Your Business Application Journey Starts

With the Right Partner

Why Choosing The Right Partner Matters More Than you Think

Your organization has made a strategic move by selecting a Microsoft Dynamics 365 business application, well done. This decision sets the stage for operational transformation. However, choosing the right solution is only the beginning; the real challenge lies in implementing it effectively. Some companies may have reached this point with the guidance of a Microsoft partner, others have navigated the selection process independently. Now comes the most crucial part, implementing the new solution into your organization.

Having a trusted advisor and a qualified implementation partner is essential. They help define the skills your team will need, establish realistic timelines, clarify true costs and surface broader organizational considerations. Their expertise can make the difference between a smooth deployment and a costly calamity.

As a brief intro, my name is Richard Dennis and I have been involved in hundreds of D365 implementations for various organizations over the past ~25 years. This article will just scratch the surface of this very broad "Partner Selection" topic and is not meant to be definitive or detailed by any means. You should walk away with the fundamentals and when you have more questions, please feel free to connect with me on Linked In directly. I'm always happy to jump on a call and help.

To self-implement or not to self-implement, is that even a question?

I understand the appeal of self‑implementing your new business application. On the surface, it seems more cost‑effective, faster, and free from outside involvement. So why bring in a third party to learn your business, challenge your existing processes, and consume additional time and investment?

Think about it this way: do you change your own car’s oil or file your own corporate taxes? Probably not because those tasks require specialized knowledge, tools, and experience. If something goes wrong, the consequences can be costly. Software implementations follow the same logic. Very few are simple “point‑and‑click” exercises. Most involve complex business processes and directly influence how your teams will work in the future.

Implementing a business application requires deep product expertise, the right tools, and an understanding of best practices. If things are configured incorrectly, the impact on your operations can be significant. If you have the time, patience, and appetite for risk, you can take on the implementation yourself. Just make sure your end users, customers, and leadership team are aligned and prepared for potential bumps along the way.

For enterprise‑level organizations, bringing in an experienced partner isn’t just recommended it’s essential. ERP, eCommerce, Warehouse, Manufacturing, and Inventory‑focused projects carry too much operational risk to tackle without specialist support.

Smaller businesses implementing Sales, Service, Marketing, or HR solutions may have more flexibility to take on greater risk, as the consequences of missteps are often less severe. But even then, expert guidance can dramatically improve outcomes.

An increasingly common "hybrid" approach some organizations take, is to hire a handful of independent specialist contractors to supplement the internal team during the implementation. If you consider this, you need to ensure these "specialists" are reliable, skilled and actually know what they are doing.

Finding an implementation partner

Let’s begin by defining what a partner actually is. A Microsoft Certified Partner is a consulting organization that has proven to Microsoft that it has the skills, experience, and capability to sell, implement, and support Microsoft technologies. You may also hear these organizations referred to as Professional Service Providers, Authorized Solution Partners, Implementation Leads, Consulting Firms, GSI's (Global Systems Integrators), or SI's (Systems Integrators).

In most cases, the process starts when an organization expresses an interest in a specific Microsoft solution to their Microsoft account manager. From there, the Microsoft team evaluates several factors and recommends the most suitable partner(s). Their recommendations are typically based on key organizational criteria such as:

Organizations can perform this search for themselves if they don’t want Microsoft's involvement. This can be performed by using the public Microsoft "Partner Directory" AKA Partner Marketplace.

Specialists in the Microsoft ecosystem such as myself and various Microsoft MVP's (Most Valuable Professionals) are also available to provide guidance and partner recommendations. Not only do we review the above key criteria, we have experience working in the ecosystem, we know the partners, employees, success rates and also consider:

Starting your journey with a partner

Once you’ve been introduced to a partner, you’ll typically be assigned a salesperson, often aligned to your industry, the technology you’re adopting, or your organization’s culture. Their title might be Account Manager, Business Development Executive, or something similar. Their role is to understand your high‑level needs and guide you through the buying process.

After the initial introduction, and once the salesperson has shared an overview of their organization and gathered a baseline understanding of your requirements, you’ll usually meet the presales team. This group dives deeper into your business needs and demonstrates how the Microsoft solution can address them. Inevitably, some product gaps will surface. The presales team’s job is to explain how those gaps can be addressed, build confidence in the technology, and show that their organization has the expertise to implement it successfully. Working alongside your Account Manager, they help define the software components, implementation approach, third‑party tools, and associated costs.

Once these elements are agreed upon, they are formalized into a contract, often referred to as a Statement of Work (SOW). After the SOW is signed, your Account Manager transitions you to the delivery team. This is the group that will actually execute the implementation based on the scope and parameters defined in the contract. The delivery team may include Project Managers, Business Analysts, Functional and Technical Consultants, Solution Architects, Testers, Trainers, and Change Management specialists. Each plays a specific role at different stages of the project. Some may be local, others offshore. Some may be dedicated to your project, while others balance multiple engagements. Once your project concludes, they will move on to support other customers. At that point, your Account Manager typically re-engages to review your experience, discuss future initiatives, and determine your ongoing needs.

