The most common reason businesses stay in a GP support relationship they are not satisfied with is not loyalty. It is the assumption that switching is complicated, risky, or likely to create a period where the system is inadequately supported. In almost every case, that assumption is not accurate.
This article explains what a Dynamics GP partner transfer actually involves, what stays the same when you switch, and what should improve. If your current support arrangement is not working for you, the practical barrier to changing it is lower than you probably think.
What a Microsoft Partner Transfer Involves
Your Dynamics GP licence and your right to use the software belong to your business, not to your current support partner. Your data, your customisations, and your system configuration are yours. A partner transfer is a change in the Microsoft partner association for your account. It is an administrative process, not a technical one.
Microsoft processes partner transfers as a standard request. Your current partner is notified as part of the process, but they cannot block the transfer. The only commercial constraint is your existing support contract: review it for notice period requirements before initiating the switch, and honour those obligations. Beyond that, the decision is straightforwardly yours to make.
What Stays the Same
Your Dynamics GP system continues to operate without interruption. The software version does not change. Your data remains exactly where it is. Your users log in the same way they always have. Nothing about the day-to-day functioning of GP changes because the partner association has moved.
Any open support tickets that were in progress with your previous partner will need to be closed or transitioned. Your new partner will need to be brought up to speed on any known issues in your environment. This is part of the onboarding process that any new partner should manage proactively rather than leaving you to handle.
What Changes
Who you call when something needs attention. Who proactively contacts you when something warrants your attention. Who advises you on configuration questions, version update considerations, and migration planning. These are the dimensions along which support quality varies between partners, and they are the dimensions that matter most to the businesses that are dissatisfied with their current arrangement.
The most common complaints we hear from businesses switching GP support partner fall into three categories. Tickets are raised and closed without anyone following up to check the underlying issue has been resolved. Nobody has had a serious conversation about the migration path to Business Central even though the support dates have been public knowledge for over a year. The person who answers the phone when a problem arises does not seem to know the environment and has to start from first principles every time.
None of these problems is inherent to GP. They are characteristics of a passive support arrangement that treats GP as a maintenance contract rather than a business system that needs active management as it approaches the end of its lifecycle.
What Advantage Does Before the Transfer Completes
Advantage carries out a GP onboarding review before the partner transfer completes. This review covers the current GP configuration, any known issues in the environment, the version history, the integration landscape, and the migration planning status. By the time the transfer is complete, the consultant assigned to your account understands your environment and is ready to support it from day one rather than learning it while incidents occur.
The onboarding review also produces an initial assessment of your migration position: how complex a GP to Business Central migration would be for your specific environment, what the likely timeline looks like, and what the most important preparatory steps are. This is not a sales exercise. It is the information you need to make an informed decision about when and how to plan the migration, which is the conversation your support partner should be having with you regardless of when you ultimately decide to move.
What Proactive GP Support Looks Like
A proactive GP support arrangement has several characteristics that distinguish it from a basic break-fix contract.
Regular check-ins rather than only contact when something breaks. A named consultant who knows your environment rather than a pool of helpdesk agents who read your ticket history when they pick up a call. Proactive monitoring for issues that might affect your environment before they surface as problems. An honest running conversation about the GP support timeline and your migration options. Clear communication when GP updates are available and what they contain. And a migration planning conversation that is treated as part of the support relationship rather than a separate commercial conversation.
Most businesses on GP have not experienced all of these. Many have experienced none of them. That does not mean they are unavailable; it means their current partner has not chosen to provide them.
The Migration Planning Conversation
One of the most important things a GP support partner should be doing in 2025 and 2026 is having an honest conversation with every GP customer about Business Central. Not a sales pitch. A genuine assessment of what each customer's migration would involve, what the realistic timeline is, and what the commercial case looks like for their specific situation.
Mainstream support for GP ends 31 December 2029. Migrations take 9 to 18 months. A business that starts its migration planning conversation in 2026 is in a comfortable position. A business that starts in late 2028 is competing for implementation resource at the peak of demand and working against a deadline that limits its options.
A partner who is not raising this conversation with you is not acting in your interests. The migration planning question is not a reason to switch partner on its own; it is a signal about whether your current partner's attention is directed towards your long-term position or towards maintaining the status quo.
How to Assess Your Current Support Arrangement
Before deciding to switch, it is worth giving your current partner an honest assessment against a few specific criteria. Has someone called you in the past three months without you having to raise a ticket first? Has anyone discussed Business Central with you in the context of your specific environment? Do you have a named consultant who knows your GP setup, or do you speak to whoever picks up? When the last GP update was available, did your partner communicate what it contained and whether you should apply it?
If the honest answers to most of those questions are no, the support you are receiving is reactive rather than proactive. Whether that is good enough depends on your expectations and your tolerance for the risks that come with approaching end of mainstream support without a clear migration plan. For many businesses, it is not good enough, and the cost of continuing is higher than the cost of switching.
The Right Conversation to Have
If you are considering switching GP support partner, the right first step is a conversation rather than an immediate transfer. Advantage is happy to discuss your current GP environment, give you an honest view of what a partner change would involve, and explain how our approach differs in practice. There is no obligation and no pressure.
Contact our GP team, use the Transformation Sprint booking form, or call 020 3004 4600.
Related Resources
- Dynamics GP Support Is Ending: What Extended Support Actually Means
- GP to Business Central: What the Migration Actually Involves
- Dynamics GP vs Business Central in 2026
- Dynamics GP Support and Migration
- Advantage Transformation Sprint
Frequently Asked Questions — Switching Dynamics GP Support Partner
Practical questions about what a Dynamics GP partner transfer involves, what stays the same, and what to look for in a new partner.
Can my current Dynamics GP partner prevent me from switching?
No. Microsoft processes partner transfers at any point provided there is no ongoing commercial dispute. Your current partner cannot block a transfer. Review your existing support contract for notice period requirements before initiating the switch and honour those obligations. Beyond contractual notice, the decision to change partner is entirely yours and requires no justification to the incumbent.
What happens to my Dynamics GP system when I switch support partner?
Nothing. Your Dynamics GP system, your data, your customisations, and your users' access are all entirely unaffected by a partner transfer. The system continues to operate exactly as before. What changes is who has the Microsoft partner relationship for your account, which determines who provides your support, who you contact when something needs attention, and who advises you on migration planning.
What should I look for in a new Dynamics GP support partner?
The most important qualities are active GP knowledge rather than declining investment in the platform, an honest approach to migration planning that covers your specific options and timeline, and the capability to support Business Central when your migration is ready. The right partner keeps your GP environment properly maintained while building a credible, realistic path to Business Central at a pace that suits your business. A partner who never raises the migration conversation is not acting in your long-term interest.
How quickly can I switch Dynamics GP support partner?
Most businesses allow four to six weeks between first conversation and completed transfer, to accommodate any contract notice period obligations, the onboarding review by the new partner, and introductions between the new consultant and your key users. Advantage uses this period productively: the new consultant learns your GP environment before taking on primary responsibility so there is no gap in support quality during the transition.
