Sage has officially announced the BusinessVision end of life date: December 31, 2026. If you’re still running BV, you probably already knew the writing was on the wall. The software hasn’t had a meaningful update in over six years. Payroll tables get refreshed, sure. But actual features? Nothing. Now it’s official.
That deadline sounds like plenty of time. It’s not.
Now Sage has made it official. End of life: December 31, 2026.
That sounds like plenty of time. It’s not.
BusinessVision End of Life: Why 10 Months Isn’t as Long as You Think
Here’s what I’ve seen happen with end-of-life announcements:
- Companies wait until month 11 to start looking
- Then discover their data is messier than they thought
- Then scramble to find a consultant who isn’t already booked
- Then go live in January with half-trained staff and crossed fingers
You don’t want to be that company.
The real risk isn’t the deadline. It’s everything you don’t know about your own data until you try to move it.
The Data Questions You Need to Answer Now
Before you can migrate anywhere, you need to take an honest look at what you’re working with:
How clean is your customer list? Most companies have years of duplicate entries, outdated contacts, and customers who haven’t ordered since 2015. Do you want to pay to migrate all of that, or clean it up first?
How many inactive warehouses or locations are cluttering your setup? Legacy systems accumulate outdated baggage. Warehouses that closed five years ago. Departments that no longer exist. All of it adds complexity to a migration.
How much history do you actually need? You might have 15 years of transaction history. Do you need all of it in your new system, or can some of it live in an archive? The answer affects your timeline and cost.
What’s documented and what’s tribal knowledge? If the person who set up your BV system retired three years ago, there may be customizations and workarounds that nobody fully understands anymore.
These are questions you want to answer now, while you have options. Not in November, when you’re desperate.
What a Realistic Migration Timeline Looks Like
If you’re thinking “I’ll deal with this in the fall,” here’s what you’re actually signing up for:
Months 1-2: Discovery and cleanup. Assessing your current data, identifying what needs to be cleaned, archived, or restructured. This takes longer than anyone expects.
Months 2-3: System setup and configuration. Building out your new system to match your business processes. Chart of accounts, inventory locations, user permissions, integrations.
Month 4: Data migration and testing. Moving your data over, running parallel processes, catching the inevitable surprises.
Month 5: Training and go-live. Getting your team comfortable before you flip the switch.
Don’t forget your custom reports. Most BusinessVision users have reports that were built specifically for their business. Custom financial statements, inventory reports, sales analyses. Some of those needs may be covered by Spire’s built-in reporting. Others will need to be rebuilt to work with Spire’s data structure. Figuring out which is which, and getting those custom reports written before go-live, is a critical step that often gets overlooked until the last minute.
That’s five months if everything goes smoothly. And nothing ever goes completely smoothly.
If you want to be live on a new system before December 31, 2026, you should be starting conversations now, not in September.
Why Spire Is Worth a Look
I’ve migrated BusinessVision clients to Spire, and there’s a reason it’s a natural fit: Spire has roots in BusinessVision. The logic feels familiar. The learning curve is shorter than jumping to something completely different.
Spire has outlined their perspective on why BV users are making the switch, and it’s worth a read.
But here’s what I’ll add from the implementation side:
- The transition is smoother than most. Your team isn’t learning a completely foreign system.
- Modern features become available. Emailing invoices directly, EFT remittances, integrations with shipping and e-commerce platforms. Things that feel like luxuries on BV are standard on Spire.
- You’re not alone. There are consultants (like me) who have done this migration before and know where the landmines are.
The Bottom Line on BusinessVision End of Life
Whatever path you choose, start the conversation now.
10 months goes fast when you’re also running a business. And the companies that start early get the best consultants, the smoothest timelines, and the least stressful go-lives.
The ones who wait? They get whatever’s left.