The Senior Sales, Junior Delivery Bait-and-Switch
This is the oldest play in the book. A charismatic partner manager and two senior architects walk into your conference room. They talk about your problems like they've read your industry playbook. They ask smart questions. You feel understood.
Six months later, those people hand off to someone six months out of the Dynamics 365 bootcamp. The senior architect is "still advising" but actually supporting five other projects. The partner manager is already chasing the next deal.
They can't tell you who's on your team. If they say "we'll assemble the right team once we kick off," that's code for "whoever we have available." Specific names matter. Bios matter. Actually having them onshore vs. offshore matters.
Here's what to actually do: In the RFP response, require the organizational chart. Get bios of the core team (project lead, technical architect, lead functional consultant for each module). Require named resources with a defined escalation path. Most importantly, make this part of your MSA or SOW—if they swap people out, you have leverage.
Their "experienced team" is actually a rotation. Ask: "How long will each team member stay on my project?" If the answer is vague, or if they talk about "fresh perspectives" from rolling people through, they're treating your implementation like an assembly line.
They introduce you to the person who will actually do the work. Before you sign, you've had a real conversation with the project lead and at least the lead architect. Not a vague promise of "senior leadership oversight."
The Fixed-Price vs. Time-and-Materials Trap
Fixed-price sounds safe. You know the number. You budget for it. It feels like the partner is taking the risk.
Except fixed-price is almost always a trap. Here's why: The partner estimates 2,000 hours. You're actually going to need 2,500 because scope is fuzzy. When you ask for the 500 additional hours, you get a change order. If you don't ask, the delivery team cuts corners.
Fixed-price with vague scope. If the SOW doesn't have a detailed scope document, or if it says "includes standard D365 configuration," run. Standard for whom? You might need non-standard. They'll fight every change request.
Pure T&M (time and materials) with no accountability is worse. That's a blank check. No incentive to be efficient. No incentive to solve problems elegantly if the complex solution means more billable hours.
Pure T&M with no milestones or budget caps. This is how projects balloon to 3x their original estimate. Legitimate concerns about scope changes, sure—but there should be a mechanism (like a monthly cap with approval for overages) to keep it honest.
A hybrid model: fixed phases with detailed scope, T&M for unknowns with a transparency/oversight structure. Example: "We estimate $X for discovery and design. $Y for build with these modules. T&M for enhancements we discover post-kickoff, capped at $Z per month, requiring your approval for overages." They're taking some risk on the known work, but acknowledging that ERP projects have unknowns. And they have skin in the game to be efficient.
The Questions You Should Actually Ask in Demos
Most companies' vendor demos are theater. The partner shows their standard playbook. They demo a generic company with generic requirements. You nod along because it looks slick.
Then go-live comes and none of that standard stuff actually works for you because you're not a standard company.
They only show the standard demo. Ask them to walk through YOUR scenario. Your exact order-to-cash process. Your supply chain complexity. If they can't or dodge the question, they don't know your business yet. But more concerning: they might not be flexible enough to build for it.
The best question you can ask: "Tell me about a Dynamics 365 implementation you did where something went wrong in the first three months. What was it, and how did you handle it?"
Listen closely. The right answer isn't "nothing went wrong"—that's a lie. The right answer is honesty about what went sideways (scope creep, data quality, process redesign took longer than expected) and how they diagnosed and fixed it.
They can tell you a real story about something that didn't go as planned and how they handled it. Bonus points if they admit the customer had to adjust their timeline or expectations, and they worked through it transparently.
Also ask: "What do you see go wrong most often on D365 projects?" Again, the vague answer ("every project is unique") is a red flag. The honest answer is about common pitfalls: data migration always takes longer than expected, change management is harder than people think, people try to customize when they should configure, etc.
Reference Checks That Actually Work
When they offer you references, politely decline their curated list. Those are their customers who had the best experience. You'll get a glowing review.
You only talk to the references they provide. Of course those people love them. Dig deeper. Find their other customers on LinkedIn. Reach out to people by title ("I'm looking to talk to someone who implemented D365 at [Company] with this partner—any recommendations?"). You'll get unfiltered feedback.
When you do talk to references, ask about post-go-live support specifically. That's when you find out who's actually partnering with you vs. moving on to the next deal. Ask:
- "How responsive were they in the first 90 days after go-live?"
- "Did they stick around to help stabilize, or did they hand you off?"
- "If something broke in your first week of production, who fixed it?"
- "Are they still supporting you, or did you have to hire your own team after go-live?"
