The first quarter of 2025 has already come and gone, meaning it’s time for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who are still operating on Microsoft Dynamics GP to check in on their ERP to-do lists.
Those to-do lists are vitally important this year, as Microsoft has started the process of sunsetting Dynamics GP, meaning that SMBs operating on the system need to be planning for both their short and long-term futures. Making a to-do list for your ERP future will help businesses stay on-track, and ensure they are prepared for the next phase of their ERP journey, no matter what, exactly, that looks like.
Watch our "Microsoft Dynamics GP User's 2025 To-Do List" webinar on-demand
The List
No matter what your industry, business size, or unique challenges are, the to-do list for SMBs who are still utilizing Dynamics GP looks almost identical.
Below we will look at each of these steps to help SMBs figure out where, exactly, they should be on their to-do list, and how to catch up if they’ve fallen behind.
What Comes Next?
The uncertainty that had surrounded the future of GP has been cleared up as Microsoft has announced its end-of-life plans for this widely-used solution. Product updates and support for businesses on the modern lifecycle will end at the end of December 2029, with security patches ceasing at the end of April 2031. For users not on the modern lifecycle, support will end even earlier, depending on what version they are running.
This gives businesses running GP up to six years to make plans for what comes next, as continuing on with GP after support ceases, while possible, would be a supremely difficult scenario to navigate. Vital system functions such as payroll will no longer be able to operate correctly, as they require annual updates for tax information. Security would also be a concern, as the continuing updates provided by Microsoft keep security functions up to date and protect businesses against the latest cyber-threats.
It is vital that businesses begin having the conversations or what their next steps are sooner rather than later. Transitions of the size and scope of an ERP upgrade are not simple, rapid decisions. Intricate research, consideration, and planning are required. If your business runs Dynamics GP and you are not already discussing succession plans, you are behind and need to remedy that quickly.
Examine Your Current Setup
In order to properly plan for what comes next, a clear picture of where you are must come first. To do this, experts at Enavate recommend a GP Health Check as part of our ERP Roadmap Assessment. Our ERP Roadmap Consultation includes a discovery session to understand your current Dynamics ERP usage, a comprehensive GP Health Check to assess system performance, a tailored roadmap with actionable insights for optimization and growth, and a follow-up meeting to review findings and explore next steps with our experts.
The Health Check leverages the GP Assessment Tool, which was developed by Enavate to help businesses better understand how their current GP setup works, how it can be optimized in the future, and to locate anomalies in their data that can be addressed. It is a free, five-minute process that requires read-only access to GP. It helps experts identify potential issues in the workflow, allowing them to proactively suggest solutions as part of an improvement or upgrade process. With the current timeline of GP being sunsetted, it is ideal for helping businesses determine what, exactly, they need from an ERP platform going forward.
This roadmap will be the guide for businesses over the next few years as they navigate the end-of-life cycle for Dynamics GP.
As the second quarter of 2025 begins, experts recommend businesses should be on this stage of the to-do list. If your business is lagging behind, it is vital you begin the process quickly, to allow for maximum time for the steps that follow.
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Get Up To Date
Making sure that your GP iteration is up to date is paramount for ensuring you get the maximum support for your system while considering and implementing next steps. Upgrading ensures you stay supported with the latest Microsoft updates, including vital security patches and compliance tools. It helps your organization meet tax and payroll regulations, avoid vulnerabilities, and remain current with critical features—such as enhanced reporting, print options, and automated workflows. Staying on the latest version also allows you to benefit from modern security standards like TLS 1.2 and Multifactor Authentication, ensuring safe communication and data transfer. Additionally, upgrades resolve known issues with Office 365 email integration and keep essential functions like invoice automation and workflow approvals running smoothly.
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In short, upgrading Dynamics GP helps your business stay supported, compliant, secure, connected, and equipped with the tools to grow and adapt. This means if you have not checked this step off of your 2025 to-do list, it should be remedied ASAP.
Evaluate Your Options
After assessing your situation, the next step is deciding which of the options available is the right fit for your business. While this can be done without outside help, partnering with Enavate allows businesses to lean on the decades of combined experience in both Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central that Enavate’s staff possesses. Additionally, Enavate offers industry-specific customization options for a number of industries, advanced analytics, and in-depth project management support, regardless of which upgrade option businesses choose.
Most businesses end up having three distinct options to choose from:
Optimize Dynamics GP on premises - The first option is keeping your current Dynamics GP setup on-site, working with Enavate partners to optimize it to its peak, longest-lasting performance. Enavate’s expert team will find new modules and integrations to enhance functionality, and help businesses get the most out of their system while it is still being supported.
Move Dynamics GP to the Enavate Cloud - Moving Dynamics GP to the Cloud helps businesses move into the digital age while staying with their existing system. This solution offers increased cost efficiency because of the lack of on-site maintenance and equipment, better scalability for growth, and heightened security against cyber-attacks and natural disasters that could potentially cause costly downtime for businesses hosting their ERP on-site.
Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central – Most will benefit from upgrading to Dynamics GP’s logical successor- Dynamics 365 BC. A modern, cloud-based solution, BC offers a vastly improved, yet familiar, experience for businesses used to Dynamics GP. Accessible from any internet-connected device, BC offers increased security, analytics and reporting, integration ability with both outside modules and native Microsoft applications such as Outlook and Excel, scalability, and overall functionality when compared to its predecessor. With over 99% uptime guaranteed by Microsoft, and a cyber-security suite powered by Azure, BC is the secure, stable platform for any business to build on for the future.
The Five-Year Plan
After evaluating your options, the next step on your to-do list should be to create a five-year plan for your businesses’ ERP. This plan should focus on both the businesses’ current needs, and also projected growth, and the resources required to support that growth, both financially and in terms of ERP use. Determining what your business needs will look like will help plan for what ERP will be required, and also for how best to approach the sometimes-tricky implementation process. Partnering with Enavate can help immensely in this planning process, as their experts offer assistance in developing road-maps for success, leaning on their decades of experience to custom tailor an implementation plan to your businesses’ unique needs and challenges.
Set the Budgets
The final to-do on the list, once an option has been chosen and a plan has been formed, is to begin setting the budgets for implementation and beginning the process of moving from the planning stages to reality. Budgeting effectively is vital to ensuring a smooth, successful implementation, as funding shortfalls can cause costly delays and possibly even system downtime.
Don’t be intimidated by the cost of a full ERP migration. It helps to take a broader perspective. Long-term, Dynamics 365 BC actually offers cost savings compared to GP because of its lower maintenance costs and efficiency increases. SMBs are encouraged to see upgrading as the investment in their future it is, not as a costly, optional process.
For budget-conscious businesses, Enavate offers several programs and incentives when moving from GP to Dynamics 365 BC, potentially saving businesses tens of thousands of dollars. Even businesses not planning to migrate to BC can find cost savings through Enavate by taking part in a free roadmap consult.
Ensuring budgets are properly projected is the last step on the 2025 to-do list before starting the implementation process, and should not be overlooked.
The Time is Now
The first quarter of 2025 is already behind us, and every passing day brings businesses closer to the end of support for Dynamics GP. Deciding the future of your ERP system is vital for the health of your business, and there is an inescapable timeline in which to do it. If you have been delaying getting started on your 2025 ERP to-do list, there really is no time left to lose. Your business’ future depends on it.
Watch our "Microsoft Dynamics GP User's 2025 To-Do List" webinar on-demand
