Switching from Microsoft Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-gp/terms/lifecycle

This year Microsoft announced a date for the end of mainstream support for Dynamics 365 GP 2018 accounting software.  This spurred some blogs and customers to think that they must switch from Dynamics GP to another product by January 10, 2023 when mainstream support ends.

It turns out that this announcement does not cover the latest version which is named simply Dynamics 365 GP (without a year in the product name).  Dynamics 365 GP will continue to be developed and supported indefinitely.

Without support, customers cannot continue to use accounting software because it must be maintained in order to comply with changing tax and regulatory requirements.  Microsoft ships these updates in the June and December releases, and adds hotfixes and other new features in an October update. 

This stay of execution is good news for Dynamics GP customers, but it doesn't mean that they should not be seeking a migration path. 

Time to Consider a Change

Microsoft is unambiguously moving to the cloud with all its mainstream products.  The emphasis is on Office 365, Power Platform and Microsoft 365. In the Dynamics 365 ERP/accounting products, Microsoft chose Dynamics Business Central (BC, formerly Dynamics 365 NAV) for small and medium-sized customers, and Dynamics 365 Finance (formerly Dynamics AX) for large customers and manufacturing. 

Microsoft has not announced plan to provide cloud hosting for Dynamics GP.  Third parties offer such hosting on Microsoft Azure and handle upgrades and patch management for their hosting.

Microsoft is working hard to get customers to switch off of Dynamics 365 GP to Dynamics 365 BC.  Search on Google for "Dynamics GP" and your first search result will be this ad, presumably paid for by Microsoft:

Dig deeper and keep searching until you find the Dynamics 365 BC page (yes it exists) and note that BC is listed under "previous versions":

Microsoft is showing its priorities plainly for any accounting customers to see.  Dynamics 365 BC is receiving the R&D, sales and marketing attention that was formerly devoted to "previous versions" such as Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL.

Microsoft and other vendors are happy to help make migration to Dynamics 365 BC affordable and as painless as possible. 

Now is the time to take a look at alternatives to Dynamics GP even though reports of the product's demise have been exaggerated. 

Next: How to Migrate to Dynamics 365 BC