5 Reasons to Transition from Dynamics GP to Business Central in 2026

Here's why your company should consider switching from Dynamics GP to Business Central in 2026.

There's no doubt that Microsoft Dynamics GP has been an effective on-premises ERP solution for decades. However, as we move into 2026, GP is increasingly considered a legacy system as Microsoft announced its end-of-life last year. While support will be provided up until December 31, 2029, innovation is focused on modern cloud-first solutions like Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Companies that are choosing to remain on GP for as long as possible are finding that it’s challenging to keep IT costs low, improve application performance, and remain competitive. Companies relying on GP face challenges such as:

• Strained Growth — Dynamics GP can't keep up with the volume of transactions. A lot of workarounds must be created to enable processes, and collaboration is difficult.

  
  

• Disconnected Systems — Billing and CRM, for example, might be handled by different systems, making it more difficult for people to work remotely and challenging to manage projects and supply chains. GP organizations also struggle with process and system integration issues.

  
  

• Report Limitations — Advanced analytics and AI-driven insights are now standard expectations, but GP’s reporting tools remain cumbersome. Dynamics GP organizations find that creating reports is too complicated, making it difficult to get immediate insights into activities and delaying decision-making.

  
  

Growing companies often discover that Dynamics GP has its limitations in keeping up with the pace of business. There’s insufficient flexibility to leverage new technologies, and scaling compute resources to meet customer needs takes too long.

🔎 Read More: Facing Dynamics GP End of Life: What’s Next for Your Business?

Why Should Companies Using Dynamics GP Switch to Dynamics 365 Business Central in 2026?

1️⃣ Future-Proof Your Business with Guaranteed Support and Innovation

Companies that remain on Dynamics GP in 2026 are relying on a system with limited future development. Microsoft has made it clear that new features, enhancements, and long-term investments are happening in their line of cloud solutions, such as Dynamics 365 Business Central. As GP approaches the end of its lifecycle, organizations will see fewer updates, fewer security improvements, and a shrinking availability of skilled GP resources.

Business Central, on the other hand, receives twice-yearly major updates plus continuous enhancements throughout the year. These updates deliver improvements in performance, security, automation, user interface design, and compliance - without requiring any major upgrade projects. Companies gain access to Microsoft’s full innovation roadmap, including AI-driven guidance, predictive analytics, and next-generation workflow automation.

Migrating isn’t just about replacing old software. It’s about ensuring your ERP solution can evolve with your business for the next decade and beyond.

2️⃣ Lower IT Costs & Eliminate the Burden of On-Premises Systems

Running Dynamics GP requires servers, storage, backups, manual upgrades, and ongoing IT labour. Over time, these costs add up, especially as hardware ages or needs to scale. Many GP users also rely on multiple third-party add-ons, each requiring its own support and installation processes.

By contrast, Business Central’s cloud architecture eliminates on-premises infrastructure and drastically reduces IT overhead. There are no servers to maintain, no databases to back up, and no manual patching or upgrade projects. The subscription-based model offers predictable monthly costs, and companies only pay for what they use.

This shift allows IT teams to stop chasing system maintenance and instead focus their time on analytics, business strategy, and innovation. It’s not uncommon for companies to save significantly on the total cost of ownership within the first 1–3 years after migrating.

3️⃣ Get Access to AI, Automation & Real-Time Insights

GP was built in a pre-cloud world and simply cannot deliver the AI-powered capabilities that modern businesses need. Business Central introduces an entirely new level of intelligence and automation, thanks to deep integration with Microsoft Copilot and the Power Platform.

With Business Central, users gain:

• AI-assisted forecasting, collections, and cash flow predictions

• Automated workflows that replace manual data entry and repetitive tasks

• Real-time dashboards and performance KPIs through native Power BI integration

• Built-in error detection and automated reconciliation that reduce risk and save time

Instead of relying on outdated reporting tools or exporting data to Excel, teams get live, accurate insights directly within the system. The result? Faster decision-making, tighter financial control, and improved operational efficiency.

4️⃣ Seamless Integration Across the Entire Microsoft Ecosystem

While Dynamics GP integrates with some Microsoft tools, it does not offer the deep, native connections that Business Central delivers. Business Central is designed to work effortlessly with the full Microsoft cloud ecosystem:

• Outlook: Create quotes, invoices, or records directly from emails

• Teams: Share data, collaborate, and trigger workflows from chat

• Excel: Make changes and push them back into Business Central

• Power Automate & Power Apps: Build automations or custom apps without coding

• SharePoint & OneDrive: Store and share documents natively

  
  

This level of integration creates a unified digital workplace where data flows smoothly and employees work more efficiently. It also reduces the need for custom development or duct-taped add-ons that many GP users rely on today.

5️⃣ Scale Confidently with a Modern, Flexible ERP Solution

As companies grow, whether through new locations, acquisitions, product lines, or international expansion, ERP solutions must be capable of scaling with them. Dynamics GP often hits limitations that require bolt-on solutions, customizations, or manual workarounds.

