Five surprising truths about moving Microsoft Dynamics (or any solution) to the cloud

Like many of us, you may be reviewing your list of technology needs for the coming year. Whether it's to upgrade specific systems, invest in new functionality, or restructure support, the cloud plays a role in virtually every technology consideration these days. As the planning season descends upon us, I'd like to uncover some often misunderstood truths that can help when considering moving Microsoft Dynamics applications, or any other system for that matter, to the cloud.

1. No Cloud is an Island, nor should it be.

Some people have a misconception that migrating their Dynamics ERP or CRM application into a cloud environment will break a customization or an integration with other on-premise systems.  While some public cloud options might not support integrations or customizations, this isn't the case when migrating Dynamics ERP applications into a private cloud.  In fact, even if you are on Dynamics GP 2010 or 10, you could directly migrate it into a private cloud without needing to upgrade the application or overhaul your traditional licensing.  Many private cloud providers will allow for VPN or MPLS connectivity into the cloud environment to truly be an extension of your existing datacenter.  With this in place you can more easily migrate additional application workloads to the cloud as it becomes appropriate. Extending your data center with a private cloud allows for integrations with public cloud and on-premise solutions. And delivering a hybrid model - not an island - is the way it should be.

2. The customer is in control, always

Loss of control is a commonly named fear of IT professionals when evaluating the cloud - especially for mission-critical systems like Microsoft Dynamics ERP. As the executive whose ...