AX 2012 Upgrade Decisions - Part 2

Now that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is officially out of all support (as of January 10, 2023) the time to upgrade your ERP solution is now! In part 1 of this series we talked a bit about some of the overall decisions to consider when starting the upgrade process to Dynamics 365. In part 1 we discussed the reasons you may want to do a reimplementation versus running a standard upgrade. In this post we will talk about pricing and why moving to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations just might be cheaper than you think!

Evaluating your Dynamics AX 2012 instance

When starting to look at what it is going to cost to upgrade from Microsoft Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 there are many factors to consider. The first task we need to look at is, what version of Dynamics AX are you running? As we previously discussed, there is an immediate upgrade path from Dynamics AX 2012 R3, but if you are running Dynamics AX 2012 R2 or Dynamics AX 2009, the upgrade path is a bit more complicated. If this is you, go back and read part 1 to learn more about this!

A big factor in determining costs is evaluating what functionality you use and what modules within the ERP you have activated. Several modules made changes and gained new features when moving from Microsoft Dynamics AX to Finance and Operations. In many cases, Strabo has found businesses moving from older versions of Dynamics are able to get rid of a number of enhancements and optimize their ERP for much easier support from Microsoft going forward. In the modern ERP world, less custom code means a more robust user experience benefitting everyone in the organization.

Important hardware considerations

With legacy versions of Microsoft Dynamics, most customers were running on-premise versions of the software. In some cases they were running Azure machines, but all of this was still managed by your organization’s IT department and requires a fair amount of overhead. Like many modern business apps, Dynamics 365 has gone fully cloud! By going full cloud, gone are the days of needing an entire infrastructure team focused on completing Windows updates, ensuring server security, and maintaining ERP versions. In Dynamics 365, IT teams are now able to spin up sandbox environments, development environments, and more in just a few button clicks. Looking to stay on-premise with your Dynamics 365 instance? Dynamics 365 fully supports on-premise versions as well.

Benefits of cloud and automation

While going on-premise is possible, many of the advantages and cost-savings around Dynamics 365 are fully realized when going cloud. Gone are the days of concerns around upgrading Microsoft Dynamics! Microsoft works hard to ensure customers are able to stay on the latest version and remain in mainstream support at all times. While the idea of upgrading your ERP several times a year may sound overwhelming, we’ve found once you’ve done it a few times, the upgrades feel like a breeze.

These upgrades often bring new features vastly improving business processes and business needs. With near constant new features coming out, especially in the supply chain management area, customers are able to build on these solutions and improve warehouse efficiency and much more.

Another major benefit I’ve seen in the Dynamics 365 space is the deep integration with Power Platform. With Power Automate, it is much easier to take control of your integrations yourself and no longer rely on outside middleware companies. Once the initial upgrade is complete and we go-live, I’ve seen many customers do incredible dashboards using PowerBI to help CFOs and CEOs make informed decisions about new markets to enter, etc.

Licensing

In a previous post about the many versions of Dynamics 365 we took a deep dive into pricing for the Dynamics product. An important change is paying per seat per month. It is possible to change the number of seats required and scale up or down based on your specific needs. For several upgrade customers, we’ve found this flexibility to be a huge win. In addition, for most existing Dynamics AX 2012 and Dynamics AX 2009 customers, there are several incentives around licenses (as of the time of this post) encouraging legacy customers to move onto the new platform.

Be sure to check out our case study from Amalie Oil Company talking about how their upgrade drastically reduced maintenance, number of IT support tickets, and allowed them to modernize many of the workflows! Interested in learning more? Contact us today to get an estimate and project plan!