Hi @CWesener
Even for-profit organizations have better incentives to use Azure SQL Server than CDS.
Here is why:
1. All my people are on enterprise plan so we get the basic PowerApps for free. It also comes with bunch of free connectors (like SQL Server connector). There is no need to manage special licenses and everyone can just access PowerApps as soon as we develop them because everyone has access to basic plan.
If we developed PowerApps with premium connectors that means we would need to know beforehand everyone in the company who will be using this app and give him/her Plan 1 license so they could access the app. This also means that we will need to constantly manage the licenses for new employees or people who no longer will need access to it. In my organization I do not even know who uses the apps since I release them to whole company. This allows the app to spread very fast kinda like mouth-to-mouth advertising because people can just open it and use it. With licenses they would all need to contact someone in IT department to give them licenses. In my mind this would slow down the spread of the app and create resistance from end user.
2. Azure SQL Server handles delegation a lot better than CDS and has more delegatable functions. From this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/delegation-list it seems that it is a lot easier to manipulate large amounts of data with SQL Server than CDS. Since all our databases are larger than 500 records using CDS would mean we cannot manipulate the data as easy as we can with SQL due to delegation limitations with CDS and PowerApps.
3. From pure cost perspective I have around 300 users who use my apps. If I went with CDS I need Plan 2 license for me ($40/month) and 300 Plan 1 licenses (300 * $7 = $2100/Month) for current app users.
Right now I have 2 Basic plan Azure SQL Server which cost $6.68/month so total of around $14/month.
Very huge difference between Azure SQL $14/month and CDS $2140/month while Azure SQL is able to easily scale and support more users at no additional cost while if I use CDS my cost increases with every single user. (The plan costs are in Canadian Dollars since this is where I am located)
Let me know if I have some misunderstandings of how it works because all the research I did led me to believe that CDS is not worth it. What was Microsoft planning with CDS? Because right now it seems that it is being pushed as this super awesome data management utility when it seems to be lacking in my eyes.
