Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM roadmaps power up to faster release cadence

Microsoft Dynamics R&D has reshaped itself to deliver software updates on a semi-annual cadence for ERP and as often as quarterly for CRM. Today, as Convergence 2014 kicked off Microsoft revealed that Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is planned for release on May 1, and with it a growing list of new specialized apps. 

"The public cloud is changing everything we're doing in engineering," Mike Ehrenberg told partners at a pre-Convergence event on Monday. "In the good old days [the cadence] was 3 years. Now we're putting [software] out every 3 months, and with [AX] Lifecycle Services, it is monthly."

Overall growth for the Dynamics business was 10% in 2013, but MBS executive vice president Kirill Tatarinov noted that Microsoft sees "phenomenal growth in AX licenses", which is one of the most interesting forward indicators.  In North America, AX is seeing 30% license growth in the last 6 months, and Tatarinov says this is a clear trend, not a blip.

"We're expecting to see hockey stick growth based on the revolutionary technology delivered in AX 2012 that was hardened, perfected in R2 and now R3," he said after today's keynote.

Through the rest of calendar year 2014, Microsoft plans to ship seven separate functional releases for Dynamics CRM that will be grouped into three seasonal releases.  Three will arrive in the second quarter, known as the Spring release.  One in the third quarter, and three more will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2014. The Spring releases serve specific functional areas around Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (the "Mira" release), Microsoft Social Listening ("Subra"), and "Leo" for core Dynamics CRM customer service capabilities. Those will be followed in the fourth quarter by ...