After your solution goes live, you’ll usually transition to the partner’s support or operations team, sometimes called ongoing advisory. Their role is to help you manage day‑to‑day questions, issues, and system adjustments. This may include minor enhancements, troubleshooting, or routine updates. Larger changes, new features, or major expansions are generally handled by a new (and often different) delivery team.

Ensuring you have the right partner

Finding a partner is relatively easy, there are nearly half a million worldwide. Finding the right partner for your organization is an entirely different challenge. The importance of this decision cannot be overstated. Depending on the size, scope, and complexity of your project, you may end up spending more time with your implementation partner than with your own colleagues, spouse, or even your kids (and that’s only a slight exaggeration). In many cases, choosing the right partner is even more critical than choosing the software itself.

Your partner’s team may be deeply involved in your day‑to‑day operations for weeks, months, or even years. They may gain access to sensitive areas of your business, customer data, financials, employee information, vendor relationships, internal processes, policies, and even your physical workspace. You might travel with them, collaborate on strategic decisions, and rely on them to help shape your organization’s future state. They will influence your processes, your workflows, and your long‑term vision. With the right partner, this can be transformative. With the wrong one, it can be very damaging.

To make sure you select a partner who truly aligns with your organization, build a checklist of the attributes that matter most to you. This list should include:

Culture & Fit - Do they share the same values and vision
Skills & Certs - Does their team have the correct skills and experience
Industry & Process - Do they understand your industry and can they scale
Reputation - Can they provide positive references from similar projects
Cost - Are they approaching the project with a fair budget
Approach - Does their project approach align with your vision
Risk - Do they share your tolerance for risk
Team - Does their team align with your team, culture and experience
Methodology - Does their implementation methodology align (agile vs waterfall)
Ongoing support - Once you are live, can they continue to help you

Craft several scenarios and questions that align with the above criteria and ask the partner how they would approach, respond or resolve the related scenarios. If they don’t align with your criteria, take the time to find an alternate partner that does. It is far better to back out of a bad fit before the project starts, than to switch when the project is inflight. Switching partners can add an additional 20-40% cost and significant time overrun, as-well-as considerable frustration. It's important to get it right the first time.

It takes two to tango

Some organizations misunderstand what a partner’s role truly is. They struggle to build productive relationships and repeatedly find themselves dissatisfied with every partner they work with. If you often feel that “partners aren't the right fit,” it may be worth looking inward. Consider the following:

Partners are a temporary addition to your organization - Once they leave you should plan to be 100% self-reliant
Partners only know your requirements if you clearly articulate them - The partner needs access to your internal SME's to understand their needs and processes
Sending an RFP requirements list and selecting a partner based on cost is no way to build a relationship - Partners want to win your business, checking boxes and saying yes is their only way to get on your shortlist
Tracking if the end solution fully meets your requirements is your responsibility - Embed this into your User Acceptance Testing phase. Surfacing after go live is pointless
Testing the end solution and ensuring it works the way you expect it to is your responsibility - Ensure you test your end to end processes, not just specific features
The more you ask partners to do, the more they will do to meet your needs. - Don’t be upset when: The cost increases accordingly or has ripple effects on other areas The project is delayed or takes longer than expected because you asked for extra
Your organization will need to take full ownership of the solution. - This means: Your leadership team must be closely involved. Your business team must take ownership of the processes and adoption. Your technology team must take ownership of the product and related tools
Adoption and usage of the final solution is your responsibility - Change management and training is critical and is often overlooked

Executive Summary

Selecting a Microsoft Dynamics 365 business application is a strong strategic decision; but how it is implemented will ultimately determine success or failure. While self-implementation may appear faster and less expensive, most business application deployments involve complex processes, specialized skills, and significant organizational change. For enterprise-grade or operationally critical solutions, the risks associated with a self-implementation are high.

Choosing the right implementation partner is often more important than choosing the software itself. A qualified Partner brings proven expertise, best practices, structured delivery methods, and risk mitigation across planning, implementation and deployment.

Smaller organizations implementing lower-risk workloads may successfully self-implement or leverage hybrid models, but ERP, Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and eCommerce projects strongly warrant specialist support.

Successful implementations require shared accountability. Partners deliver expertise and execution, but organizations retain ownership of requirements, testing, adoption, and long-term operation. Executive involvement, change management, and user training are critical and frequently underestimated.

Bottom line: Business application implementations are not “plug-and-play.” For complex or business-critical deployments, investing in the right partner, with the right fit, materially reduces risk and maximizes long-term value.

If you need a trusted advisor to help you navigate your business application journey, look no further. With over 25 years of experience in business application implementations and over 250 implementations, I would be happy to provide guidance and help you down the right path.

Written by Richard Dennis – Digital Business Transformation, D365 CRM & ERP Implementation Specialist.

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