Microsoft Dynamics Pricing

Navigating Dynamics 365

When you hear someone say they are implementing or running Dynamics 365, that may mean so many different apps to so many different team members. In this week’s blog post we are going to break down a couple of topics – 1.) What each version of Dynamics 365 is and what it means and 2.) The pricing structure for these apps.

Microsoft has recently made changes to its pricing structure and licensing model so it is important to stay up to date and understand what the changes are, what they mean for your organization, and how to best handle licensing. You may have read about the new Microsoft NCE (New Commerce Experience) Microsoft recently implemented and find yourself even more confused. We will also break this down for you in our deeper dive of licensing costs.

Microsoft NCE

As mentioned above, Microsoft has completed its transition to the “New Commerce Experience” changing the way licensing for Dynamics 365 products work. If you are already running Dynamics 365, for now, you will continue to be able to buy your user licenses monthly without any penalty. If you are looking to move onto the Dynamics 365 platform for the first time, monthly user license subscriptions now carry a 20% premium. In order to secure the best rate possible, licenses will now need to be purchased on annual basis.

These changes first took effect on March 9th, 2022 for any new customers looking to move onto Dynamics 365. Any current customers looking to stay on the legacy pricing structure should begin to strategize a plan for going to annual plans and moving over to NCE. These changes will soon be required for all customers.

Dynamics 365 – Many Versions

Dynamics 365 means many different apps to many people. Depending on the functionality needed, your business might be running a full ERP like Dynamics 365 Business Central or Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (formerly Dynamics AX), or you might be using the Dynamics CRM. It is important to first understand what functionality your business is looking for in order to figure out the correct pricing for your workflow.

As mentioned above, there are essentially two ERPs under the Dynamics 365 Applications umbrella: Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Business Central is built for small to mid size businesses looking for a robust, but more economical ERP. Typically Strabo will see businesses upgrading from Quickbooks into an application like Business Central. Business Central will allow you to buy just 1 standalone user seat if desired. Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations replaced Microsoft’s legacy business application Dynamics AX. This product is built for medium to large size enterprises with power needs in manufacturing, warehousing, and more. Unlike Business Central, the number of users required starts at 20 when buying licenses.

Depending on your background, you may have assumed Dynamics 365 only meant ERP applications – that assumption is incorrect. Microsoft has many sales (CRM) and marketing tools available in the Dynamics 365 Suite of products as well. Microsoft has built out a robust set of CRM tools including Microsoft Relationship Sales, Customer Engagement, Customer Service Professional, and many more. On the marketing front Dynamics 365 Marketing also exists with great tools and offerings to help boost your marketing activities. All of these tools are built with power charts, dashboards, and metrics to help you and your business with conversions and increase your win rate.

While not under the banner of “Dynamics 365” there are several power tools that hook into all of the Dynamics product line to help increase sales conversions, operations efficiencies, and more. Power BI is built as a powerful dashboard tool that hooks directly into all of the Dynamics 365 apps for real-time, power visuals. Power BI is just one of the PowerApps tools Microsoft has now to help you with reporting and low-code/no-code solutions to get your the information you need and the time you need it.

Dynamics 365 – Pricing and Licensing

As mentioned above, there are many different user counts and license types available. When buying Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, there is a full user license for Finance, there is also a team member license for Supply Chain. A full user license starts at $180 per month, but can go as low as $30 a month depending on the activities being done. If you are running supply chain management and have a need for warehouse mobile devices, there are “device licenses” that allow for more affordable options. It is important to work with Strabo to figure out your business processes by user to ensure you are not over paying for your licenses.

The ability to mix your Microsoft Dynamics licenses is also possible If you want to run Finance and Operations, but also need the field service module, pricing is available to mix and match those license. We see many customers buying both ERP and CRM licenses to run their enterprise entirely within the Microsoft ecosystem. There are many add-on options available to the ERP offerings as well. Microsoft recently release Intelligent Order Management (IOM) to help introduce more automation into your sales enterprise. In the chart below we outline the licensing options and cost for each version of Microsoft Dynamics. Microsoft has also published a few licensing guides that may be helpful to you on your licensing journey. To learn more about licensing and how we can help, feel free to email us or book a call!