Sunday, February 23, 2014

Dynamics AX Rainier and Egypt Market - Great Expectations

Many of us already have heard that Microsoft Next Dynamics AX major release 7.0 (AKA Rainier) which is expected to be released on 2015 will be a cloud based Application, which means it will : a. Cloud Based Solutions and b. Platform independence - Browser enabled clients (https://community.dynamics.com/ax/b/valueindynamicsax/archive/2013/08/14/some-info-on-microsoft-dynamics-ax-2014-2015-next-major-release-codenamed-quot-rainier-quot-or-quot-rainer.aspx)

But the question is will this release will make a difference in Egyptian market? Because as cloud computing mandate to have a strong internet backbone which is not available all the time with a reasonable price.  Although Microsoft has already addressed that question by providing different deployment model on premise or Public could, or private cloud

But me as most of IT people are more interested about hearing its suitability/fitting of the cloud offering model of Rainier to Egypt market for many reasons:
·        Cloud means reducing the total cost of ownership TC as the companies will do more saving with this model by not spending more on hardware and software purchases (Server, TS, Citrix, VPN, RAC and backup system…etc) and ofcourse reduce the cost of hiring and retaining highly IT skilled labor .

The question is a not just a simple one to be easily answered, but let's explore the different factors that might give us a hint about fitting of the cloud model in Egypt Market by examining the obstacles:

First the Internet backbone itself in term of cost and speed: (I'll copy and paste some numbers with my comments on them)
o   Many of us might not have heard about Egypt National Broadband Plan or 'eMisr' initiative (http://www.ntra.gov.eg/emisr)
o   The initiate mainly is based on a World Bank study of the spread of the broadband:
·   % increase in BB penetration and its correlation on the average % increase in GDP.
·   Job creation
·   Impact on intermediary sectors
·   Social impact and consumer welfare.
o   eMisr initiative has set some goals:
·   Goal 1: 75% of Egyptian households have access to broadband services with a minimum speed of 2 Mbps by 2015
·   Goal 2: 90% of Egyptian households have access to broadband services with a minimum speed of 25 Mbps by 2021
·   Goal 3: 98% of the population to be covered by 3G by 2015
·   Goal 4: 90% of the population to be covered by 4G (LTE and beyond) by 2021.

Hence, based on the above targets and the above illustrated assumptions, the estimated investment ranges from EGP 14.4 billion to 23.6 billion (USD 2.40 billion to 3.95 billion) over four years. This investment requires an additional EGP 2.1 billion (USD 350 million) to incorporate the demand stimulation investment needed to boost up the demand to the levels aimed at in the penetration targets.

Based on that a one percent increase in broadband penetration added 0.121% to the GDP growth of medium to high income countries; and 0.138% to the GDP growth of developing countries. Using this method, the cumulative contribution from 2011-2015 to GDP is EGP 24.9 billion (USD 4.17 billion). Relative to the initial year GDP (2011), broadband increases
GDP by 1.8%.

The earlier analysis concluded that employment multipliers were in the range of 35-50 (jobs per year for each USD 1 million in infrastructure investment) the scenarios adopted project total investment in the range of USD 1.9 ~ 3.5 billion Application of this approach suggests that the broadband plan will result in
Between 6,650 to 17,500 direct jobs annually, being sustained on average. Ofcourse this will have a positive effect on the increase of the potential user for cloud software and in particular Microsoft cloud based application.

To guarantee the success of this initiative, a two main requirements are needed:
·        Laws and legislation: Here I can say the 2014 or (2013) Egypt constitution has preserved this and penalized the internet cutoff incidents.
·        Government investments: as I recall Dr. Hesham Kandel the prior PM has claimed to invest 3 billion EGP, also the current government of Dr. Hazim Biblawyhas increased the amount of investment in the broadband project up to 5 B EGP.

The Second factor: Cloud service provider and is Egypt Market ready for it?
·        There was a published study about the expectation of the cloud adoption/sales worldwide (http://news.investors.com/technology-click/021414-690137-amzn-goog-msft-battling-for-growing-cloud-market.htm) and if we can correlate it to the it to the  IT spending in Egypt which was projected to reach highs of US$1.9 billion by 2013, reflecting a significant jump from its 2008 levels at US$1.2 billion, according to statistics released by Business Monitor International (BMI) in its ‘Egypt Information Technology Report third quarter 2009’. This mean the cloud computing will have a big room for that spending in Egypt market.
·        Also, I can recall here Mr. Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer (CTO) of Microsoft Corp. and his meeting with the prior PM. Dr. Nazif and the ministyr of the communication and technology information ministry Dr. Tarek Kamel (in 2010, before 25 January revolution) and the discussion with Carig during his 3rd visit to Egypt the establishment of a new Cloud Computing Center in Egypt, which is likely to turn Egypt into a regional hub in this domain. (http://www.mcit.gov.eg/Media_Center/Press_Room/Press_Releases/1678)

The third factor: the measurement of the currently available cloud based software sales growth such as Office 365, dynamics CRM online:
All the indicators was positive and shows not just steady growth but also booming sales rates, which is a very good positive indicates that indicated that the Egyptian market is ready for cloud based software such as Dynamics AX Rainier


