App Strategy: Are Microsoft Dynamics ISVs and Their Add-Ons Ready for a Cloud Market?

Unless you've been living off the grid for the past few years, you know that when it comes to software the cloud is where it's at. That means when Microsoft Dynamics ISVs plan their next move, a investing in a cloud-ready solution is a likely move.  But moving to the cloud also means re-evaluating an ISV's overall business strategies-not an easy proposition.

So MSDynamicsWorld.com talked to PowerObjects, a provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which also builds a lot of add-ons, about what kinds of challenges ISVs have moving their solutions to the cloud.

Q: Are ISVs doing the right planning to move their solutions to the cloud? 

A: Jim Sheehan, COO-We're a VAR but we build a lot of add-ons. We've had to look at our whole PowerPack, which is made to go on-prem or to a partner-hosted implementation, and ask how we get this to work in the Microsoft cloud. We've gone through a ton of planning. And the first step in the planning is to decide if you even want to invest the money to do something in the Microsoft cloud. Is there still a significant need in the platform for what you're building? As Microsoft releases new versions of the product they will fill in IP gaps, so you have to make sure it will be a cost-justified rewrite.

Then you have to understand the differences in the architecture and the authentication and what's going to happen ...