At a Glance
Microsoft Dynamics GP is scheduled to be phased out by 2029. Continuing to rely on it exposes businesses to rising costs, security risks, and limited innovation. Migrating to Dynamics 365 Business Central can deliver lower operational overheads, stronger security, deeper Microsoft integration, improved analytics, built-in AI, scalability, and modern remote-working capabilities for long-term growth.
Why Migrate from Dynamics GP to Business Central in 2026
Businesses currently using Microsoft Great Plains or GP are at a decisional crossroads – should they migrate to Business Central or stay as they are but risk falling behind?
With Microsoft’s announcement to phase out GP, making the move to an ERP that not only lets your business keep pace with competition but also secures its future growth is essential.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has proven to be transformative for SMEs as well as start-ups.
In this guide, explore the seven core benefits of migrating to Business Central and how Brookland Solutions can help you with this transition.
Challenges & Risks of Continuing with GP
According to Microsoft’s announcement, support for Dynamics GP is expected to wind down by 2029. This means users will stop receiving any new features or updates after that point.
While existing users may still have access to extended support, the end of mainstream support after 2029 can greatly limit GP’s functionality. It also opens your business up to potential risks from diminishing support and security vulnerabilities.
Common challenges include:
- Security risks
- Difficulty complying with regulations
- Rising costs of software maintenance
- Limited ability and innovation to adapt to changing market conditions and demands
These factors and challenges call for migrating to a more modern and cloud-based solution like Business Central. Plan a GP to BC migration strategy with Brookland Solutions today. Book a consultation.
7 Benefits of Migrating to Business Central
1. Lower Operational Costs and Maintenance Burden
Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a predictable user license that covers all your maintenance and infrastructure expenses. Unlike Dynamics GP, you don’t need to purchase servers or face any surprise upgrade costs in BC.
When you partner with us for Business Central services, licensing is structured around how much of the system your business needs to access. Business Central is available through Essentials and Premium licences.
Essentials covers the core ERP functionality most businesses need, including finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, and project management.
Premium includes everything in Essentials, with additional functionality for manufacturing and service management.
The Team Member licence is designed for light users who need read access and limited data entry. At least one Essentials or Premium licence is required, as Team Member licences are used to support wider user access rather than operate the system on their own.
2. Connects with the Complete Microsoft Ecosystem
Your business gains stronger connections with the core tools in the Microsoft Ecosystem, including Excel, Power BI, Teams, and Dynamics 365 CRM.
With the right setup and configuration, you can invoice directly from Outlook, collaborate in Excel, reconcile bank entries faster with Copilot, automate processes with Power Automate, and publish back to Business Central.
These connections help create a unified and consistent user experience, allowing your teams to be more productive with familiar applications. This also saves time and focus by switching applications.
3. Security and Compliance
With every passing year, data privacy and security become more of a concern. Cybercriminals often target legacy software and systems, which can make it harder to protect older systems with limited updates, like Dynamics GP.
When you upgrade from Dynamics GP to Business Central, your sensitive business data is safely stored in the cloud in data centres managed by Microsoft, which has a dedicated team focusing on security for its cloud applications, including BC. Their team is always one step ahead of evolving cybersecurity trends and is ready to add security enhancements to the code when needed.
In terms of security and regulatory compliance with customer data, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers similar benefits. Microsoft cloud storage ensures your data remains secure and compliant.
4. Improved Reporting and Analytics
Migrating to Business Central from your GP license also means accessing improved analytics and reporting capabilities. Gain faster and more detailed access to your business data to make complex decisions quickly.
Dimensions allow you to tag your accounting data, making it easier to find specific information across different departments. Extract data and customise your reports using Excel layouts. With Power BI reports, you can further improve your data analysis in Business Central.
5. Built-in Generative AI Tools
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has built-in AI features that offer significant productivity gains for your workforce. Use Microsoft Copilot and other AI capabilities to get questions answered, speed up your reconciliation processes, and predict late payments. These tools can help your teams work better by automating repetitive tasks, such as purchase order matching and cash flow forecasting.
These capabilities may not be feasible with Dynamics GP and call for external, third-party tools.
6. Easily Scalable
As your organisation scales, your ERP should scale too. Dynamics GP may not offer the scale and flexibility businesses need when they expand across divisions and geographies.
Migrating to Business Central ERP lets you support multiple companies, currencies, and languages from day one. BC receives continuous support from Microsoft with new feature releases, particularly around AI, automation, and compliance.
7. Remote Work Capabilities
Migrating to Business Central allows your teams to work from anywhere. It’s also designed with a mobile-first approach to allow remote team users access documents, spreadsheets, and emails directly within Business Central without switching between applications.
This cloud-native ERP works on most devices and offers a consistent experience across iOS, Android, and other operating systems. Your team stays productive wherever they’re working from.
Our Approach to GP–to–BC Transitions
With the discussion around GP phasing out becoming more urgent with each passing day, it’s time for SME owners, IT managers, executives and finance teams to begin evaluating their options and choose the right ERP to upgrade.
Staying on a core business software with limited support, growing potential expense, and limited future capabilities may not make good business sense. It may hold back your business’ growth potential. With the right and reliable Microsoft partner, the above seven benefits of migrating to Business Central can be immediate and practically applicable.
Brookland Solutions is a longstanding and trusted Microsoft Dynamics Partner specialising in end-to-end Business Central services, from consultancy to after-sales support. We also specialise in migrating from GP or NAV to Business Central in a seamless manner.
Are you ready to make the move to Business Central with Brookland Solutions as your partner? Contact us today to book a consultation.
