Excellent article, I have been saying this for awhile now. Independent consultants are the new breed of experienced expert resource for the AX customer. As the smaller regional VAR's battle it out for resources and recruit millennials and junior people to drive profitability and sustain growth only the mature partners with IP will survive against the Large Scale well establish VARS with IP. Many customers now work direct with Microsoft and with independent subcontractors. Vertical strategy and vertical software solutions are the differentiation for the national AX VARS.

It's an interesting article which highlights the impact consolidation of Dynamics AX partners is having on the AX ecosystem. Referenced were the recent UXC/CSC, Junction Solutions/RSM, and Ignify/Hitachi acquisitions. While these "Super Partners" now promise to possess specific industry expertise, like Retail, globally and deliver more effectively at scale, the questions posed were whether customers were still receiving the same level of support and whether smaller AX shops would get further squeezed for resources? I agree with the author that the answers are "NO" and "YES" respectively, however disagree that the solution in both cases is to use independent consultants. Considering the piece is written by a headhunter, I understand his opinion and perspective though. For any of the consumers of AX partner services for assessments, implementations, customization & enhancements and upgrades, I'm curious what you are seeing and experiencing in the market now? Is this consolidation delivering on its promise?