Last week I was at GPUG Summit in Phoenix with almost 2,000 Dynamics GP Users. During the GP Opening Session, Microsoft showed the Intelligent Cloud for Dynamics GP. But here’s the problem: If you are a Dynamics GP Customer, you don’t need to buy ANYTHING to get the Intelligent Cloud…You already HAVE something BETTER!
Let’s break this down. Here is the Microsoft Pitch:
If you own Dynamics GP, you can add the NEW Intelligent Cloud feature for $20 per named user per month. Then, you install an Azure Data Factory agent on your server and configure it to push your Dynamics GP data up to the Dynamics365 Business Central cloud. Then, you can use certain generic Business Central Power BI Dashboards and have the promise of to-be-developed AI predictions. Hmmm… sounds interesting. But, dig deeper and you will find a few key pot holes in this road to the cloud.
Based on what I learned and the discussions with others, the Intelligent Cloud does not seem worth the time and effort. I can’t think of a single scenario that would give an existing GP customer any value…especially considering that you can:
If you don’t want to make the investment in learning Power BI, you can hire your Partner to create dashboards for you. But once you get the hang of it, its all really easy. Remember when SmartList Builder seamed complicated and confusing? Then you got a little bit of training and played around with it for a bit, and now you can create awesome SmartLists simply and easily. Power BI is like that. Only WAY cooler!
The point is, you don’t need to sign up for an expensive subscription to D365BC just to get some Power BI visualizations that aren’t even tuned up for your business. You’d be better off using the FREE SRS Visualizations that come with Dynamics GP.
Bottom Line: you already have ALL of your data. And you can light up that data in the Power BI Cloud for free. You already have EVERYTHING you need.
So, before you click on that “Intelligent Cloud” link on your Dynamics 2018 R2 Home Page and sign up for a 12 month commitment, ask yourself, “How Intelligent is this Cloud?” and better yet, “How Intelligent would I be to pay for something that is not as good as something that I can get for Free?”
Turns out that the MOST Intelligent Cloud for Dynamics GP is just simply YOUR Dynamics GP. Go figure.