A hidden cost of cloud ERP: Changing project risk

Hi Peter, Your article is thought-provoking and makes some interesting points. It is true the the cloud licensing model changes the game for consulting partners in a variety of ways; chief among them is that services need to be client and outcomes driven more than ever before. In the past customers paid the entire cost of licensing upfront, often before they were live. The partner's margin was secure regardless of whether the customer achieved their desired outcomes. Cloud changes that equation in the customer's favor. Now, consulting partners need to deliver a successful implementation and keep capabilities evolving in conjunction with client needs over time, otherwise the customer will switch partners and the new partner will get the ongoing margin, however small. My point is simply that cloud aligns customer value with the economic model better than before. Your point about ERP being hard to sell is well taken. It's a big decision for customers and one they tend to make carefully. So it should be, I think. I have observed however that with the emergence of cloud software, the sales cycle has shortened significantly and a lot of the traditional work of the sales team - proving solution capabilities - is now achieved in marketing. Customers have access to a ton of high quality information, including pricing, that wasn't always available in the legacy on-premise days. In our business we are finding that prospects are showing up well qualified for Dynamics 365, and they are focused mostly on narrowing the field from 2-3 platforms vs 7-10, and choosing a compatible partner. The number of RFPs has also fallen off a cliff as customers seem more comfortable navigating the decision independently. Another perspective I'd like to share from our experience implementing Dynamics 365 Business Central after years of (successful) NAV implementations is ...