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IFS Cloud Platform vs Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IFS Cloud Platform
Ranking in ERP
11th
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
CRM (15th), Customer Experience Management (7th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (9th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (2nd), Local Government CRM (4th), IT Asset Management (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (6th), License Management (3rd)
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Busi...
Ranking in ERP
3rd
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 2.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is 6.3%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Brendan Fisher - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust, customizable, and modern
IFS is a very large and complex software, and implementation of IFS can be challenging and may lead to a difficult lengthy project. It can take between 12 and 24 months in some cases to deploy. I have found that not all clients are fully aware of how big the task is that they're undertaking when they make a decision to move to software like this. Companies need to be more aware of the complexity of an ERP implementation project and while I fully recommend moving to IFS, it is not easy and does require business change when adopting an ERP solution. New features are a difficult ask - I work across multiple industries and everyone would probably choose a different feature. Maybe BIM in Construction or Customs link-ups for importers/exporters.
StefaanVandesompele - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end accounting and finance module at reasonable pricing
365 Business Central integrates with Office 365 to streamline the invoice approval process. This allows businesses to manage and approve invoices efficiently within a unified system. Our organization plans to transition to the Dynamics 365 environment, where various functions will be centralized. We will consolidate everything into one system instead of maintaining multiple databases for each country with local data. Dynamics 365 is fully integrated, which should address many of our challenges when we migrate to this new environment. We look forward to seeing how it performs in practice. The project is progressing well overall, though integrating it with other tools and ensuring Dynamics 365 operates smoothly can be challenging. Dynamics 365 is user-friendly and effective. However, a deeper understanding of its technical capabilities and architecture might be necessary to optimize its use fully. The software landscape is evolving, and achieving the best reporting and functionality with just a click can be complex. A clear vision of what you want to achieve with Dynamics 365 is essential. Proper preparation and configuration are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes. This principle applies not only to Dynamics 365 but to all software packages. Understanding the system's flexibility and adaptability based on your specific business needs is key to its successful implementation. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users."
"IFS Applications is an all-in-one solution for finance, accounting, and production."
"All the modules are valuable in their own right, but everything has to go through the ERP. IFS has done an excellent job integrating the various modules to complete these processes. My expertise is in the finance module, but I have used the other verticals. It's an all-around good product."
"The platform is reliable and stable."
"The most valuable features of IFS Applications in the latest version are the new user Arena interface. It's from Apps 9, but it brings more flexibility in usage, especially around different devices, such as mobile usage, which doesn't restrict you from using a computer. We are it for the HR side, and it's proving quite good. It has a new modern feel to it similar to a standard cloud application which enhances the user experience."
"One of our favorite features is the "Info-Zone", which provides operational intelligence in flight and in context to guide both business users and support teams to productivity."
"IFS has been completely rebuilt, modernized, and cloud-based so we don't need bulky software installations."
"The workflow of the solution is very good."
"We use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as CRM."
"It is a stable solution."
"Its most valuable feature is the user interface."
"Has good integration with Power BI."
"I am impressed with the tool's user authentication, compatibility , and policies."
"The most important feature of Microsoft Dynamics NAV is that it lets us centralize all our information so that we don't need to rely on any other software outside of Microsoft."
"The initial setup is easy."
"It is easy to use, and it works very well for small-scale companies."
 

Cons

"Technical support could be improved."
"Documentation-wise, they need more."
"There are certain digital features that need to be incorporated, such as IOP."
"IFS Applications is not robust enough to handle high-volume transactions, so it's not suitable for larger enterprises."
"Some kind of bot assistance, some kind of artificial intelligence to help people solve the problems, would be interesting."
"It would be ideal if, in the future, the product could incorporate IoT and blockchain elements. We'd like to explore more of these types of features going forward."
"There were initial difficulties when I started using the application."
"IFS uses Crystal Report mostly, which isn't too user-friendly. Developing reports isn't easy and requires a lot of dev time. Since SAP bought it, Crystal Report has become more complicated to use on IFS. You have a dashboard for reporting that is good, but it's incomplete. Most of our clients use Power BI or some additional tooling for BI."
"They need to improve their processes."
"Any request that had come from the website had to go through an e-form which was then plugged into Microsoft Dynamics NAV. There was no direct data capture. That was the pain point, where clients had to build e-forms, and that caused delays in transactions and getting information."
"I would like a more modular and user-friendly interface."
"The product should improve work optimization."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV could improve the reporting."
"The stability could always be improved."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV could be improved in terms of exporting income statements and balance sheets. Currently, there is a feature, but you can only have the last three years. I spent some time trying to improve the KPI portion that exports the data, that already calculates the sub forms or subtotals, but they weren't able to break that up into different dimensions. They've now managed to crowd the separate table and you can export that, but it's only for the last three years. So, they could improve this solution by getting the chart of accounts or the account schedules to be exported, where you can go further than just three years with it."
"If Microsoft made some of the security setups a little easier to work with, that would be a significant improvement. The warehouse management features could also use some work. We had to buy third-party software to make NAV's warehouse management and security more usable and functional."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The additional cost that comes with the solution includes the overhead of the people who are trying to fix the tool issues. These people are trying to reproduce the issue and report it to the technical support and testing with them which is huge. It is the cost of quality in the end."
"Pricing is an area that could be improved. They could be more competitive."
"The pricing of the solution may appear to be expensive for smaller companies with only tens of users; however, for larger and mid-size industrial companies, IFS is able to win deals and the pricing is competitive in the market."
"I consider it to be a well-priced solution compared to other mid-range or high-end ERP solutions."
"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
"IFS Applications are competitive in terms of pricing compared to other vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, and Epicor. They are generally cheaper, especially for licensing costs."
"We pay for a license to use the solution, which is not very expensive."
"There's an additional yearly cost for support."
"Currently, the product offers a starting price of $70 per user per month, which provides access to the complete ERP engine. It is highly reasonable."
"You have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
"The license changes every year. Sometimes it's for fixed users, and sometimes it's for concurrent users."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"$80-$100 per license, per month."
"The first time we tried to buy the newest version, it was expensive."
"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. We pay monthly for the use of the solution."
"The solution is on the cloud and they provide 50 gigabytes of free space on their Microsoft Drive. The reason for this is that Microsoft is requiring you to upgrade all of your systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in order to effectively use the cloud. This means that if you are currently using a different version of Microsoft for a specific purpose that does not require this solution, it can be frustrating to have to spend money to upgrade to this solution just for the purpose of syncing with the cloud. Additionally, even if you do purchase Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, there can still be issues with syncing between the on-premise and cloud clients. This can be especially frustrating as the cloud storage is not free and can be difficult to access even after purchasing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IFS Applications?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
I am not able to recall much about batch. Documentation-wise, they need more. There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products,...
What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The platform offers a robust and comprehensive cycle for supply chain and inventory management, with features like minimum and maximum settings, dynamic monitoring of inventory levels, and integrat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The pricing for Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. The value for money is very high.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management.
 

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.