Moving from Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft CRM to Dynamics 365 in the Cloud

Delivers New Features and Capabilities

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 2

Upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX or Microsoft CRM to Dynamics 365, the online suite of business applications from Microsoft gives organisations a new set of features and operations-enhancing capabilities.

As Microsoft cloud consultants, we’re convinced of the potential of the products to transform businesses, but the term ‘upgrade’ is also an elephant in the room which we need to deal with. Questions about the value of moving business applications to the cloud, and other misconceptions, are stopping some organisations from making the move.

Back in 2015, Hitachi Solutions completed a detailed round of market research with senior UK CFOs asking about their intentions to upgrade their ERP systems from on-premise to the cloud. The results showed that 31 percent had moved all or part of their ERP systems to the cloud, or were in the process of doing so, with a further 44 percent saying they would consider moving to the cloud in the near-future. Most in the next two years.

At the time, we were open in telling the market that because ERP is business-critical and relatively complex, cloud migration would be slower. However, for the cohort of organisations already moving to the cloud, we were delighted to hear about the immediate benefits they were seeing, including easier access to information, reduced operating costs and better ERP performance.

Roll-on two years and in the face of continued economic uncertainty, a hung parliament and a still-to-be-negotiated Brexit, we think that the case for moving from on-premise ERP and CRM solutions to the cloud-based Dynamics 365 suite is even stronger. To support organisations through any potential Dynamics 365 upgrade, we’ve defined a five-stage upgrade path to the cloud, beginning with a detailed business analysis to understand if it’s the right decision.

This whitepaper is intended help organisations with older on-premise Microsoft business applications to understand the features and benefits of moving their Microsoft tools to the cloud, to explain how we’re supporting our clients and to answer some of the misconceptions of cloud migration.

Darren Littlechild, Microsoft cloud migration specialist, Hitachi Solutions Europe

Introduction

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 3

Why upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365?

As consultants, our job is to advise the best solution for our clients. And we believe that the Microsoft Dynamics 365 business application suite has huge potential to help today’s complex mid-market and large organisations, to work seamlessly to become more productive, gain new operational insights and create greater personalised experiences for customers.

The suite of intelligent and integrated applications brings together Microsoft’s (former) cloud-based CRM and ERP solutions (known by the brands Damgaard Axapta, Axapta, AX, Microsoft CRM and Dynamics CRM). It spans a complete range of finance and business operations solutions for organisations across vertical industries including insurance, manufacturing, retail, housing associations, professional services and public sector.

Dynamics 365 has been designed to remove traditional ERP and CRM silos, giving organisations a set of purpose-built apps that work together seamlessly, and connect these disparate data pots to help make better, faster decisions and deliver a better customer experience. These abilities will give early adopters of cloud business applications the edge as organisations need to become more customer-centric and increase their market understanding.

Because the new applications work both independently and together, organisations no longer need to commit to a full (and relatively costly) ERP or CRM product, as used to be the case. Instead, they can select the applications that best meet a specific goal or manage a process like sales, customer service and project service automation. It’s an agile approach that allows organisations to add applications as their businesses grow.

Central to its agility and efficiency for businesses is that it is cloud-based. Updates are rolled out automatically, without business disruption, and organisations do not need to invest in expensive system administration or for new software versions. The software is costed as a subscription-based model, which is both more predictable and manageable.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has also been built with today’s mobile workforce in mind. Taking a ‘mobile-first’ approach means that employees can access any app, share and edit documents with colleagues, and continue working from any device, wherever they have an internet connection. And, because applications and their data are held centrally and securely in the cloud, collaboration is streamlined, there’s less confusion as everyone is working from the same source, and the remotely-held data can be recalled from any device.

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365

The upgrade path to Microsoft Dynamics 365

Our team are experts in managing successful upgrades to the cloud.

We draw from our deep experience, using a disciplined delivery approach coupled with the power of new Microsoft cloud upgrade tools, to reduce costs for our clients and maximise return on investment.

We’ve built a five-stage, structured upgrade path to support our clients. These form a continuous solution framework, based on common principles that Hitachi Solutions follows from the start of any client engagement, Microsoft 365 implementation and throughout the lifecycle of the support services agreement.

- Discovery: Assessing the scope of existing solutions to determine if upgrading is right for the business.- Analysis: A deep dive into technical elements to determine the cost of upgrading.- Construction: Building foundations to enable upgrade, following Hitachi and Microsoft best practices.- Transition: Seamless upgrade to Dynamics 365 using the depth of Hitachi expertise and Microsoft cloud tools.- Operations: Providing ongoing support and maximising ROI.

