Written By Jeff Onesto, Director of Business Development, ASi (Originally released on MSDynamicsWorld.com)
At ASi, we are fortunate to have many years of experience with working with Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta). So, after returning from the AXUG User summit, I wondered, with mainstream support ending for Microsoft Dynamics AX version 3.0 in January of 2009 why does it seem so many customers have delayed planning their upgrade?
In looking back and talking to other colleagues, in many situations, the reasons are a combination of the following:
1. Organizational viability (Going Concern)
2. The processes supported by Microsoft Dynamics AX (Axapta) are not mission critical
3. The business benefits (new features and functionality) are not clearly understood
4. New hardware and operating/database requirements
5. Optimism that Microsoft will extend this mainstream support date for older versions
6. Number of customizations in system increase the difficulty of estimating upgrade cost
For brevity, let’s take a closer look at four of the above considerations that might be delaying some customer’s plans for upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Organizational Viability
We all know what is currently happening on “Wall Street” and the spill-over affect to “Main Street”, particularly sectors such as industrial equipment, automobiles, building suppliers, aerospace, and the list goes on and on. When a decision needs to be made between payroll and keeping the lights on or upgrading the ERP system, I am somewhat certain the former come first. This probably explains the relationship between fast growing companies and their likelihood of upgrading. Growth companies require flexibility and scalability which are core attributes of Microsoft Dynamics AX. It is not uncommon to see 200%, 300% year-over-year growth in many of the consumer package goods (CPG) segments served by ASi such as “soft goods; apparel” and “hard goods; action sport equipment”. In our experience, these fast growing companies often understand that utilizing the latest software version gains them some competitive advantage and ultimately, helps them ride the growth curve longer.
Mission Critical Processes or Not
Microsoft Dynamics AX in certain situations has been implemented as a “hub and spoke” solution. Large enterprises may run other ERP applications at the corporate level yet use Microsoft Dynamics AX at the plant/division level. I have seen this “point solution” concept taken much further than originally intended where companies have actually only implemented GL or AP (trade) and nothing more. These smaller implementations of Microsoft Dynamics AX often highlight a direct relationship between the size of the Microsoft Dynamics AX footprint and likelihood of upgrading. Bottom line, companies with a larger footprint of AX that supports many mission critical processes tend to upgrade sooner and with greater frequency than those without.
Mainstream Support
At the AXUG Summit, Microsoft briefly mentioned that they are considering the extension of the mainstream support date for Version 3.0. This may entice some companies to wait longer to upgrade. For those not familiar with the Microsoft Product Lifecycle Support Policy, please see the following Microsoft site: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=6212. As of today Microsoft Dynamics AX Version 3.0 mainstream support is scheduled to end Jan 13th 2009. I have attached the following diagram that provides information on what support is offered by Microsoft.
Number of Customizations
The flexible platform characteristics of Microsoft Dynamics AX and the available X++ source code layers creates an interesting relationship between the number of customizations and the likelihood of upgrading. The more customizations an organization has implemented may make it increasingly difficult to estimate the actual cost of upgrading and therefore, creating a delay in the decision to upgrade. At ASi, several of our customers will be moving from 3.0 to 2009, we are optimistic that the improved tools in 2009’s upgrade cockpit including comparative tools, estimation reports and the element usage log will help reduce future decision delays on on-going Microsoft Dynamics AX releases.
ASi has been using Microsoft Dynamics AX internally for almost 10 years , hence, we run our entire professional services organization on the solution. We are in the middle of performing our own internal upgrade to AX 2009 utilizing our Upgrade, Migration & Optimization Services (UMOS) methodology and tools. For help understanding how many of the new features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 can benefit your organization, contact your partner. For more information on Advanced Systems Integration upgrade expertise and tools, see our website www.advancedsystemsintegration.com.
