Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Present and Future

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is proven to enhance productivity, reduce operational costs and improve business agility, which explains why it’s one of the fastest growing software as a service (SaaS) business management solutions on the market market today. If you’ve been in the industry a while, then you’ll likely remember Business Central by its previous name, Dynamics NAV. Microsoft rebranded the ERP solution in 2018 and since then has been steadily strengthening it with new features and functionality, including the ability to use it on as software as a service (SaaS).

Today, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is particularly popular with medium-sized and growing businesses as it delivers sales, service, finance and operations functionality all in one place. Powered by the Microsoft cloud, this comprehensive solution is an ideal upgrade from entry-level accounting software or an on-premises ERP setup.

Here is an overview of what Business Central allows businesses to do:

Control finances

• Take control of financial data: the ERP connects all data cross accounting, sales, purchasing, stick, and customer transactions
• Seamlessly synchronize company records and data
• Accelerate financial closing and reporting
• Maximize financial visibility to support profitable decision-making.

Manage Sales

• Prioritize leads based on revenue potential
• Offer flexible pricing and discounting
• Track prices, discounts, delivery dates, product availability, and fulfillment status for individual customers
• Improve cash management
• Synchronize products, stock levels, customer information, orders, and returns/refunds.

Handle services

• Transition smoothly from sales to service
• Track customer returns, replacements and repairs
• Keep customer details in one place to respond quickly to enquiries
• Assign staff members to specific service tasks and balance workloads.

Run supply chain operations

• Improve supplier engagement
• Gain a holistic view of all your stock
• Predict stock replenishment.

Critically, all of this functionality is held within a centralized platform, giving everyone in your organization secure access to the information they need. It also allows them to use different tools specific to their role without having to switch between different applications.

So, if a customer service associate needs to process a product exchange, they can easily bring up the customer’s details and check stock availability in one go. Or if a sales representative is updating a wholesale quote, they can check inventory levels and see if the order can be fulfilled to avoid an out-of-stock scenario. Any amends are reflected in the main system to ensure accurate inventory figures and forecasting reports. Business Central keeps track of everything.

Cloud benefits

Dynamics 365 Business Central is available in the secure Microsoft cloud. There are numerous reasons why businesses opt for a SaaS ERP in the cloud, including:

• Low setup cost, as there’s no need to buy additional hardware such as servers
• Round-the-clock secure access from anywhere and on any device
• Free and seamless upgrades, so you’re always using the latest software version and functionalities
• All maintenance and security patches are handled by Microsoft
• Simple integration with web APIs.

Because Business Central has no user limitations, you can start with as few or as many users as your business requires. Everything is handled on a subscription basis, so you only pay for what you need, per user, per month.

Built-in intelligence

Business Central integrates seamlessly with Microsoft’s productivity tools such as Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365), CRM, and the Microsoft Power Platform, which brings powerful business intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

By tapping into customizable Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate templates, businesses can understand more about their data, spot trends, create audit trails and have full visibility of their inventory status and cash flows. Backed by all this information, they can make strategic decisions about the future of their business, respond faster to customer needs and optimize their operations.

Among the latest AI-driven features introduced by Microsoft is a tool which retailers can use to automatically generate product descriptions for online stores. Copilot for Business Central suggests tailored copy for product descriptions, based on a product’s title and key attributes, such as color, material and size. Everything is customizable, from the tone to the length of the copy, and can be edited before it’s published – all in a few clicks.

More industry functionality with
LS Central

While some businesses will only need the standard finance, supply chain, sales and project management capabilities that are available out of the box in Dynamics Business Central, others – especially retail and hospitality businesses – need more specialized industry functionality, such as point of sale, inventory management, replenishment, or kitchen and recipe management. These companies will really benefit from the ability to expand this functionality with an industry-specific solution like LS Central.

LS Central extends Dynamics 365 Business Central with the additional industry-specific functionality retailers and hospitality providers need to manage their business, covering everything from point of sale and store operations to table reservations and customer loyalty programs.

Much more than a POS system, LS Central has been developed from the ground up to handle every aspect of your retail or hospitality business. As the biggest ISV in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, we have a tight collaboration with Microsoft. LS Central keeps you ahead in the business as we constantly keep the software up to date with new features and functionality. Want to find out more?