Post-go-live, they were hands-on for at least 60-90 days. This is the make-or-break period. If they disappear, you're in trouble. If they stay engaged (even if just on a reduced schedule), they're invested in your success.
The "Microsoft Gold Partner" Credential (And What It Actually Means)
Microsoft has a partner tier system. Gold Partner is the highest tier. On paper, it means they've demonstrated competency, investment, and customer success metrics.
In practice, Gold Partner status is... okay. It's not nothing. But it's also not a guarantee of quality. A 5,000-person SI and a 20-person boutique can both be Gold Partners. The credential doesn't tell you much about how they'll treat you.
They lead with "we're a Gold Partner" as their primary credential. That's like a restaurant saying "we have a health permit." True and necessary, but not something to lead with. If Gold Partner status is their strongest differentiator, dig into what they're actually good at.
They mention Gold Partner status matter-of-factly, then pivot to specific expertise. "We're a Gold Partner, and we specialize in discrete manufacturing, with 40+ implementations in the industry." That tells you they've invested in depth, not just breadth.
What actually matters more: How many D365 implementations have they done? In your industry? With your specific modules and complexity level? Do they have someone who can speak fluently about your supply chain or your revenue recognition rules?
Team Size: 1,000-Person SI vs. 15-Person Boutique
The received wisdom is that big is safer. With a large SI, you're assuming they have deep benches, established processes, and redundancy if someone leaves.
That's sometimes true. But it's also sometimes true that in a 1,000-person firm, you're a transaction. Your project is one of forty active engagements. Your team has less direct access to senior leadership. Any change in the account manager, and your priorities shift.
A 15-person boutique can be incredibly nimble and deeply invested in your success. You're a meaningful part of their revenue. But if your project hits a wall and needs a specialist they don't have, they might subcontract—and suddenly you're dealing with a vendor relationship you didn't sign up for.
Transparency about size and what it means for you. Big firm saying, "You'll have a dedicated account manager, but your day-to-day lead will be a senior architect reporting to them" is honest. Small firm saying, "We're small, so if we need a specialist, we'll subcontract and manage that for you" is also honest. Both can be right for different situations.
There's no universally right answer here. If you're a $1B manufacturing company with complex supply chain requirements and global operations, a large SI might be the right call because they've done that complexity before at scale. If you're a mid-market company with good IT resources and a more straightforward implementation, a boutique might be better because they'll actually know your name.
The key is being intentional about what you need and matching the partner to that, not just defaulting to size.
The Green Flags That Actually Matter
So what does a good partner look like? Here's what we've seen work:
Industry-specific expertise. They can talk about your industry's specific compliance, your typical process flows, your common pain points. They don't have to have done a project at a company your exact size, but they understand your context.
They've had hard conversations with clients and aren't afraid to tell you about them. Example: "We recommended they change their GL structure, and they pushed back hard. We showed them three implementations where the same structure caused problems, and they came around." They're not yes-people. They're partners who will advocate for what they think is right.
A clear escalation path and governance structure. What happens if there's a disagreement on approach? Who makes that call? Is there a steering committee? They should have thought about this. If they haven't, they're going to figure it out in crisis mode.
Transparency about subcontracting. If they use subcontractors or partners, they tell you upfront and they manage that relationship. You're not discovering at kickoff that half your team is actually someone else's team.
They ask as many questions as they answer. They want to understand your business, your culture, your current systems, your constraints. They're not in a rush to sell you on the features of the software. They're trying to understand if they're actually the right fit.
How We Work Differently (And Why It Matters)
We're upfront about who we are: a boutique firm focused on Dynamics 365 implementations in manufacturing, distribution, and retail. We have deep expertise in those areas. We have less expertise in others, and we'll tell you that.
We've built our whole business on being honest about what we're good at and what we're not. We don't pretend to be all things to all people. We don't assemble teams once you sign—you know who you're getting. We don't use bait-and-switch pricing. And we measure our success on your success, not on how many billable hours we accumulate.
We also believe that after go-live isn't when the relationship ends—it's when it really starts. We stay involved in optimization, support, and staying current with platform updates.
That philosophy works for some companies and not for others. The ones it works for are looking for partners, not vendors. And those are the ones we want to work with.
The Bottom Line
Picking an ERP partner is about finding someone who understands your business, has the expertise to deliver, will be honest when things get hard, and genuinely wants to see you succeed.
You can't always tell during the sales process. But you can ask good questions. You can dig into who's actually doing the work. You can find unfiltered references. You can understand their incentives and make sure they align with yours.
And you can trust your gut. If something feels like a sales pitch instead of a partnership conversation, it probably is.