Fully-Managed Cloud Services versus Other Options: Lessons Learned from a Real-Estate Flip

In my last article, I explained what can drive up the costs of deploying Dynamics in the cloud by their category/components. I also had the opportunity to do a deeper dive on the subject in a webcast titled "How Much Does It Cost for Dynamics in the Cloud" (registration required). Costs are certainly important - however they aren't the only determining factor in a software purchase decision.

Outside of my IT career, my wife and I invest in real estate. I like real estate as an investment vehicle because I can have a direct effect on the outcome by containing the costs. We purchased our latest project about a year ago, a live-in flip that needed almost everything updated.  One key item on our list was the 31 year old air-conditioning system.  Living in Florida, air-conditioning isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.

I shopped around, did my research on various systems, and settled on the one that was best for my organization (by organization, I mean family). The previous AC system was a premium brand. It had served the organization so well for such a long period of time, we decided to purchase the same brand.

We also had narrowed it down to two service providers. One was an all in one shop.They would replace the system and all of the ductwork, and they had in-house teams to do both. We were told the project would require two days and there would be a period of outage for the entire time. The other service provider was a little less expensive, but they only provided the A/C work. They had another firm ...