Your complete guide to Microsoft Business Central

Many growing businesses struggle with disparate systems, manual workflows, and fragmented financial data. These inefficiencies slow down operations and obscure the insights needed for confident decision-making.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers an integrated ERP solution that unifies finance, operations, sales, and customer service all within a secure, cloud-based platform.

In this guide, we’ll explore how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central tackles these common pain points and why it’s an ideal ERP solution for SMEs looking to grow without complexity.

Table of contents

1. What is Business Central?
2. Key features of Business Central
3. Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing
4. Why choose Dynamics 365 Business Central over alternative ERP solutions?
5. Need help with Microsoft Business Central?

What is Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution designed for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Unlike disconnected legacy tools or entry-level software, Business Central delivers real-time insights and process automation, helping your team make informed decisions and operate more efficiently.

While Business Central offers integrated CRM features, these are more streamlined and less extensive compared to other Dynamics 365 solutions.

Key features of Business Central

Financial management

Business Central gives organisations greater control over their finances with features such as budgeting, cash flow forecasting, automated invoicing, and real-time financial reporting.

Farnam Street Financial significantly improved financial transparency and operational efficiency using Dynamics 365 Business Central. They were able to streamline processes, leading to improved data accessibility, increased reporting accuracy, and boosted security.

Supply chain and inventory management

With automated stock replenishment, vendor management, and real-time inventory tracking, Business Central helps minimise stockouts and optimise stock levels, allowing you to respond swiftly to a change in demand.

In 2022, Business Central streamlined King Steel's operational management by reducing data processing tasks from 30 minutes to just 5 minutes. This led to cleaner production processes and boosted product innovation, with best practices including bottom-up digital transformation, strong innovation culture, and rapid adoption of low-code Microsoft tools.

Reporting and analytics

Microsoft's system integration solution equips businesses with extensive reporting and analytics features, giving businesses the flexibility to create reports for different stakeholders and empowering the organisation with data-driven decision-making.

• Integration with Microsoft Power BI enables you to quickly monitor KPIs, identify trends and confidently plan your business strategy.
• Advanced financial analytics deliver real-time insights into cash flow, profitability, and forecasting. This means financial teams can stay ahead of potential risks and opportunities.
• AI-powered reporting tools: Copilot help users calculate, summarise and review data faster. After getting a simple description of user’s analysis scenarios, Copilot will create a new analysis tab accordingly.
• Built-in data analysis: Analyse data straight from any list without needing to run a report or open another tool like Excel.

Sales and customer relationship management

The sales and customer relationship management side of Business Central seamlessly integrates sales, marketing, and customer service. Its CRM capabilities allow you to deliver a personalised customer experience, leading to higher customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.

RECARO Gaming, a leading provider of premium gaming and eSports chairs, leveraged Dynamics 365 Business Central to centralise and automate its sales and customer relationship management processes. Previously, the company manually merged data from multiple distribution channels, warehouses, and sales systems. After implementing Dynamics 365 Business Central, RECARO Gaming:

• Automated their order processing, significantly reducing manual data entry and order accuracy.
• Propelled customer experience by including instant tracking numbers, allowing customers to check order status anytime.
• Improved financial operations, allowing its accounting department to process up to 8,000 transactions monthly within days instead of weeks.

Integration with Microsoft 365 and other tools

A major advantage of Business Central is its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Excel, Teams, and SharePoint. This interoperability improves data consistency, supports collaboration across departments, and enables teams to work more efficiently within familiar environments.

Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing

Microsoft Business Central provides flexible pricing options to match SMEs' specific requirements and budgets. Pricing factors include the selected licensing tier, the number of users, and any additional customisations or modules required.

There’s also a free trial of Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing businesses to explore its features before committing to one of two main licensing options:

• Essentials: Ideal for SMEs requiring core business functionalities such as finance, supply chain management, sales, and customer service.
• Premium: Additional modules such as manufacturing and service management.

Additionally, a Team Member licence at £6.20 per user/month provides light access for viewing data and performing basic tasks across various Dynamics 365 applications.

Why choose Dynamics 365 Business Central over alternative ERP solutions?

Although alternatives such as SAP Business One and Oracle NetSuite provide strong functionality, Business Central stands out for SMEs due to competitive pricing, straightforward integration with familiar Microsoft tools, shorter deployment periods, and user-friendly features.

• Competitive pricing: You’ll get excellent ERP capabilities without the substantial upfront investment and higher ongoing costs.
• Familiar integration: Native compatibility with Microsoft 365 reduces training requirements and streamlines operations.
• Faster deployment: Accelerated implementation with minimal business disruption.
• User-friendly interface: Intuitive navigation aligned with other Microsoft products.
  These factors make Business Central a pragmatic, scalable choice for businesses focused on growth and operational efficiency.

Need help with Microsoft Business Central?

Texaport helps organisations unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365. From licensing and integration to user adoption, our expert consultants guide you every step of the way.

Whether you're exploring Dynamics 365 Business Central for the first time or enhancing your current setup, we’ll ensure it aligns seamlessly with your business goals.

Contact us today to see how Texaport can streamline your Business Central experience and deliver measurable results.