Business Challenge

Abel & Cole, one of the UK’s most recognised organic food delivery companies, was operating on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, a platform increasingly limited in agility, supportability, and integration capabilities with modern cloud services. To maintain operational excellence, scalability, and long-term compliance, Abel & Cole made the strategic decision to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO).

However, the challenge was clear: the transition had to be fast, reliable, and minimally disruptive to their live operations. With complex business processes and time-sensitive supply chain operations, any delay or post-migration issue could impact customer satisfaction and fulfilment efficiency.

Approach

Veriland Consulting Ltd. engaged with Abel & Cole under a fixed-scope, 3-week delivery model—a highly ambitious timeframe for an ERP upgrade of this scale. Our success hinged on a meticulously orchestrated upgrade methodology and deep expertise in:

  • Finance & Supply Chain structures in AX and D365FO

  • Data migration and reconciliation with rapid validation cycles

  • Code uplift and customisation refactoring

  • Regression testing acceleration, utilising our proprietary tooling

  • End-user enablement and hypercare support

Key deliverables included:

  • Seamless migration of historical and transactional data

  • Uplift of all custom extensions and integrations

  • Full validation of business processes across Finance, Procurement, Inventory, and Reporting

  • Go-live cutover with zero data loss and minimal downtime

Outcome

  • 3-Week Full Upgrade: Veriland delivered the entire upgrade from project kick-off to go-live in just 15 working days, including user acceptance and post-go-live support.

  • Modernised Cloud ERP: Abel & Cole is now fully running on Microsoft’s SaaS-based D365FO, with native integration to Power Platform, Azure services, and Microsoft 365.

  • Enhanced Agility & Insights: With real-time financial visibility, streamlined procurement, and scalable architecture, the business can now react faster to market demands, improve planning accuracy, and enable further digitisation efforts.

  • Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): By transitioning to a cloud-first ERP, Abel & Cole has eliminated infrastructure maintenance overhead and reduced long-term upgrade effort, securing a future-ready platform.

Business Benefits

Area

Pre-Upgrade (AX 2012)

Post-Upgrade (D365FO)

System Supportability

Legacy version with limited Microsoft support

Fully supported cloud ERP with automatic updates

Integration

Manual processes and on-prem middleware

Native integration with Power Platform, Dataverse, Azure

User Experience

Traditional UI, limited mobility

Modern, web-based UI with mobile and cross-device access

Reporting

Fragmented with multiple data sources

Unified reporting with Power BI and embedded analytics

Agility

Long lead times for changes or scalability

Agile customisation with Lifecycle Services and AppSource

Country

United Kingdom

Segment

Medium Enterprise

Industry

Retail - Organic Food Delivery

Products and Services

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Dynamics AX 2012

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