As long as you do it right, Business Central integration with other software can bring a lot to the table, especially when it comes to time saving.

In this article:

1. What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?
2. Why Should I Go for Integrating Software with BC?
3. How Can I Create a Business Central Integration with Other Software?
4. Dynamics 365 Business Central Connector
5. What Else Can I Connect?
6. Can I Use This for Moving from Dynamics NAV to the Cloud?
7. Key Takeaways

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft’s range of applications, as you know, leads the market for business applications. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a great business management ERP that incorporates finance, manufacturing, project management, sales, shipping, services, and more. It is a good pick for businesses looking for a trustworthy, general solution to better oversee their operations and it is targeted at small and mid-sized organizations.

Why Should I Go for Integrating Software with BC?

When you have different software that does not speak the same language, data gets separated. Each piece of software becomes a data silo. In the end, it is your team that suffers. They have to adapt to working with these data silos. Team members lose time, jumping from one application to the other, looking for where the information is, or trying to get the full picture. They have trouble when one system shows them one thing, and then they go to another system, and they see a totally different thing. It can be quite frustrating!

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) systems live from the quality of data they have in them. Therefore, when such systems are implemented in a company where data is locked in data silos, all that we just described is amplified, and the number of ineffective hours is even bigger.

Let’s say your team is using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as ERP, but some data is in another system, for example, a custom, legacy system. Your team will end up trapped in time-consuming tasks carried out to guarantee apparently simple things like copying data that is stored in that legacy system to feed Business Central.

The key to cutting down on these ineffective hours is software integration, as it allows you to integrate or connect two distinct systems. For your team members, this means they get to better optimize their time, as the systems will be connected and will, therefore, communicate with each other in a seamless and automatic way. No more jumping around and no more wondering where the correct information is. This boosts the productivity and efficiency of your business processes and workflows.

How Can I Create a Business Central Integration with Other Software?

You will need base software for the integration. If you have custom software in your organization, either built in-house or externally but with access to the source code, then that is probably the place to start. The other option is to build new custom software.

Once you have your starting point, you have two options: you either learn Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central API (link at the end) or you use an integration platform that has a pre-built connector for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Connector

At Connecting Software, we developed a custom-made connector for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This means our solution can connect the systems being used in your company directly to the Dynamics 365 Business Central features, even if it is legacy software!

So how does this work? You will use our platform for software integration Connect Bridge and either create your custom integration software or improve existing software to which you have access to the source code. In any case, you can do this using any programming language.

You will use Connect Bridge and the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central connector. Using this combination, your custom integration software will be much simpler:

• Much fewer lines of code
  The integration platform and the connector will handle the hard work, and you can focus on the business logic

• No need to learn the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central API
  Instead of API calls, you will use SQL, which makes this accessible to virtually any developer. To access the information you need or get the information to BC, you will use normal CRUD operations (SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT; DELETE)

• You will never need future maintenance
  Do you know how often Microsoft likes to change things? The connector will handle any changes to the Dynamics 365 Business Central API. For that reason, once you complete your custom integration software, you will never have to devote any more time to it

In short, with Connect Bridge, it is easy to perform any data import in Dynamics 365 Business Central or to keep data in sync.

What Else Can I Connect?

This robust integration platform can connect using as base any software of the last 40 years to many target systems. To date, we have built 400+ connectors for a variety of target systems. These are all Connect Bridge connectors. We build all our connectors based on the same logic. This means that once you use one, it is even easier to use the second one. This is great for breaking free from data silos!

Can I Use This for Moving from Dynamics NAV to the Cloud?

Yes! In fact, this is a very popular use case among our customers, as it allows them to move on from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central while keeping any existing integrations with other software and databases you have. You can move or sync your data from on-prem to the cloud while keeping everything you already have in your system running smoothly.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Connector YouTube Video

Key Takeaways

Importing data into Dynamics 365 Business Central from your preferred software has never been so easy! Using Connect Bridge, you do not have to break your head over complex integrations, and we continuously improve and update our software to provide you with the most seamless experience possible.

To learn more, feel free to visit the product page. If you are more of a hands-on person, you can get a live, free demo from our experts and a free 15-day trial to test how our connector will perform within your business environment.

By Ana Neto and Diogo Gouveia -  Connecting Software

Connecting Software has been offering integration, synchronization, and migration software solutions to customers across the globe for nearly two decades. 

The post Is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Integration the Way to Break Free of Data Silos? appeared first on ERP Software Blog.