The Long View on ERP: Problems, Promises, and Your Future with Dynamics GP

The (Verbal) Shot Heard ‘Round the ERP Conference

Partners, ISVs and customers were hit with an unwelcome surprise in the Microsoft Dynamics GP General Session at the October 2022 Dynamic Communities Summit. Mike Morton, Microsoft’s Vice President of Dynamics 365 Business Central and SMB, made statements that caused uncertainty as to the future of Dynamics GP.

In a follow-up session organized by Dynamics Communities, Morton clarified Microsoft’s position and refuted his earlier statements – but the impact has continued to ripple through the Dynamics GP community.

You can read Morton’s follow-up statement here. The gist is that Dynamics GP will continue to be supported with critical features and tax updates through 2028 and beyond, as previously affirmed by Microsoft in the Modern Lifecycle policy. However, the roadmap does not include significant new capabilities, like new modules. Microsoft's major investments and innovations will be in other Dynamics 365 offerings. 

While Microsoft clearly intends to encourage customers to migrate from Dynamics GP to D365 BC, here’s what we feel confident in: 

• As a Dynamics GP customer, you have time. A scorched earth approach in suggesting customers convert to is not in Microsoft’s best interest, from the standpoint of either customer satisfaction or revenue. 
• In talking with our customers who are considering a migration, they are reviewing the full landscape of available ERP products – Business Central being just one choice among many.
• Our own data over the past five years shows very little net attrition of customers moving away from Dynamics GP. It has also been surprising to see the number of new customers with recent Dynamics GP implementations, along with ongoing solutions requests from current customers who want to optimize their existing Dynamics GP functionality.
  

But you may have lingering questions, including: How should I think about my Dynamics GP investment? How is Mekorma investing and supporting Dynamics GP moving forward? And when should I consider changing from Dynamics GP to a SaaS ERP product, like Dynamics 365 Business Central? 

Your Microsoft Dynamics GP Investment 

Microsoft stated that they are not going to release any major new features or functionality for Dynamics GP. I think the community understands this – reason being that the product is already fully featured, and any “holes” or vertical functionality have already been developed. And the ISV community remains devoted to Dynamics GP, providing functionality to improve the current product. 

Another thing to consider is what it would mean for you to change ERP systems. The path can be fraught with risk and potential failure. If Dynamics GP is working well for you today, rocking the boat might not be the best investment of your time and dollars, especially in this tightening economy. It’s sensible to continue to look at opportunities that the Dynamics GP community can bring to help automate and improve your existing processes.

In other words, Dynamics GP just plain works – and that’s why the customer base continues to remain so strong and to even grow. Dynamics GP is a mature product and D365 BC and other cloud ERP options are still growing in functionality. It may benefit you to wait before making any decision to transition away from Dynamics GP, as this gives these products time to mature and grow, catching up to the deep functionality in Dynamics GP.

Unless you have a driving business requirement to change ERP systems – like the acquisition of a business - there are only a few reasons that tend to drive established customers from Dynamics GP to other ERP systems. Examples include the need for specific language or country/region support that Dynamics GP doesn’t offer. For more thoughts on reasons why you might transition sooner rather than later, see my previous blog on this topic.

To compare the circumstances of Dynamics GP to a similar scenario, Microsoft has been trying to sunset Dynamics SL for the last fifteen years. And yet, new customer orders will be accepted until the end of September 2023. 

Your Mekorma Investment 

Mekorma has a long history of building solutions for Dynamics GP, starting in 1995 with our MICR check printing software to our current focus on providing end-to-end AP automation.

Mekorma continues to update our products for the latest Modern Lifecycle builds of Dynamics GP and add functionality, primarily with integrations to Dynamics GP via the Power Platform. In early 2022 we released Invoice Capture – utilizing the Power Platform and Microsoft AI technology to read invoices and automatically create payables transactions with attached invoice images. We have a product coming soon to help you with other Dynamics GP workflow approvals outside of the ERP system using a phone, tablet, or laptop.

Mekorma will continue the cadence of creating new releases twice a year on our flagship product, the Payment Hub, as well as Power Approvals and Remote Payment Services.   

We remain completely committed to Dynamics GP; we know and understand your investment in the platform and plan on continuing to help you automate Accounts Payable and other business processes; and we will continue to look for key investment areas. 

Again, we know that Microsoft is committed to Dynamics GP through 2028 and, in all likelihood, for far longer. For many of you, this means that there need not be any rush to implement a new ERP system.  And we will be there for you during the Modern Lifecycle of Dynamics GP. 

Mekorma’s Investment in other ERP products 

While Mekorma has a long history of offering solutions to the Dynamics GP space, we have just recently made investments in products and services for Business Central and Acumatica Cloud ERP. Our company made the decision to wait, watch, and allow Business Central to mature until it started to be implemented in companies that need our expertise.

Note that these products do not match parity with the features we’ve delivered for Dynamics GP, as some of our Dynamics GP offerings are native capabilities in D365 BC. Our initial focus for D365 BC customers is on vendor risk management and outsourced payments, and we will continue to evaluate the AP process to determine other key needs. Our goal, as always, is to ensure we streamline your processes, protect you from fraud, assist you with compliance and audit tasks, and be here when you make the decision to transition.  We are on this journey together!

Mekorma started developing for Dynamics GP by being open to customer suggestions; and like then, we welcome your feedback on how we can assist in your AP automation journey moving forward. If you do make the decision to move to Business Central and find you have specific needs for AP functionality, please share your insights.

We have also invested in Acumatica Cloud ERP and are building solutions with a similar starting point as D365 BC – vendor risk management, vendor portal, and outsourced payments. The Acumatica Cloud ERP seems to have a more established customer base than D365 BC, so it fits well with our target market. Should Acumatica be on your transition plans, we’d also like to hear how we can enable your journey.

Closing Comments 

While Microsoft certainly initially sent a (verbal) shot around the convention, I think we could think about the lifecycle of Dynamics GP like the lifecycle of a typical suburban home. I’ll refer to mine because it works for this analogy. 

When I first purchased my home, everything was shiny and new and full of promise, but lacking furnishings (initially Dynamics GP was missing basic key features) that allowed it to function as a home, but not to its full potential.

Then I started adding furniture – Couch, TV, stereo – as well as external updates – Flower gardens, trees, and landscaping.  My home started to function the way I hoped! (Much like Dynamics GP adding Purchase Order, Inventory and other modules).

But then came children (major product upgrades and UI updates) that threw my home into a spin!  No more time for updates – I was fighting the natural fires of two kids!
 
Then, eventually, they became mature – they took on their own work and learned new things – and finally moved out of the house (think of products being absorbed into the base Dynamics GP code and the code maturing and requiring less feature adds or bug fixes).
 
Now, my home is on a rock-solid foundation.  I have updated it, upgraded it, and made it more functional than I could have dreamed of nearly 30 years ago when I first purchased it.  And while I’ve considered moving to something newer and shinier (think Dynamics BC) – and lots of realtors have wanted me to sell my home and buy another (there may be a profit motive in it for them) – I am mostly happy with my now 30-year-old home.  I’ll continue to add automation where needed – home security system, theater sound system, and sprinkler system – I think I’ll continue to stay here, maybe for 10 more years…maybe more.

Continue to enjoy your Dynamics GP, built on a solid foundation.  And when the time is right, let us know how we can assist your journey to Dynamics 365 Business Central or Acumatica!