Business Central users with large SaaS Environments can take a deep breath: Where you
can make significant
Savings again from July

The “World’s best ERP Solution” must have more to offer than regular Updates

The software giant Microsoft has always set itself big goals. Last November, it made another clear announcement: Dynamics 365 Business Central is to become the “world’s best ERP solution” for SMEs. This was announced by Mike Morton, General Manager for BC, at the Directions 2020 conference.

However, an ERP solution that wants to be the “world’s best ERP solution” must have much more to offer than just a constant stream of new updates and functions. It is also important that the vendor sets prices fairly and sometimes reduces them. As in the current case: new changes have been announced with regard to the pricing model for large SaaS environments.

Controversial Discussion: Costs currently incurred for large SaaS Environments

But right from the start: last year Microsoft had announced  that additional costs would be incurred for databases of this size. Currently, from the 81st gigabyte, 40 dollars are due per extra GB and month. This has already caused plenty of heated discussions. In the Yammer forums in particular, there has been a lot of discussion about the price in recent months. This is now set to change again.

In Future, you will save considerably if you use more than 80 GB - and benefit from Additional Capacity per User

Good news for all those who use large SaaS environments in Business Central: at the last BC Launch Event, Microsoft announced a revised pricing model. According to this, the use of large databases will be significantly cheaper from July 1st, 2021.

There will be two changes:

1. if you use more than 80 gigabytes, only 10 dollars will be charged for each additional gigabyte. And from 100 additional GB instead of 4,000 dollars only 500 dollars (i.e. only 5 dollars/GB).

2. additional capacity will be available in addition to the free 80 GB per user. How much this is depends on which license you have.

   • with Essentials: 2 GB per User
   • with Premium: 3 GB per User

Change no. 2 has the positive effect that the threshold above which additional costs are due is then significantly higher, especially if you have the Premium license.

Excursus: Essentials vs. Premium User

What is the difference between the two user licenses for Business Central?

• Essentials: solid basis that covers all core functions

  This license is suitable for companies that require the basic functionalities for financial management and ERP. This includes finance, SCM and sales management as well as services. The package also offers a wide range of functions, tools and extensions to tailor the solution to individual requirements and implement integration projects.

• Premium: extended options - even with high specialization

  This license is aimed at companies that have a high growth dynamic and come from the core segment of SMEs and/or are highly specialized. The customizable premium solution with extensive functionalities is ideal for these companies. In addition to the basics contained in Essentials, it also provides extended functions for logistics and production. It also enables even more extensive modifications.

Examples from Everyday Life

To make the future cost differences even more tangible for you, let’s take a look at two sample calculations.

• Cost Example no. 1

  Imagine the following: company A has 30 Business Central users and uses the Essentials version. A total of 130 GB is required - that’s 50 GB more than the current free 80 GB. This means an additional 2,000 dollars per month for this company (50 GB x 40 dollars).

  In future, in addition to the 80 GB, the company will have another 2 GB per user at no extra cost. This means that the company will be able to use a total of 140 GB without having to pay extra. The current additional costs will be completely eliminated for the company in future.

• Cost Example no. 2

  Company B uses the Premium version and has 125 users who have access to Business Central. Here, 230 GB are required - i.e. 150 GB more than included in the “basic package”. This company therefore has additional monthly costs of 6,000 dollars (150 GB x 40 dollars).

  From July, it will even be able to use 455 GB at no extra cost - as Microsoft will provide an additional 3 GB for each user. The current additional costs will then also no longer apply for this company.

Your Data is safe in the Microsoft Cloud

There are good reasons why you should consider the cloud variant from Microsoft despite the possible additional costs. Among other things, the aspect that your data is kept safe there. Because even if you intuitively assume that on-premises is the more secure solution due to the physical proximity to your own server room - this does not have to be the case.

Business Central SaaS: continuous Updates and new Data Centers

Microsoft is also setting an good pace when it comes to the further development of Business Central SaaS:

• There are regular updates and therefore always new functions.
• The data centers in which Business Central runs will be further expanded. If you set up new environments with the region “DE”, these will no longer be created in the Netherlands but in “Germany West Central” in Frankfurt. The “Germany North” data center in Berlin will also be added soon.

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Leader in R&D Investment How you can benefit

New SaaS Pricing Model from July 1st is much more user-friendly

Incidentally, there are many users who are not even aware that there are prices per database size at all. This is because most SaaS/cloud customer databases have not yet reached the 80 GB threshold.

For those who are concerned, there is good news after various discussions in the Yammer forums: from July, with the new pricing model, big savings are possible again with Business Central SaaS. This applies to users who use large SaaS environments (> 80 GB). Users with a Premium license in particular have the advantage that additional capacity is available free of charge per user.

Microsoft has thus admitted that it has overshot the mark with its current pricing structures and has rectified this “error” quite quickly. The fairer pricing structures could be another plus point on the way to the ambitious goal of “World’s Best ERP Solution”, alongside the regular updates, the high data security in the cloud and the expansion of the data centers.