Still on NAV? Why waiting to move to Business Central could cost you more

So the question today is no longer simply whether NAV still works. What matters more is whether it remains the right foundation for how your company wants to operate in the years ahead.

»We are no longer just asking whether NAV works today. The question is whether it will support the way you want to run your business a few years from now.«

Sanja Savatić, Solution Sales Specialist, BE-terna

Business Central is more than a newer version of NAV

Moving from NAV to Business Central is not a conventional upgrade where the existing system is simply transferred to a newer version. The two solutions share common roots, and users will recognise much of the business logic. However, the platform, architecture, integrations and approach to developing customisations have all changed.

This is particularly relevant for companies whose NAV systems have evolved over ten or fifteen years. These systems often contain functionality that was once essential but is now handled differently by standard features. Some customisations were built for processes that are no longer used, while large amounts of data remain in the system simply because they have always been there.

A move to Business Central is therefore an opportunity to ask a more useful question than “How do we migrate everything we have?” It makes sense to assess what the business actually needs today, where standard functionality can meet those needs, and which specific requirements deliver enough business value to justify developing them in the new environment. This way, the company invests in a system that is easier to maintain, integrate and upgrade, rather than paying to recreate years of accumulated complexity.

The biggest risk of waiting is losing your options

Choosing to stay on NAV for a while longer is not a problem in itself. The problem arises when a company uses that time without reviewing its existing processes, data and customisations, or defining its requirements, an indicative budget and a timeline for moving to Business Central. As the environment ages, technical debt grows, changes become more demanding, and the business becomes increasingly dependent on people who know the system’s history. At the same time, the gap between the existing environment and Microsoft’s latest developments continues to widen.

»The most expensive migration is the one we start too late, when our room for manoeuvre is already shrinking.«

Marko Curk, Solution Sales Specialist, BE-terna

Your company does not need to start migrating to Business Central tomorrow. It does, however, make sense to begin preparing early, while there is still time to review processes, clean up data, reduce unnecessary customisations, establish a budget and involve the people the project will need—all without the pressure of an urgent deadline.

Once migration becomes unavoidable, the same decisions have to be made faster and with fewer options. That is the biggest cost of delaying.

How much will the migration cost? The answer starts with an assessment

Two companies may both use NAV, yet face very different migrations to Business Central. They may differ in the number of legal entities, users and locations, their data volumes, integrations and processes, and, above all, the extent of their customisations.

That is why a credible project estimate cannot be based on the NAV version alone. The first step is to understand the current environment and define the target setup: what needs to be migrated, what standard functionality can cover, which customisations remain justified, and what data the business actually needs in the new system.

»A good estimate is more than a figure in a proposal. Its purpose is to remove as much uncertainty as possible before the migration begins.«

Petra Janežič, Team Lead, BE-terna

An assessment is therefore not an extra step that delays the project. It is a way to reduce surprises during delivery. The company gains a clearer understanding of the scope, risks and costs, while also being able to start cleaning up data and simplifying processes before implementation. Once the scope is sufficiently clear, the project can be divided into phases, key users can be involved in testing at the right time, and customisations can be developed where they deliver real business value.

Business central also changes how you work with AI

Artificial intelligence is making the difference between older and newer ERP environments increasingly clear. In Business Central, AI is no longer just a topic for the future. It already supports a range of everyday tasks.

Copilot can help users analyse data directly in Business Central. Instead of exporting data and creating another Excel spreadsheet, users can ask the system in natural language to group vendor ledger entries, calculate amounts and sort the results, for example.

Agents take this a step further. When an invoice arrives, an agent can read the document, check the relevant information in the system and prepare a draft. Instead of starting from scratch, the user receives work that is ready for review.

»An agent can carry out part of a process and prepare a document, but it does not make the final decision. A person still reviews and approves the result.«

Nick Šarec, Solution Consultant, BE-terna

Another option is to use Business Central data beyond the ERP interface itself. Selected data can be connected to other AI tools, with the company defining which information those tools can access and what they can do with it. Users can then ask questions in natural language about open orders, customers or other business information, and AI can generate answers based on the company’s actual data.

This is gradually changing the role of ERP. Business Central remains the source of business data, but users do not always need to know which menu or view contains the information they need. For some questions, simply stating what they want to find out will be enough.

Enterprise NIL used the migration to do much more than replace its ERP

NIL’s experience shows just how broad the scope of such a project can become. Its NAV system was heavily customised and had supported the company’s way of working for many years. As the business grew, however, it no longer covered all its operations. Some processes ran in other applications, others were handled manually, and reliable reporting across the international group was becoming increasingly important.

When moving to Business Central, NIL therefore did more than replace its finance system. It brought sales, purchasing, finance, projects, services and subscriptions onto a shared platform and connected it to external systems.

»Previously, NAV served primarily as our finance system. Today, we have a unified platform that connects finance and other departments through shared processes.«

Ester Bradač, Project Manager, NIL

The results included more consistent data, more reliable reporting, a digital audit trail and a stronger foundation for further process standardisation. The biggest challenge, however, was not the technology. It was change management. Key users had to take part in testing, departments varied in their readiness for the new way of working, and employees needed active guidance throughout the transition.

This is a useful reminder for any company planning a migration: an ERP system can be technically ready, but a successful project also requires an organisation that is ready for change.

Saas or On-premises? You are also deciding where your IT team will focus

One of the key decisions when moving to Business Central is choosing between SaaS and an on-premises deployment. At first glance, this is a question of where the system will run. In practice, it is largely about how responsibilities are shared.

With an on-premises environment, someone needs to manage the servers, system software, backups, availability and upgrades. With SaaS, Microsoft takes responsibility for much of that infrastructure layer, allowing the IT team to spend more time on processes, integrations, data and other areas that deliver more direct business value.

»With SaaS, the IT team spends less time managing infrastructure and can focus more on areas where it adds greater value to the business.«

Anže Starič, Team Lead, BE-terna

Comparing the costs of the two models also requires looking beyond licence fees. For an on-premises deployment, the calculation needs to include infrastructure, system software, environment management, maintenance and the time of the people responsible for it all. SaaS introduces a different cost model and a more regular upgrade cycle, helping the company stay closer to the latest version.

The best time to prepare is while NAV is still working well

Moving from NAV to Business Central makes sense because the environment in which your business operates is already changing—not because the old system needs to be switched off as soon as possible.

Business Central provides a more modern platform for integrations, data, regular upgrades, automation and AI. But the companies that benefit most will be those that treat the migration as an opportunity to remove accumulated complexity and build a better foundation for the years ahead, rather than simply copying their old system.

While NAV is still working, your company has the greatest range of options. You can assess, clean up, simplify and plan. If you wait until migration becomes unavoidable, you will have to make those same decisions much faster.

So the real question is not how much longer you can stay on NAV. A more useful question is how much time you want to give yourself for a successful move to Business Central.

Considering a move to Business Central?

Start with an assessment of your current NAV environment, processes, data and customisations. Gain a clearer understanding of what to migrate, what to simplify and how to plan your next steps.