Business Central removes those constraints with:

• Built-in multi-entity, multi-currency, and multi-location functionality

• Anytime, anywhere access for remote and mobile teams

• A flexible cloud platform that scales instantly

• Hundreds of certified extensions available through AppSource

• Strong security, compliance, and data protection built in

This makes Business Central a strong fit for growing companies that need agility, mobility, and the ability to adapt quickly to market changes.

🔎 Read More: Dynamics GP to Business Central: Keys to a Successful Migration

What Are Some Benefits of Dynamics 365 Business Central vs. Dynamics GP?

Many companies are migrating to Dynamics 365 Business Central from Dynamics GP as an alternative. The ERP platform shares similarities with Dynamics GP regarding functionality but offers enhanced capabilities by running in a modern cloud environment.

Dynamics 365 Business Central automatically pulls systems and processes together to enable you to manage financials, sales, service, and operations, along with the option to connect to third-party systems for payroll, CRM, banking, and industry-specific needs.

Specific areas in which you will find enhancements include project accounting, project management, inventory, warehousing, supply chain management, and service order management. With these capabilities, the business benefits of Dynamics 365 Business Central are numerous.

Here are some key advantages it offers in comparison to GP:

⚙️ More Features Out of the Box

There are more out-of-the-box features in Business Central to leverage compared to GP. For instance, you'll get standard budgeting capabilities, financial reporting options, automated reconciliations and cash flow projections, Microsoft 365 integration, and more.

⚙️ Advanced Reporting & Analytics with Dimensions

Dimensional reporting combined with AI-driven dashboards provides actionable insights instantly. It also allows for multi-level reporting that goes beyond the segmentation of the chart of accounts in GP. You can report at multiple levels in the organization (department, division, business unit) to analyze activity in a particular dimensional area, such as GL transactions or by customer, project, or vendor.

⚙️Enhanced Compliance Tools

Staying compliant is easier than ever with new features designed for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting and global tax compliance. Businesses can generate detailed ESG reports aligned with international standards and manage complex tax regulations across multiple jurisdictions. Automated compliance checks and audit-ready documentation reduce risk and save time.

⚙️ Industry-Specific Extensions

AppSource now offers a broader range of vertical solutions, enabling businesses to tailor Business Central to their unique industry requirements. New AI-driven extensions for manufacturing provide predictive maintenance and production planning, while retail analytics solutions deliver customer behaviour insights and dynamic pricing strategies. These specialized apps help organizations stay competitive in their respective markets.

⚙️ Anywhere/Anytime Access

Cloud environment enables anywhere/anytime access (on the road, at home, in the office) from any device (Microsoft, iOS, Android). This is particularly helpful for inquiries and access to dashboards to check order status and customer info.

⚙️ Inventory & Warehouse Capabilities

Advanced inventory and warehouse capabilities let you build a structure for processes to handle receiving, shelving, picking, and shipping so the warehouse team can work more efficiently and increase throughput.

⚙️ Personalized Roles & Experiences

Personalized roles facilitate a more efficient work environment. You can set things up the way your team works, with the ability to modify screens, hide fields/columns or move them around, or add fields. You can also create roles to show screens pertaining to each person's job responsibilities.

🔎 Read More: 11 Benefits of Migrating from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Comparing the TCO of the Cloud vs. On-Premises

When comparing the cost of an ERP solution in the cloud versus on-premises, the implementation, customization, and training costs are likely about equal. But there's a misconception Business Central in the cloud costs more because of the ongoing subscription license costs versus the one-time on-premises license cost of GP.

That's because on-premises solutions have additional costs to consider. This includes hardware, internal IT support, and software maintenance/upgrades. Setting up technologies that will enable remote work is also more costly.

Another key consideration is the frequency of application enhancement updates. In the cloud, updates usually occur about every quarter, and because the changes are incremental, your team can adopt them quickly without any interruptions to daily business operations.

With on-premises, you're typically limited to major upgrades occur every 2 or 3 years, which require extensive downtime and planning. If a new capability comes out shortly after your initial implementation, you are forced to wait a long time before you can take advantage of it.

🔎 Read More: 6 Benefits of Moving to a Cloud ERP Solution

Keep the Momentum Going Post Migration

A key factor in the success of your migration from GP to Business Central is ensuring your end-users get the training they need during and after the migration to understand the differences in how Business Central works and what it can do. This will increase user adoption of the solution, adding to the return on your investment.

It will also be important to conduct an annual system assessment in relation to the current state of your business to see if there are new functions to add or other adjustments. Kwixand Solutions can consult with you on new technologies you might want to implement as well.

If your company is exploring or needs help planning a migration, book a free consultation with our team to learn more. We are a Microsoft Dynamics Partner based in Vancouver, Canada, and we help companies across North America digitally transform, optimize operations, and achieve ROI.