Microsoft Dynamics 365

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone. I sincerely hope the Christmas and New Year break was an enjoyable one for you.

I was catching up on some emails & checking my Twitter account this morning when I noticed this posting from a company asking "should you (being your company) upgrade to Dynamics 365 or stay with your current version of AX".

Some quick background for those not in the Microsoft eco-system. Microsoft has recently released their latest cloud ERP offering to the market and called it Dynamics 365. It is a combination of a number of their existing products such as CRM, NAV and AX. They have renamed the AX product as operations in the new version.

Back to this morning... I followed this link and was presented with a questionnaire that was supposed to provide me with guidance on whether an upgrade to the new version was suitable for me or not. I completed this form and surprise surprise, it recommended I consider upgrading. This was in spite of one of my answers indicating I preferred an on-premise solution. So I answered the questionnaire again, this time with a different set of answers. Surprise surprise, it still recommended I consider upgrading. I did this with a third set and I think you know the result...

Software vendors really don't do themselves any favors with blatant tactics like this. It is clearly not designed to provide the customer with any genuine information about what is in their best interests or not, but simply to generate a sales prospect. It is no wonder that over the years so many organisations have got themselves into trouble with ERP implementations. This poor attitude towards the client has to change. And while not all software vendors are in this category - unfortunately, a large portion of the industry is.

Clients of ERP vendors and those considering changing their systems, really do need independent help to sift through this type of rubbish. Just as a buyer's broker can provide great assistance to those who don't buy cars or real estate regularly, an independent ERP consultant can be worth their weight in gold for those who don't buy or upgrade ERP systems often. (On another point, not only because I am heavier than my Doctor would like me to be, I provide great value to my clients, and so am worth a lot of gold ;-) )