The more you dismiss the ever-shortening tech disruption cycle, the faster you fall behind. On the other hand, there is a window of opportunity - right now - to outdistance competitors who seem to be stuck in place. That’s because so many are reluctant to upgrade their old ERP system even though more advanced, evergreen, cloud-native solutions are now available. While others delay upgrading and fall further behind, are you ready to leap ahead?

The latest version of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on Azure comes with machine learning capabilities, native business intelligence tools, superior usability, broader functional coverage and stellar integration with Office 365. However, most companies are only doing major ERP upgrades every 8-10 years – with the result that they do not have access to any of those innovations despite the fact that they are paying for the innovation through their maintenance fees to their ERP vendor.

We applaud those who migrate ahead of their competitors. Studio 100 is a good example of a company that Avanade recently helped to migrate from an earlier ERP platform to Dynamics 365. Studio 100 is a global entertainment company produces television series and theater productions in addition to operating 7 amusement parks and four musical ensembles. Their industry is constantly changing but their on-premises ERP system was ten years old, had reached its end of life, and could no longer be updated. They made the move to the Dynamics 365 platform and it has given them the flexibility and scalability they need as they continue rapid growth.

What keeps laggards from migrating? It’s remembering the painful experience and costs of the last ERP Project. The act of customizing their now outdated ERP systems was so costly and project decisions so painful that they fear a repeat. However, the new reality can be quite different. For one thing, Microsoft Dynamics comes with so much built-in functionality that your need for customizations simply decreases. And with the help of Avanade’s Intelligent Enterprise Solutions (AIES), customers can focus customizations on those business processes which truly have competitive advantage within their industry. And in those cases where there is true business benefit in customizations, Microsoft has created an architecture which makes those customizations a lot less intrusive and more future-safe.

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 approach to customizations is PowerApps and Extensions, are now available for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Extensions allow for enhancement of Dynamics 365 capabilities without making changes to the core system code. So, when Microsoft changes its underlying code base, the customized Extensions code is not affected. PowerApps allow to build additional functionality outside of Dynamics while taking advantage of the data, business rules and security within Dynamics 365. It allows for easy extension of Dynamics platform for business users and developers while protecting the integrity of the ERP package.

Also, Microsoft Dynamics 365 takes advantage of the cloud’s push capabilities to deliver multiple releases per year. Updates can be activated when customers are ready, so Dynamics 365 clients enjoy an “evergreen” cycle of ERP advancements while still staying in control when and if changes are being exposed to the user community.

Avanade has made migration to non-disruptive ERP easier by developing an Intelligent Upgrade Engine for Microsoft Dynamics 365. The Intelligent Upgrade Engine bundles our elite process improvement expertise and implementation skillset together with AI-enabled migration automation tools. As a result, Avanade’s Intelligent Upgrade Engine can help a company attain up-to-date enterprise intelligence with approximately 30-40% less effort from migration assessment to completion.

Instead of a legacy ERP system remaining stuck in the past like a lonely castaway on a deserted island, there’s a faster, easier way to migrate and upgrade. The fiercest competitors are leaping ahead by embracing the new migration tools and ERP approach to achieve new levels of finance and operations excellence.

Learn how to capitalize on the opportunity in our recently released guide, “Move from isolation to intelligence: How to migrate your ERP to a future-ready place.”