When it comes to accounting software, Sage has been a firm favourite for several years. However, as time goes by – particularly in a climate where the price can be relatively inexpensive – other companies have found their way into the accounting software marketplace. They are gaining traction in how they compete with their bigger competitors. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is one of the most recent new entrants to this market and has already won hearts amongst thousands of SMEs across the globe, and whilst it offers the same core functionality that you would find with Sage or other similar systems, it does that and so much more on top.
So, if you’re tired of your current accounting software and not getting the best out of your implementation, here are some benefits of moving from Sage to Business Central.
Figure 1: The Inextricable Group Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Eco-system
#1. Scaling your business
One thing that’s always been a problem with Sage is its inability to scale. On the other hand, Business Central was built from the ground up with scalability in mind.
The best way to think about this is the number of users you can have on one system. For example, if you have 100 employees using Sage and want to add more than 100 employees, you must buy another server. That server may not be able to handle all of your employees’ needs or workflows, which means you’ll need yet another server. In short: it’s expensive!
Dynamics Business Central has been designed from the ground up to help you do more with less so that when you need more help on your team, you don’t have to worry about bringing new people on board or revamping your entire system. With Dynamics Business Central, all your data is stored in one place—making it easy for everyone across the organization to work together seamlessly. And with built-in tools like custom reporting, dashboards, and analytics tools that come standard with Dynamics Business Central (and are included at no additional cost), you can easily track how your company is performing at any given time and make adjustments as needed.
#2. Business Central integrates with Microsoft 365 – Sage doesn’t
Integration is a massive part of using business software in your daily life. It helps you keep all your information together to get back to work faster. But if you’re using Sage, integration isn’t something that comes naturally. Sage is an accounting system that’s a separate entity from Microsoft 365. It has a desktop application, meaning you’ll need to constantly switch between multiple programs to get your work done.
Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based accounting solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office and other Microsoft services. With Business Central, you can use the same tools that power your day-to-day operations—like Outlook and Office 365—to stay on top of your finances. There are no separate systems for accounting and sales: everything is in one place, where it belongs.
#3. Reliability and roadmap
Microsoft is a global software provider with a strong enterprise fabric that guarantees 99.96% reliability/uptime for Business Central which is the highest for any cloud product. Highly reliable D365 Business Central is backed up automatically to ensure a disaster in a county or region does not disrupt your business operations.
Microsoft’s strong balance sheet enables heavy investment on a long-term roadmap to provide Fortune 100 grade Business functionality software to SMEs. Microsoft goes beyond the boundaries to cocreate Business value with essential business partners such as Shopify to create a global ecosystem.
Other Accounting software does not have the required balance sheet to invest in the future, they lack global expertise in all business functions such as Supply Chain Management, CRM, etc.
#4. Integration and API
D365 Business Central includes plug-and-play integrations and a layer of API to integrate into any application. You can connect all your applications into a single ecosystem, It’s limitless.
Sage 50, does not provide the required flexibility to integrate other applications, therefore each department runs different applications e.g. Inventory management, and CRM in silos. Disconnected system leads to disconnected decision making, Excel spreadsheet will eventually become the defacto management system.
#5. Business operations
Sage is a successful accounting software that dominated the UK market for decades, it had a mature community that enabled it to expand into other continents. However, consumer behaviour is shifting fast, businesses have to be agile, and respond fast to changes in the micro and macro business environments.
According to the data produced by the Office of National Statistics UK, consumers are shifting online at a faster rate, the customer will request multiple products with multiple delivery dates in the same order or even request multiple delivery addresses in the same order.
Sage 50 is not capable of handling multiple factors in the same sales order, modern businesses will require different pricing and discounting to be part of their business operations.
Amazon grade delivery service is the new normal, business are compelled to monitor OTIF (On-Time In-Full) as a key business KPI, proactively identify stock out and bottlenecks in the process, utilise AI-based automated cash forecasting, improve stock accuracy, and reduce inventory while improving service levels, etc to grow the business.
Complexity such as this cannot be managed in Sage 50 and Excel spreadsheets, therefore, D365 Business Central provides a seamless simplified mobile-based solution that enables you to drive your business forward.
#6. Maintenance and Updates
With Sage on-premises software versions you have to update your software manually, which can take hours or even days, depending on how many computers are running it. Sage requires users to check for the latest updates to upgrade. In some cases, users then must download those updates manually. This process can be inconvenient for cloud Sage users, but for non-cloud Sage users, it can be very complex – businesses typically will need to take down their accounts platform (and any server it’s held on) while it updates. As this invariably has to be done out-of-hours, it can be costly and inconvenient.
By using Dynamics 365 Business Central instead of sage, you’ll be able to take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem—something that’s not possible when using Sage software on-premise. That means that Microsoft handles all the patching and security updates for you, so you never have to worry about hackers compromising your data. Business Central has security features that Sage does not have. These include two-factor authentication, single sign-on (SSO) capabilities and a robust data encryption feature called Data Rights Management (DRM).
#7. Reporting and Analytics
Reporting is essential for understanding your business and making informed decisions. For instance, you need to know how much cash you have to plan for future expenses. Sage’s biggest drawback is that it lacks reporting capabilities. There is no native Power BI integration, and users must rely on third-party solutions like Tableau if they want to create visualizations or reports. In addition, there is no way for multiple users to collaborate on reports at once—they must work separately in their browser windows.
Business Central has Power BI for analytics, which allows users to use natural language queries to explore data, create visualizations and reports, and share insights across the organization. Business Central also comes with various pre-built financial reports that can be customised.
This means that when it comes time to make decisions about your business, whether it’s hiring new employees or increasing production capacity, you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips—and with power bi for analytics included in Business Central, all of this data will be accurate and reliable.
Summary
Microsoft Dynamics Business Central is the complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. It’s scalable to accommodate small and mid-size businesses. Its foundation is built on the Microsoft technology stack and Azure cloud, making it flexible and reliable. It can integrate with CRM and analytics solutions from other providers and provides a rich application ecosystem to accelerate core business processes. Business Central makes you more productive because every feature, functionality, and customization you need is already there in your solution, no matter how complex your business needs become over time. In the end, Dynamics 365 Business Central pays for itself with greater accuracy and flexibility for forecasting. If you’re considering a change from Sage to Microsoft, Microsoft offers free trials of all their products so you can try them before you buy.