Cloud-Only Push:
On-premises support (e.g., Dynamics AX) sunsets by 2028, nudging users to cloud.
AI Integration:
Dynamics 365 AI (Sales Insights, Customer Insights) is becoming standard, with new pricing tiers.
Power Platform Convergence:
Tighter integration means higher dependency—and costs.
Usage-Based Models:
Rumors of pay-per-use licensing for API calls or storage.
A mid-sized retailer with 100 Sales users ($78,000/year) faced AI and Power Platform hikes in 2024. We audited licenses, swapped 30 users to Team Member ($8/user/month, saving $17,400/year), and piloted Sales Insights for 20 users ($12,000/year). ROI was 15%, so they scaled to 50 users in 2025, budgeting $30,000. Proactive monitoring avoided $10,000 in storage overages. Total savings: $27,400/year, with flexibility for 2025 tiers.
Picture me in a sterile boardroom, pitching cloud Dynamics 365 to a manufacturing firm on-premises. They stuck with 50 Finance users ($200,000 licenses, $150,000 IT staff). In 2023, Microsoft cut on-premises updates, forcing a $350,000 cloud migration. I’d underestimated sunset risks, and their downtime cost $30,000. We migrated in 2024, but a 2022 audit could’ve spread costs over years. Lesson: don’t ignore sunsets.