Comparing Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica Cloud ERP

Microsoft Dynamics GP Acumatica Cloud ERP

Answer These 3 Questions to Understand the Differences Between Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica Cloud ERP

Curious about cloud-based ERP? Wanting to compare Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica Cloud ERP? This article will help.

To gain the clearest understanding of both ERP solutions and what each can offer to your business, it is a smart idea to focus on answering a few specific questions about your workplace and needs.

3 Questions to Ask When Comparing Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica

These three questions are designed to help you determine the advantages each ERP would hold for your company. As you answer these questions, make sure that you think carefully about not only where your company has been and is now, but also about where you want your company to be in the future.

Where Does Work Get Done in Your Company?

Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) has been a leading mid-market ERP solution for years for a reason: they offer robust financials, rich out-of-the-box functionality, and strong ISV (add-on) support. GP is also an on-premises solution and Microsoft has no plans to move it to the cloud.

GP is a good option if you do your work in-house and do not need to work remotely, but in our modern pandemic environment, as well as in our on-the-go working atmosphere, there are very few companies that can solely rely on on-premises solutions. Though Microsoft Dynamics GP provides some cloud options, including a SharePoint-driven cloud front-end and Azure cloud hosting, these require additional licensing.

Acumatica Cloud ERP is entirely cloud based (as its name implies) and is a true cloud solution. This means all of its functionality is accessible through an internet connection using a standard browser without an additional software installation needed on a user’s device, or additional software licensing. In practical terms, this means Acumatica can be easily and securely accessed by anyone at your company who needs to work remotely or on the go.

Acumatica is a great option if you or your staff completes work away from the office. In our modern coronavirus pandemic situation, this includes most businesses. Though we do not know how long this situation will last, we do have signs indicating that this remote-driven work approach will continue for years to come – if not indefinitely.

“Before, if we were out in the field and a grower said, ‘By the way, do you have X, Y, Z variety?’ we would call into the office. Now that we’re cloud-based, we can actually log in, look at our inventory and answer that person within about three minutes with an accurate answer.” – Agriculture and Farming Company that previously assessed their Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica needs

Does Your Company Rely on ERP Customizations?

Microsoft Dynamics GP is known for their rich customization capabilities and broad range of ISV (add-on) solutions that provide you with a large variety of functionality to help you run your company precisely the way you want it to. The downside is that each of these GP customizations must be written in a proprietary code, which does not translate to the cloud.

If, for instance, you were to move your GP system to Microsoft’s cloud solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you would have to hire a developer to rewrite all your customizations in another proprietary Microsoft programming language. This, as you can imagine, can get costly and time consuming.

Acumatica Cloud ERP is also known for their rich customization capabilities and broad range of ISV (add-on) solutions that provide you with a large variety of functions. The Acumatica Marketplace offers many off-the-shelf add-on solutions that are easy to purchase, install, and use quickly, but Acumatica also offers additional cost-saving customization capabilities.

Because Acumatica is written in industry-standard programming language born in the cloud (C# and .NET), it is fast and easy to find a range of reasonably priced, experienced developers who you can work with to customize any aspect of your Acumatica system.

Would It Help You to Provide Portal Access to a Larger Number of People?

Microsoft Dynamics GP delivers the industry-standard pricing model for business software, meaning that they charge per user license with flexible licensing options based on user access needs. This works well for ensuring predictable annual billing and is the model that you and your managers have grown accustomed to over years of experience with business software.

The drawback to this model is that it encourages a “license management” mindset, in which supervisors and other key stakeholders must carefully consider who gets a license — and what type of license — to drive business operations forward. This results in extra busywork and can reduce streamlined efficiency because it puts a small group of managers in the position of “information gatekeepers” because they have the licenses and their teams do not.

Acumatica Cloud ERP has innovated a new pricing model for their software in which Acumatica customers pay for resources used, instead of for user licenses. This means that Acumatica customers can freely add as many users as they want to their systems, including all staff members, all customers, all vendors, all partners, and anyone else they wish to add. The advantage of this is that it encourages new hires and streamlines work processes because customers and vendors can look up their own information in a self-service portal. In addition, managers can rely on the expectation that their teams will have access to critical information when they need it because each employee can look information up themselves.

“When you have to pay an extra couple thousand dollars to add more users, you tend not to get enough capacity for what you really need…. It’s hard to justify the cost with the traditional model. With Acumatica, that’s not the case.” – Stone Manufacturer that previously assessed their Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica needs

Moving Forward After Comparing Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica

Now that you have answered these questions, you hopefully have a clearer understanding about the differences between Microsoft Dynamics GP vs. Acumatica Cloud ERP as each pertains to your business needs.

One additional consideration you may want to take into account is the training needs for each ERP solution:

Microsoft Dynamics GP provides the type of training you are probably familiar with from other large software purchases: your reseller will provide training at implementation, or provide post-implementation training classes for new hires, which will cost an added fee.

Acumatica Cloud ERP has created a highly flexible training model that includes the standard training at implementation, as well as numerous free, on-demand, training options such as:

The Open University lets you download a copy of Acumatica for free, install it locally, and then go through hands-on training at your pace.
The Acumatica Community offers a wealth of local resources your company can tap into across the U.S., as well as across global and international regions. With the Acumatica Community, wherever you are you can be sure there’s an Acumatica expert nearby who is happy to help you.
The Acumatica Help Portal is an Acumatica-run site where anyone can pose questions and get on-demand answers in an organized, easy-to-read knowledgebase.