The newest member of Microsoft Dynamics 365 family is called Dynamics 365 Business Central, which is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform designed for the small to mid-sized business. It can get confusing because Dynamics Business Central is essentially the successor of Dynamics NAV. Microsoft has also rebranded, tweaked, and issued new versions for their middle-market ERP platform, including:

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations

Dynamics Tenerife

NAV in the cloud

Dynamics 365 Business Central

At one point, Microsoft had four different ERP solutions on the market. After the onset of the cloud, Dynamics AX became Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Dynamics NAV turned into Dynamics 365 Business Central for cloud applications and stayed as Dynamics NAV for on-premise.

This article will compare Dynamics 365 vs. Dynamics Business Central and Dynamics 365 vs. Dynamics NAV. Confused? Let’s take a moment to clear the air and understand how these platforms can help your business.

Dynamics 365 vs. Dynamics Business Central

When comparing Business Central with regular Dynamics, the first thing to understand is that Dynamics 365 is the overarching umbrella for two ERP solutions: Business Central and Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Eventually, we believe Business Central will completely replace the old NAV.

Business Central offers full-on NAV functionality in a cloud application. Dynamics Business Central is currently packaged in two ways:

$70/user for Essentials

$100/user for the Premium upgrade

Dynamics Business Central is targeted for smaller companies that have outgrown their basic accounting and want more powerful business analytics to help them achieve their goals. In fact, Dynamics Business Central is a very affordable ERP that includes functionality such as:

Accounts receivables, accounting, and budgets

Inventory and warehousing

Analytics and reporting

App building

Prototyping and workflow development

Here’s a basic flowchart on how the names are changing:

Dynamics 365 Business Central is replacing Dynamics NAV for small business.

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is replacing Dynamics AX and is a more advanced solution for the mid-size or enterprise organization.

But how do these products differ from the regular Dynamics 365?

Dynamics 365 vs. Dynamics NAV

Comparing Dynamics 365 and NAV yields one very key point of differentiation; Dynamics NAV is on-premise while Dynamics 365 is in the cloud. Currently, Dynamics NAV hasn’t been affected by the release of Dynamics Business Central. But given that the majority of businesses are migrating their data and services to the cloud, we think that releasing NAV in the cloud under the Microsoft Dynamics Business Central is a smart move. Will this eventually kill off on-premise applications of NAV? It’s very possible.

Choosing Between These Solutions

You really have three options to consider:

If you prefer your ERP on-premise, NAV is the best choice. If you’re a larger business with a more complicated backbone, check out Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. For small companies that need a SaaS ERP, the new Dynamics Business Central woks best.

Contact IES to find out how these tools can help your business.