost improvements to ERP consolidation and reduced complexity.) [microsoft.com]
Infrastructure and Maintenance Overhead: Paying to Maintain the Status Quo
Maintaining on-premises ERP systems comes with ongoing costs that can be easy to underestimate:
- Server and infrastructure expenses
- Internal IT maintenance time
- Periodic upgrade projects
- Downtime risk and patch management
The TEI study highlights that organizations modernizing to Business Central can:
In the 2024 TEI study, the composite company cut 90% of its legacy ERP support costs by Year 3, saving $91,000 in present value. [microsoft.com]
What you’re losing by staying on-prem:
Budget and IT capacity that could be redirected toward innovation instead of upkeep.
Missed Revenue: $364K in Sales Productivity and Pipeline Growth
In 2024, Forrester found that sales teams using legacy ERP systems were often delayed in updating CRM systems, responding to customers, or finalizing deals due to poor access to real-time data. With Business Central, sales representatives gained access to critical customer data in the field, resulting in:
What you’re losing by staying on-prem:
Slower sales cycles, fewer closed deals, and customer dissatisfaction due to delays in quoting and support.
Beyond Cost Savings: Building a More Scalable Foundation
One of the more important updates in the latest report is the emphasis on scalability and growth.
Organizations in the study noted that prior to adopting Business Central, they struggled with:
- Disconnected tools across departments
- Limited visibility into operations
- Difficulty scaling processes as the business grew [tei.forrester.com]
After modernization, they were able to:
- Standardize workflows across finance and operations
- Improve decision-making with better data visibility
- Support growth without proportionally increasing resources
With BC, businesses move from a CapEx-heavy model (hardware, licenses, upgrades) to a more predictable OpEx model. Licensing is per user, per month, and scales with your needs.
- Forrester’s 2024 composite company paid $85 per user per month [microsoft.com]
- Total subscription cost over 3 years: $98,532 (a fraction of legacy ERP TCO) [microsoft.com]
You can extend cost-predictability to a Business Central implementation as well. Enavate's Xcelerate methodology can get you moving forward with BC in as little as 12 weeks at a set price and scope so that you know exactly what to expect and can start experiencing these benefits more quickly.
What you’re giving up by standing still:
The ability to adapt quickly—and confidently—as your business evolves.
The Real Cost Isn’t Just Financial
The decision to modernize your ERP isn’t only about ROI.
It’s about:
- How your teams spend their time
- How quickly you can respond to change
- How easily your systems support the next phase of growth
Staying put can result in:
Slower Decision-Making
Legacy systems rely on static data that is often delayed, forcing leadership to rely on outdated reports, increasing the risk of poor or misinformed decisions.
Low Employee Morale
Staff using clunky, outdated systems report lower satisfaction. Business Central’s modern UI and native Microsoft 365 integration (Outlook, Excel, Teams) reduce frustration and training time.
Poor Customer Experience
Legacy systems make it harder to respond quickly to customer needs. With BC, 85% of organizations reported improved customer satisfaction and 71% improved customer retention.
Waiting may feel like the safer option in the short term. But over time, the trade-offs become clearer—not all at once, but gradually across productivity, cost, and opportunity.
What you’re losing by staying on-prem:
A better culture, stronger brand loyalty, and your competitive edge.
Final Thought: Progress Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive
Moving to a modern ERP like Business Central isn’t about replacing everything overnight. It’s about creating a foundation that reduces friction and supports where your business is headed.
The most important step is simply understanding where you are today—and what staying there might be costing you.
Get Started on your journey to Business Central with a Free ERP Roadmap Consultation
This post was originally published on June 5, 2025. It has been updated with new information for clarity and relevency.
15% improvement in sales productivity 
