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Business Central

GOB Software & Systeme GmbH

GOB’s Transformation to Business Central Online and AI Readiness with Migration & Modernization Program

2025

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About GOB Software & Systeme GmbH

GOB Software & Systeme GmbH is a mid-sized information technology and services company based in Krefeld, Germany, and a recognized Microsoft solutions partner. With more than 350 employees, GOB specializes in implementing Dynamics 365 Business Central, while enhancing these implementations with Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement solutions.

In addition to being an ERP software provider, GOB has developed its own industry-specific ISV solutions across several sectors. Notably, GOB focuses solely on its customized Business Central solutions, rather than onboarding clients with the standard version of Business Central. Their client base includes over 700 active customers, consisting of non-profit organizations such as fundraising organizations as well as customers from the retail and manufacturing sectors. One of the largest customers has more than 1,000 users, including many volunteers. Currently, almost 70% of customers are still using on-premises solutions, although GOB is gradually migrating them to the cloud – a process that naturally takes time

Christian Blenkers

Head of Sales, GOB

The Challenge

With the release of Business Central version 15, the introduction of the AL programming language made GOB rethink and redesign their industry solutions. Rather than simply migrating their existing C/AL code to AL, GOB made the decision to completely rewrite their solutions from scratch. This new code base was developed to better meet the evolving needs of their customers.

"The hardest part of migrating our existing customers to the cloud," explains Christian Blenkers, Head of Sales at GOB, "is that we don't have a standard migration plan from the old solution to the new one. The foundation of our new industry solutions is completely different, and even the data structures in some areas have changed." This fundamental shift has made direct migrations particularly complex. "We’re trying to migrate only part of the data and certain customizations to the SaaS environment," Christian adds.

Christian Blenkers Head of Sales, GOB

As a solution to these challenges, GOB partners with Companial for their Migration & Modernization program. GOB provides specific modules of their solution for Companial to assess and assist in migrating to Business Central online. These modules are distinct from both the standard Business Central offering and GOB’s previous industry solutions, allowing for a more streamlined modernization process.

How GOB Began Working with Companial

GOB’s partnership with Companial is relatively recent, having started just a year and a half ago. Initially a Microsoft Direct Partner, GOB was searching for distributor opportunities that could provide more tailored support, particularly in understanding their specific industry and business requirements. After exploring several distributors, GOB found that Companial was the best fit for their needs.

"Companial stood out because, like us, they are solely focused on Microsoft solutions - specifically Business Central, Customer Engagement, and Power Platform," explains Matthias Schoris, Product & Partner Manager at GOB. "They also serve the same business sectors as we do, which was a crucial factor for us. The alignment in focus segments and their in-depth knowledge of Microsoft products made them the right partner."

Matthias Schoris Product & Partner Manager, GOB

Matthias Schoris further emphasizes the importance of collaboration:

“We wanted to have discussions with someone who understands the products, the business segments, and the challenges we face. It was essential to work with a partner who could help escalate issues to Microsoft when needed.”

GOB is currently in the process of transitioning their existing customers to Companial, leveraging their shared expertise to navigate the migration smoothly.

Migration & Modernization Program

One of GOB’s main challenges is managing the high demand from customers wanting to transition to Business Central online.

“We have more orders than time,” explains Christian Blenkers.

The demand is particularly strong among nonprofit organizations. These organizations are eager to move to the cloud, as it shifts the responsibility for infrastructure and maintenance to Microsoft and its partners. This high demand was one of the main drivers behind GOB’s participation in the Migration & Modernization (M&M) program, which aims to move more customers to the cloud in less time.

Another key factor in adopting the M&M program was the availability of Microsoft Customer Incentives.

As Matthias explains, “The preparation that Companial does for the Aim Assessment Report is very helpful for us and easy to integrate into our sales cycle. Their transparency in calculating project costs is invaluable.”

Companial’s detailed assessments provide GOB and its customers with clear insights into where the most time-consuming tasks lie and offer ways to reduce project costs.

In GOB’s approach, the M&M program is used not only for internal transparency and project discussions but also as a key tool in presales.