4

Addressing ERP and CRM migration concerns

Upgrading is totally new for a lot of organisations. Microsoft AX may have been the first and only ERP tool that some organisations use. Any upgrade to the cloud, therefore, starts with a blank sheet of paper in terms of where they begin and the objectives they have.

On the other hand, some who previously upgraded their business applications from Damgaard Axapta or Axapta for example, may be haunted by the weighty and time-consuming tasks involving planning, testing and approval stages that come with a timeline and a price tag attached.

We also recognise that it’s human nature to baulk at change. IT teams and end-users are comfortable with the tools that they’re using and are reluctant to be disrupted by learning something new. Speaking frankly and from years of previous experience managing complex upgrades, we find that what people are really wedded to is the familiarity of Microsoft functionality.

Organisations can be reassured that this is not lost with Dynamics 365. Microsoft has designed the applications to carry over much of the same functions, but also to work better with one another.

Finally, there is frequently confusion around what Dynamics 365 is about and how the cloud updates work. If you’re used to an on-premise solution then on the face of it, a cloud model might give you the impression of relentless updates. Far from it in fact.

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 5

We begin with a detailed analysis of business priorities to mutually decide if it’s the right route and the right time for your organisation. Whether it’s your first upgrade or your third, it’s vital to use a professional, considered method so that objectives and opportunities are captured. These guide the technology design, customisation and implementation.

“Hitachi is a brand that we can trust. They were immediately able to help us identify our business requirements.”

Matthew Stalker, ICT Project Officer, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Who should upgrade?

We do have conversations with some clients where upgrades are not necessary right now. If for example, you’re using a solution that is supportable for the next few years, or if the benefits to the business don’t outweigh the cost. However eventually, even extended support for older solutions will end. Microsoft has released service packs to support Microsoft AX and Microsoft CRM, and organisations running these older versions can still access fixes but new features will not be available to them. We anticipate that as these solutions reach their end of life and as more businesses embrace Microsoft Dynamics 365, the supporting ecosystem of partners will naturally shift to the latest version. We will support all our customers, but other organisations should be aware that if expert support for their core Dynamics AX business product is less available, incidents resolution for older solutions will be more complex.

Moreover, as more organisations embrace the new software, users of older ‘non-cloud’ versions will begin to be put at a competitive disadvantage. New functionality won’t be unavailable to them and the clock will start to run on the end of their support (see Figure 1).

It’s welcome news that this end-of-life pain will never happen with Microsoft Dynamics 365. As a cloud-based suite updates are released on a rolling basis, so organisations are always running the latest version the technology.

Microsoft CRM & ERP product

Mainstream support* ends

Extended support**

No longer available to new customers

AX2009, AX2012 & AX2012 R2 2018 2021

AX2012 R3 2021 2023 1st July 2017

AX2009 Upgrade to AX2012 Release 3 is no longer available. Upgrade only available to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations

Figure 1: Support termination and upgrade options for older Microsoft CRM & ERP products

- * Microsoft will no longer supply security fixes, or accept requests for new features and design changes once mainstream support ends unless support is extended- ** Microsoft will no longer supply any patches including security once extended support ends- Customers wanting to move to the “on-premise version” (local business data) must have an enhancement plan to move to Dynamics 365 for Operations and to access Microsoft cloud upgrade tools in lifecycle services.

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365

Advice to businesses is to carefully consider the business impact of remaining with your current solution and to assess whether your support partner has the capabilities and the expertise to take you through the end-to-end digital transformation into the cloud. Hitachi Solutions is well positioned to be the right partner.

We believe that our phased cloud migration framework, coupled with the experience of the Hitachi Solutions team, is the approach of a mature and trusted support organisation that can migrate multiple critical applications with minimal business disruption for maximum business improvement.

Cost versus Cloud?

Our second ‘analysis phase’ is a deep dive to determine the cost of upgrading. We’re Microsoft Dynamics 365 evangelists and are blown away by the suite, but if you’re not familiar with cloud computing models, the cost structures are markedly different to on-premise charges. You’ve got to consider the longer-term cost implications rather than immediate project costs.

Disruption and cost are generally the biggest worries for organisations, and these are largely mitigated by continuous updates.

