Is Microsoft Dynamics AX on Azure Too Pricey for Non-Production Scenarios?

A recent straw poll by MSDynamicsWorld.com asked what readers thought of the cost of Azure for Microsoft Dynamics ERP demos and other non-production scenarios.

The poll results:

• Just 16 percent said it was worth the cost.
• Slightly more than half of respondents said it was too expensive and not cost-effective.
• One third stated it was somewhat expensive; as a result, they limited their use of Azure.

Simply put, where there was no direct cost to demo Dynamics AX before, now there is - in the hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars per month. There have long been rumblings from professionals in the field that, despite the convenience, relying on Azure on a daily basis for test, demo, and other non-production systems becomes too expensive for partners and customers. It has even led to jokes that Microsoft doesn't need anyone to actually buy the new Dynamics AX so long as they keep demoing it on Azure.

While older versions of AX could run on various on-premise and cloud platforms, Azure and systems like SQL Server are now offered as part of a subscription plan with the new Dynamics AX.

That means when a company runs a trial of the new AX or a Microsoft partner spins up a demo instance to show a prospect, someone is paying for those Azure storage and compute resources for as long as the systems are up and running.

While some partners view the costs as simply a shift in expense from on-premise systems to cloud resources that simplifies life, ...