Dynamics 365:The Good, the Bad and the 'Wait & See'
Computer Futures attended AXUG Summit in Tampa in October and we were very interested to hear the announcements regarding Dynamics 365. Combining CRM and AX into one seamless solution will be a game changer and bring a lot of new customers into the fold. Then again, it’s not all roses, and some users have genuine concerns.
My team and I spent a lot of time over the past month on follow-up calls with end user IT executives and partners to get a temperature check on their thoughts on the announcements concerning Dynamics 365.
Below you’ll find three of these conversations summarized, as well as a short survey link generated from questions direct from other users that they’d like to hear back from the community on; we will publish those results.
Vice President of IT - Discreet Manufacturing Company
Q: You mentioned looking more seriously at Dynamics CRM now over Salesforce post-Summit. What sprung this decision?
A: "One thing I was excited about was CRM tying into AX, as I was seriously looking at going with Salesforce previously. Up until this announcement, I didn’t really care what CRM the business went with since it was always going to be an integration. Now with an upgrade, I get that integration automatically. I’ll take 90% of the functionality of Salesforce by going with Dynamics at a much better price point. That said, I still need an on-premise version of AX, so it’s not something I’m looking at in the near-term."
Business Systems Manager - Food & Beverage Company
Q: What were your overall thoughts on AXUG Summit?
A: "I’ve been a huge proponent of Dynamics AX for years. I’ve recommended it to other businesses in my area as late as this summer. Now I don’t even know if I’ll be on AX in three years and am making contingency plans. Unless I see some concrete signs Microsoft is listening to the concerns about a lack of an on-premise solution and actually going to do something about it, we’ll go in a different direction.
I feel like Microsoft is not listening to the users on what suits their business needs best – it’s doing what makes the most sense for Microsoft and the bottom line. I’ve got a really bad taste in my mouth. I understand that it makes sense for some industries and businesses to go with a cloud solution, but I didn’t speak with a single user at Summit who was demanding a cloud solution like I’ve heard Microsoft say the community is demanding."
Q: What are your main concerns with a lack of an on-premise solution in AX 7/Dynamics 365?
A: "As is, I already have performance issues on Office 365. What happens when I’m relying on Microsoft for performance on the system that runs our entire business, instead of just our email? We’d be completely at Microsoft’s mercy in terms of trusting them to ensure performance is not an issue, Right now Office365 is slow as it is, let alone a full ERP handling 10-15K inventory transactions per day.
Security is another concern. We’re a private company, a small target, and I understand that Microsoft is making a huge investment in security. Yet they’re also a much larger target and my President does not want our financial data out in the cloud.
Maintenance is the other big concern for me. I saw something about an eight hour window for maintenance – right now our system is down for about a half hour twice a year for upgrades etc. Does this window mean I’m at the whim of Microsoft to do these upgrades any time during that window? That’s a deal breaker as well. I’d be really curious to hear about what other users think on a lot of this stuff."
Founding Partner - Dynamics AX Gold Partner
Q: What are your impressions of the Dynamics landscape post-Summit?
A: "Well, this Dynamics365 move will definitely change the partner landscape. A lot of smaller partners and ones that focus only on a specific Dynamics product, especially GP and SL, will most likely need to adjust their business or be left behind."
Q: How does that affect you?
A: "Personally for my business, I think this is a good thing. We’re not as focused on selling licenses anyway, but on project rescue and delivery, so this won’t change much on our end.
Over half of AX implementations are not going live with their first partner as of now, and a lot of implementations fail. That’s due partially at the very least to some partners overpromising on the sales side and then not delivering because of a lack of expertise in the product or resources to handle the demands of a large ERP implementation.
Also, because of the new licensing framework, users can be a lot less tied to a partner in terms of both buying licenses and not needing a partner of record, so they can much more easily cut ties if they don’t feel they’re being taken care of, or want extra help and oversight on project delivery. The new licensing format also allows new partners and consulting firms to more easily step in mid-implementation because they no longer have to sell the full package.
Therefore, partners that sell an implementation can’t take their clients for granted as much as maybe they could have in the past. Hopefully this will keep partners more honest in the initial sales process and on the delivery side in ensuring they stay more true to taking care of their customers’ needs, as the fear of the loss of business is much more real now. Overall, that creates a better user experience so I’m fine with that and am happy to see some of the habitual bad apples who just move from one failed project to the next get put out to pasture finally."
Q: We’ve heard some users really excited about the announcements while others were very upset. Any comments there?
A: "Well, I agree – Dynamics365 will bring some very large enterprise clients to the table for Microsoft, and a lot of businesses looking at Dynamics for the first time are really excited about what Microsoft is doing in this space. Other users who have been early adopters of AX might be feeling angry or at least nervous that Microsoft isn’t listening to their concerns or business requirements. I know of at least one AXUG chapter leader who will move to another ERP if Microsoft doesn’t offer an on-premise version of AX7 in the somewhat near future.
My gut is that Microsoft will sell a lot of 2012 instances now, with 2009 users choosing to upgrade to 2012 R3 now, and then batten down the hatches and see what happens in the next three years. Then if Microsoft still isn’t getting the message that a significant number of users are demanding an on premise version of AX7, if they pull support from 2012, a lot of users will look at other ERPs.
I also have concerns on how costs and licensing work. I broke down the imaginary company Microsoft highlighted, and it’s really expensive. Will there be solutions for more mid-market companies that can’t afford six million a year in IT investment?
On the other hand, the combination of AX and CRM is a huge plus – all CRM users are now potential AX users and vice versa. From a licensing and cost standpoint, any user that’s not on CRM now, for just a few dollars a month can now get CRM. Because of this, there will be a lot of people looking seriously at that and other CRMs will take a hit in market share. Then again, it’ll be interesting to see what current CRM-only users have to say when they go to renew their subscriptions and see the new pricing. How many users will add features vs walking away? That’s a good question."
Q: Any final comments?
A: "Well, I’m really excited for the long term prospects of Dynamics365 – but there are definitely going to be some growing pains, and maybe that’s what we’re seeing here. For every ten happy customers not saying much you have one who’s complaining loudly, so maybe there’s a perception that a ton of customers are unhappy, when maybe it’s a smaller ratio than the chatter suggests. I’m curious to see the results of your survey for that reason.
Then again this is what Microsoft does – they take a marginal product and incrementally improve it over time until it’s ubiquitous. Look at what they did with SharePoint - I remember people making fun of how bad that product was, and now it feels like everyone uses it. So, Dynamics365 is much the same – how far the product has come in the last five years is remarkable – so where we’ll be in another five is really exciting. It doesn’t change the pain for some of us along for the ride, but I hope people stick it out."
As you can tell, the reviews are mixed and many people have unanswered questions. We’ve generated a short survey here that we hope you’ll take the time to answer. We’ll compile the responses to get them back to the community and send them to our contacts at Microsoft.
What do you see as the biggest positives and negatives for Dynamics 365?