How NewStar Recovered from a Misguided Move to Business Central
Capital loss
Months wasted
Faster fulfillment after returning to SalesPad
The Systems NewStar Trusted:
Dynamics GP and Cavallo’s SalesPad®
NewStar Sourcing and Service is a pivotal partner to feed manufacturers and livestock producers, specializing in the production of high-quality custom feeds, blends, and premixes. Founded in 2017, NewStar’s success hinges on operational complexity, requiring precision in inventory costing, lot tracking, assembly, and high-speed order-to-cash workflow. With over 400 active SKUs, precise product flow management is critical.
At its inception, NewStar worked with a third-party consultant to implement Dynamics GP, a system President Tony Colanino knew from past experience would be a great long-term backbone. However, Colanino also understood that while GP offered the necessary enterprise-level functionality, it was not user-friendly for day-to-day operations and specialized workflows. This made Cavallo’s SalesPad® essential. NewStar’s operations are highly cellular, with specialized segments for putaway, storage, and picking. GP on its own couldn’t manage this complexity, but SalesPad was the optimal solution. It allowed them to track product by lot and bin location, making the entire fulfillment process autonomous and simple. The core engine driving their operational success became Microsoft Dynamics GP paired with Cavallo’s SalesPad—the platform they trusted for flawless inventory management, critical workflows, and a mobile salesforce.
As Colanino reflected on their early years of success, they initially underestimated the depth of their own operational requirements:
“We didn’t realize how complicated our business was—we hummed along for a long time with the tools we had at our disposal. We’ve learned [SalesPad® for GP] works pretty darn well and makes the complex look simple.”
The Challenge:
Spooked into Migration
Like many long-time Dynamics GP users, NewStar faced mounting pressure from the ERP market. Amidst messaging that suggested they risked being left behind, the promise of cloud mobility and a modern interface convinced the company to explore a transition to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Colanino summarized the initial allure: “We were sold on a lot of the frontend capabilities—how things looked, how neat it is to generate this report, or that report. Honestly, I sort of felt like, ‘Hey, we’ve been on these softwares now for 8 or 9 years, [Business Central] is a Microsoft product, GP is a Microsoft product. How hard could it be to convert?’”
Trusting the process, NewStar engaged a local partner dedicated to Business Central to manage the migration. Their expectation was a smooth, well-supported transition to a new platform that would match their functional requirements.
The Failure:
Gaps in the System, Gaps in the Partnership
Their Business Central implementation was quickly crippled by two fatal flaws: functional gaps and the local partner’s lack of system expertise required to effectively scope and deploy the solution for NewStar.
NewStar’s complex operational needs—such as managing lot tracking based on rules like FIFO or expiration date—were unsupported in the new system. The essential automations and processes they relied on from SalesPad® for GP to run their business could not be replicated by out-of-the-box Business Central. NewStar quickly found themselves facing a maze of complicated workarounds for basic processes, and were presented with recommendations for extensive customizations and multiple third-party add-ons just to get the ERP system up to par.
Colanino highlighted the massive loss of productivity: “Things that would take us 2-3 keystrokes or clicks in SalesPad and [Dynamics GP], even on its best day, Business Central was a 10-step process for that same action. The team was getting frustrated with the inefficiencies.”
The local partner’s failure to properly scope the solution was a major shortcoming, leading NewStar to quickly realize the partner lacked the deep system expertise necessary to handle the true scope and complexity of their migration. While Dynamics GP has a mature ecosystem built over decades—meaning partners working on it generally possess extensive, long-established knowledge—the expertise available for Business Central, in this case anyhow, proved less advanced.
The struggle was immediately evident to Colanino: “We were being trained at the same time the trainer was learning. We spent hours watching our trainer learn.”
Their Business Central deployment simply didn’t work for their business. So, after over a year of consistent, frustrating interaction, NewStar made the decision to abandon the project and cut ties with their local partner. And even after all that time, Colanino concluded that their partner never truly understood the NewStar business.
“Things that would take us 2–3 keystrokes or clicks in SalesPad and [Dynamics GP], even on its best day, Business Central was a 10-step process for that same action. The team was getting frustrated with the inefficiencies.”
Tony Colanino
President, NewStar
The Solution:
Returning to What Works
Following the costly (6-figure +), year-long implementation attempt, NewStar made the decision to return to the proven stability of Dynamics GP, partnering with Njevity for long-term support and immediately re-engaging with Cavallo’s SalesPad® solution. This decision was simple: these systems were the perfect functional—and already proven—fit for NewStar’s complexity.
“It’s night and day…data collection is so smooth, and the fulfillment process was so much more intuitive in [SalesPad] than it was in Business Central…filling one order that might have 6 different products on it in SalesPad takes us one minute, and in Business Central, took us 20.”
Returning to Dynamics GP also delivered stronger connections with Cavallo and Njevity, transforming the relationship into an active partnership and further driving business process improvements.
Colanino’s advice to peers?: “If it’s a bicycle store, or an ice cream shop, maybe [Business Central] works really well. If it’s highly complex, and there are a lot of things that you really need to track, manage, and maneuver, I’d tell them to think twice.”
Cavallo’s Commitment:
Unwavering Support for our SalesPad Customers
For NewStar Sourcing, the focus is back on evolution, not migration. They are stable, efficient, and confident in their future, secured by the unwavering support of the SalesPad for GP platform, and partner, Njevity.
This partnership gives NewStar the confidence to move forward, knowing their investment is secure for years to come.
“Through this process of rebooting, we’ve created stronger connections with Cavallo and Njevity… knowing that if we do have problems that need to be fixed, or opportunities for efficiency and improvement… there’s a response waiting for us, and that is really huge.”
See how Cavallo is supporting SalesPad customers for the next 10+ years.
