Both Dynamics 365 Business Central and NetSuite are robust, cloud-based ERP solutions. But which one is suitable for your company?
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions are used to manage and integrate the financials, processes, supply chain, reporting, and HR activities. An ERP solution is a significant investment for any business, and best practices need the solution selection process to be thorough. But various factors come into play when selecting an ERP solution, making it daunting to choose the right one.
If you feel overwhelmed about the different ERP providers and software solutions available on the market nowadays, you are not alone. To help you with this dilemma, we have compiled a detailed comparison between the two leading cloud ERP solutions: Dynamics 365 Business Central vs. NetSuite. This article compares these two solutions to help you determine which one is the better fit for your business.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Which One Is Right for Your Company?
Dynamics 365 Business Central and NetSuite are leading cloud ERP solutions with overlapping functionalities. While they may share many capabilities, both solutions come with some differences and areas of focus which could be a deciding factor based on your business and its needs. Let's compare Business Central vs. NetSuite to help you decide the better fit for your company.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Base Platform Overview
Microsoft's cloud-based Business Central offers ERP and CRM capabilities that a small or mid-market business would need. It can be used straight out-of-the-box although most Dynamics 365 Partners will work with your team to tailor the solution to fit your business more precisely. The base package (Essentials) includes warehouse and supply chain management. Your business can upgrade to its Premium package for advanced inventory management, manufacturing, and field service management functionality.
Oracle's NetSuite is a cloud ERP solution designed for small and mid-market businesses. It is typically intended to be used straight out of the box. Its base ERP package offers deep accounting and financial functionality and includes inventory, order, and purchase management. However, CRM, warehouse management, assembly, manufacturing, and demand planning require additional fees to purchase.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Implementation
Oracle NetSuite can take longer if you need extensive customizations to suit your business. On average, implementing NetSuite takes between two to six months. Of course, this duration varies as per the needs and complexity of the business. Its UI is less intuitive, and users often need extensive training to use the application efficiently.
Based on your business needs, Dynamics 365 Business Central can be deployed within a couple of weeks. Another bonus is that the Business Central UI is like other Microsoft Office tools, which most employees are familiar with (think Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.) Its easy-to-navigate and intuitive design often translate into faster employee adoption and less training time.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Pricing
Microsoft Business Central works on a subscription basis with its Essentials plan starting at $89.60 CAD per user/month ($70 USD). You can also have "Team Users," who have full read functionality but limited write permissions, for $10.20 CAD per user/month ($8 USD).
NetSuite pricing isn't as transparent – you typically need to talk to a salesperson to determine the price. However, it is estimated that it is in the range of $999 per month, with each additional monthly user at $99 USD per month.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Customization & Integrations
Customizations with Business Central are as simple as adding an extension that can enhance functionality, modify behavior, and offer access to new online services. It was essentially designed to maximize customizations, as app development requires little to no coding. Users can easily add free and paid add-ons through Microsoft AppSource. You can also easily make changes and personalize the user interface of your solution through a drag-and-drop editor. More complex changes can be made using Visual Studio. Dynamics 365 Business Central can also easily integrate with other Microsoft apps and solutions, such as Dynamics 365 CRM, Power Platform, Excel, Teams, Outlook, etc. It was built for integration, so it's easier to connect it to third-party applications and build out your capabilities as your business evolves or grows.
NetSuite offers a similar kind of customization as Business Central through its SuiteCloud platform. The SuiteCloud enables users to personalize their feeds and dashboards, develop custom applications, and add third-party solutions through SuiteApp.com. Also, NetSuite has connections with SAP and Google Apps. The main difference when it comes to customization lies in pricing and licensing.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Reporting
Business Central allows unlimited dimensions and controls to measure, making it easy to drill down quickly to receive additional detailed information. Non-technical users can generate reports without coding skills using the drag-and-drop interface. Most companies prefer to add Power BI to their Business Central solution, which has enhanced data visualization and analytics capabilities. However, this comes at an additional cost, with Power BI Pro licenses starting at $12.20 CAD per user per month ($10 USD).
NetSuite has deep reporting and analytics out-of-the-box and allows anybody to build reports using the drag-and-drop report builder. It allows data analysis in only three dimensions, and users may need to go through different screens to get more information. It can also connect with Power BI for enhanced business intelligence and reporting.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Upgrades
Dynamics 365 is built on a single-tenant architecture, and the clients are not obligated to accept and install all the latest updates. Updates can be checked in the staging environment before going live in production to make sure there are no unwelcome business consequences. On the other hand, NetSuite has a multi-tenant design, which means clients must install each update, regardless of business use.
Business Central vs. NetSuite: Final Thoughts
Both Dynamics 365 Business Central and Oracle NetSuite offers an extensive range of additional functionality that users can incorporate into the core product as per the business needs. NetSuite is a solution with modules developed to cover your full business. Functionality can be added by getting additional modules, but these modules may not work well with third-party applications. On the other hand, Business Central is an enterprise-level solution that is more intuitive and less costly, and it smoothly scales as your business grows. Not to mention, the pricing may be more appealing for small and medium-sized businesses.
Take the Free Business Central Assessment
At Kwixand Solutions, we've have chosen to leverage Microsoft and the Dynamics 365 suite of business solutions based on the integration, efficiency, and cutting-edge automation that they offer. As a Silver Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner, we can help you determine whether or not Business Central is right for your organization through our free, no-obligations Business Central assessment.
