Someone Agrees about the Dynamics AX Connector for SAP

Yesterday, I wrote about my take on the SAP moves for the bid on Sybase, and also the other moves going on, that basically points to SAP giving in on the mid market to the Leader: Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Link: Looking into SAP's bid for Sybase, and what this means for Dynamics AX

I also go on to point out that the Two Tier move by Microsoft with the Dynamics AX connector for SAP is a move into the SAP client base, with a focus on the Divisons and moving into the Larger Enterprise.

Lee Pender, of RCPMag.com, a couple of hours after posting what I did about all of this, he posted on his blog similar thought lines, in the following post.: Microsoft Seeks To Infiltrate SAP as Sapphire Begins

From the post.:
"[F]irms can implement the cheaper, simpler AX at satellite locations and let workers get used to it. And when it comes time for an SAP customer to reevaluate ERP, maybe Dynamics makes its way into the picture based on the performance and simplicity of AX in the sticks."

Now one section Lee says AX is not designed for Larger Enterprise, however Lee does not implement AX, and I believe his sources are incorrect in giving him this statement. Dynamics AX can be any companies full scale ERP package.

With that aside, it seems that Mr. Pender agrees with what I was saying, or at least is thinking along the same lines.

So here we go, Dynamics AX pushing deeper and deeper into the bread & butter of SAP's larger enterprise, where for some reason the norm for a long time was "If it's complicated and takes a legion of consultants to implement, then it must be right for larger enterprise."

And, as I stated yesterday, I believe Sybase move - while gaining some form a of mobile and cloud platform - actually is about trying to 'buy-a-stack', in order to focus in on shoring up against Microsoft threating the SAP core.

And now, lets look at the cloud offerings that come with Sybase. It's not a platform, in which Windows Azure, or even Google's AppEngine is. It's built on Amazon's EC2, which is really IaaS. Pure cloud services can't be built with this. Not the way pure cloud services can be developed on Azure and Google's AppEngine.

Therefore, though it is a move into the cloud, it's targeted more at the Infrastructe level, which turns into hosted versions of the following.:

• Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) mission-critical data management system


• SQL Anywhere embedded and mobile database


• Sybase IQ column-based analytics server


• Replication Server for data movement and synchronization

Interesting yes, but a true cloud offering? A cloud platform? No!

This is going to be something to watch for sure, and again I could be wrong in what all this means. Just reading the tea leaves, and connecting the dots, this post and the one from yesterday sum up about what I think this all really boils down too.

I will ask as Lee Pender did on his blog, what's your thoughts? Do you agree? Do you disagree? All comments are welcomed!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Looking into SAP's bid for Sybase, and what this means for Dynamics AX

Like some of you, I am sure you had your interest peaked with last weeks news about SAP's bid to purhcase Sybase for some $6 billion dollars. This is a premium bid, well above Sybase's closing share price, the day before the bid was announced.

Some have speculated that the higher bid premium was actually to try and wave off a swoop in by HP possibly to take and get Sybase for it's own Enterprise Software offerings.

With that talk aside, lets focus back on the SAP bid, and assume it's going to move forward. With that, there is plenty of coverage about this on the blogsphere, and lets start with R. Wang's coverage here.: News Analysis: SAP Bets On Innovation With $5.8B Sybase Acquisition

In this Wang covers the highlights of what SAP is getting with the purchase of Sybase, which focus around.:

• Sybase is a leader in mobile platforms


• Massive data volumes require in-memory databases for rapid access (IMDB)


• Cloud technologies bring SAP into the future (Focused around Amazon EC2)

Now let's move forward, and read a blog post pointing out by PartnerCompete, found here.: SAP and Sybase: A Waste of Time for Everyone Involved

In this, the final end that Dennis Byron points out is that such a move by SAP is setting themselves up, once the Democrats are out of office, to be purchased by Microsoft. (Among some other good points, and history lessons to be found in his post.)

So now lets get into focus Microsoft Dynamics ERP line, and specifically Dynamics AX. In a recent blog post, from Panoroma Consulting Group, they performed a survey and found that in the survey results Microsoft Dynamics leads the SMB ERP marketspace. Microsoft Dynamics: Preferred ERP Software Vendor for SMBs? (Currently leader in the Small Enterprise as well).

Now lets talk about what the speculation is around SAP and Sybase. It seems as if SAP is focusing big money, and effort into the larger Enterprise, with complex software. To directly compete with Oracle, with it's complex software. It also seems, as pointed out by PartnerCompete, that SAP is not focusing on the Mid Market space, which is tauted Business ByDesign is suppose to be addressing.

Check out ZDnet's, Dennis Howlett's, post about SAP SAPPHIRE conference that is starting soon.: SAPPHIRE 2010: SAP's last chance?

