As external recruiters working closely with businesses implementing or optimising Microsoft Business Central, we’ve noticed the same challenges cropping up time and again. Business Central is a powerful ERP platform, designed to streamline finance, operations, and supply chain management for growing companies. But even the best system can’t thrive without the right people behind it – and that’s where most organisations hit their real stumbling blocks.
Here are 10 challenges companies face with Business Central, from our perspective as someone helping them hire the experts they need:
- Lack of In-House Expertise: Many companies go live with Business Central without the internal team to support it. Once the implementation partner leaves, it’s common to see businesses scrambling for people who truly understand day-to-day system management.
- Difficulty Finding Skilled Talent: From Business Central Functional Consultants to Developers or Solution Architects, the demand far outstrips supply. Companies are competing in a global talent market where skilled professionals often have multiple offers.
- Misalignment Between Tech and Business Teams: When IT teams managing Business Central aren’t in sync with business users, adoption suffers and costly misunderstandings arise. A system is only as effective as the collaboration behind it.
- Overreliance on Implementation Partners: Partners are great for initial setup, but leaning on them for ongoing operations creates long-term dependency. Companies often miss the chance to build internal ownership and capability.
- Slow User Adoption: Even a perfectly configured system can fail to deliver if users aren’t supported properly. Without training and guidance, adoption lags, productivity dips, and ROI takes a hit.
- Poor System Customisation Decisions: Some businesses overcomplicate their Business Central setup without thinking about scalability or future updates. Fixing these issues later can be expensive and time-consuming.
- Inadequate Reporting & Data Strategy: Business Central has strong reporting tools, but without skilled BI professionals or data analysts who know how to leverage Power BI or integrations, decision-making suffers.
- Strained Post-Go-Live Support: Hiring the right mix of support roles, like Application Support Analysts or Business Central Admins, is often overlooked. The result? Rising ticket queues and frustrated users.
- Underestimating Change Management: Change management isn’t just a nice-to-have. Without Business Analysts or Project Managers guiding adoption, IT teams get overloaded, and business value can be delayed.
- Retention of Key Business Central Staff: Even when companies successfully hire great talent, keeping them is another hurdle. Competitive offers, limited career progression, or stagnant projects can lead to turnover, putting progress back at square one.
The reality? Business Central is a brilliant platform, but your success depends entirely on your people.
If you’re facing any of these challenges, or need resources to support your Business Central projects, get in touch with our Business Central Specialist. We can help you find the right expertise to make your ERP implementation or optimisation a success.
