Business Central Cost: A UK SMB Budgeting Guide

The real cost of Business Central goes beyond the monthly licence. A budget has to cover licences, implementation, data migration, training and support. This guide sets out each line and how to estimate it with your own numbers.

Key PointLicences are the published part of the budget. Implementation is where totals differ, so get it itemised.

Licences: the published part

Microsoft's UK pricing page lists three licences, each per user per month, paid yearly, excluding VAT:

• Essentials, £61.50: business management for finance, sales and operations.
• Premium, £84.60: everything in Essentials, plus service management and manufacturing.
• Team Members, £6.20: limited access to read data, approve workflows, and create or update select information.

VAT is added on top at the standard UK rate.

Work out your licence bill

Count who needs full access, who only reads and approves, and who needs service or manufacturing. As an illustration only, 10 Essentials users at £61.50 is £615 a month, or £7,380 a year, before VAT. Moving view-and-approve users to Team Members changes that figure.

Pro TipCount who only reads and approves. Those people may need a Team Members licence, not a full one.

Implementation: the variable part

Implementation cost follows the work. Four things drive it:

• the number of companies, and any intercompany set-up;
• how much data moves, and how clean it is;
• customisations beyond standard Business Central;
• integrations with payroll, e-commerce or other systems.

Ask any partner for an estimate against each of these, not one total.

Costs teams forget

• training, so people are productive from day one;
• support for the first month-ends after go-live;
• your own team's time on testing and reconciliation;
• third-party apps for specialist reporting or documents.

Watch OutA quote with one total and no breakdown by area is hard to compare. Ask for the detail before you sign.

Fixed-price options

Amplio publishes its prices. FastBC configures a new Business Central company from £249 fixed, and BC Fast-Start takes a business live in twelve weeks for £4,500 fixed, for businesses that already hold Business Central licences.

A fixed package is not right for every business. Several companies, difficult data or bespoke processes need a scoped project.

Next steps

Our guides to Business Central pricing and the implementation process go further. For independent guidance, see the ICAEW technology resources, or talk to us about your own numbers.