When Arizona’s largest credit union nearly doubled its assets, its legacy GP system couldn’t keep up. Guided by Armanino, Desert Financial modernized its operations with Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Founded “for Arizonans, by Arizonans”, Desert Financial Credit Union is the state’s largest credit union with more than 500,000 members and over $9.6 billion in assets.
The Microsoft Dynamics GP platform could not keep pace with Desert Financial’s accelerated growth, while Microsoft’s planned end-of-life for GP raised security and compliance concerns.
Armanino implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central through a fast-track program that now provides ongoing Managed Services to support Desert Financial’s continuous growth.
Desert Financial estimates it now saves nearly 1,500 accounting hours annually, has shortened reconciliation cycles, and gained the ability to drill into live data during close.
Desert Financial Credit Union is Arizona’s largest credit union, with more than 500,000 members. During the pandemic, the institution saw its assets surge from roughly $4.5 billion to more than $9 billion. At the same time, the finance team remained lean — growing from just seven to 10 people.
“We are able to accomplish a lot of work with a very select group of talented people,” said Jonathan Winiarski, Assistant Controller at Desert Financial Credit Union. Even so, growth exposed critical limits in the credit union’s long-standing, on-premises Microsoft Dynamics GP system:
Desert Financial evaluated several consulting firms and potential solutions. The experience of peers pointed decisively to Armanino.
“Armanino came highly recommended. The word was that they were very solid,” Winiarski said. “People I’ve worked with for years waved the flag that Armanino was great. I grilled them for the good and the bad, and they didn’t have any major complaints.”
Microsoft reps reinforced that certainty. “They were confident Armanino could meet all our needs, including some of our crazy demands,” Winiarski notes.
The project began in early 2024 with a short timeline. Armanino’s team implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central while Desert Financial simultaneously migrated its Solver reporting system to the Cloud, helping bridge the way to significant achievements that include:
Despite a demanding schedule and a few expected detours, Desert Financial went live in August 2024, just six months after kickoff.
“It was super accelerated,” Winiarski said. “Though we had hiccups and disagreements, it really did go pretty well.”
Desert Financial’s GP system was burdened by slow performance, excessive customizations, fragmented processes that required constant corrections — and VPN delays that stretched journal entries late into the night. Comparing those bottlenecks to the BC switch, Winiarski said, “Now it’s just a web page — click, click, click, we’re done.”
The reality of a complex and rapid transition is that every step does not always go smoothly. Early in the project, Winiarski and his team wanted more guidance on how processes would change moving from GP to BC.
“Coming from Great Plains, we expected a more holistic approach to the conversion,” recalls Winiarski. “Initially, it was not approached as, ‘Here’s how you did it in GP, and here’s how it works in BC.’
Instead, the guidance was more abrupt, ‘This is just how it is.’ And frankly, that rubbed a lot of all of the team wrong.”
Winiarski raised the issue directly, in his own fashion.
“I came unglued,” he said with a laugh. “I expressed my disappointment, and it helped reset the communication. There were leadership calls, and after that everything has been positive. Everybody had the ‘come together’ moment and moved forward.”
The gains from the move to Business Central were immediate and quantifiable:
Real-time insight means fewer meetings.
“We used to have multiple close meetings a month, now we just have one for the subsidiaries and one for the Credit Union,” Winiarski said. “Answers are right there live every time.”
Beyond the metrics, the new system has improved morale and confidence.
“At first it was a slow warm up,” Winiarski admits. “Accountants are creatures of habit. But a couple of months ago I could see it in everyone’s faces: ‘This has actually been a really great change.’”
With Armanino providing ongoing Managed Services support, Desert Financial is covered on everything from quick “How do I…?” questions to complex vendor coordination.
“They are constantly responsive,” Winiarski said. “They say the response time is three hours — it’s usually minutes.“
When Microsoft updates briefly caused the nightly integration to fail, the Armanino team worked across time zones to stabilize the feed.
“They are very solid to work with,” said Winiarski. “I value what Armanino proposes because I know the people making it are solid.”
Desert Financial continues to discover new ways it can benefit from Business Central’s capabilities:
As Desert Financial scales past $10 billion in assets, Business Central will remain its core finance platform.
“I don’t have a crystal ball…but it’ll definitely be the system for the next five to 10 years of growth,” Winiarski said. “We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do with it.”
Desert Financial’s experience has become a rallying cry: Winiarski has already taken reference calls from other credit unions weighing a GP migration.
“My advice: hold any partner accountable, ask tough questions. And then pick one who’ll show up when it matters,” he said. “Armanino will definitely support you through the whole thing. They get the job done and they get it done really well.”
“The day-to-day now is pretty great,” said Winiarski. He considers Armanino a trusted collaborator in Desert Financial’s mission to serve members in the Arizona community.
But neither Winiarski nor Armanino are breaking stride.
“We’re constantly asking, ‘How can we do this in a better manner?’ Armanino comes back with ideas, and we build on them together. It’s a true team effort.”
Leaders who don’t consider how resource-intensive their organization’s legacy systems are can miss strategic opportunities. If saving time and a faster close are on your to-do list, explore how Armanino’s Dynamics 365 BC experts can help you transform your organization.
Get a complimentary consultation with our Microsoft ERP experts to see how Business Central can simplify your operations, boost efficiency and drive growth.