Yes all of these plans suffered from delay due to the political and security condition but the thing that it's on the track moving slowly in some aspects but moving faster in the other


I hope I've given an small insight about my personal prediction about AX future in Egypt

Please if you've any comments or even correction you would like to share, please send it to my email m_anass at outlook.com


Mahmoud Anass



Thursday, May 9, 2013

PwC is providing Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM and Microsoft BI Services

PwC consultants will provide advice and implementation assistance to clients who select Microsoft Dynamics together with other Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Dynamics AX enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) solutions as part of a business transformation

for more details
http://press.pwc.com/GLOBAL/News-releases/pwc-microsoft-in-strategic-alliance-/s/8879011b-6ebb-469f-b588-51d168119c3a#.UYo6ThHxXvc

Friday, April 12, 2013

GeoFlow, another big hit from Microsoft to BI and data visulization world



From time to time, Microsoft amaze us with is cool products and emphasis on its capabilities to elaborate the concept of Self-Servicing and be one of the largest BI player.

Microsoft has recently release a new Excel 2013 Add-ins called GeoFlow, which is a result of collaborations between several teams within Microsoft. GeoFlow lets you plot geographic and temporal data visually, analyze that data in 3D, and create interactive "tours" to share with others.

In basic terms, GeoFlow offers a way to turn Excel into a cool 3D cinematic visual experience.

You can download GeoFlow from here




Thursday, March 7, 2013

Microsoft Dynamics AX new sales offer: Buy one Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Enterprise CAL and Get one Functional CAL free


Microsoft has recently announce a very interesting sales promotion for Dynamics AX 2012 R2, the offer is Buy one Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Enterprise CAL  and Get one Functional CAL free.

Ofcourse this new offer will have a positive impact on boosting Microsoft Dynamics AX license's sales volume which will have direct impact on the DAX professional, specially the market demand for DAX professional is high and is suffering from the few numbers of AX professional.

Some details about the offer:
- Effective March 1st, 2013 through June 20th, 2013
- Eligible customers: New and existing
- Eligible orders: Orders during the effective time with a minimum of 30 Enterprise User CALs or 30 Enterprise Device CALs using
- Product License Versions: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and later versions
- Coverage: World Wide


For more information:
- http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/offers/erp-ax.aspx
-  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynpartnercommunity/archive/2013/03/07/microsoft-dynamics-ax-bogo-boost-promotion.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


I guess this year will be very interesting and so busy for AX professional, so lets wait and see :)

Monday, January 21, 2013

SQL Server 2012 Power View for Multidimensional Models CTP And Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012


Microsoft will release SQL Server 2012 Power View for Multidimensional Models Customer Technology Preview (CTP) . This release will have the following features:

- The Power View reports will support reading from the normal Multidimensional Cubes this will have a great impact on Dynamics AX, because inspite the latest release of Dynamics AX 2012 R2 support the Power view reports but it cannot read from the shipped standard out of the box cubes (Nearly 16 Cube), and it will need a Tabular model which you will have to build from scratch.


(Role Center in AX 2012 R2 with embedded Power View)


But with the expected SQL Server 2012 Power View for Multidimensional Models CTP release you can access the standard and the customized cubes that Microsoft is providing out of the box.

- Another interesting features, if you don't know MDX query and you find it very complex and hard to learn, Microsoft now offers you the DAX which a lot of easier than the MDX (If you know Excel formulas  so you already know more than %60 of DAX)

For more information about SQL Server 2012 Power View for Multidimensional Models CTP

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlrsteamblog/archive/2012/11/29/power-view-for-multidimensional-models-preview.aspx

For more information about DAX

http://blog.gobansaor.com/2011/07/14/dax-the-new-sql/

If you want to try Power View reports

https://businessintelligencedemoportal.com/sites/contosoenergy/SitePages/pvrsample.aspx


Thanks
Mahmoud Anass

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Sorry Microsoft AX Consultants, you won't be able to have good sleeping for the next couple years !!!

The next major release of Microsoft Dynamics AX will include a new Windows 8 style UI which is expected to be released in August 2014, so If you didn't start AX 2012 learning and implementation you will suffer from the HUGE gap in the Application/Technical area, specially Microsoft will release additional 3 releases (Not major releases) which are AX 2012 R2 in December 2012 and AX 2012 R3 expected in 2013 first half, and AX 2012 R4 in 2013 second half, in addition to that Microsoft might release some Feature back !!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry AX people, for the couple next year you won't have good sleeping :D


Mahmoud Anass


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Power of ERP + Simplicity of Excel = AX 2012

I was reading an article about a Survey result shows how the ERP users are more eager to use MS Excel more than ERP application, because most/all ERP software in many times are cumbersome and not easy to use, especially if they are old, complex, and have tons of function such as SAP and Oracle.


in the same context i was thinking about the huge effort that Microsoft is doing to Marrying AX 2012 (which contains structure data) and MS Excel (contains unstructured data and make this marriage simple and Easy) (Watch the link Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 - Office )


This makes you feel that "Dynamics AX 2012 Powerful. Agile. Simple." slogan is not just slogan for marketing consumption, but it’s a true fact!!


That’s why I’m convinced: Power of ERP + Simplicity of Excel = AX 2012


Thanks
Mahmoud Anass