Conceptual enhancements to Business Central
At this year’s Microsoft Dynamics Partner Conference – Directions EMEA 2023, we unveiled several conceptual enhancements to Business Central, including a strong focus on the end-to-end use of AI in Dynamics and Power Platform applications. We will talk more about this later.
And now we want to share with you another important topic about which Microsoft representatives provided a lot of information – scaling. This is an urgent topic because we are often asked by representatives of large companies whether Business Central will meet their needs or whether it is adapted to the needs of corporations, holding companies, a large number of users, etc. We have a spoiler – absolutely, YES!
Scalability
But let us tell you how streaming server load on a system in the cloud works. Microsoft allocates a so-called node – a set of servers for processing the company’s data, working in Business Central. Let’s say the company has significantly increased the number of concurrent users entering data and the number of data sources sending requests to Business Central via API. In the data center, the load balancer load optimizer analyses the load on the servers in the node, and if the load on a particular virtual machine (VM) rises above 60%, all new sessions from that Business Central user company are sent to a new virtual machine in the node.
This means that it is technically impossible to overload the system because it scales in real-time. At the same time, the end user will never notice any changes, and sessions will not be interrupted or slowed down. Microsoft’s technical challenge is also to ensure that the vast majority (currently 99.8%) of servers remain under-utilized (less than 60% load) at all times, to ensure that system requests are processed quickly at all levels and in all geographies.
The built-in load optimizer
The built-in load optimizer is a permanently active system option, it is not switched on or off, it balances all servers (virtual machines), avoiding peak loads and distributing the load on the server in a node or adding new nodes with a new set of servers.
By understanding this sophistication in load management, we can advise companies of all sizes to implement Business Central in the cloud. The general trend in 2023-24 is for more companies to move to cloud servers, removing mental limitations and fears around the complexity of managing and controlling such servers. Business Central and the entire Dynamics 365 product line declare automatic scaling and balancing of systems, and users increasingly prefer online systems.
The most common size of cloud storage is up to 100 gigabytes, but there is also storage above 1 terabyte, which has been moved from physical servers and is operating successfully in the cloud.
An interesting fact: VS has users who enter 5000 invoices per hour and this is not even close to the maximum number possible for Business Central. Another customer generated more than 2500 invoices per hour with a total of more than 120000 lines. And these are not the highest figures. So, when you talk about scaling, you should be aware of the real needs per hour, per day, per month in terms of the number of invoices, data sources, concurrent users, etc.
Here’s a list of the benefits of Business Central in the cloud:
- IT administration of the system becomes much easier;
- The ability to easily manage user accounts and licenses in a single tenant;
- The system is conceptually updated and improved 2-3 times a year – you always have the best and latest technologies and functionality;
- Seamless integration with other solutions in the Microsoft ecosystem;
- Cloud ERP is incredibly convenient. You can manage your business from any device, anywhere in the world, without having to worry about physical server capacity and data security investments. All from the largest technology company, Microsoft, with the largest network of data centers;
- Whether your business grows vertically or horizontally, Business Central is ready to scale with over 4000 additional extensions in Microsoft AppSource;
We also remind you that Business Central implementation experts with over 20 years of experience are at your service. For Ukraine, we offer a free language version of the product and regularly release add-ons and improvements. All of that optimizes the system for accounting, tax, HR, and payroll, creating additional convenience in integration with popular client banks, Vchasno, e-Docs services, and much more!