The two questions we at hear the most often are:

• Q1-How, do I upgrade my customized system?
• Q2-Should I upgrade, re-implement, or transition to a cloud ERP solution?

Those two questions are related. As we tackle Q1, you will see that they are two sides of the same coin. We will explore both questions in order.

Q1- How do I upgrade my customized system?

In the not so distant past, customizing your ERP software system was a common practice. It was a way to make presumably small changes to your system to meet the maybe 5% of your requirements that out-of-the-box software didn’t provide. Customization, by definition, required custom code. It might have been okay if it was only one minor change. But all too often, it was a slippery slope, whereby one minor change became many. In short…

It might have been a great tactic, that is until it was time to upgrade. And then it became a nightmare.

Q1- How do I upgrade my customized system? Answer: We are not saying that your customized system cannot be upgraded. can execute your upgrade. However, depending on how many customizations were coded in your system, it could be quite complex and costly…even risky. Which is why you might consider a transition to a modern cloud ERP solution such as . Business Central does not require custom code. Business Central eliminates the complexity, cost, and risk that you incur when you’re upgrading a legacy system.

Q2-Should I upgrade, re-implement, or transition to a cloud ERP solution? Answer: Let’s parse this question into your three options.

Should you upgrade? Sure, you can choose to do that. However, considering the points we discussed above, you need to know that there is a tipping point at which it does not make sense to do that based on a cost/benefit analysis. Today, we recognize that every ERP software implementation requires some amount of configuration and personalization. However, we execute those configurations without touching the underlying code.

Should you re-implement? Sure, you can choose to do that. If you love your current system so much that you don’t want to give it up, can re-implement your ERP. That would involve stripping out the custom code that is causing so many problems and using instead some of the new codeless options that are available to replicate the functionality that the customizations previously provided for you. It can be done. The real question is, does it make sense from a cost/benefit perspective.

Should you transition to a cloud ERP solution? In the majority of cases, this makes the most sense from every angle that you would want to consider – cost, complexity, risk, functionality, time, integrations, security… From every one of those perspectives, transitioning to will be your best option. can execute your transition to a cloud ERP solution. Business Central will be more cost-effective, less complex, and less risky. Business Central will provide more functionality, greater security, and ease of integrations. And as far as timing is concerned, you effectively flick a switch, and you are on Business Central.

Take the next step

Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Related Article:

Optimizing Your Current ERP System vs. Purchasing New Software