Buffalo Niagara Partnership Migrates to Business Central

by | Jan 9, 2022

Buffalo Niagara Partnership: Since 1844, the Partnership has been working to make Buffalo Niagara a better place in which to do business. By mobilizing members and strategic partners around common goals, the Partnership grows private investment and jobs in Buffalo Niagara through advocacy, business development and convening.

Industry: Civic and social organization

Location: Buffalo, NY

Company Size:  < 25 employees

Products: Sales Order, inventory, purchase orders, Financial Modules ( General Ledgers, AP, AR, Cash Management), Financial Reporting, Microsoft Power BI

Replaced: Microsoft Dynamics GP

Adam Martin was a fantastic Project Manager throughout the transition. Already having a working relationship with him made the project much easier.

Anita Genovese

VP & Chief Financial Officer

Innovative Cloud Solutions Helps Buffalo Niagara Partnership Migrate to a Cloud ERP

With Microsoft Dynamics Business Central

Key Results for Buffalo Niagara Partnership

 

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Staying within the Microsoft Dynamics product family made onboarding and training much easier for the BNP staff.

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The ability to access real-time data regardless of location.

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The ease of moving between transactions and completing common tasks in fewer steps.

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The migration from Microsoft Dynamics GP to cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central was a complete success.

The Challenge

BNP began working with Innovative Cloud Solutions (then Software Solutions Group) in 1998 with the installation of their on-premise ERP, Microsoft Dynamics GP. The system was ideal for managing their day-to-day operations and financials, and with the support of ICS, it served them well for more than 20 years. 

COVID-19 mandated remote work highlights limitations of on-premise ERP system

 

COVID-19 and the resulting quarantine in 2020 presented myriad challenges to all businesses. And for the BNP, their mission of supporting and advocating for WNY businesses was never more important – or challenging. Like so many of their members, overnight, the BNP was challenged with providing their critical support with a staff that was, for the first time, fully remote. 

 

While the BNP staff was able to continue day-to-day operations through the remote desktop, the on-premise client-server system was very slow and cumbersome, resulting in lagging updates and limited access to data. 

 

Leadership at the BNP realized it was time to upgrade their ERP to a cloud-based system that would provide the real-time data access their team needed to maintain their quality service, regardless of their location, without sacrificing the features that works well for them.

The Solution

The perfect fit for their existing ecosystem

 

The first step was discovery. The BNP evaluated several cloud-based ERP systems to assess which would best meet their needs going forward. 

 

In the end, the choice was clear. The BNP decided to move forward with upgrading to cloud-based ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This was the standout for several reasons:

 

  • Business Central has robust cloud-based accessibility across all business functions, regardless of location.
  • Choosing another Microsoft product would simplify the transition from Microsoft Dynamics GP and would seamlessly integrate with their Microsoft Dynamics 356 CRM
  • Allowed a continued relationship with ICS as their trusted partner for implementation.

 

Anita Genovese, BNP Vice President and CFO, “Business Central was the most cost-effective option. Having Microsoft Dynamics 365 as our CRM, we were told that the systems would integrate well. It was the easiest decision to make, for sure.”