“Companial’s assessments are much more detailed than anything we could do on our own,” Christian points out. “Our internal development team focuses on migrating customers from one version to another, so we rely on Companial for migration assessments.”

The assessments provided by Companial, particularly when migrating from C/AL to AL and SaaS, offer a wealth of information and are highly transparent.

GOB integrates these assessments into both the sales and project cycles. Many of their customers have a long history with GOB, some for over 25 years. Over time, these customers have migrated through various versions, resulting in a lack of clean code coverage and historical clarity within their databases.

“Companial’s assessment helps us gain much-needed transparency and allows us to create a clear agenda for presales workshops,” says Christian.

During these workshops, GOB and their customers can review modified objects and explore the possibility of moving to a standard solution.

Steps to Take After the Assessment of Migration to Business Central Online

After completing the migration assessment, GOB currently relies on its internal developers and project teams to handle all projects. However, they are exploring the possibility of bringing on external developers from Companial to help manage the workload.

“We have a lot of projects on hold due to limited internal capacity to bring customers to the cloud,” explains Matthias Schoris.

While outsourcing development work would be helpful and GOB utilizes external assistance upon customer request, the company recognizes that some groundwork needs to be done first to ensure a smooth transition for external developers.

Once customers are successfully migrated to Business Central online, ongoing maintenance of extensions becomes a critical priority. GOB currently has more than 100 customers using Business Central online, and their industry solutions – available on Microsoft AppSource -are automatically updated every month with each major and minor release of Business Central. These regular updates require careful oversight, especially when it comes to customizations, which need extensive automated testing to ensure stability.

To further support their customers, GOB offers to implement automated testing for individual business processes. This ensures that any customizations continue to function properly after updates, minimizing disruptions and reducing manual testing efforts. As GOB continues to expand their cloud-based customer base, maintaining the quality and performance of these custom solutions will remain a top priority.

M&M Program Paves the Way for AI-Readiness

GOB is experiencing growing demand for AI functionalities, and to meet this need, they have conducted several AI Solutions Development workshops with Companial. These workshops have helped GOB prepare to handle customer AI requirements effectively.

One of GOB’s largest customers, a major charity organization that recently transitioned to Business Central online, is already benefiting from GOB’s AI consulting services. Currently, GOB is helping them implement AI to sort and prioritize emails, enabling automated responses regarding funding and spending inquiries.

However, not all of GOB’s customers are ready for AI yet.

“Going to the cloud is one of the first steps to becoming AI-ready,” explains Christian Blenkers.

The Migration & Modernization (M&M) program serves as an enabler for this transition, helping customers move to the cloud, which is essential for leveraging cross-platform AI functionalities.

“When we talk about AI for our customers, we think about the whole process and where AI can add value,” Christian adds.

Moving to the cloud lays the foundation for utilizing AI across various platforms, not just within Business Central.

After migrating to Business Central online, GOB emphasizes the importance of setting clear AI goals for both their industry solutions and the customers’ internal processes.

“AI serves as a kind of North Star, guiding our direction,” says Christian. “It’s essential to know the finish line so that the steps taken are aligned toward that goal.”

For GOB, having an AI strategy is critical in helping customers understand the potential of AI, and then working out the incremental steps to bring each customer to the desired stage. This process, however, requires time and careful planning.

High-Quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Migrations with Companial

Overall, when evaluating partnership with Companial, Matthias concludes:

“I highly recommend Companial and the M&M program to other Dynamics Partners. It provides a lot more transparency in the migration process, and the calculated effort is a great preparation for claiming Microsoft incentives. The M&M program offers detailed, transparent calculations that make it easier to access Microsoft Customer Incentives.”

With over 15 years of expertise, Companial has been helping Microsoft Dynamics Partners successfully migrate even the most complex Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central solutions. Our experience ensures that we address any challenges promptly and efficiently, delivering risk-free upgrades on time and at a lower cost.

By utilizing advanced automation tools, Companial optimizes performance and saves up to 70% of the time typically spent during migration. We provide comprehensive support throughout the entire migration journey—from assessment and execution to maintenance and AI solutions development.

Ready to refine and streamline your migration process? Schedule a brief appointment with us today to explore the possibilities.

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