Microsoft recently wrapped up their Worldwide Partner Conference on the west coast, and one of the highlights of the conference was the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The focus for developers of AX 2012 was on creating a more powerful, simple, and agile solution for business enterprise users, developers and partners. Some of the highlights of the announcement below surround how implementations of AX 2012 will be positively impacted by two new tools. These are the RapidStart Services approach, which will simplify and streamline the typical decisions made for configuration of AX, as well as the new dramatically simplified pricing model. I’ve seen the new pricing model myself and I must say I was overwhelmed – talk about Next Practices! Nobody else has pricing anywhere close to as simplified as Microsoft for AX 2012. The role-centered, 4-user-tier model is revolutionary in it’s ease of understanding and use. Who of you out there have seen pricing proposals from ERP vendors and have been left shaking your head after 5 minutes trying to wade through various features and options for modules and pricing? I believe AX 2012 customers are going to absolutely love the new pricing model! And I can’t wait to use the new RapidStart Services. I’ve been asking for something like this from other ERP vendors for a long time, leave it to Microsoft to step up and actually provide something this useful for partners and customers… What scenarios have you been involved in where you could have used something like RapidStart Services?