Introduction to Business Central

  • 7 minutes

Built and optimized for small and medium businesses, Dynamics 365 Business Central is an application for companies that have outgrown their entry-level business applications.

Growing businesses often outgrow their basic accounting software or legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that are unable to handle increased inventory and transactions, lack integration with other line-of-business systems, and have reporting limitations. Businesses are also challenged with the logistics of providing services that have more scalability, increased mobility, and availability in the cloud.

The following are the typical features of a cloud end-to-end business solution system:

  • Cloud based

  • Common database

  • Supporting multiple business domains

  • Integrated and modular functionalities

  • Real-time availability of data

  • Job roles and authorization

All these distinctive cloud end-to-end business solution features are within Business Central, which empowers you and your organization to connect your financials, sales, projects, and service and operations.

With Business Central, you can manage your financials, automate and secure your supply chain, sell smarter, improve customer service and project performance, and optimize your operations.

Business Central connects people and processes with a single, unified, and comprehensive cloud solution and provides organizations with an end-to-end view of their businesses.

As the following illustration shows, Business Central automatically pulls systems and processes together, enabling users to manage financials, sales, service, and operations.

Diagram of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central overview.

Business Central allows organizations to:

  • Work from the cloud.

  • Have access to the most current, accurate data to make the most informed decisions possible.

  • Make data instantly available at any place on any device after it has been entered in the system.

  • Share data quickly and easily with key people throughout the company.

  • Increase visibility across supply chains to gain greater control over purchasing processes.

  • Maximize revenue opportunities and better serve customers with built-in recommendations, budgets, and progress monitoring of projects with real-time data on available resources.

  • Accelerate financial close and report with accuracy, while helping to ensure compliance.

  • Streamline manufacturing and warehousing operations to deliver products on time and reduce costs.

  • Connect through Microsoft AppSource with third-party applications to effectively run their businesses, including payroll, banking, CRM, and other industry-specific systems.

  • Help protect the mass of information from unauthorized access with advanced security systems and settings.

  • Integrate with other Microsoft cloud services including Microsoft 365.