How to Evaluate Payment Apps for Business Central
Seven Things to Evaluate Before You Commit
You’re either implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for the first time, or you’re already running it, and your current payment setup isn’t working. Either way, you’re facing the same question: which payment app should you use?
Business Central has payment capabilities built in, but they’re basic. You can use third-party apps from AppSource. You can build custom integrations. You can cobble together multiple tools.
The problem is that you don’t know which one actually solves your problem without creating a bigger mess.
Why This Decision Matters More Than You Think
- Choosing the wrong payment app doesn’t just cost you money. It costs you time, creates data problems, and slows down your team.
- You’ll waste time on reconciliation. If your payment app doesn’t integrate directly with Business Central, someone has to manually match payments to invoices. That’s hours every week that could go toward growing your business.
- Your data will be inconsistent. Payment information in your payment provider, different information in Business Central, and nobody knows which is correct. Your accounting team spends more time debugging than deciding.
- Your team will hate the workflow. If people have to jump between three different systems to process a payment, they’ll find workarounds. Workarounds create errors.
- You’ll constrain your growth. If adding a new payment method requires a new integration project, you’ll stop expanding.
- You’ll miss cash flow visibility. If your payment data isn’t current in Business Central, you don’t know your actual cash position. You’re making financial decisions on incomplete information.
What to Evaluate When Choosing a Payment App
Stop looking at feature lists. Here’s what actually matters.
1. Does It Integrate Directly with Business Central?
This is the first filter. If it doesn’t integrate with Business Central natively, keep looking.
“Integrates with Business Central” means: a payment comes in, it automatically creates or updates an invoice in Business Central, and reconciliation happens without manual work. Not through a separate connector layer. Not through manual export and import. Directly within Business Central.
Many payment apps claim to integrate with Business Central but actually just export data to a file. That’s not integration. That’s additional work.
How to verify: ask the vendor directly: “When a customer pays, does that payment reconcile to the invoice in Business Central without manual data entry?” If they hesitate, it’s not real integration.
2. Does It Consolidate Payment Data from All Your Revenue Streams?
Your business may invoice customers directly, process payments through a subscription model, and collect payments across multiple sales channels. The question isn’t just whether a payment app can take a payment. It’s whether all of that payment data ends up reconciled in one place: Business Central.
If your payment data is split across your payment processor, your sales channels, and a separate reconciliation tool, your accounting team is still doing manual work to piece together a complete picture.
How to verify: ask the vendor how payment data from each of your revenue streams flows into Business Central. Can you see it all reconciled in one place, without logging into separate dashboards? If the answer involves exporting reports or manual matching, that’s your answer.
3. Does It Handle Your Payment Methods?
Your customers want choice. Whatever your market uses, your payment app should support multiple methods without requiring separate integrations for each one.
How to verify: ask the vendor what payment methods they support. Then ask: “If I want to add a new payment method six months from now, how hard is that?” If it requires a new integration or development project, that’s a red flag.
4. Is Reconciliation Actually Automatic?
This is where most payment apps fall short.
They claim automatic reconciliation, but what they mean is: “Reconciliation happens in our system, and you can export a report.” That’s not automatic. That’s still manual.
Real reconciliation means: payment comes in, invoice gets marked paid, your cash account updates, and your accounting reports reflect the current state, all as part of your configured payment workflow.
How to verify: ask the vendor to walk you through this exact workflow in a demo. If they’re clicking multiple buttons or exporting files, it’s not what they described.
5. How Good Is the Reporting and Visibility?
You need to know what’s happening with your payments.
Can you see which payments are pending, which ones failed, and which ones are in question? Can you get this information without logging into a separate payment processor dashboard?
Your payment app should give you visibility inside Business Central, not in a separate system or an exported report.
How to verify: ask to see the reporting dashboard. If it’s limited to basic transaction lists, you’ll be digging into your payment processor directly for real answers.
6. What’s the Total Cost?
Compare total cost, not just per-transaction fees.
Some payment apps charge per transaction. Some charge monthly licensing. Some charge both. Some have setup fees or implementation costs.
Calculate what you’ll actually pay based on your transaction volume and sales channels. Don’t rely on the advertised rate.
How to verify: get a quote based on your actual numbers. Ask about all fees: transaction fees, gateway fees, monthly fees, setup fees, and channel fees. Get it in writing.
7. How Easy Is Implementation?
If implementation takes months or requires a developer, that’s a cost hidden in your timeline and resources.
A payment app designed for Business Central should have clear setup documentation, straightforward configuration without custom development, and support available during implementation.
How to verify: ask the vendor how long a typical implementation takes. If it’s more than a few weeks for a basic setup, ask why. If they say you need a developer, that’s an additional cost you weren’t planning for.
Red Flags to Watch For
- They push you toward custom development. If the vendor’s answer to every question is “we can build that for you,” they’re trying to lock you in. You want a solution that works without custom work.
- They can’t answer integration questions clearly. Vague answers about how their app connects to Business Central usually mean the integration isn’t as direct as they claim.
- They won’t provide references. Ask for customers using the app with your specific sales channels and payment methods. If they can’t provide references, find out why.
- Their pricing is complicated. If you need a spreadsheet to calculate what you’ll pay, that’s a problem.
- They minimize manual reconciliation instead of eliminating it. “You’ll only spend 30 minutes a week reconciling” is not a solution.
When You’ve Found the Right Option
You’ll know you’ve chosen well when:
- Payments flow into Business Central and reconcile as part of your configured payment workflows
- Your team isn’t manually matching payments to invoices
- You can add a new payment method without a development project
- Your cash position is current and accurate in Business Central
- Implementation was measured in weeks, not months
- Total cost is predictable
That’s the baseline for a payment app built for Business Central. Not impressive features. Not elaborate dashboards. Reliable, automatic payment processing that works the way your business works.
Evaluating Your Options
If you’re comparing payment apps for Business Central and want to see how Channel Payments Manager (CPM) by Suite Engine stacks up against these criteria, we can show you.
Schedule a demo to see how it handles real Business Central payment workflows.
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