Top Cloud Conversations and Questions from Convergence 2014

I recently had the pleasure of attending Microsoft Convergence and meeting with customers and prospects in the Tribridge Concerto Cloud Services booth. I love events like Convergence because of the diversity of the attendees, from CFOs to IT admins to CRM developers, and also the geographies represented. It's always great to learn what's new with Dynamics users and gain insight into their current challenges and future plans. Reflecting back over the week, there were frequent questions and themes circling around the cloud as it relates to Microsoft Dynamics. Here are a few.

1. How fast can I migrate into the cloud?

The one message that rang loud and clear from all of the conversations is that people are moving to the cloud - and fast! While a couple years ago those choosing the cloud were considered early adopters, customers I spoke with this week are actively seeking the cloud for Microsoft Dynamics, primarily for the agility and speed of being able to deploy upgrades and new integrated solutions - and to quickly move forward.

I was amazed by how many customers have challenges with an overburdened internal infrastructure team and the project backlogs that are occurring as a result. One person reported that he has been waiting over three months for IT to provide a server so he can begin a CRM deployment. The cloud is enabling today's businesses to move with lightning speed as compared with the on-premise model. For example, a cloud deployment of Microsoft Dynamics AX takes a few days to stand up the infrastructure in the cloud, versus months.

2. Am I locked into on-premise because of my customizations?

Another common thread was the concern people have around customizations they've made to their applications. Fear that they ...