Posted by Jonathan Crowell
If you’ve read my “What Happened to Microsoft Dynamics CRM” blog, you’ll notice a similar theme here. This is a story of re-branding and re-licensing, mixed with a new vision from Microsoft.
As of October 2018, the namesake Dynamics NAV will end. And from its ashes, rises Dynamics 365 Business Central. That’s it. NAV is now Business Central. Pretty easy, right? Almost. Let’s look a little deeper at what’s really going on here.
As of October 2018, the namesake Dynamics NAV will end. And from its ashes, rises Dynamics 365 Business Central. That’s it. NAV is now Business Central. Pretty easy, right? Almost. Let’s look a little deeper at what’s really going on here.
Before we take the dive, it’s worth noting that all currently supported Dynamics NAV versions will continue to be supported. You can even still buy Dynamics NAV 2018 until April 1, 2019. However, all new releases will be under the name Dynamics 365 Business Central. So, where did Business Central come from?
In April of 2016, an early adoption program was initiated by Microsoft for a solution called Project Madeira. This new accounting software was built on the same code base as Dynamics NAV but was an extremely slimmed down version with limited functionality. It was intended to compete with QuickBooks. The GA release brought a new name to market, Dynamics 365 Financials, but with the same lackluster feature-set that left a lot of companies needing more. More functionality began to roll out, and eventually came a new name – Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Business edition. Having still missed the mark on the robustness of the software (and certainly the name), Project Tenerife was introduced. And this is where we saw our first glimpse of what would become Business Central. I would like to think that it was Microsoft’s plan all along to bring the full functionality of Dynamics NAV to the cloud, but after being part of that early adopter program, I can assure you that was not the initial intent. Regardless, in true Microsoft fashion: they finally got it right.
| So, if NAV is Business Central, then they are the same, right? Not exactly. While everything “under the hood” is the same, there are several differences between the two:
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- Business Central has more deployment options than NAV. You can still purchase the software and run it on premises, on your hardware. You could buy the software and have a partner host it in Azure, or elsewhere. Or, Microsoft can host the solution in Azure for you, as a “true-cloud software”, or Software as a Service (SaaS).
- With deployment options, comes licensing options. For on premises and partner hosted deployments, you can purchase perpetual or subscription licenses of Business Central, which is similar to the NAV model (see pricing on our Business Central page). However, with Business Central, you are no longer purchasing concurrent users licenses, but instead named user licenses. The SaaS deployment is licensed as a subscription only.
- With the new cloud offering and extension methodology for customizations, there’s been a shift in how traditional NAV Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) create their add-on solutions for Business Central. Slowly, but surely more and more ISVs are making their solutions available for Business Central, and you can find the current list of supported partners on AppSource.
I hope we can agree that, for better or for worse, and as close as we can call it – Business Central is Dynamics NAV. But why did Microsoft do this? That was not a rhetorical question, because I haven’t exactly figured it out. What I do know, is that Business Central is receiving massive amounts of R&D and marketing funding: you could say it’s nearing flagship status. It’s even being used to bring legacy systems, like Dynamics GP and SL, into the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning with the Intelligent Edge. Microsoft is also building connections to other Dynamics 365 tools, like the Common Data Model, which allows for easier interfacing with the Customer Engagement apps, the Common Data Service for Apps, and the Common Data Service for Analytics. There’s also natural integrations with the Office 365 apps for productivity enhancements. Microsoft wants to be “the world’s computer.” They are putting together a compelling stack of solutions that can manage your entire organization, and Business Central is an integral part of that stack.
In closing, if I’ve made this topic even more confusing than before you read this blog, then welcome to the club! But in all seriousness, please utilize our solution experts to help you understand what options are out there, and what works best for your organization. If you’re an existing NAV customer interested in Business Central, know there’s a transition path for you. If you’re using another Microsoft Dynamics solution and are interested in Business Central, there’s also a transition path for you. If you’re not using anything Microsoft (why not?), there’s a transition path for you!
