Understanding Microsoft Support Timelines

Dynamics NAV has evolved in recent years and is now Dynamics 365 Business Central.

If you are still operating using Dynamics NAV then it is important that you consider where you are in terms of Microsoft’s support. Support with Microsoft can be broken down into two time periods – mainstream support and extended support, and where you are in your support timeline is dependant on which version of NAV you currently use.

Our table below summarises the support timelines.

What’s the implication of running NAV without mainstream support?

If you are no longer accessing Microsoft’s mainstream support then you are missing out on the latest features and enhancements within your Dynamics applications, effectively running a diluted, less productive system.

Once your mainstream support period ends, you’ll move to a five year period of extended support, meaning only security updates will be available and for a limited period.

When you reach extended support stage you should also be concerned with issues such as:

Limited security: Microsoft continually improve their security to fend off malicious threats and attacks. Unsupported NAV can leave your businesses open to hackers and other breaches.

Emergency Fixes: If you continually miss out on upgrades across your software packages then one minor system breakage can cause multiple impacts, leading to the need for costly and complex emergency fixes.

Lost productivity: Every new version brings improvements and enhancements that deliver productivity gains, running unsupported means you miss out on these gains.

What are my options?

As a Microsoft Dynamics partner we recommend transitioning from Dynamics NAV to Business Central, which will deliver your business with a cloud ready platform upon which to centralise all your data, better manage your financial performance and improve processes across sales, customer service and projects.

We’ve prepared a guide to upgrading from Dynamics NAV which you should find useful as you consider your next steps while we also recommend taking a couple of minutes to read about how we delivered a recent cloud ready Business Central upgrade with RHealthcare here.