Well, you made it. You have finally convinced your team that you need an ERP, ASAP. You have found, and rightfully, that Business Central is one of the best ERPs for SMBs and now, you have to choose the best license for your business.
Tough decision, right? Well, you made it this far: you had to research ERPs, you had to evaluate what your business needed, you maybe (and hopefully) found a reliable partner along the way… This is a lot of work, we know.
So, we have decided to ease your decision-making process a little bit by condensing in two blog posts what you need to know to really understand what Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials and Premium are. You’ll find exactly what you need to guide you through this choice! Because Business Central IS one of the most well-suited ERPs for SMBs, but Essentials and Premium licenses offer different experiences and one will meet your requirements more than the other. Trust us!
Ready for the last step before implementation?
So again, what is Dynamics 365 Business Central?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an ERP which provides small to midsized businesses (SMB) a comprehensive solution to managing a company’s finances, sales, operations, and customer service. It can be licensed in one of two ways: Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials or Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium.
In this article I will explain what Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials is and compare it to Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium so you can choose which is best for you and your SMB.
What do I get with Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials?
There are several modules included with Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials. Each user will have access to these modules:
- Financial Management
- Customer Relationship Management
- Project Management
- Supply Chain Management
- Human Resources Management
- Warehouse Management
These modules are rightfully considered to be “essential” to any business, hence the name. These basic modules will help keep track of sales, budgets, stock, customer and employee relationships, and so much more. Your company will never have been as efficient, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials will make running everything easier and simpler on your end.
I will explain each of these more in depth at the end so you can see exactly how each module will benefit your operations.
What about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium is a more complete package than Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials. If you chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium you will have access to everything in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials, plus two more modules:
- Service Management
- Manufacturing
As the word essentials implies. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials only comes with the modules deemed necessary to run and manage your business. If you want or think you need more than the basics, you should look into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium instead. The cost is a bit higher, but you may just decide it is worth a few extra dollars to have those other modules and have your company be even more efficient.
What does Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials do?
A better question might be what doesn’t it do?
Starting on day one you will be able to use this ERP to handle your day-to-day operations (quotes, invoicing, cash management, orders…). Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials is cloud-based, making it easy to set up and manage. Just one of the many benefits of this ERP.
Aside from being easy to manage, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials is easy to use. It allows users to access all their apps right in one place. Imagine being able to process orders, create quotes, and submit invoices right from your inbox. You can also export data directly into Excel and Word to create outgoing documents.
Would you like an overview of your company’s operations from start to finish? Well Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials offers that as well. With its End-to-End view you can view all the data from sales, customer interactions accounting, inventory, and purchasing in one place. This makes it easier to find trends in the data and prevent issues that may arise as well as improve customer experiences.
If your employees have trouble making decisions based on the data and reports they have, this ERP will help mitigate the problem. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials users will have the ability to make their own self-serve reports and from them be able to make quicker, better, decisions.
If efficiency is your thing, just wait until you see how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials can help you automate and secure your business processes. You will be able to get more done day in and day out as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials connects your workflows across other SaaS services with Microsoft Flow. The provided accounting software will help keep you process secure as well with enterprise-level security.
Finally, I want to tell you about one of the most exciting features. As I mentioned above, with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials you get an overview of your company’s operations. Well, you can use this ERP to analyze, access, and model data across several dimensions to create custom reports. Basically, you can create and analyze your own “what if…” scenarios and better plan for the future.
What types of businesses would benefit from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials?
With how easy it is to use and a great bang for your buck, SMB are going to benefit the most from this ERP software.
Companies looking for better control over their activities, and improved productivity will find everything they need included in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials. If your company is small but growing, don’t worry! Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials will grow and adapt with you as your company changes.
Licensing Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials
The licensing information can get a little tricky but here I will cover the basics to give you an idea of the licensing requirements for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials.
- You must find a partner to purchase a Subscription License (SL).
- You must choose Essentials or Premium, you can’t license both.
- You must purchase a SL for each internal user.
- Since it is a cloud-based, software users can access Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central from multiple devices, but must sign-in.
- There are Full Users and Additional Users (or Team Members), Full Users have full access to the software and included apps, while Additional Users have limited rights and access.
I cover this more in depth in my other article, “Simple Guide to Dynamics 365 Business Central Pricing & Licensing.”
Functionalities of Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials
As promised, now I will give you more detail on each of the modules! The modules that come with mentioned above include the following functionalities:
- Financial Management – This module’s functionalities include a basic general ledger, budgets, bank account management and reconciliation, account schedules, multiple currencies, and much more. whichever financial aspect of your operations you need help with, you’re sure to find it in this module.
- Customer Relationship Management – Easily manage your contacts, campaigns, relationships, opportunities, and all customer communications with this module.
- Project Management – Everything you need to manage individual projects will be found here, including, but not limited to, job quotes, time sheets, and basic resources.
- Supply Chain Management – One of the larger modules, this will help you manage both sales and purchases invoicing, requisitions, basic inventory, budgets, and even sales tax/VAT.
- Human Resources Management – Perhaps the most obvious module, this one will help with all your basic human resource requirements.
- Warehouse Management – Managing your warehouse made easy with an automated data capture system, internal picks and put aways, and warehouse management systems.
It was just what you needed, right? I hope this article helped clarify any questions you had about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials and provided whatever information you needed to decide. Now that you know more about it, is it right for you? Maybe you want to check out Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium before you decide? Head over here to understand what Premium can offer you.
