Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations – Top ten FAQs

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a trusted ERP for organizations worldwide, covering features such as financial management, employee management, supply chain monitoring, sales and marketing, and project management. The best part of Dynamics AX is that the solutions are industry-specific and can deal with manufacturing, retail, or distribution.

Dynamics AX users enjoy numerous benefits, yet there are drawbacks, one of which is that Dynamics AX is not good at producing reports. However, with Dynamics 365, Microsoft has developed the perfect solution that improves the finance team’s productivity and optimizes the company’s overall business.

FAQs related to moving from Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and Dynamics AX comparison

1. Is Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations an upgraded version of Dynamics AX?

AX and F&O are built on the same framework and serve numerous additional purposes as ERP solutions. It has many new capabilities built on AX for complex manufacturing and warehousing. AX has become outdated and no longer supports new implementation. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is the current ideal choice for organizations.

F&O supports cloud and on-premise deployments, a massive bonus for companies regarding the transition process.

2. What are the cost differences between Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 F&O?

Cost depends on numerous factors for both Dynamics AX and D365 Finance and Operations. Dynamics AX needs infrastructure costs for servers, whereas Dynamics 365 F&O does not. As a result, Dynamics AX users need to spend an average of $25000 per server, whether for in-house servers or hosted on 3rd party servers.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations users have their ERP hosted on the Azure cloud, eliminating server costs. F&O users pay user license costs instead.

F&O Full users’ license

$210 per month per user

3. What is the difference between AX and F&O licensing?

Dynamics AX has a perpetual licensing of four types: Enterprise, Functional, Task, and Self-Service. D365 Finance and Operations follows a monthly or annual licensing model and has four types: Full, Operations Activity, Team Member, and Device.

4. Does Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations have better reporting capabilities than AX?

Dynamics AX has a complicated way of creating reports, and the database is slow for reporting purposes. When the database speed became quick, querying became difficult.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations excels at report generation; it has fast report creation, multiple ways to get data, and Power BI for precise reports.

5. Are Dynamics 365 updates easier than AX?

While AX requires manual updates for each machine and SQL server, Dynamics 365 can update the whole environment remotely. AX’s updates are tedious, and companies tend to bypass updating their application for years. Dynamics 365 updates are easier, and organizations can skip up to three updates.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and Dynamics AX features

6. Does Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations require an internet connection?

Businesses often have their warehouses in remote locations, and accessing it can become difficult without an internet connection. There are non-cloud deployments for F&O. However, users cannot utilize certain features available only in cloud deployments.

7. Does Dynamics 365 integrate with other apps or products better than AX?

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can integrate with other products, which fall under four main categories:

• All Office 365 apps
• Power Platform suite
• Other Dynamics 365 apps
• Apps created by Microsoft Partners

8. What kind of support is Available for AX and Dynamics 365?

Microsoft no longer supports any versions of Dynamics AX. However, Microsoft partners can extend support for AX 2012 R3. D365 F&O has Microsoft’s complete support and its partners’ support.

9. Is Dynamics 365 better than AX for disaster recovery?

Dynamics AX does not have disaster recovery as a built-in feature, which can cause data loss during times of technical or natural disasters. Dynamics 365 includes the built-in disaster recovery feature, hosting data on Microsoft Azure for real-time recovery capabilities.

Note: Microsoft controls the preservation period for backups, and if you require extended backups, you must manually move the data to the Lifecycle Services asset library.

10. Which is best for cybersecurity, Dynamics AX or Dynamics 365?

Microsoft’s Azure security features provide robust cybersecurity for Dynamics 365 applications. Tenants undergo multi-factor authentication, which is one of the steps that Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations customers need to take for access.

Seamless transition from Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 F&O with DemandDynamics

Microsoft partners play an integral role during migration to Dynamics 365 applications. Internal teams within organizations can help achieve the same goal. However, they typically take longer to complete and tax the in-house technical resources.

DemandDynamics is a Microsoft Gold partner with trained professionals who devise perfect solutions for Dynamics 365 implementations and migrations. Our on-demand services help you with the best solutions within a cost-efficient framework. You only pay for the services you use.

Reach out to our experts to learn about migration to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.