In this Dennis points out.:
"Being a fan of conspiracy theories I’m starting to think that last week’s Sybase acquisition is a clever ruse to deflect talk away from what many of us thought was going to be the ‘front and center’ mega launch of Business ByDesign. BYD seems to have been relegated to a luncheon engagement towards the end of the conference."

Now lets pull all of this together, we have all the turmoil that has been taking place with SAP and it's countless CEO's, and revolving management door. Now we see this move, which has really nothing to do with the Mid Market, and the mobile platform that Sybase has? It's not worth 6 billion dollars!

The bottom line, SAP is trying to have a bigger stack offering, and that means it will be competing with Microsoft and Oracle, in a deeper offering than just the Enterprise Software, and BI offerings. It also means that it's focused on heavy, complex software, for super large Enterprises, and is not focusing on the Mid Market as promised. (Bye-Bye BYD, before you even get started!)

So for Microsoft Dynamics AX, this means that being the Flagship ERP product of the Dynamics ERP line, it is the market leader in the Mid Market space, and going for larger and larger Enterprise customers. Feeling pressure from Microsoft and Oracle, SAP seems to be doing a back move to try and have a more true stack offering to it's larger Enterprise, but the Sybase database offerings just don't seem to match, other than they do have a good IMDB offering.

And for the larger Enterprise customers remark above, lets look at the Microsoft TwoTier offering.: Connect your local entities to headquarters with Microsoft Dynamics for your two-tier ERP solution



This new offering, is ready for Dynamics AX, which is well covered by MSDynamicsWorld.com, found here.: Microsoft Allows Integration of Dynamics AX with SAP Via New Connector

Now take the above move by Microsoft into consideration for the remark I made about Larger Enteprises. The Two-Tier pitch, and focus for having Microsoft Dynamics AX the second Tier ERP package for larger Enterprises with many divisons is a two pronged attack at a high level.

Not only does it allow to Dynamics AX to continue to push gains of being the Mid Martker leader, which most Divisons of Larger Enterprise fit under, it also setups Dynamics AX for the future of when the Larger Enterprise see the Lower TCO, what can be done with Dynamics AX, and how fast things can be done, that it becomes easier for the larger Enterprise to switch it's HQ package out for Dynamics AX, getting in line with all it's Divisons that are ahead of it.

For Microsoft Dynamics AX, what the Sybase purchase by SAP most likely means then, is that SAP is giving in the mid market to the leader, and trying to shore up it's death grip on the Enterprise as Dynamics AX continues it climb into that space as well.

Maybe that's being a little over confident, and time will tell, lets see what comes out of SAPPHIRE 2010. However, this is my take, and yes I am a Microsoft Partner, and therefore believe this as is. Still I believe we will start to see BYD continue to loose steam, before it really has taking off, and SAP wondering what to do, in order to continue to grow it's customer base.

The other side of this is the cloud, and we will leave that for the next time around on this topic!

That's all for now, but check back soon!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

I am moving on to SAP

After many years focusing my entire career around Microsoft platform and specifically Dynamics AX, I am making the switch and going to work for SAP...

April Fools!

As if that was even something anyone would ever start to believe about me. Microsoft Dynamics AX rocks!

Today is April Fools day, and one of the places I love to go and check out is www.ThinkGeek.com home page on April 1st. They have great new products they launch. (Which are not real).

My favorite one this year is the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag.



The direct link to this great new product can be found here: Tauntaun Sleeping Bag - Slumber in the Belly of the Beast

From the product page:
This high-quality sleeping bag looks just like a Tauntaun, complete with saddle, internal intestines and glowing lightsaber zipper pull. Now when your kids tell you their favorite Star Wars movie is "Attack of the Clones" you can nestle the wee-ones snug in simulated Tauntaun fur while regaling them with the amazing tale of "Empire Strikes Back".



I recommend you go and buy at least 20 of these, as they will not last long.

Well check back soon as I continue down the Dynamics road. And yes I will continue to focus on Dynamics AX. No I will not be doing anything with SAP, other than replacing it with new Dynamics AX implementations. :-)

See you soon!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Dynamics vs SAP ERP End-User Business Productivity Study

[Must have access to PartnerSource for this]

Thought I would post about this very interesting study done by Harvard Business School. Here is the intro:

"In a field study conducted by Keystone Strategy, working under the direction of Dr. Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, we measured how end users of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications describe the impact of Microsoft and SAP applications on their business productivity. This research found that Microsoft Dynamics end users on average rated their experience with Microsoft applications more favorably than SAP users rated their experience with SAP."

Here is the PartnerSource link: Dynamics AX vs. SAP End User Productivity

I would say the entire Dynamics AX experince is far better on All aspects than SAP hands down, but I guess it helps people realize this more when such a study comes out from a name everyone adores! :-)
Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com