Last week, Microsoft announced the kickoff for the latest release for its enterprise ERP, Dynamics AX. Reimagined for a “cloud-first, mobile-first” world, the ERP will no longer have a separate release name or year, reflecting the realities of a continuously improving and updated product on the cloud.

Mike Ehrenberg, Technical Fellow, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, talked with our partner portal, ERPsoftwareblog, and explained that a preview would be open to the public and general availability will be made in Q1 2016.

Ehrenberg highlights five key areas to look forward to with the latest release: user experience, business intelligence, user and business productivity, cloud, and full application lifecycle capabilities. Calling it a “completely reinvented technology stack,” Microsoft’s press release reveals that it is taking next generation technology such as machine learning, powered by Azure, and visual data analytics, through Power BI, to deliver predictive capabilities. Ehrenberg explains on the Microsoft blog, “The new solution also introduces a powerful new concept called ‘Workspaces,’ where users in various roles not only get a different lens on the data, tasks, and activities tailored to their role in the organization, but also an even more focused experience in the application with additional context bringing together all the data, all the processes and everything they need to get a task done.”

Built on Azure Cloud, AX positions itself for global customers, keeping in mind data locality and sovereignty. Going in cloud-first with this release, Ehrenberg assures that based on “Windows Server 2016, SQL Server 2016 and something called Azure Stack, we'll be able to make that same product available on-premises” next year.

The intelligent capabilities of AX, remarks Christian Pedersen, General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics AX, “is more than just visualizing reports… It’s about how the data in the ERP systems is combined in real-time with data from outside the company to help people make more informed decisions. It’s about the ability of the solution to proactively predict issues or provide guidance to help keep you out of trouble.” For mid-market companies, the built-in capabilities provides utility as a total package of productivity, providing seamless integration and user adoption.

Kamlesh Shah, Indusa’s founder, reflected on this news and believes it’s a seminal opportunity for many mid-market companies, whether you have AX ERP right now or not. Indusa is currently working with several companies in preparing for implementing the new AX, and is working with Microsoft to achieve the shift to the cloud. “Now is the time to assess your current AX implementation, or even another ERP environment, and prepare a roadmap to the new AX.” He added, “Whether it is currently hosted on-premises or a third party, a roadmap detailing migration to the cloud will be complex and require the appropriate technical experience. Both migration and license optimization will be critical factors in ensuring you’re ready to take advantage of the new AX.”

Are you ready to leverage the latest in ERP technology for a cloud-first and mobile-first future? If you’re interested in shaping the future of your business through AX, be sure to read up on how to prepare as well as complete a checklist to assess your team’s readiness.

Since the release of this blog post, MS has decided to no longer refer to it as AX7 but rather AX to reflect their decision to have simplified branding to reflect that this is a cloud-based service that will be regularly updated.