Dynamics AX in the Cloud. When & why?

Recently over at MSDynamicsWorld.com an article was posted by one of my peers, Jeff Onesto. The article is: What Is the Future of Microsoft Dynamics AX in the Cloud? Being Upfront About the Obstacles

He brings up good points, of how this is looked at from an OpEx point of view, for controllers and also risk that are involved with this, that are not being addressed, including security.

I think the following two sentences sum up the article well, though I recommend a full read of it.:

"Unfortunately, when it comes to mission critical business applications such as ERP, the model appears to be bit immature for many customers, and with too many questions left unanswered regarding security, control, regulation and speed."


And...

"Until many of the other issues I have discussed are resolved, though, I don't forecast the demand for enterprise business applications in the cloud will change and without demand I don't anticipate Microsoft offering Dynamics AX on-demand."


And to Jeff's points in the article I agree that total AX in the cloud is not something that will be in demand, and actually just does not make sense really at this point. May in the very distant future, or to some level like ERPLive.com will possibly offer to smaller instances.

I have wrote a good bit actually about the Cloud, and Microsoft's platform, Azure. The following are some of those post.:

• The Hybrid Cloud - Enterprise 2.1? (2007 Post)


• Microsoft's Cloud Computing Platform (2008 Post)


• Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing Platform (2008 Post)


• Arch. Journal: Mapping Applications to the Cloud (2009 Post)


• ZDNet: Microsoft to integrate Twitter into its Dynamics CRM (2009 Post)

There are more post, but these post actually show and talk about what Jeff points out. We see already AX consuming services and can consume cloud based services. We also CRM / XRM already in action with the same thing, and offering up as being hosted in the cloud if desired.

What must be stressed, just with anything else, is common sense. The post I did in 2007, the very first post was my vision for what I thought the cloud would mean for AX and the enterprise. It would be a Hybrid approach, to where some services and possible LOB applications will / would exist in the cloud while others remain on-premise.

What functionality makes sense to live in the cloud? This is determined by a lot of factors at times, and technology is actually most of the time least, unless the technology is limiting.

Functional ends should drive the means for what exist in the cloud. So it makes sense to have restful data stores in the cloud, that is common shared data among partners and customers. Like Jeff points out EDI for example, and credit card applications / consumptions and processing.

Look at MRP though for example... Master Scheduling. That does not make sense to live in the cloud. When would it make sense? Maybe never. Could be that feeds come into MRP that are cloud based services, but the actual execution, and processing of the outputs from MRP would live on-premise.

Plus adding the cloud, adds actually extra layer of abstraction, and though in cases that makes great sense, sometimes the extra complexity does not.

In the end, Jeff did a great write up, and I think that it's a timely one. It helps bring together what we have been talking about here, over the past two years. The cloud is for sure here, and here to stay. However, like other utilities and toolsets, when and how it is used for ERP should always be driven by the functional ends desired.

Don't get me wrong, being a technically focused consultant I love working with the latest technology. That however does not mean that the latest technology or possibly offering of technology makes sense to address problems at hand.

Thanks Jeff for the great write up, and check back soon here. More Lean coming with two interviews, one from Andrew Rummey the Org. Architect of the Microsoft Lean AX module, from eBECS and also from Dr. Scott Hamilton about is new Lean and AX book.

See you soon!




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Microsoft Talks xRM on PartnerSource

[* PartnerSource Access Required *]
xRM - One Platform : Many Applications

Recently on May 6th, Microsoft did a news post on PartnerSource talking about xRM. I went over xRM in the previous blog post.:

-Convergence 2009 - Wrap up
-What is xRM?

The ParterSource post, provides around the same level of information and knowledge that I posted about in the 'What is xRM?' blog entry.

As you can see, here is from the Microsoft PartnerSource entry on xRM.:
"XRM is the official positioning of the platform components underlying Microsoft Dynamics CRM (which Steve Ballmer talked about as the ‘Titan’ platform at WPC 2008). While the C is equal to customer in CRM, X is equal to ANY relationship that needs to be managed, such as vendors, employees, prospects, dealers, as well as other types of business relationships including properties, assets, projects, grants, legislation, etc. The flexibility of the XRM platform components enables it to be leveraged in a wide variety of ways by many different organizations.

XRM enables organizations to rapidly create and deploy MANY relational LOB applications ON a single platform WITH shared resources & technologies."

and..
"XRM is a business application platform layer that sits on top of – and leverages the power of – the Microsoft Application Platform technology building blocks (Windows, SQL Server, .NET, and Office) and is designed to significantly accelerate the creation of enterprise-class relational business applications by providing IT professionals with reusable ‘application services’ that can be rapidly adapted to fit the unique needs of users and businesses through point & click."

So lets revisit now, why it's important to understand what xRM can do for a Dynamics AX customer. xRM is the use of the Dynamics CRM platform, resources, modules and code to quickly create other LOB, or Line of Business Applications for management of relationships.

xRM is not meant to offer ERP or SCM funcationality. That is best suited for Dynamics AX platform. xRM is not meant for developing high end, custom applications, web based interfaces, or front end's to custom, deep funcationality applications.

xRM is meant, at least in my on thoughts on the matter, to offer a compliment to Dynamics AX, similar to the way Dynamics CRM itself does. To get to the actual bottom of this, xRM makes sense for a Dynamics AX customer that will already be *Also* implementing Dynamics CRM. In making use of xRM in these case as a rapid LOB platform for that company, that can take advantage of the technology stack, platform and license that already have purchased as part of CRM purchase.

This is also not to say that xRM by itself is not a value added possbility for a company, it is. However, my focus is from the Dynamics AX vantage, and in keeping to that vantage xRM is a great extra that companies can get when they choose to implement Dynamics AX along with Dynamics CRM.

Well check back soon, more great post. See you then!





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