Best Microsoft Dynamics 365 VARs | D365 Systems Integrators

Despite coming in at #2 in our list of top ERP systems for 2020, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner network is a complete mess. Because Microsoft takes a hands-off approach to its reseller network, there are too many unqualified VARs and partners in the ecosystem.

In this video, I outline the ways you can better navigate this landscape to find the best D365 VAR for your Dynamics implementation. I cover some specific considerations you can use to compare options, including:

-Understanding the gaps between D365, Great Plains, AX, NAV, and other Microsoft legacy products
-Understanding Microsoft independent software vendors (ISVs)
-Identifying and addressing gaps of your D365 Consultants and systems integrator
-Cultural fit of your D365 reseller

This video is a must-watch for those about to select or implement Microsoft D365. Please also look at the other resources below.

BIGGEST ERP FAILURES OF ALL TIME:

TAKE THE ERP IMPLEMENTATION RISK ASSESSMENT:

DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO SELECTING THE BEST D365 RESELLER / SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR:

DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO A SUCCESSFUL MICROSOFT D365 IMPLEMENTATION:

HOW TO MANAGE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ON YOUR D365 IMPLEMENTATION:

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL MICROSOFT D365 IMPLEMENTATION:

HOW TO USE THE D365 SURE STEP METHODOLOGY:

TOP 10 ERP SYSTEMS OF 2020:

[MrSplaxi]

Hi Eric,

First of, thank you very much for taking the time to walk through these things and sharing it with the world. I'm super excited to learn about an independent ERP consultancy company like yours!

Like Fredrik Sætre, I would like to point out that the "D365" name is more a branding strategy and marketing portfolio, than a ONE solution where Microsoft took the best parts from the legacy software solutions (GP, NAV, AX & CRM).

Every legacy product that you mention and draw on the whiteboard, has a direct SaaS offering, with a seperate name and a different set of capabilities. Each solution is deeply inspired by the former legacy ON-PREM solution and most of the have directly upgrade paths that are supported by Microsoft. GP is the only ON-PREM solution that doesn't have a direct SaaS replacement, but no rules without expections.

With that said, it proves even more most of your points. The marketing material from Microsoft is confusing at best and often leaves customers with more questions that answers. Partners can add to the confusion if they only offer a subset of the portfolio and try to close the deal with customer for a solution that might not be a perfect for their needs, but based on what the partner is capable of implementing. To be fair, this will be true for some of the other ERP solutions in the market as well.

To sum things up a bit:

The D365 portfolio consist of these (major) offerings, each being standalone products and containing unique capabilities, to solve the needs of customers spanning from early startups and all the way to the enterprise segment, across multiple industries:

D365 Finance (Former Finance & Operations Enterprise Edition - Legacy AX) - Short name: D365Fin

D365 Supply Chain (Former Finance & Operations Enterprise Edition - Legacy AX) - Short name: D365Scm

D365 Talent (Spin off from the Finance & Operations Enterprise Edition cloud offering) - Short name: D365Talent

D365 Business Central (Former Finance & Operations Business Edition - Legacy NAV) - Short name: D365BC

D365 Customer Engagement (Former Sales - Legacy CRM) - Short name: D365CE*

D365 Field Services (Spin off from the Customer Engagement code base) - Short name: D365FS*

D365 Customer Services (Spin off from the Customer Engagement code base) - Short name: D365CS*

D365 Project Services Automation (Spin off from the Customer Engagement code base) - Short name: D365PS*

Common for all (*) marked offerings are that they are based on the Common Data Service, also known as CDS. This the Line of Business development platform that Microsoft is pushing to the customers and trying to solve some of the master data / integrations scenarios that customers will face if they buy one or more of the solutions from the D365 portfolio.

As you can see for yourself and even said it yourself, maybe indirectly, is that the offerings from Microst is confusing at best. That is also part of the explanation about the fragmentation of the partner channel, because some partners try to embrace more and more products, but not having the (right) people on the team or maybe just be to small to handle the new stuff.

All your points on what to look out for, and what a customer should be aware of when doing a project with a partner are spot on. These issues exist across the entire partner channel, from the smallest partner to the largest partners, that might have been caught off guard by the cloud focus Microsoft has these days.

Once more - thank you for taking the time to share this with all of us. I'm sorry for the length of this comment, but it illustrates perfectly that the offerings from Microsoft isn't as clear as one could hope.

[fsaetre]

Sales, Field Service, Customer service and so on is now the Common Data Service. Comparable to SalesForce, ServiceNow and other hpaPaaS solutions.
Microsoft has an amazing technology to tie CDS and F&O together called DualWrite.

[fsaetre]

That gives a very powerfull plattform suite that fits like hand in glove with Gartners pace layered architecture...
F&O = System of record
CDS = System of differentiation
Power Platform = System of Innovation

[fsaetre]

Then on top of that you have the Power Platform with PowerApps, PowerAutomate (Flow) and PowerBI.

[fsaetre]

I’m sorry, but your overview of the «complexity» of the product is not correct.
Dynamics 365 Finance & Operation is the evolution of AX and NAV is now Business Central (GP is still GP)... it is not a mix of each of these apps. You won’t have to take this into account when selecting an ERP system. If your looking for an ERP system, F&O is mid market to enterprise and Business Central is SMB. You pick one or the other. Comparably SAP has S4/Hana and Business by design, Oracle has EBS and Netsuite, Infor has M3, L3 and CloudSuite.... Microsoft had F&O and BC.