Pondering the MS Dynamics Cloud Strategy

Hunter Richards asks some probing questions about Microsoft’s cloud strategy in his recent post at Software Advice. He’s not the only one who wonders just where the software maker is going. One thing’s for sure, it has to get off the ground and move from a boxed/downloaded software model to one that somehow leverages cloud.

I’ve reviewed its anemic step at making its core office products available in the cloud but Hunter tramples deeply into the fray with his questions related to making Dynamics’ enterprise resource planning work in the cloud. Microsoft hasn’t really retained much market share in ERP and that seems to be reflected not only in the little-to-no-mention of it in recent press releases about Dynamics’ CRM going up in the clouds, but also on its Dynamics’ Website.

When you visit the Microsft Dynamics Website you have the option to select the industry you are in, and you can select “Construction.” But then things get a bit murky because you end up on a page with a list of “Partners.”  Near the top of that page is a Solution Finder with a drop down box of industries- but Construction is not in it.

Construction, with its large footprint of operational expenses is a natural for the cloud since the cloud moves computing from a capital expense to an operational one. It’s just that ERP holds, and has to interact with, an awful lot of the core, closely held, sensitive data that construction firms have to ensure is protected. A solution that relies on partners just spreads that data out even more, and I suspect for more than a few construction firms that might be unacceptable.

It seems to me that Microsoft cracking the construction ERP market and becoming a major player is going to take much more than cobbling together a few partners. After all, construction is tired of having to rely on multiple solutions to get true ERP that is secure and scalable. Oh, and did I mention at a price that doesn’t require mortgaging the office, and maybe the owner’s house?

Nobody but the software makers who have catered to construction all along are going to pay much attention to the construction ERP market until construction is growing again. Then, watch out, they’ll be coming out of the woodwork in droves, but the difference this time will be they’ll be selling cloud products. While Microsoft by then might have put all of Dynamics in the cloud, it still won’t stand a chance against a long-time construction software product turned loose in the cloud – at least not a product that delivers true, end-to-end ERP without relying on partners.