Microsoft releases platform updates every month and periodic application updates. Organisations receive updates to individual applications as they are rolled out, rather than maintaining and managing an end-to-end suite. The updates mean that expensive ERP and CRM projects that on-premise customers have been used to every few years, stop. They’re non-disruptive and operations can continue, which also has a cost benefit attached. It’s an approach that makes the total cost of ownership lower and business applications more dynamic, to deliver faster end results for customers.

With Dynamics 365 you also reduce your IT maintenance costs. Microsoft provides IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) and PaaS (Platform as a service) through your licence subscription. And finally, the applications have also been designed for the mobile-first world. This means that your end-users can use the entire suite from any device, platform or browser. Again, productivity is better because of it. At Hitachi Solutions, we are able to offer our clients flexible funding options, that help to smooth out any capital costs of upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

6

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 7

Keeping business disruption down

We’ve built a team of specialists around our cloud upgrade path. If there’s a clear business case to upgrade, then we move to the ‘construction phase’ where the foundations for Dynamics 365 are put in place, and the ‘transition phase’ where the cloud applications are introduced.

Microsoft has made this deployment stage much smoother by introducing new cloud tools alongside Dynamics 365. The process aims to minimise disruption for people wedded to their previous Microsoft AX applications.

These tools automate what were previously time-consuming parts of a software upgrade. For example, it’s now possible to complete an entire code analysis for a large organisation in less than an hour, informing the full code resolution needed to upgrade.

We can also quickly and easily map a features list of what’s used in the business’ current solution and what is due to be phased out. This gives us a starting diagnosis to work from, shaping our plan for how Dynamics 365 functionality can be adopted to keep the system effective into the future.

We believe that disruption is as low as any migration you’ll experience, but we also recognise that upgrade goes further than just replacing the technology. To provide the gold-standard in cloud migration support, we also launched a dedicated Transformation & Adoption practice earlier in 2017.

Our team is there to make sure that business drivers are always front and centre, and to prove that those objectives are met. They’re also the team that keeps any possible business disruption to a minimum and supports the cultural transformation needed to make any upgrade a success.

Post-implementation business support

Our team is joined up during the five cloud upgrade phases. From analysis to project implementation to support services, we follow a mature, well thought-out life-cycle that doesn’t end once the solution is implemented.

Microsoft cloud platform and application updates happen continually so it’s important that organisations are always engaged with people that know about the latest technology to ensure continuous improvement.

Post-implementation, we deliver the project and ongoing client solution management through our Lifetime Services. Our Transformation & Adoption practice remains deeply involved once Dynamics 365 is in place to make the transition seamless. This is doubly important for customers who’ve had poor experiences with their existing Microsoft AX or CRM solutions.

Unlike some other consultancies, we have permanent, experienced consultants attached to post-implementation managed services that are charged with reviewing ongoing return on investment and alignment with clients’ objectives.

8

Conclusions: A Solution for Today’s Organisations?

Today’s market conditions make upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 a good idea.

Change is part of life and a daily part of business. The challenge for organisations is to appreciate what could happen to their future if they migrate to the cloud today, or indeed delay.

Recession, Brexit and political uncertainty are very real tests for today’s businesses, requiring an immediate-term look at spend and operational priorities.

At the end of 2016, we spoke to UK business leaders in conjunction with the Institute of Directors to understand attitudes to these challenges. The consensus was that business leaders need to be resilient and agile while embracing technology to help them ride what could be a bumpy road ahead. Few businesses have systems equipped to deal with the kind of change we’re facing.

Old and inflexible solutions will make this change harder to manage and, as the process begins to carve out a Brexit deal that will undoubtedly have change implications for organisations of all shapes and sizes, it’s important to be using flexible business applications to reduce the headache of waiting until change is mandated.

Current macro factors should sit alongside cost and efficiency as firms build their business case for moving Microsoft business applications to the cloud.

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365

The Time is Right: Upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 9

And, finally…

Any change is an opportunity to improve, grow and define a sharper competitive edge. With technology at the centre of everything we do, the business applications that we use can offer massive competitive differentiation, with cloud-based applications setting themselves apart in terms of agility, mobility and affordability.

The journey to creating this difference is attainable through assessment, planning, technical solutions and the right transformational support.

Contact us

Want to understand if your organisation should move its business applications to the cloud? Contact us today.

Hitachi Solutions works with businesses around the world to help them migrate to and integrate new technology solutions that empower them to put the customer first. Utilising Microsoft Dynamics CRM, businesses gain a complete 360° view of their customers. Only by truly understanding your customers, can you market, sell, and service them efficiently and cost effectively. http://uk.hitachi-solutions.com/