Datalex

Soaring to success with Dynamics 365 Business Central Online

Datalex is a leading provider of cutting-edge digital transformation to companies such as Aer Lingus, Air China, EasyJet and JetBlue, creating differentiation and leadership in the digital retail space. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the business has custom built software offerings for airlines, supported by around 250 employees, with a turnover of more than €20 million in 2022.

Datalex were struggling to calculate the cost of employees and contractors through disparate systems. The month-end process was taking more than twenty days to complete. Paired with an unresponsive and difficult partner, they needed to investigate a new solution and a new partner to take them forward.

Initial exposure to Business Central and challenges

In January 2020, they planned their upgrade to Business Central and began their journey through a Business Central implementation of version 16, replacing their old accounting system Exchequer. Business Central was chosen for its flexibility and customisability through extensions technology.

The core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was implemented by an Irish partner, but further development to the system failed in 2021. Datalex wanted to add custom development for timesheet complexity to Dynamics 365 Business Central to calculate the cost for customers, projects and resources. The cost of development charged by the original partner had been over and above what they had expected for the time required. Communications had grown poor with their partner.

TNP Takes on the ERP Development

In 2021, Datalex’s Head of Data Analytics, David de la Vega, reached out to a recommended contact who was now employed by TNP. Brendan Doyle, TNP’s Commercial Lead, was delighted to help and swiftly ensured that they had a safe home with TNP. 

“The whole process of moving to TNP was very straightforward, very simple, no issues, which was great!”

The failed development was promptly completed by our expert team, primarily Practice Lead Gianluca Iumiento and Developer Rati Kipani.

“Gianluca was brilliant, and Rati was exceptional. As a developer in previous roles, Rati is probably the best developer I’ve ever encountered in my career. You could go to him with any issues and in five, ten minutes, he will tell you the answer and fix it. He really understands the product and how to overcome any issues.”

First wins

Following the successful development project, the old month-end process that used to take over twenty days can now be completed within ten days with far more automation and efficiency. TNP Engagement Manager Lisa was on hand to assist them in making the project and transition from the old partner a success. David said it was “a pleasure to work with Lisa” and couldn’t speak highly enough of the team at TNP.

“Any time that we get an idea for additions to the system, we always check with Lisa or Brendan to see what they think. It’s great because TNP don’t force a decision upon you, there are always multiple options for a customer to choose from.”

Moving forward

Datalex are working towards an upgrade to Business Central Online, Microsoft’s SaaS version of the product and TNP are on hand to assist. The benefits of upgrading include:

• The latest functionality.
• An array of available APIs to connect external systems into Business Central.
• An easier to maintain and upgraded platform.
• And world-class security from Microsoft.

There is also the 40% discount from Microsoft on licences when upgrading to Business Central, which helps to make a significant saving. This offer is called ‘Bridge to the Cloud’ and registration for the initiative must be completed before 31^st December 2024. Datalex will also save on the hosting costs, as their new Business Central system will be looked after by Microsoft in the cloud, with the hosting costs absorbed into the monthly subscription.

We are very excited to continue working with Datalex on their upgrade to Business Central Online and beyond!