Cloud first, mobile first – that is Microsoft's mantra. It is a trend that not all ERP customers have wanted to follow so far, not entrusting their…
Cloud first, mobile first – that is Microsoft's mantra. It is a trend that not all ERP customers have wanted to follow so far, not entrusting their business data to the cloud. Microsoft has recognised this. Just a few months ago, the only alternative to the «public cloud» (Azure) was the «private cloud», where the data resides in your own data centre or with a hoster. An Azure environment then had to be simulated using a complex, costly Azure Stack. This was completely rethought and adapted to market needs. The three newly announced options are now: cloud : A pure cloud model. Microsoft manages performance, high availability, disaster recovery, PowerBI and the maintenance windows. Billing only as a subscription. cloud + edge : Combines the cloud and on-premise variants, i.e. a hybrid model. The customer decides which data is held centrally in the cloud (and thus managed by Microsoft) and which is operated locally on their own servers. This can be a single area such as HRM, Retail, Finance or Production. Through synchronisation, customising or aggregations, it should be ensured that, despite decentralised data, a «global view» of all areas of the company remains guaranteed. local business data : The «on-premise» variant. The data resides on the customer's or a hosting company's machines, as before, without synchronisation to the cloud. The customer is responsible for performance and availability themselves. LCS also remains an integral part here, so that tools remain usable. Billing is done as before via BREP (annual maintenance invoices) or as a subscription. Microsoft is now starting the first pilot projects with «local business data» in April. We expect the official launch in May/June. Because of this new offering, Microsoft is even forgoing the sale of AX 2012 licences from July 2017 for new customers.