Phil - thanks for sharing that link. I'm pleased to see that Microsoft has a supported and documented migration path from online to on-premise, and reading through the documentation you linked to, it looks like a straightforward process.
It's a little disappointing that one has to request the SQL backup file from customer service, it would be way better if you could get at it whenever you wanted, or at least make the request process dead simple, e.g clicking a button within the settings
section in the CRM UI to initiate the request, and make a download link available whenever it was ready. Obtaining the SQL backup file should be an automated process.
Until I see a migration path from on-premise to online that is just as easy and supported by Microsoft, the power of choice is still unfortunately not in my or my customers hands. Conceivably customer service staff should be able to take a SQL backup
from on-premise and restore it to an online organization. If this isn't possible, online can't seriously be considered a cost-effective, straightforward, viable migration path for existing on-premise CRM users who want to move to the cloud.
